the noviceI followed on from December’s read ‘The Magician’s Guild’, book one of the Black Magician Trilogy, with ‘The Novice’, book two of the same.

Sonea officially becomes a novice of the Magician’s Guild, but that doesn’t mean the high born magicians will accept a slum dweller into their ranks – and let’s not forget that she is one of the few who know the dark secret about the High Lord.

Sonea faces a lot more than just bullying, but I don’t want to play the spoiler harp and ruin that. While the second half of her troubles was genuinely intriguing, the bullying got a bit annoying for me after a while. The reason is very personal to me, because I can’t really understand the mentality Sonea had of not going and asking for help. I can see the motivations that drive a person to behave that way, but it’s just so opposite to my nature that it drives me insane. But enough about me ;p

Things get much more complicated with the secret about High Lord Akkarin, but I won’t divulge how(spoilers sweetie) and again, the ending stakes make me eager to read the next book.

But the one *SPOILER ALERT* I will throw out there (yes, legitimate SPOILER ALERT) I loved the relationship between Dannyl and Tayend. I thought it was very nicely treated and I think there was a certain sense of chemistry even before Tayend was revealed as gay. There were a lot of parallels placed between the real world and the book’s world and it was interesting to see these issues tackled in a fantasy setting. My only disappointment is they haven’t gotten together (yet, looking forward to book three). I must now confess I always have been, and always will be a shipper 😀 (for those not familiar with the term it means I get deeply invested in relationships (there are other meanings too, but that’s how I use it)). And the kiss between Sonea and Dorrien was so cute.

/Spoiler.

I’m looking forward to the concluding book, I’m going to try and cram it in before my February read.