Magician by Raymond E. Feist: Books that shaped my understanding of Fantasy.

There are books that are important to the genre of Fantasy in terms of impact, popularity, innovation, or even representation, others that are important to us. Magician by Raymond E Feist, is one of those books that I think is a great text to illustrate aspects of the genre but also one that I loved as a child.
The adventure of Pug, Arutha, and Tomas, started off the huge fantasy Riftwar series (well Riftwar Cycle... or Riftwar Saga... it has gone through a few rebranding exercises) made up of multiple mini-series and arcs, that blended classic Tolkien-esque fantasy with the modern desire for adventure fantasy, all with a gaming influence behind the scenes.
So this is just a short video discussing a few aspects of Magician that influenced me when I was younger and that inspired questions that ultimately sent me down the path of studying Fantasy as literature.
If you would like to buy me a coffee or a book, Support me on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/crit...
Intro and Music by Professor Trip.

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

It was fun to hear about how Magician influenced you as a young reader, A.P.! I read Magician when I was in my twenties, and while I really enjoyed it, it was never the life-changing experience that Lord of the Rings was for me. Looking back, I can see how, at that age, I had a tendency to not fully appreciate fantasy that wasn't written by Tolkien. I'd like to reread Magician someday and continue in the series.

[@slidenaway]

I strongly recommend it, it's a certain style that is not always what we want at any given time, but I love the whole series (more detail in my main comment if you wanna see) and if you're interested, I say go for it at some point!

[@ACriticalDragon]

I love the fact that there are different books that we hold personally dear because we discovered them at just the right moment. We can always appreciate a good book, but there is something magical about the right book at the right time that elevates it in our minds and creates an outsized impact in our lives.

[@Paul_van_Doleweerd]

@@ACriticalDragon Did you every read the author's 'preferred edition'.

[@bigaldoesbooktube1097]

We need to get back to these epic covers in fantasy

[@ACriticalDragon]

It is amazing how styles come and go out of fashion for book covers. And yet no style will please everyone.

[@liviajelliot]

It was very interesting to watch this, and hear you reflect on what you enjoyed as a kid! I particularly liked your "grown up" thoughts on your past reading enjoyment, and it got me thinking on how I enjoyed books as a child vs now as well. Thank you for sharing this!

[@DanExploresBooks]

This looks fantastic. The beard, I mean. I should pick up Magician though. Sounds very interesting.

[@TheGeekyHippie]

This was one of my formative reads as an adolescent, and since then has been a "comfort read" for me. I've re-read them several times (at least the initial Saga and the Empire Trilogy, most of the stuff after that I have only read the one time), including finishing Silverthorn just last night before going to bed. News that these books are in development as a TV series has me excited for that possibility, but knowing what I do of how that industry runs, I am not holding my breath.

[@ACriticalDragon]

Oddly enough, Silverthorn was my least favourite of the original trilogy. Although Jimmy the Hand was a great fantasy Artful Dodger.

[@a.fleming4211]

I read Magician for the first time at the beginning of 2009. It’s such a fun read. I will be eternally grateful to by buddy who gave the recommendation. Thanks for talking about the book!

[@ACriticalDragon]

You are very welcome. Thanks for watching.

[@masterpug0]

Same for me as a 9th grader when I read it when my good friend Robert P Kruger loaned it to me! So excited Amazon Prime video is collaborating with Raymond and making a mini series right now all about the Riftwar Cycle!

[@mattjazzml]

Wow. This is how booktube should be. I hope some of the 'big guns' from the YT fantasy review world watch this. Excellent and thought provoking. Clearly outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the book while placing it within the context of when it was written. Many people forget these concepts and are quick to criticize based on what we have now. My first video of yours and I subscribed. Thankyou.

[@carlalbert6518]

Good to know we can blame Raymond E Feist (in part) for the curse of Professor Fireballs. I figured there must have been some sort of dastardly origin story. In all seriousness, Magician is one of those “classic” fantasy novels I’ve been meaning to get to for some time now and you’re certainly encouraging me to move it up the list.

[@ACriticalDragon]

I think it is a good example of how D&D and Tolkien became amalgamated in the genre. Plus you get three classic fantasy characters for the price of one :)

[@MattonBooks]

I had a very similar experience with Magician at a similar age (with the same cover too!), although I most strongly related to Pug. Guess kid Matt really wanted to be a wizard. 🙂 Very interesting, as usual, and makes me want to re-read it soon!

