The High Lord, by Trudi Canavan

This is the final installment in The Black Magician's Trilogy, following The Magician's Guild and The Novice. Although it is somewhat entertaining, I found it disappointing, what didn't really surprise me after the first two installments in the series. There is definitely something good to be said about the author's creativity in the main argument for the plot, but the delivery seemed terribly weak to me. The universe that the author attempted to create would have been much more interesting in the hands of a more experienced writer. In her first work, Canavan didn't manage to make it come together and feel very real. Pieces of the geography of her world and the magic system are sometimes simply thrown together and don't coalesce into a very coherent whole. All in all, when I was done, I felt like what I gained from reading this series was nearly nothing. I would much have preferred to have re-read something like Raymond Feist's "Riftwar Saga" or maybe have read Guy Gavriel Kay, of whose writings I keep hearing raving reviews.

The central theme of the story is the idea of "black magic", a kind of magic that was written off the books by the Magician's Guild for it's unbounded potential and inherent danger. "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" was the driving thought for the Guild and they thought it was best never to have their magician's learn these techniques. What they failed to consider was the possibility that not all magicians in their world would forsake this knowledge and in a far-off place it still thrives. The magicians from this nation, motivated by one with the need for a personal vendetta, then launch an all-out attack on the Guild.

The argument is interesting and I believe that it could have been turned into a terrific story in the hands of a more experienced writer. As The Black Magician's Trilogy turned out to be, however, the opportunity for an interesting discussion was lost and the result is so shallow that, at best, only the young-adult readership will find it satisfying. I was very annoyed also by the fact that the story ends abruptly, with a good measure of loose threads, which were certainly left unresolved so that sequels can be written. In my opinion, that is not the way to build up and captivate a readership and perhaps a good, experienced editor would have steered the author away from this marketing ploy. I guess Canavan was out of luck in that department.