The Novice: The Black Magician Trilogy, Book 2

I really liked this one. It was much better than the first book. This one kept my attention and had me not wanting to stop reading.

With this 2nd book of the trilogy--the author keeps the pace moving along with the development of the characters.Twists and turns to the story/plot keep the actions of the characters interesting and life-like.This 2nd part of the trilogy did not disappoint and I felt that I grew along with the characters in understanding their frustrations, challenges and connections.Worthy of reading--I would recommend getting the trilogy to give you the complete story/plot.

The Novice follows the story of Sonea a poor girl from the slums who has discovered she is a magician. After her pursuit by the guild, she decides to become a student. But her life isn't easy because there are people who resent the fact that someone of her social standing can join the guild. She is constantly harassed by her fellow students. She becomes motivated to excel so that she can move ahead of her fellow classmates and move to another class. Her life changes for the better or perhaps the worst when the High Lord decides to take her guardianship. Her social standing improves but she is still harassed and then there is the secret that she knows about the High Lord. The secret could change the power structure and leadership of the guild. The High Lord would like to keep that from happening and has put pressure on Sonea to ensure that it doesn't. Sonea will just have to find a way to survive.This is book two of the three part series and is recommended to all that like fantasy.

I loved it. Simple as that.I should say that I don't think this style of book is for everyone. It reads like a long epic tale; the smallest of details such as the temperature of the wind should be taken into account as should relationships and rules, etc. If you are looking for a light quick read, then this isn't for you.I saw the Sword&Laser interview with the author and decided to pick up the first book. Then I finished the 1st book and immediately bought the 2nd and finished it and I just purchased the 3rd. The only thing stopping me from reading the 3rd one right now is the fact that I wanted to write a quick review before I started...There wasn't much new introduced in this book, but it did wrap up some questions that were asked in the first book and then of course asked some new ones that were unexpected.I have some speculations about some characters that I hope to have answered in the next one. And I think I should go start it now... :)

Before I read this book I went through several of the comments so my expectations were not very high. But seriously, I could not put this book down. Following Sonea's progress through the University was an amazing bit of writing. The imagery and character creation was phenomenal. It was a little annoying reading the travels of Dannyl interspersed with the other story lines, not because the writing was bad or the story was boring - just because the parts about Sonea were so interesting.Canavan is in my opinion an amazing writer and deserves to be among the top writers of the genre. Usually the middle book of any series is the slowest but that is not the case with 'The Novice'. Great writing, great story, great action.Well done Trudi! I highly recommend this series. I have already purchased the follow up series 'The Traitor Spy Triology' and am eager to finish this series so I can see where the next series goes.

All too often, second novels in a trilogy are soft and soggy, meandering, or emphasizing the things one didn't like in the first, and ignoring the things one liked. This book has none of those flaws. There is still an intriguing amount of information about the training of magicians. There is still an exploration of class and gender inequalities- -although with a new spin to keep them fresh. There are multiple mysteries hinted at and explored. I was slightly concerned that splitting the story between multiple locations would weaken it, but the author handled it beautifully, tying all the elements together so that the different story lines strengthened each other as well as providing a more comprehensive backdrop. I am eager to read book 3, and delighted to see more beyond the initial trilogy.

I thought this book was just as good at the first! I loved how detailed some of the class room scenes were, as it really helps you to understand the world, history, magic, etc My only complaint was how repetitive the first chapter was when referencing the previous book (the third book suffers from this as well), as if you had never read the first book, which hey, don't read a series and skip books. :D I guess if you're unlike me and weren't reading them back to back, and instead as they were being released, it wouldn't be so annoying, but it felt like flashback overkill to me.If you liked the first book, you'll like this one! I'm eager to see if the third book continues this good trend.

I debated purchasing after reading reviews, but it kept me happily reading. I’m disappointed when it ended but already knew I’m getting book 3 and happy to keep up with the characters and story.

This is the second book of the magicians guild & it's even better than the first. I really wanted to punch the bully, though he's only a product of his upbringing, spoilt rich & entitled often leads to someone turning out to be an unpleasant individual.I came to really care about the characters, I was so pleased when Sonea got things right, felt for her when things were difficult for her. She is a strong female character & that's so refreshing.I liked the way the characters develop, the description of their world & would love to travel there. Go on do yourself a favour & travel there with this series.

How PATHETIC did Sonea turn out to be in this book?Again, the author drags part of the story, aka where Sonea gets bullied by some of the rich, spoilt novices, out for pretty much 2/3 of the book, needlessly I may add.I only gave this two stars because throughout the whole book, whilst the style of writing is still appreciable, I found myself completely aghast at the pathetic, lacking in backbone and self-doubting creature that she turned Sonea into!We are talking about a young, determined individual with a lot of potential for success, the HEROINE for goodness sake, who defiantly evaded the entire Guild of the best magicians in the world, during the first book....to be turned into this pathetic thing!Pretty much the whole book was filled with passages followed by passages of self-doubting 'but if I did this then....on the other hand, why would it matter if they thought....what if I...'' questions and it just drove me nuts!Cut out all this self thought passages for the characters crap please!

The Novice, book 2 of the Black Magician Triligy is a great follow on book to the Magician's Guild. It continues the story of Sonea, the street girl who has magical ability and follows her time at the guild trying to fit in. However it is not as easy as that for Sonea as the other novices don't like her and dont want her in their class. Together they gang up on her led by one particular novice who hates her and do some awful things to her. But does she get her own back???? You will have to read and find out.... It also follows the story of Danyl who has been sent to a distant land to take up his new role and this is the part that I found particularly interesting. As with the Magician's Guild, the point of view changes a couple of times each chapter and I found myself looking forward to the parts about Danyl where he is trying to uncover the truth about Akarin's past and where he also starts to uncover the truth about himself!!!! I wont say anything else about that because I don't want to spoil it for anyone but believe me, its good!!!Overall I loved this book and as soon as I finished it, I immediately started reading the third one as it had me gripped by then and I needed to know what happened to these charactors who I had come to love so much.

Trudi Canavan a magician in her own right.Started reading the Priestess of the white trilogy a few years ago and have been a huge fan of her books ever since.I'm not a huge book worm but i love anything to do with magic/ sorcerers and all things mythical. So much so that I bought my first actual books outside of borrowing from my library.Highly recommend it to anybody that loves detailed magic fights, a bit of romance, major plot twists and everything else you'd want from a book. just don't blame me when you are left empty after finishing the series. (small spoiler.)Other than that, the books were in great condition. A few dog tags here and there but that's fine since i was buying it used.

This is the middle book of a trilogy about a girl’s discovery and development of magic potential in a political world. More about how people think and affect each other than the bare story they were a revelation to me.