[@Vinnie2501]

Feist was one of my earliest still accessible fantasy worlds. Magician was stunning. Then loved the empire series which was stunning with Janny Wurts. After that it just gets better. Kaspar threw me as a POV from nowhere but it worked.

[@philipmarsh2172]

My mother had that edition of Magician and I read and reread it voraciously as an adolescent

[@ACriticalDragon]

I had (and may still have) both editions that are on the thumbnail.

[@akellerhouse83]

These are the books that brought me back to reading fantasy. During university, if it wasn't about biology or chemistry I didn't have time for it. And on breaks from school I just read whatever was popular at the time. After I was done with school, a coworker recommended this series to me in 2008 and I ate it up. I've pretty much read only fantasy since then.

[@ACriticalDragon]

Now that is a heart-warming story.

[@ducky36F]

This was one of the first high fantasy books I picked up to. Has such a captivating world.

[@damiansalt6302]

Great books, recently revisited these through audible and had a great time. It proves cliches done well still work, it follows all the tropes and still holds up in time.

[@ACriticalDragon]

I think it is sometimes difficult for readers now to look at something written 40 years ago and remember that elements we see as cliches in the modern day were not necessarily cliches at the time. The struggle of reading a book as an artifact versus the reading of a book as a new experience.

[@chrismohan]

This resonates. My genesis in fantasy went Tolkien > Brooks > Feist. Not belittling Brooks’writing but Feist had a more mature and complex world to live within. Add to the that the self identification that you highlight and you have THE formative reading experience of my teens. I also hadn’t really thought about how this book sets up the matriarchy of Empire. Thanks for the trip and revisit of Midkemia.

[@paulharvey5505]

I think the other thing to keep in mind, is Magician didn’t have the same direct parallels to Tolkien that the Sword of Shannara did, plot wise . My favorite book in that original series was actually Elfstones of Shannara.

[@ACriticalDragon]

I arrived at Brooks a little later, so the genre had already started evolving by the time I got to his writing.

[@TheZrk2]

One of the things I really liked about Feist was the Valheru and the 'deep time' for lack of a better word. The ideas he explored with time and the other planet were really interesting. They stuck with me a lot more than any of the specific plot points. Did you ever read Katherine Kurtz? In some ways she reminds me of Feist.

[@thefantasythinker]

For some reason, this series never called out to me from the book store shelves. I did read a short novella based in this world in the Legends collections, I think. I remember thinking it was interesting but probably didn't get the full immersion I would have if reading these novels. Then I read the comic adaptations when they came out and felt it was enough for me. Maybe if a read along or something happens I'll pick them up and have a go at it. This was a great breakdown and video though, so once again, thank you!

[@ACriticalDragon]

I never read the comic versions. Were they any good?

[@thefantasythinker]

@@ACriticalDragon They didn't really do it for me. I'm not sure if that's a fault of the adapters or me. I remember wanting to like them because there weren't many epic fantasy based comics out back then. It probably didn't help that the artwork in some issues was a bit cartoony. Well drawn but not the style I envisioned for an epic fantasy. Took me out of the story at points. It's a fault in many D&D comic adaptations as well. I probably would have been better served reading the book.

[@liamschulzrules]

In the mid 90s my dad gave me Magician et al to read after finishing Eddings and thoroughly enjoyed them. He then gave me Assasin's Apprentice and Dragonbone Chair which I both dropped after 10 pages because I'd just finished reading about a boy in a tower with an old guy.....

[@TheGeekyHippie]

oops!

[@ACriticalDragon]

Oh dear. I hope that you got back around to them at some point.

[@liamschulzrules]

@@ACriticalDragon they're back on the list now

[@liamschulzrules]

New update. Just finished Assassins Apprentice. I liked it a lot, very easy and enjoyable to read despite all the dogs dying and Fitz's miserable childhood

[@jbgehrlein]

I would agree that the change of focus to young bildungsroman style protags was really important for a lot of teen oriented fantasy at the time. Tad Williams, Robin McKinley, Tamora Pierce and David & Leigh Eddings are some examples of other authors which do this. There is a good reason why farmboy protags became a cliche at this point. The identification part is probably the main reason that we see these characters crop up so much at this point and why these books become popular. Would also agree that Tolkien's fairly superhuman characters also can be hard to identify with personally and the ones you can to some degree identify with aren't very exciting.

