Nov 13, 2006 07:33 PM
2215 Views
(Updated Feb 10, 2007 11:46 AM)
I first read this book as part of the BBC 100 best book challenge.
It is the story of a young orphaned boy named Pugwho was found mysteriously abandoned in the forest as a baby.
He lives with foster parents who work in the kitchens ,in a large castle set in thea medieval world of Midkemiaand all he wants in the world is to be a soldier.
One stormy night he runs an errand which entails leaving the castle on foot but he becomes lost and stranded in the storm and darkness.
He is rescued by a huntsman who takes him to a nearby cottage where he is looked after by an old man.
The man is a Magician. He talks with Pug about his life in the castle and discovers that Pug has the makings of a Magician himself................................
It isthe day of choosing. All the boys of the castle who are of age , are summoned before the Duke and each are chosen for their designated profession.
They will be apprenticed from this moment on.
Some are chosen because of an aptitude for their profession and some are chosen because they wish to be trained and there is no reason why not.
Pug is small and skinny. He is not suitable for a soldier. He is devastated that he is not chosen but his best friend and foster brother Thomasis.
At the end of the choosing when it looks as if none will choose Pug , the Magician appears from the crowd of onlookers and asks to be Pugs teacher.
Pug becomes his apprentice.
He finds the learning very hard and cannot understand why the magician should carry on with his futile task.
The magician however sees great potential in Pug and refuses to release him from his apprenticeship.
The years pass and Pug becomes a man.
He assists the magician wherever he can .
One day a great rift appears in the air and strange warriors appear through it.
Many are capturedincluding Pug and he is transported through the rift to another world the land of Kelewanand enslaved.
The invaders called the Tsuranicontinue to carry out raids on Pugs world and become a terrible problem .Their magic is stronger and they seem inexhaustible.
On this new world he is chosen to be trained as a wizard (it is very unusual to be a slave and chosen to be elevated in this way but his potential is obvious).
Pug excells in his training.He finds that he can instinctively follow the teachings.
He becomes a Great one.
A chance reveals itself to return to his own world.
It is against everyones wishes and so he escapes back to his own world ,taking his unique form of magic with him.
Pug is now an asset to his people, he knows the language and customs of the invaders world.
He knows how to open the rift between the worlds.
He also knows why the invaders came and what they will accept as a treaty .
Pug closes and seals the rift.
I found this story very compelling reading.
It is well written and exciting.
This was Raymond Feists first book of the Riftwars and their have been many offshoots from it.
The only fault I can find , is the amount of luck that is involved in some of the adventures.
His main characters live charmed lives.
However it is his imagination which feeds the books and invents the worlds and so maybe in these worlds luck prevails.
