The Magicians' Guild

Last updated
The Magicians' Guild
TrudiCanavan TheMagiciansGuild.jpg
First edition cover
Author Trudi Canavan
Cover artistSteve Stone
LanguageEnglish
Series The Black Magician series
Genre Fantasy novel
Publisher Orbit Books
Publication date
2001
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages469 pp (UK edition)
ISBN 1-84149-313-9 (first edition, paperback) &
ISBN   1-904233-66-X (hardback edition)
OCLC 53391710
Followed byThe Novice 

The Magicians' Guild is the first fantasy novel in The Black Magician series by Trudi Canavan. Published in 2001, it is followed by The Novice (2002) and The High Lord (2003).

Contents

The book tells the story of Sonea, a young girl from the slums, as she discovers her magical potential. When she hurls a stone through a magical barrier, accidentally injuring a magician behind it, Sonea finds herself on the run from the powerful Magicians' Guild. The magicians must find her before her uncontrolled and untrained powers kill her and destroy the city, as well as overcome Sonea's distrust and fear of the magicians and their Guild as they try to convince her to join their ranks.

Plot

Each winter in Imardin, the capital city of Kyralia, the streets are purged of the "dwells", the city's poor under-class, by magicians who drive away the inhabitants of the city's slums. Although young gang members gather to throw rocks at them, the magicians are protected by a magical shield—until Sonea, a young dwell, hurls a rock through their barrier and injures the magician Lord Fergun.

Fearing a rogue magician, the Guild begins searching for Sonea. Lords Dannyl and Rothen lead the search into the slums, worried that Sonea's increasingly uncontrolled magic will harm her and those around her. But Sonea both distrusts the Guild for their apparent lack of compassion for the poor dwells and fears their reprisal for her accidental injury of Lord Fergun. She flees with her friend Cery, eventually seeking the aid of the shady Thieves, who see the value of having their own magician and take her under their care. With Cery, she sneaks into the Magician's Guild in an attempt to gain knowledge of how to control her magic, and observes a black-robed magician covered in blood performing a strange rite on a servant. However, her attempt to learn more is unsuccessful, and Sonea continues to lose control of her powers, setting fire to her surroundings repeatedly, before Lord Rothen at last locates her.

At the magician's Guild, Lord Rothen and the sinister Fergun fight for Sonea's mentorship, though she is uninterested in training and only wants to return home to her friends and family. Lord Fergun attempts to sway Sonea to betray the Guild and thus prove that dwells are not fit to enter the Guild and goes so far as to kidnap and threaten Cery, but Fergun's plans are discovered and he is made to stand trial. In order to prove Fergun's guilt, Sonea submits to a mental examination, or 'truthreading', by Administrator Lorlen, who, finding the memory of the black-robed magician, reveals the man to be Lord Akkarin, head of the guild, explaining that she saw him practising black magic which is forbidden in Kyralia. Sonea decides then to join the Guild and train her magical potential.the next scene is the epilogue in which Lord Rothen is teaching her to create a globe light as used by magicians earlier in the books; he then questions what made her change her mind and stay, to which she replies that there is something that administrator Loren wants him to know; then the book ends presumably with Sonea telling him of the black magic being practised by Akkarin .

Writing the book

On her webpage, Canavan describes that the main inspiration for the first chapter came from watching a documentary of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona:

I was watching late night news and saw a report on how the city authorities had sent trucks around the city, into which all the homeless were loaded and then taken them to other cities. That night I dreamed that I was one among hundreds of people being driven out of a city... by magicians. We started throwing stones and instead I threw magic. I woke up and wrote down the dream, sure that in the morning I'd read it and laugh (most dreams make for bad stories). But I didn't. Later it fit with a world I'd created where magic was latent and required expert tuition, so the teaching of it became a priviledge[ sic ] only available to the rich.

Trudi Canavan, author's website

[1]

Awards and nominations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceremonial magic</span> Variety of rituals of magic

Ceremonial magic encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an extension of ritual magic, and in most cases synonymous with it. Popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, it draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, and the magic of various grimoires. Ceremonial magic is part of Hermeticism and Western esotericism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Happy ending</span> Plot archetype where a protagonists desires are fulfilled

A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which there is a positive outcome for the protagonist or protagonists, and in which this is to be considered a favourable outcome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raistlin Majere</span> Fictional character from Dragonlance books

Raistlin Majere is a fictional character from the Dragonlance series of books created by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Raistlin played an extensive role in the two main series of books, particularly in Dragonlance Legends in which he was both primary protagonist and antagonist. He is twin brother to Caramon Majere, half-brother to his protective sister Kitiara uth Matar, and a significant member of the Heroes of the Lance. In the animated movie adaptation, Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Raistlin was voiced by Kiefer Sutherland.

<i>Ragnarok</i> (manhwa) Manga

Ragnarok is a manhwa created by Lee Myung-jin and published by Daiwon C.I. in South Korea from 1998 to 2001. There are currently 10 volumes in circulation, which were republished in English in North America by Tokyopop from May 21, 2002, to April 6, 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trudi Canavan</span> Australian writer of fantasy novels

Trudi Canavan is an Australian writer of fantasy novels, best known for her best-selling fantasy trilogies The Black Magician and Age of the Five. While establishing her writing career she worked as a graphic designer. She completed her third trilogy, The Traitor Spy trilogy, in August 2012 with The Traitor Queen. Subsequently, Canavan has written a series called Millennium's Rule, with a completely new setting consisting of multiple worlds which characters can cross between. Though originally planned as a trilogy, a fourth and final book in the Millennium's Rule series was published.