[@ACriticalDragon]

The trope of the 'farmboy' was established long before the 1970s and '80s. Particularly as it is an example of the callow youth and audience surrogate. So it is not even unique to fantasy.

[@petermesko4723]

When I was 15, I planned to finish reading all of Feist (read about 8-10 books) when I am retired at 65. Nowadays unfortunatelly, I think I would no longer enjoy his books so much due to partly what was said in the video. Its really enjoyable as a teenager, but not so deep.

[@ACriticalDragon]

You can always try a few and see if you can still enjoy them. There are certainly aspects that as we age we no longer appreciate to the same extent. There are other aspects that as our cultural outlook changes our perception of them changes. But you might find that there is still enough there to enjoy.

[@neilcampbell9383]

Hi A.P. Wow that is a blast from the past though a welcome one. A little bit like yourself I read this very quickly after finishing LOTR. It turned up as a Xmas present in 1982? I remember devouring it although not as critically as you seemed to have :) l laughed when you mentioned not needing as many trips to the dictionary as Tolkien as this was also my experience. It led me on to Katherine Kurtz Deryni series which required a lot more dictionary time!

[@ACriticalDragon]

Dictionary time with early fantasy reading was great. It does give you a slightly skewed perception of what is normal in English... but that adds to the fun.

[@EricMcLuen]

I picked up the Deryini books after they were mentioned in a Dragon magazine article on psionics.

[@neilcampbell9383]

@@EricMcLuen Hello Eric, the whole psionics thing seems to have gone out of fashion in fantasy / SF. I read Julian May’s Pliocene Exile / Galactic Milieu series when I was about 14 mostly due to the wonderful covers they had in the UK. Read the whole series again during lockdown and still thought it was really enjoyable and completely unique in its scope and setting. Worth a read if you have never come across it. 🙂

[@fish613]

Thanks for this video! I spent most of my teenage years reading through Feist's series. I always wonder why it isn't talked about more, though I have to admit I personally felt the overall series went downhill in a few ways, which I guess might be why. I also thought what you said about Presentism is really on point, especially for the Empire trilogy - some of my favourite books of the entire series, but are explicitly about making Kelewan more like Midkemia, and by extension, us.

[@ACriticalDragon]

I never thought of the evolution of Kelewan as becoming more like Midkemia, but rather about evolution and development of the society beyond its calcified approach to tradition.

[@paulharvey5505]

Great video, nice to see someone of your caliber discussing this book. Like you, I read Tolkien first, but got to other authors like Donaldson, Eddings and Feist not long after, in the 80s. I’ve only read the first Riftwar series (Magician / Silverthorn / Sethanon), but they have long been high on my list of favorites. What I liked about it was the world building, although the characters were interesting to me as well. I recall reading somewhere, that like another fantasy series I’m currently reading, this was set in the author’s home brew RPG setting. For what it’s worth, hearing that about the Malazan series was one of the factors that convinced me to give that series a try, after I had sworn off massive fantasy series. Another booktuber dismissed this book as YA (what he heard about it) when I suggested he read it, as he had solicited suggestions. I just don’t see it. I re-read Magician and it’s direct sequels last November, as part of my strategy to get back into the habit of reading, and I enjoyed them just as much as I did back in the day. Only thing that stood out as weird to me was the young Tomas / Elf Queen relationship, but adult me recognized that a big part of that initially likely due to the Valheru influence on Tomas.

[@EricMcLuen]

By modern standards, anything not considered grimdark seems to be YA. But these were written before the term grimdark was even created. Sci Fi seemed to have more 'adult' themes and books but not sure if fantasy had made that jump yet. Although I did just check and Lord Foul was 1977. And Kelewan was inspired by Empire of the Petal Throne.

[@ACriticalDragon]

I could be wrong on this but I think that the homebrew D&D game was an amalgam of different people GM-ing at different times and bringing their own elements in (including one of them designing Kelewan based on the Barker books) and Feist was not necessarily aware of where the inspiration for Kelewan came from when he began writing the novels. But I am not sure on this and it could be that I am misremembering an interview or some 'factoid' that I heard once. A lot of people mistake having a young protagonist in a work as a signifier that the work is YA, as well as a general process of older works often de-aging and becoming perceived as for a younger audience as genres evolve or sensibilities grow more 'mature' and therefore older works sometimes appear more appropriate for younger people than the initial intended audience's age range.

