The High Lord: The Black Magician Trilogy

This third book of this trilogy was exciting and at times frustrating. Really wanted to give this book 4-1/2 stars.The author makes a good attempt to explain the nature of those in the "Guild" and the reluctance of the use of some types of magic. However, as the earlier books and this one explain--there are parts of this world that embrace the types of magic the "Guild" avoids.I struggled with this concept of ignoring an obvious method that can create difficulties and possibly the demise of the many.I was disappointed with the outcome of one of the principal characters--no spoiler alert here (I hope). So this disappointment left me with a slight disappointment for the end of the trilogy.Again, the storytelling and overall character development is good and captivates the reader.Clearly, it seems, that the author intended the books in this trilogy to present the lesson is learned at the end of this book.

Sonea, the main protagonist, is one of the fiercest female characters I've ever read about. Her transformation throughout the books is so breath-taking. In The Magician's Guild, she's a lowly slum girl who's discovered by the magic guild. She's believed to have great magical potential. However, those in the slum have grown to greatly dislike the magicians because they "purge" slum people once a year.It takes some time for Sonea to adjust to the Guild life. She's targeted by an adult magician who hates that she has so much potential, even though she's from the slums. Without giving too much away from the first book, things work out in her favor, and she continues to learn how to wield magic within the guild.In The Novice, Sonea truly shines and begins to own her potential. She's once again targeted, by a magician named Regin. This time by one of the other novices, and she endures months of torment. Regin torments her with the help of his friends, and they do everything they can to make her life hard. Again without giving anything away, she is triumphant.The Novice is my favorite book because it shows how much Sonea is learning. She's dedicated in her pursuit to get stronger, crafty when faced with adversity, but is endearing in light of her vulnerabilities. She loses a lot of her innocence in the second book, and her fierceness grows.The High Lord for me was captivating because of the intense battle against the enemy black magicians. She finds an ally in the one person who she would never expect, the High Lord Akkarin. Up until this point, Sonea and those closest to her did not like him. Sonea caught him using forbidden black magic in book one, and since then, Sonea was always wary and angry at him. However, things change drastically in this book between them. I won't say how things arrive to this conclusion, but I will say the blossoming love between Akkarin and Sonea was so unexpected. While I did enjoy seeing their love, specifically Sonea's change of heart, in light of Akkarin's true intentions for wielding black magic, their relationship did seem out of left field. Their relationship and Sonea's emotions for Akkarin arrived way too suddenly to be truly believable to me. We as readers, just spent two books, mostly book two, despising Akkarin because of Sonea's hatred for him. And then, all of a sudden things change between them.Despite that one gripe, I feel like this is a solid fantasy trilogy. It has all the makings of a great trilogy. I laughed, cried, and screamed at all the right places. All the characters are well developed, as is the world within the books. Sonea lost as much as she gained, and we root for her until the very end. And speaking of endings, it was every bit as shocking as I expected it to be. You will be in for one emotional ride.

Spoiler alert… don’t read this unless you want to learn about one of the characters. My only comment is why do authors always feel the need to kill off one of the most endeared characters????? We see so much sadness in real life why can’t we read a book once in a while that doesn’t sadden you at the end! I don’t understand why authors feel they need to do that. This ruined book 3 for me!

Liked the trilogy with unexpected plot twists. I do think the author either needed to give the attraction/romance time to develop or not have it at all, especially for our heroine. As is, it's unbelievable at worst (she hated this person and I don’t think people ever really go from hate to love in romantic love...usually the opposite as the relationship declines) or dissatisfying at best (seriously? Heroine has to go through pregnancy alone and our other favorite thief is mildly betrayed by his lady lover). I read the premise for the next trilogy with the same characters and seems to get worse on believability...she ends up her old nemesis(like tried to hurt/maim/kill her on many many occasions )? Does the author have any concept of how love works?

I have now read all of the trilogy in succession. It seems as though I was compelled to continue. Fantasy, action, the dark arts built from book 1, through book 2, and into the HighLord.

Which I don't think I've ever done before. Book 3 is a hot mess. Everything built up in the first two books is utterly irrelevant, characters are completely different than they have been, and suddenly we have all-powerful adversaries we've never even heard of before.On top of all that, the very core of the trilogy - the mystery around the head mage - only exists because he makes the idiot decision to keep something completely secret he didn't need to. Hmm... my secret has been learned by an old friend. I could tell him the truth... or I could threaten to murder three people. I'm gonna go with threats, that'll be a good stable strategy.I enjoyed the first book quite a bit. The second was OK. The third... yikes, wow, no. I'm done.Oh, and for the record, when a 33 year old master mage sleeps with his 19 year old apprentice it isn't romantic, it's abuse. Not to even get into the fact that she hated him/he threatened to kill her for months.

I absolutely loved this book and the whole series. Besides just being a fantasy book, it is also has political themes and touches on issues such as classism, discrimination and homosexuality. It was so fun getting to watch the protagonist’s growth over the three books in the series and it was SO refreshing to get to read about gay characters and experience a bit of gay love in a high fantasy story! ❤️❤️

I liked this story even better than the second book. The characters are interesting and the story is great. After I finished the second book, I immediately bought this book and read it straight through - over 12 hours straight. Loved it!

