The High Lord by Trudi Canavan

19/08/2011

4

The High Lord by Trudi Canavan is the last in the Black Magician series and is a fitting, bittersweet end to the trilogy. It was believable and enjoyable to read but again left you… wanting, I guess.

The plot picks up a bit of time after Sonea has defeated Regin and her life is now a bit less hectic and more comfortable. The book focuses now on Sonea and Akkarin and their relationship. There’s not a lot I can say with major spoilers so I’ll skip to the end of the book, which is a bit less so. There’s a small magician war and- big surprise- black magic is quite important for even thinking you might win it. It is good to see Akkarin and Sonea working together and we see the similarities in their morals, though the cause is slightly different. I liked (even though I expected it) that black magic was important and that Sonea learnt it in order to save the guild because her actually choosing to learn it required a bit of reasoning and journey and the consequences when she first uses it are also rather enjoyable to read about.

On a side note, we also learn about Akkarin’s past. Because he was such a mysterious figure in the last two books, it’s nice to see and learn about his history. It’s not all in big blast either, though it seems that way. There are hints along the way that there is something else and even when he tells that, I always feel like he’s holding back things that we’ll never be told.

The romance in this book is more believable than in book two, so I don’t have too many complaints. The reluctance of Sonea’s lover is amusing but- we know- in vain. In fact, she was as surprised as he was at who she started crushing on. And there is always a little doubt as to his love that again we can’t really confirm.

I can’t think of anything I didn’t like in the book, but there were parts I thought were useless and pointless to the book that I wouldn’t have written in myself. There was also sometimes a bit too much detail that, though interesting, I glazed over when reading because I was more interested in the story and plot progression.

So, all in all, a nice end. I’ve read better endings (this one seems perhaps a bit abrupt) but it was right for the series, I guess.