[@lukethomas216]

I read this about 30 years ago and enjoyed it but never carried on the series. Tried to reread last year and found it simplistic and a bit silly in places. Holds a place in my heart though as one of the first ‘big’ books I read and I loved the cover art. I don’t recommend it to people. I follow the William Adama method-gift books, never lend them! 😁

[@ACriticalDragon]

Strange that you don't recommend it. I usually find that it is still a good recommendation in certain circumstances. Particularly for younger people just starting to read fantasy.

[@EricMcLuen]

Had a similar experience. I read the first version where Magician was one book, black cover, after reading LotR, Dune, some Moorcock, Leiber and Riverworld. As a 13 year old AD&D player, these, along with Thieve's World, were written for me. Looking back, but without doing the math, it is a toss up who I have read more of - Feist or Piers Anthony. Leaning towards Anthony. Allen is looking at reading the Daughter trilogy in July (Allen time) as I haven't read those. Might reread the original trilogy, well 4 since I had to buy the first book split.

[@ACriticalDragon]

I really loved the Empire Trilogy, and I read a LOT of the Riftwar books.

[@christopherdoolan925]

One of my first fantasy books, so always has a special place in my heart. I would love to hear your thoughts on Daughter of the Empire (Feist & Wurts) one day.

[@ACriticalDragon]

I like Daughter of the Empire even more than I like Magician.

[@redbranchknight1059]

I remember that edition of magician, still have it but it's missing its cover because i loaned it tonsomeone.😢 Feist taught me fantasy could be epic. Patricia McKillop taught me fantasy could be poetic and moving. Stephen Donaldson taught me it could explore meaning in real life.

[@ActionMan153]

Just read this recently. My favorite part was when milamber used his mastery of the elements to scare the hell out of the kelewan upper echelon.

[@ACriticalDragon]

That is one way to put the massive destruction and loss of life.

[@RedFuryBooks]

I read Magician in the 2-volume version as a kid, but read the single volume for the first time in January. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but did think the single volume version was much better. Thanks for the video - I'm still a big Feist fan and will continue with the Empire series (for the first time!) later this year!

[@MagusMarquillin]

Is it that different an experience reading from one volume rather then two? 😏 At least with 2 you get twice as much artwork and a lighter weight in your hand, but I can't see much other difference. (Course it is vexing me, since I've thrifted most of the early books, but cannot find Magician: Master, and can't really try it out until I do!)

[@RedFuryBooks]

@@MagusMarquillin I felt it was, but it was also a quasi-reread, so there were different expectations in there. Maybe just the single volume made it feel more epic, while also reinforcing that it's really one story and not two.

[@ACriticalDragon]

There is also the anniversary edition which has some additional material in it that (as far as I remember) has an expanded scene of Pug and Kulgan discussing magic. So it is more of the things that a re-reader would want, but necessarily a first time reader that might be more interested in the pacing being a bit brisker.

[@MagusMarquillin]

@@ACriticalDragon No doubt it'll still niggle me as a completionist, but yes that's a more tangible difference. (Not to discount the less tangible field of presentation.)

[@RedFuryBooks]

@@ACriticalDragon the anniversary edition is the one I bought. There's also a scene in a tavern that I enjoyed that wasn't in the original that had some good character time. But neither were a really significant addition to the text really.

[@Orik960]

Delightful to hear how this classic began to shape your reading experience! My first Feist was The Flight of the Nighthawks and then the other two books in the Dark War Saga. I liked them but I had no idea there was about 20 books before that! I think I was only around 10. I have always meant to go back and read from the beginning. Did you go all the way to the end of the series? Would you recommend going all the way or just through the first few series?

[@ACriticalDragon]

I didn't get all the way to the end. Rides a Dread Legion is the last one I read... I think. It is a bit fuzzy now.

