The Novice cover art

The Novice

The Black Magician Trilogy, Book 2

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The Novice

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

Sonea knows the other novices in the Magicians' Guild all come from powerful families, but she also knows she can turn to Rothen and Dannyl for help when she needs it. That is, until someone starts spreading malicious rumours about her – and Akkarin, The High Lord, steps in.

Promoted to Guild Ambassador, Lord Dannyl leaves for the Elyne court. His first order from Administrator Lorlen is to resume, in secret, High Lord Akkarin's long-abandoned research into ancient magical knowledge. Not knowing the true reason for his journey, Dannyl is soon facing unexpected dangers.

Meanwhile, Sonea has almost forgotten the High Lord's dark secret, but keeping the truth hidden may be a grave mistake.

©2002 Trudi Canavan (P)2008 Bolinda Publishing Coming of Age Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Magic Users

Critic reviews

'A wonderfully and meticulously detailed world, and an edge-of-the-seat plot, this book is a must for lovers of good fantasy.' (Jennifer Fallon, author of The Demon Child Trilogy)
'Epic, vivid and believable.' (on Thief's Magic) (The Guardian)
All stars
Most relevant

What made the experience of listening to The Novice the most enjoyable?

This is the second book of the Magician's Guild series. I found it much faster to get into than the first and the storyline was much better. This book has got me wanting to download all of them in the series! The only fault I would say is about the narrator. He tends to leave big gaps between sentences and it sometimes seems like the book has stopped, the a few seconds later he'll start again. Not a major issue, just a bit annoying!

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The only fault I would say is about the narrator. He tends to leave big gaps between sentences and it sometimes seems like the book has stopped, the a few seconds later he'll start again. Not a major issue, just a bit annoying!

Better than the first book!

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This audio book is really good - as the first review suggested it can take a little while to get into but it?s well worth the effort! Just waiting for the final unabridged book in the trilogy now!

Even better than the first

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Reading was a bit slow, but playing it back at 1.25x to 1.5 was better for me. Enjoyed 1 & 2, starting on 3.

Good listen

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I have had the full set of books and read many times.
However, the narration I’m not impressed with. Different accents are fabulous but I feel the narrator hasn’t read the books. Voices are made out to be older than they are written and takes them out of character Trudi wrote them in. This comes out in other books though, but very annoying.
However an easy read and the books are engaging

A fabulous read but not listen

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This trilogy is one I can read over and over. They are so well written, and such an engaging storyline.

Brilliant!

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