<i>Violinist of Hameln</i> Japanese manga series

Violinist of Hameln is a Japanese manga series created by Michiaki Watanabe. The manga revolves around a group of adventurers named Hamel, Flute, Raiel, Trom and Sizer. They set off on a perilous journey north to the demon continent, seeking to avert a catastrophic event. Hamel, armed only with his magical violin, uses his music to persuade his monstrous adversaries to atone for their misdeeds and meet their demise by killing themselves.

In popular fiction, a thieves' guild is a formal association of criminals who participate in theft-related organized crime. The trope has been explored in literature, cinema, comic books, and gaming, such as in the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story "Thieves' House" by Fritz Leiber and the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Though these more modern works are fictitious, the concept is inspired by real-world examples from history, such as Jonathan Wild and his gang of thieves.

<i>Age of the Five</i> Trilogy by Trudi Canavan

Age of the Five is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Australian author Trudi Canavan; it consists of the novels: Priestess of the White, Last of the Wilds and Voice of the Gods. The fictional series recounts the story of Auraya, a young priestess who, after rising to the highest rank in her world's religious hierarchy, subsequently discovers that the gods she worships are significantly different entities from those in whom she was originally taught to believe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magician (fantasy)</span> Magicians appearing in fantasy fiction

A magician, also known as an archimage, mage, magus, magic-user, spellcaster, enchanter/enchantress, sorcerer/sorceress, warlock, witch, or wizard, is someone who uses or practices magic derived from supernatural, occult, or arcane sources. Magicians enjoy a rich history in mythology, legends, fiction, and folklore, and are common figures in works of fantasy, such as fantasy literature and role-playing games.

<i>Master of the Five Magics</i> 1980 fantasy novel by Lyndon Hardy

Master of the Five Magics is a fantasy novel by Lyndon Hardy, first published in 1980. It is the first of a trilogy set in the same world; the second book is Secret of the Sixth Magic and the third Riddle of the Seven Realms. The books feature different characters, but each explores the same system of magic in successively more detail. It may be an early example of hard fantasy.

<i>The Magician</i> (French TV series) French TV series or program

The Magician is a French animated superhero television series created by Florian Ferrier, Savin Yeatman and Gilles Adrien, the second of whom also served as the series' story editor. It was produced by Gaumont Multimedia in 1997 and is currently owned by Xilam. It aired on France 3 starting on September 2, 1998 and later on Fox as part of its Fox Kids programming block in 1999 as one of the few European shows to air in the US at the time.

<i>Dragonsword</i> 1988 novel by Gael Baudino

Dragonsword is a novel written by Gael Baudino and published in 1988. It is the first in the Dragonsword Trilogy. The other novels are Duel of Dragons (1989) and Dragon Death (1992). According to the author, after completing an unfinished manuscript and fleshing it out to roughly double its length, she sold it to Byron Preiss Books, a "book packaging company" looking for a "series of sword and sorcery novels including dragons and a super-magical sword", who sold it to Lynx Omeiga Books. After Lynx Omeiga went out of business, Roc Books acquired rights to the whole trilogy and reprinted Dragonsword in 1991. While reviewing Roc's galley proofs for Dragonsword, Baudino made several minor wording changes in the narrative and corrected one large error which she declines to elaborate on. Thus, the first and second editions of Dragonsword are not identical in content.

<i>Magicians Academy</i> Japanese light novel series

Magician's Academy, also known as Macademi Wasshoi! is a Japanese light novel series by Ichirō Sakaki, with illustrations by Blade. Nine volumes were published between January 24, 2003 and August 30, 2007; there is also a series of seven illustrated short stories called Macademi Radical. A manga adaptation by Blade was serialized in Enterbrain's Magi-Cu magazine in 2006. Another manga adaptation by Hitomi Nakao was serialized in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive magazine between February 27, 2008 and November 27, 2009 and collected in three volumes. An anime television series adaptation animated by Zexcs aired between October and December 2008.

<i>Magic Kingdom of Landover</i> Fantasy fiction series by Terry Brooks

The Magic Kingdom of Landover is a series of six fantasy novels by Terry Brooks following the adventures of a former trial lawyer named Ben Holiday, who purchases a magical kingdom.

<i>The Magicians Apprentice</i> Fantasy novel by Trudi Canavan

The Magician's Apprentice is a fantasy novel by author Trudi Canavan. It was published in February 2009, and is a stand-alone prequel telling a story occurring hundreds of years before her bestselling Black Magician Trilogy. It tells the story of a war between Kyralia and Sachaka through the eyes of Tessia, a young woman and magician from a countryside village. The novel won the Aurealis Award 2009 for the best fantasy novel.

<i>Od Magic</i> 2005 novel by Patricia A. McKillip

Od Magic is a 2005 fantasy novel by American writer Patricia A. McKillip. It was a 2006 nominee for World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.

<i>The Thinking Womans Guide to Real Magic</i> 2013 novel by Emily Croy Barker

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic is a fantasy novel by Emily Croy Barker. The novel takes place in the 21st century and centers around a woman named Nora, who accidentally wanders into a magical land. The story involves themes such as magic, social commentary, and romance. The novel makes several references to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

<i>Harry & Bunnie</i> 2016 Malaysian TV series or program

Harry & Bunnie is a Malaysian animated television series created by the Malaysian-based company, Animasia Studio. It follows young wannabe magician Harry who invents magical tricks to impress his friends, but always in vain. Meanwhile, his mischievous stage rabbit Bunnie always ends up stealing the limelight with its ongoing mission to steal Harry's magic wand. Harry always creates elaborate plans to take back his wand but always fails in the end.

References