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Magician: Master by Raymond E. Feist

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Riftwar Saga (Book #2 of 3 or 4), The Riftwar Cycle (Book #2 of 31)

Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Classic Fantasy

Pages: 523 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: November 1982

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I enjoyed this much more on reread. Magician: Master is a great “sequel” that raises the stakes of the series and proves that the series is not a mere Lord of the Rings clone.

I need to take back my previous words. Previously, I mentioned that I wouldn’t continue my journey with Riftwar Saga on my first read. But on my reread after finishing Riftwar: Empire, Magician: Master was honestly a pretty good sequel now. Before we get started on the updated review and thoughts, do note that I’m calling this a sequel, but depending on the edition of Magician you have, you might be reading Magician as one big book instead of having them separated into two volumes. However, if you’re like me and you’re here, Magician: Master is the second half of Magician—the first book in the Riftwar Saga trilogy—by Raymond E. Feist, and this will be my updated review of Magician: Master as a sequel to Magician: Apprentice.

“There is always a choice, though it is not always apparent.”

Pug was an orphan apprenticed to Kulgan, a sorcerer of the enchanted land of Midkemia. He was a Magician Apprentice, and in this book, I do not think it is a spoiler to say we will find out how he will become a Magician Master. We will learn how Pug earns his other name, Milamber. Unlike the first book, Magician: Master puts the readers into seeing and observing the politics of two worlds mingled and clashed.

On my first read, despite being so intrigued by the world of Kelewan and the culture, I did not feel Feist developed the Empire of Kelewan, Tsurani, and Game of Houses sufficiently in this book for me to feel fully immersed in it. I am grateful to find that I was curious about the politics, characters, and world-building enough to jump to the absolutely incredible Riftwar: Empire trilogy spin-offs back then. Feist himself mentioned that this situation is fixed eventually in the next trilogy because of Wurts’s involvement in Riftwar: Empire, and I can confirm this is truly accurate. And thanks to having read that trilogy, reading Pug’s story in the world of Kelewan and the characters I’m already acquainted with felt so much more enjoyable. However, the highlights of this book remain the same as my first reading experience. Similar to Magician: Apprentice but enhanced, the best parts were the character development of Pug and Tomas in every aspect and the action sequences that involved them.

“What they teach you is useful, but never accept the proposition that just because a solution satisfies a problem, that it must be the only solution.”

This is the beauty of rereading. I reread this book for the sake of continuing the series and then to reread Riftwar: Empire with more context. Although Riftwar: Empire trilogy can technically be read without this series, reading this (at least the first book) will improve the experience and crossovers with the worlds further. When I read Magician: Master a few years ago, I was annoyed by the info-dump execution of Pug’s character development. To put it simply, Pug developed into a character that is unrecognizable from how he was in Magician: Apprentice in the span of a single chapter. The power creep, even on this reread, is still insane. After that one chapter, Pug transformed into a super-powerful Magician of unimaginable power. This time, I’ve come to accept that this execution is a product of its time.

“But for the most part, love is a recognition, an opportunity to say, ‘There is something about you I cherish.’ It doesn’t entail marriage, or even physical love. There’s love of parents, love of city or nation, love of life, and love of people. All different, all love.”

Tomas is not an exception to this, but I found his story to be handled better. Tomas’s struggle with his Ashen-Shugar persona is hands down my favorite of the entire Magician novel. On rereading, I’ve come to appreciate the intended different voice given to Tomas as he gradually changed into Ashen-Shugar. The battle and wrathful scenes involving these two characters, whether at the Colosseum or Elven forest, were amazing. I am serious. The magical devastations displayed by Milamber and Ashen-Shugar’s ruthlessness, even on reread, remain stunning. I am also interested in Ashen-Shugar’s history, and I certainly won’t mind reading a book dedicated to that. As far as I know, Silverthorn will not feature these two characters as prominent, and I already feel sad about it.

“All here are now judged, and all are found wanting.”

As you can probably tell, the only downside of Magician: Master is Arutha’s story. I’m still not sure where his story will go from here, but at the moment, his encounter with Jimmy the Hand felt introductory. It felt like a setup for the next book, and if that’s the case, I can understand why there were some big chapters dedicated to Arutha. Until then, I can only say that I felt underwhelmed and impatient every time I got to Arutha’s story in Magician: Master. Even though their paths do all converge, most of his chapters felt like fillers compared to Milamber and Tomas. Here’s hoping it will be fruitful for Silverthorn.

This updated review is written to say, yes, I will be continuing my journey with Riftwar Saga. Will I continue beyond the first trilogy and Riftwar: Empire trilogy? That remains to be seen. This series is a part of a HUGE series, and at the moment, I am just enjoying my time with Riftwar: Saga and I am looking forward to rereading Riftwar: Empire. But just like how my reading mood decided it was time to give this series a try again even though I said I gave up on it, the possibility to finish all the sub-series in Riftwar Cycle will always be there. I’m glad I did this reread, and I look forward to finishing Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon. If you read this and decide this is where you will part ways with the series, you can do that, too. There is no cliffhanger in Magician: Master. As I always say, though. Please strongly consider reading Riftwar: Empire trilogy if you have finished this.

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