Magician
- 518
- Pages
- about 9 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Magician” is classic epic fantasy with the full kit: mages, elves, dwarves, dragons and a war between worlds. Two friends, Pug and Tomas, grow up as invaders arrive through portals. Many readers find the first half slow, and some who persisted say the second pulled them right in; others complain of too many viewpoints and too much exposition. It opens “The Riftwar Saga” yet, some feel, almost works as a standalone.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Magician is a fantasy novel by American writer Raymond E. Feist. It is the first book of the Riftwar Saga and of the wider Riftwar Cycle. Magician was originally published in 1982. The book is set in a Dungeons & Dragons–style fantasy world called Midkemia, originally invented by Feist and his friends during college. The story follows the early life of friends Pug and Tomas as their world is overtaken by war against alien invaders who appear via portals.
Reading order · The Riftwar Saga
Full order & progress →- MagicianThis book
8.28.2 / 10 - Magician: Apprentice
–Not ranked yet - Magician: Master
8.28.2 / 10 - Silverthorn
8.08.0 / 10 - A Darkness at Sethanon
8.28.2 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.3 across 221 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 60% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Fantasy average of 8.0. That is how 8.2 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 8.3 | 221 | 100% |
Frequently asked
How long is Magician?
It has 518 pages — shorter than 53% of the ranked books in Fantasy.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Fantasy — and a score of 8.2, the closest to this book.
