The Novice: Book 2 of the Black Magician (Black Magician Trilogy)

War ein Weihnachtsgeschenkt für meinen Bruder (23), weil er gerne Fantasy Bücher wie Herr der Ringe, Game of Thrones, die Zwerge (heißt das wirklich so? Ich bin da kein Spezialist) liest. Heute ist der 6. Januar, er hat alle drei Bücher durch und diese Woche hatte er sich schon das nächste Buch der Autorin bestellt. War wohl nicht so schlecht

Note: this is book two in a trilogy and not a good place to jump in. I recommend to start with „The Magicians Guild“.ReviewAfter reading the first book, I was undecided whether to read on. In the end, my curiosity over Sonea’s development and the secrets of the High Lord of the Magicians Guild won out and I continued „The Black Magician Trilogy“.This book is both better and the same as the prequel: it’s better plotwise and the same with the long pages full of the same things repeating themselves again and again and so drag the story development down to a slow, slow pace. The book has more than four hundred pages and doesn’t cover that many events. It gets better after the first half or so, but I had to fight to get there.So Sonea is now a novice at the Magicians Guild, but that isn’t the start of a good time for her. One of the other novices makes it his job to bully her every turn he is able to. And it was hard for me to read of his successful schemes and Sonea suffering through them without a way or do anything about it. The professors mostly look the other way because her Nemesis is highborn, whereas she is from the slums. I especially disliked seeing the harassment repeated throughout the book, a resolution only found at the end. Things get worse when the High Lord takes over her guardianship and not out of the kindness of his heart, but is keeping all the people who know about him using black magic in check. His character and his secrets are one of the truly interesting things here that kept me reading. His actions are at the same time that of a villain and yet he seems to do things because he has to and not to harm anyone. His secrets aren’t revealed at the end of the book, though, so I will have to read on to get answers to that.Dannyl‘s travels to other countries are only because of his new job as an ambassador, but in truth because Lorlen sent him to find out about the High Lord’s own travels and what he discovered then. Dannyl‘s adventures are exciting at the beginning, but soon his experiences resemble each other just as Sonea‘s, so again too many pages for too little action that drives the plot forward.Overall, I liked the book, the slow middle-part notwithstanding. And I will probably read the last installment as well, because I’m still interested in Sonea’s development and the High Lord’s secrets. Hopefully the finale is going to be faster paced...