Working through the mountain of books, at various stages of "read", piled up at a number of locations around Gnu towers, we have dug out orbit book's and the UK's best selling SFF title of 2007 "The Innocent Mage" by Karen Miller and though it has been blogged to death on the blogosphere there is simply no way the Gnu is not going to raise its squeaky voice amidst the clammer and give you an overview of what the bloggers blogged. Oh yes.
Book Info
- Paperback: 613 pages
- Publisher: Orbit (5 April 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841496049
- ISBN-13: 978-1841496047
Synopsis
Enter the kingdom of Lur, where to use magic unlawfully means death. The Doranen have ruled Lur with magic since arriving as refugees centuries ago. Theirs was a desperate flight to escape the wrath of a powerful mage who started a bitter war in their homeland. To keep Lur safe, the native Olken inhabitants agreed to abandon their own magic. Magic is now forbidden them, and any who break this law are executed. Asher left his coastal village to make his fortune. Employed in the royal stables, he soon finds himself befriended by Prince Gar and given more money and power than he'd ever dreamed possible. But the Olken have a secret; a prophecy. The Innocent Mage will save Lur from destruction and members of The Circle have dedicated themselves to preserving Olken magic until this day arrives. Unbeknownst to Asher, he has been watched closely. As the Final Days approach, his life takes a new and unexpected turn
Reviews
Well the book certainly achieved great commercial success so well done Karen Miller and Orbit books and given the reviews on amazon joe public was suitably impressed. Having said that, the bloggers reaction is mixed. Fantasy Sci Fi Book Review describes it as "all kinds of awesome" and points out that she actually does a great job with accents and the depiction of class without resorting to stereotypes.
However most bloggers picked up on the reliance on classic fantasy structure and debate the ways in which she has countered this - or not - as the case may be. To quote from Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
"‘The Innocent Mage’ isn’t the most original work of fantasy that you’ll ever read but after you’re done you will have enjoyed it too much to care"
Interview
A write up of an interview with the author can be found here.
YouTube
And you have her chatting on the (You)Tube here
My two cents
One of the reasons that this was a top seller is probably due to its wide-spread appeal to a number of different audiences - by taking a classic structure and making it her own. Yes it uses a standard fantasy plot structure but it does it in a way that appeals to a wider audience. There has been some criticism of a lack of "action" despite the mention and threat of war that adds to the tension throughout the first book.
Perhaps this is where it deviates from the norm and makes the tale more magical, the characters more endearing and the character development much more entertaining without resorting to the diet of war/death/carnage/severed-heads-being catapulted-over-the-fortress-wall which we have been fed since the LOTR trilogy came out at the cinema.
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