But we, well-read in fantasy as we are, know that Pug has great powers slumbering deep inside him and is destined for Great Things. Both boys dream of becoming great warriors in the military and conquering the heart of a beautiful princess – maybe even their own princess Carline, who knows? But, as you can expect, the ceremony arrives and everyone is chosen except for Pug, who is then picked by Kulgan, the magician, almost like he’s taking pity on him. They are looking forward to the annual choosing ceremony with trepidation, because this will decide their future. Pug and Tomas are two teenage boys who live in Crydee, where there is a Lord, a magician, a priest, and a princess. I was once an orphaned kitchen boy, with no family and no prospects, but I am destined to become a master magician… I longed to train as a warrior and fight alongside our duke like my foster-brother, but when the time came, I was not offered that choice. War had come to the Kingdom of the Isles, and in the years that followed it would scatter my friends across the world. The world had changed even before I discovered the foreign ship wrecked on the shore below Crydee Castle, but it was the harbinger of the chaos and death that was coming to our door. Pug danced along the edges of the rocks, his feet finding scant purchase as he made his way among the tide pools.

Those Tolkien-inspired fantasies have some real problems… The experience was both wonderful and a great reminder of why SFF if such a brilliant genre these days.

To clarify, depending on which edition of the book you pick up, it is sold in either one or two volumes. As I had only read the first half – Magician: Apprentice – previously, I thought this would be a good chance to re-read that part and then go straight for the second. I picked this book up late in April when it was chosen as a Sword and Laser book club pick.

Magician pug