Group Reads Discussions 2023: "Magicians' Guild" Discuss Everything *Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Some questions to get the spoiler thread started!

1. What did you think of the world?
2. What did you think of the magic?
3. Did you feel connected to the characters? How/why (not)?
4. What worked or didn't for you?
5. Overall thoughts?

Non-spoiler thread here: First impressions

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

We've thrown open the doors, come chat!

[Anthony]

I’m not surprised this book has zero discussion happening. It’s so so so basic in almost every way, after a promising beginning. And it has almost ZERO dramatic tension or plot momentum. Really disappointing.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

agreed, it was sadly bland

[Banshee]

Well, I enjoyed it, but the whole thing was pretty much exactly like my first impressions - very generic. I had a good time and few complaints but ultimately it wasn't a very memorable book. I will probably continue the series as sometimes I need exactly books like this - not especially profound or complex. And I really liked Rothen.

[Anna]

The series does have what is probably the slowest start I’ve ever read, iirc the story actually starts in book 2 🙈

[Banshee]

Slow start - yup! The whole arc about hiding from the magicians certainly dragged a lot and was completely pointless. I thought it would be a chapter or two but it just kept going. I mean, I understand that Sonea distrusted the magicians, but I felt that hiding from them made her worse than them (the way they were in her perception). She blamed them for standing by passively and not doing anything to help the most vulnerable citizens of the city. But what she ended up doing was actively endangering lives of those same vulnerable people. It made it hard to like her. Hopefully she gets smarter in later books.