The Magician's Guild cover art

The Magician's Guild

The Black Magician Trilogy, Book 1

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The Magician's Guild

By: Trudi Canavan
Narrated by: Richard Aspel
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About this listen

 Sonea is caught up in a confrontation between the hated Guild magicians and the angry youth of the slums. To her dismay, she discovers that she possesses the same powers as the reviled magicians. To avoid capture, she must seek protection from the city's feared underworld, The Thieves. In return, she must use her powers for them, but her magic never seems to do quite what she intends it to.©2004 Trudi Canavan (P)2004 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd. Fantasy Fiction Magic Users

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Critic reviews

"The first part of the Black Magician Trilogy, this captivating tale has already been hailed by critics as a 'must for lovers of good fantasy'." ( Marie Claire)
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Would you consider the audio edition of The Magician's Guild to be better than the print version?

I would definitely not, the books are very well written, and whilst some people think that the beginning of this first book is slow, I don't think that it is so slow that it puts anyone off. It sets the scene and has some very good character development. I have the paper version of these books, and downloaded the audio as I have started listening to stories to send me to sleep... though it is almost hard to sleep listening to these as the stories are sooo good!! Personally, I prefer reading as I can then give the characters my own voices and personality parts, I was not a fan of how they were portrayed in this audio book.

What did you like best about this story?

In the written version, Sonea. In the narrated by Richard Aspel version - I will say the whole story, despite how much i disliked the narrator. I found it very difficult to appreciate the weird voices that Richard put on, especially his version of Sonea which I found very annoying. She is supposed to be a proud, brave young girl and Richard voiced her as a pathetic weakling which i found awful!

Any additional comments?

As annoying as I found Richard Aspel, I have downloaded the second book in the series 'The Novice' and will also get the third. This series is one of my favourite sets of books and I refuse to let the narrator put me off! I hope there is a different narrator for the 'Age of The Five' books as by then it may have become too much, and I don't want to risk Richard Aspel ruining Auraya for me too!

Awesome story - bad narrating

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I first read this book a couple of years ago when it was published in Germany. Since then I have read it over and over again in German and English. The narrator of the audiobooks is brilliant. Besides, I think the story is great and I love the character development.

still my favourite book

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I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator has a nice voice and he is easy to listen to.

entertaining!

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I read this book and adored it. I struggle with reading these days. and trying to listen to this is awful. It feels like the narrator is taking a few sips of water between every sentence, and the difference between voices is very limited.

Too....much.... hesitation.

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It took me a wile to get into the book as I didn't take to well to the narrator. Once I got my head around the narrator's strange voices I found my self quite hooked. Followimg the Story of a young girl named Sonea I entered into the underworld of thieves, slums, magic, mystery and the desire to know what will happen next....I suppose I'll have to buy the next book.

Magic, mystery, slums and thieves

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I enjoyed it but feel it dragged a bit in places. Some good characters. Will have to read the books for the rest of it because I see the audio books for two and three are abridged!

QUITE GOOD

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Interesting book but for a young audience I felt but a wonderfully imagined world to disappear into.

For younger readers

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Love this book. Every time I read it, it gives me the warm fuzzys. I live for it

Warn Fuzzys

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I believe this audiobook is let down by the narrator, Richard Aspel. His timing is poor, he uses inappropriate emphasis on sentences and his odd accents distract from the story rather than adding to it.

The book itself is fun and interesting. Some points were repeated too often and I found myself thinking: "yes, I realised that was important the first 5 times it was mentioned". However, the pace of the book picks up in the final third and I am very interested to find out how the lead character, Sonea, develops in the next book.

Thank you Trudi :)

Good book - shame about the narrator

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This is a great fantasy/sc fi book, which is suitable for all ages. The narrator was brilliant....he helped me to visualize the individual characters. The story is about Sonea who has magic but doesn't realise it. When she accidently uses it, the Magicians Guild start to look for her, and suddenly she becomes the most wanted person in town. I highly recommend this especially to younger readers...it is a great start into this genre.

A book suitable for adults and children

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