[@slidenaway]

AP, thank you so much for this!! I am just like you, I read Magician (Apprentice and Master, stupid USA lol) in my formative years, and it was a formative book for me. I probably read Tolkien first too, like you, and Magician had all the same appeals for me as it did for you. And nowadays it definitely falls by the wayside in fantasy discussions, and I can see why. I still think it's great, but there's so much fantasy nowadays, and so much more modern stuff, most people just aren't going to bother with Feist :( Oh and Feist gets credit for rekindling my love of fantasy later in life as well. I had gotten away from reading for a few years, but then a couple years ago (during pandemic times of course) I made a concerted effort to read again. And I started with favorites I had already read (including WoT and Dark Tower), and that of course included the Riftwar Saga. I had previously read maybe 10 - 15 of the entire Riftwar Cycle, and always had a particular fondness for the first Saga, the 2 standalones after (Prince of the Blood, King's Buccaneer), and then the next set of 4: the Serpentwar Saga. Love those. But this time I read all of the Cycle... all 30... and honestly I loved the last 10 or so I hadn't read. Some of it was nostalgia, surely, but I also think Feist just kept up the good work, and I was really satisfied with the end. Have you read them all? If not, you should. You could blow them through pretty quick I'd say :)

[@ACriticalDragon]

I don't think I ever read the last trilogy, and my memory of the last duology is shaky and fragmented at best, but I definitely read all the other books and if push came to shove I would probably remember most of the major plot points during a discussion of them.

[@slidenaway]

@@ACriticalDragon that’s amazing. I love knowing you’re such a huge Feist fan, considering how much Malazan content I’ve consumed of yours and how different it is compared to Feist Well maybe someday you can finish the series out, I’d love to see more videos on Feist, but I can imagine they wouldn’t be very popular. So I won’t hold my breath 😃

[@ACriticalDragon]

I probably will, but might need to reread the entire thing to remember everything. Viewer count is not really a big metric for me. As much as I would love lots of views and likes etc. I do this for a hobby and talk about the things that interest me and might interest others. So you never know, there might be a Feist video or two at some point.

[@slidenaway]

@@ACriticalDragon I had a feeling you might not care about views, I just kinda defaulted to that Well all I can say is, I agree you should reread everything before the end. And that’s easy enough, they’re easy reads :) AND I hope we get a Crippled God spoiler discussion with your nemesis before any Feist videos! 😉😉

[@eugenemurphy6037]

That cover art is superb. Looking forward to this. Lots of great things to take away from this. I definitely fall guilty into wanting my characters to be kind in a cruel world. Need to be careful that the kindness does not ignore every other law and worldbuilding decision made, at least for every character. Bits of kindness sprinkled in will have a lot more worth and validity. I had no idea this was the Riftwar saga until you mentioned it at the end! haha. Good introduction, the size is all I've ever heard about otherwise. Always something to take back to the drafting table and reading nook! Cheers boss!

[@ACriticalDragon]

It is a huge series but is subdivided into discrete sequences of trilogies, tetralogies, and so on. So that makes it more manageable for people who view book series that way. But I love the tension between the story being intended for a modern reader, the need for verisimilitude within the world, and how authors make those choices. Then, when we move eras, new readers with different backgrounds and cultural norms see things very differently and have different priorities. It is a fascinating relationship between text and audience.

[@eugenemurphy6037]

​@@ACriticalDragon Book one is on my list! I need to read something pre 2000's! A fantastical story about a different world that was TECHNICALLY written in a different world than we are in now. I am sold on the premise.

[@Paul_van_Doleweerd]

I don't know if I managed to read all of them (there are indeed lots), but I remember them fondly with a nostalgic eye. Also, this was my introduction to Janny Wurts when RDF and her 'collaborated' on the Empire trilogy (I suspect JW wrote most of it)

[@ACriticalDragon]

The Empire trilogy was my first introduction to Wurts as well.

[@bramvandenheuvel4049]

I started reading fantasy after the LotR movies came out, and after everything Tolkien, the first three I picked up were Feist, Jordan, and Martin, so this video brings me back.

[@ACriticalDragon]

It is getting harder and harder to remember all the early fantasy books I read, and anytime anyone asks I always end up forgetting really important ones. So I will try to make an odd video here and there so I at least have an aide-mémoire.

[@ducky36F]

Haha I introduced a friend to Lord of the Rings and she read them in the same order as you (LOTR first, The Hobbit second) and she was also so disappointed that The Hobbit wasn’t much like LOTR. She still finished it but wasn’t happy about it 😂

[@ACriticalDragon]

This is why publication order is so necessary 😂😂

[@rasheedknox2140]

I read the last six before this one lol

[@ACriticalDragon]

An unconventional approach, but I hope that it worked out for you.

[@rasheedknox2140]

It was interesting...I think he was a better writer towards the end of the series