SOLVED. YA Fantasy: Orphaned boy becomes magician, on his travels befriends girl who is kidnapped, then later on infiltrates enemy caves & discovers old spaceship with manual around which quasi-religious rituals have formed. Read around 2016. [s]

[Sophia]

Read around 2016. A parentless boy has received magician training and sets off travelling. On his travels, he duels at least one other magician by pulling energy from everything around them. He meets a girl who is then kidnapped from the group. Later in the book, there's a hint that one or both of his parents may be alive but hiding or on a distant quest. He (and a companion?) infiltrates caves where their enemies have been creating living beings (many misbegotten creatures are kept imprisoned there). In the same place, he discovers what the reader recognizes as a spaceship, although the characters don't realize it. The enemies have developed religious rituals around the spaceship and its manual.

It's possible I've mixed in elements of other books but finding an old spaceship (near end of book) is notable in what is otherwise standard magician fantasy.

[Capn]

Other heavy users of this forum will know why I ask this rather bizarre question, but - was the TOILET an object of worship, by chance?!

[Sophia]

I don’t specifically remember that, although it’s possible.

[Genesistrine]

Mayyybe the True Game trilogy by Sheri Tepper? The boy's called Peter, and he grew up in Schooltown, where they learn a chess-like game that teaches them how to use the various Talents they'll develop as they're older. One of his teachers seduces him and tries to use him to murder Gamesmaster Mertyn, the local King, but fails, and Peter's sent away to keep him safe, which is when he starts developing his ability to use every Talent (the power drawing is a Sorceror's Talent).

It turns out eventually that Mertyn's Peter's uncle, and his mother is the legendary shifter Mavin Manyshaped. The game pieces they use are the result of a weird suspended animation procedure originally used on the spaceship that brought humans to that world.

Ed: oops, forgot link: The True Game (that's an omnibus of the trilogy)

[Sophia]

Thank you so much, I’m pretty sure that’s it! I’ll have to order it from the library to be sure, but I’ll move this to solved because I’m pretty confident that’s the one.

[Capn]

The first book, Grass, is also available on OpenLibrary, if you can't get a hold of it otherwise. :)


For the record, this thread of Bargle's made me ask the toilet question: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...