The Magician's Apprentice

December 15, 2008
This prequel to Canavan's Black Magician trilogy (The Magicians' Guild
, etc.) fails to distinguish itself from other magical coming-of-age tales. Tessia treads the well-worn path of a girl in a low-tech monarchy, determined to be a healer like her father but discouraged from pursuing a career. When her insistence on practicing medicine brings her up against the arrogant Sachakan wizard Ashaki Takado, Tessia discovers a natural talent for magic in self-defense. She hires on with magician Lord Dakon, competing with his more experienced apprentice and hoping to combine her powers with her interest in healing. Meanwhile, the encroaching Sachakan army threatens Tessia's hometown, forcing her thoughts to turn to war. Although the plot is well paced and Tessia is a sympathetic protagonist, Canavan never manages to make the world and other characters distinctive or memorable.

January 15, 2009
In this prequel to the popular Black Magician trilogy (The High Lord, 2003, etc.), two young women on opposite sides of a war discover their life 's work.

Tessia has just begun her apprenticeship with a master magician when her country, Kyralia, is invaded by renegade magicians from neighboring Sachaka. Meanwhile, Stara, a half-Sachakan brought up in liberal Elyne, is shocked by the extremely limited role that women play in her father 's society. As Tessia discovers hitherto unknown methods of healing with magic, magicians in the Kyralian army seek new ways to defeat the Sachakans, eventually utilizing tactics as ethically questionable as those of their invaders. Meanwhile, Stara looks for a way to escape her restrictive life and rescue those who suffer worse fates. While the story of young women seeking independence and careers in a man 's world remains an appealing fantasy trope, especially for those who haven 't encountered it before, this is a less-than-stellar example of the genre. Canavan is of the tell-not-show school, and the social messages she 's embedded in the plot are less than subtly expressed. (Slavery, homophobia, misogyny and excessive ambition are Bad.) She attempts to underscore her points with several brutal incidents, but she undercuts her arguments instead by flinching at their implications and letting the worst parts occur discreetly offstage. This tendency is particularly noticeable toward the end, as the book rushes toward an entirely too abrupt conclusion.

Unpolished, unsophisticated, unsatisfying —and unlikely to deter Canavan 's fans.

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February 15, 2009
When a Healer's daughter resists the unwanted advances of a Sachakan mage with heretofore unknown magic of her own, her life changes forever. Soon the resourceful Tessa discovers that magic has its advantages and its dangerous responsibilities. Set in the same world as the internationally popular "Black Magician" trilogy (e.g., "The Magicians' Guild"), this standalone is a good introduction to Canavan's work.

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