I've paid less for much better books however I've paid more for worse written books. After investing much time and money in this series I was hoping for a spectacular fanali. I won't give anything away but I thought the book was going to go in another direction and to be honest I thought the ending coudk have been much more intelligent with a twist. I was seriously let down. And instead of feeling happy I'd finished the series I feel cheated out of my time and money. Don't get me wrong the books are very well written. However they are starchy and lack emotion and often spend too much time setting the scene instead of getting to the action.Do I regret reading them? No.Would I re-read them though? No sorry

The High Lord is the final book in the Black Magician Trilogy. It's been a year since Sonea defeated Regin in the arena and life has settled down for her. She's not happy, still living as the High Lord's favourite when she's anything but, and unable to talk with her friend and mentor Rothen, but she's learning a lot. High Lord Akkarin isn't satisfied with her distance from him though, and begins to request more of her time. He tells her stories behind his use of black magic and despite her fear of him, Sonea finds herself wondering if they could possibly be true. And if they are, what they mean for the Guild.Meanwhile Cery, her old slum friend, has found himself in a high and respected position among the Thieves. He's been hunting those responsible for the ritualistic murders and been successful, but now they're coming more often and he's approached by a stranger who offers him help with them. But could this 'helper' actually be working with the killers? And what do the killers have to do with Akkarin and his stories?I loved the first two books in this trilogy, and this (happily) wasn't a let down in any way! Actually, it's easily my favourite of the three, I completely love it! Like the previous two it's told in third person, from the perspectives of Sonea, Cery, Lorlen and Dannyl for the most part, with a little from a couple others. All blended together carefully to make a great story, with some good twists along the way.The emotions the characters were going through came across well through the book and I couldn't help feeling for them as they all made tough decisions. They all wanted to do what was right, but not always with all the information they really needed. The unfolding events built increasingly to the action packed ending. I both love and hate the ending because there is one thing I wish hadn't happened, yet I know it wouldn't have been right happening any other way. It wouldn't have had nearly the same high impact, or been so good either. I think that this is the best put together of the three books, blending together the stories of the various characters and tying up loose ends. I had a really hard time putting it down, despite it's length. I'm really, really looking forward to the Traitor Spy trilogy which follows some of the characters from this trilogy, several years later.

...although the magic of this world don't work that hocus pocus way.I read this book in almost half a day the first time, as I couldn't put it down, even though I was going to work in the morning. Despite reading the ending spoiler beforehand, I was anxious every minutes of the journey. I am very prejudice therefore I could never entirely agree that the book have wrapped up the trilogy well. I am still disappointed with the outcome of the invasion, even now as I was crying bitterly for the whole week following.The ending aside, this is one of my favourite fantasy story and I suspect that very few alternative worlds could compare with this enchanting Kyralia (and I have read, watch and seen artist visuals of many). I could picture Lord Dannyl and his companion in the Tomb of White Tears, feel the dust from the Wasteland of Sachaka, or taste the fresh spring water where the High Lord Akkarin and the Administrator Lorlen once play kyrima (you have to read all the books to find out).What's the gist? Many others did wrong five and few hundred years ago, and the protagonist is the one paying the price. It must be because she dared elevate from the slum to live among nobles, and living with their bullying isn't enough, nor blackmailed, or held hostage.Another aspect of Trudi's work that I felt wanting - the insight to the High Lord's thoughts, but perhaps she prefer him being mysterious to enforce his evilness, and perhaps I wouldn't love him half as much if I knew more about him. I hope at some point in the next trilogy, we'll really finds out who teaches him black magic, because I don't believe what already said in the Ambassador's Mission. I also need to know who is the third person connected to the High Lord.I highly recommend this trilogy, even to those who don't read fantasy or fiction, AND there should be more movies from stories like this, instead of more unoriginal blood sucking vampire saga.

The High Lord, 3rd book in the Black Magician Triligy. Wow... This was the best book in the triligy by far. As with the first two, it follows Sonea who has now become the High Lord's favourite as she discovers Akarin's secrets about his past and his current situatoin with the black magicians from another land. It also continues the story of Danyl who is coming further to finding out the same truths.I don't want to say any more about the plot in case I spoil something becuase there are some really good twists and turns to this book but be assured it is brilliant and very well written. There is a very dramatic ending, including a huge battle and a fantiastic role for the Thieves and if you are like me, you may need some tissues on standby... that's as much as I'm going to hint but believe me if you enjoyed the other two, you will enjoy this one even more. It's fast paced, dramatic, romantic and heart renching all at the same time.Am very much looking forward to the next Triligy set in this world... Out this year!!!!!

I bought all three books and literally could not stop reading them!! The plot was so sich, the characters so well described, everything was amazing. But coming to the third book the author just messed it all up!!!!!!!The whole book is really interesting, but when it came to the crucial and the most important part at the end, she (the author) just finished it up in 2 chapters. It literally feels like she got bored and wanted to get it over and done with! I suggest you DONT read this trilogy. The plot and storyline is amazing but the end is just plain sloppy!!!! It will leave you fealing like you waster your time.