Magician Master: General Discussion Thread – Finished Reading (**UNMARKED SPOILERS GALORE**)

[Dawn]

I know with the last discussion, a lot of people expressed an interest in having a spot to discuss the entire book, without marking spoilers. So for Master, this will be the thread for that. Post anything you want, go spoiler crazy, no marking needed. But as always, just make sure to uncheck the “Add to my Update Feed” box so as not to accidentally spoil it for your friends.

[Dawn]

Quiet out here! I finished before March even began, I just wanted to give everyone else a chance to read and comment before I jumped in. But I can't wait anymore! My review is here. The gist of it? Loved it :)

Some of my favorite parts are (view spoiler)[when Thomas has his moment of reckoning and defeats the Valheru side of himself, and when Pug goes all crazy awesome at the Imperial games. One of the saddest moments is when I learned that Roland had died. I loved Pug returning to take Katala away, and finding out that he had a son.. William and Fantus bonding instantly.. Another sad moment was when Duke Borric passed away. Also, the whole Martin situation was very touching. I can't remember whether I was surprised or not on my first read through by the revelation that he was Duke Borric's son.. I obviously wasn't this time around, but I was still touched by Borric's last words to him. (hide spoiler)]

Please forgive me if there are spelling or name errors in the above, I don't have my book with me at the moment so I was just sort of winging it from memory! :)

[Chris]

I liked Master quiet a bit. Apprentice was good, but mostly setup. Lots of standard fantasy issue stuff in that first part, though it was done well enough and the characters were likable.

But Master was where this series really became one of the classics. For much of the reasons you already listed, Dawn.

I love how Feist brought all the threads together to a satisfying conclusion, yet left the characters open to future books.

Oh, and to add to your favorite scenes list, (view spoiler)[I'd like to put up Amos Trask and his stealing the King's ship. Hehe. He's one of my favorite characters in the series. (hide spoiler)]

[Dawn]

I loved that scene too! It totally slipped my mind :)

[Sandra]

There were many good scenes. I tended to like the quiet ones best, like (view spoiler)[Rodric's death bed scene (hide spoiler)]. I was a little bored in the beginning of the book until the scene where Pug finally came into his power. That was quite good. Prior to that, it felt like a bit of an info dump to show us more about Kelewan.

I was philosophically disturbed by the ending. (view spoiler)[I wasn't satisfied with Macros explanation of why he pulled the stunt he did, with the betrayal of the treaty. I think there could have been other ways of closing the rift with Pug's help without the deaths of hundreds. Like why couldn't he have waited until everyone went home after the party? Of course, my position is that the end never justifies the means. (hide spoiler)]

[Jim]

The end "never" justifies the means or "doesn't always"?

Not counting the Empire trilogy, withhold judgement for the next two books. More is revealed. You may still feel the way you do. Personally, I think Macros was correct, but then I've read them all. I think I felt that way on my first read.

[Sandra]

Jim wrote: "The end "never" justifies the means or "doesn't always"?

Not counting the Empire trilogy, withhold judgement for the next two books. More is revealed. You may still feel the way you do. Persona..."

I guess it depends on what the means entails. Perhaps I should've said it never justifies the killing of people.

I'll withhold judgment long enough to finish though. That's just my initial gut reaction.

[Jon]

I finished Magician: Master yesterday at lunch. I haven't written a review yet, mostly because I'm so darn far behind in my reading.

I actually didn't like this second half as well as the first half. I'm undecided on whether to give it three stars, or four (like I did the first half). I lost connection with most of the characters and time jumped ahead too much. I'd blink and another five years would have passed.