Magician Apprentice - Volume 1 (Magician Apprentice (Numbered)) (v. 1) [Hardcover]

Raymond E. Feist (Author), Michael Oeming (Author), Bryan J.L. Glass (Author), Ryan Stegman (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Magician Apprentice (Numbered) | Publication Date: May 30, 2007

Pug and Tomas are two kitchen boys who dream of being heroes one day in the medieval fantasy world of Midkemia. But as the boys start on the path to manhood and begin their apprenticeships to their respective masters, they one day stumble upon a strange shipwreck and learn that invaders from a strange and distant world have found a way to invade Midkemia through portals known as "rifts" and are preparing for a full scale assault. As Tomas learns to be a soldier and Pug studies the path of a magician, both boys find themselves growing into the heroes they had hoped to become - but growing apart as the effects of the Riftwar change both of their lives forever.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Marvel; Direct Ed edition (May 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785127224
• ISBN-13: 978-0785127222
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The two-time Harvey Award winning writer (2009/2010), Bryan J.L. Glass is the author of QUIXOTE: A NOVEL, and writer/co-creator of THE MICE TEMPLAR, SHIP OF FOOLS, and 86 VOLTZ: the Dead Girl with collaborator Michael Avon Oeming; he also adapted the Raymond E. Feist RIFTWAR series into graphic novel format for Marvel Comics. His other Marvel Comics work includes THOR: FIRST THUNDER and VALKYRIE (of the "Women of Marvel" series & collection).
Bryan was also founder of mereBreath Drama where he wrote and produced the original stage productions: ASYLUM, PERFECT JUSTICE, EDIFICE, SKIT, THE ESCHATON, and THE INNER ROOM.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings back fond memories, October 29, 2007

By 

J. A Magill (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magician Apprentice - Volume 1 (Magician Apprentice (Numbered)) (v. 1) (Hardcover)

Like many people, I look with a certain amount of dread when books I love get turned into movies. Likewise, the idea of such books being turned into graphic novels carries with it some fear, as the singular vision of an author is diffused through the intervention of the perspectives of legions of others. Yet in the case of Feist's "Magician's Apprentice" at the first look one can tell how closely the author has guarded the vision of his first novel in his much loved world of Mikidemia. Every page reveals the people and places of the author's world as he imagined them in brilliant color, brining a whole new life to a work which brought many readers to fantasy. Even readers who have enjoyed the "Riftwar Books" but have little interest in graphic novels are sure to enjoy the experience.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Story, Jarring Art change 1/2 way through..., March 3, 2008

By 

wintermute "zero" (right behind you) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Magician Apprentice - Volume 1 (Magician Apprentice (Numbered)) (v. 1) (Hardcover)

The story is great, if you've read the original book Magician:Apprentice, you will like these books a lot! (seriously, a lot, you should buy it!). However, the bad news: One huge annoyance/surprise. chapter 1-3 has a different artist than chapter 4-6. What's worse, you can really really tell - the ch4-6 artist didn't copy the ch1-3 artist's style. They completely dumped the very stylized look of Carline for example! They used much thicker pens! (so sad). This makes for a very jarring experience when you turn the page and discover you do not recognize the characters anymore. The ch 4-6 art is less detailed: has thicker lines, and because of this everything looks more bubbly, and with less detail colored in, looks like hazy watercolor with thick pens drawn over top. The sophisticated styling of the characters are completely lost in ch4-6. All that said. The story is great, and if you get used to (or overlook) the ch4-6 art style, you'll really love this book. the art style in ch1-3 is great, very sophisticated, very detailed, very stylized, for example, borric and carline look amazing (of course they're all totally watered down in ch4-6, no more style, looks like a kids quickly drawn anime, not as bad as dragonball z, but..). it's a tragedy they didn't keep the same artist all the way through. let's hope they get him back for the remaining books, or that magically the 1st artist redoes/finishes the art in this book. I removed 1 star for the art change and inability to match the art style. But the book is really cool, and I love seeing the world of magician and the riftwar at last.

4.0 out of 5 stars Again the same complaint, January 1, 2009

By 

Mitchel Pearson "fantasyfixtion" (Saint Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magician Apprentice - Volume 1 (Magician Apprentice (Numbered)) (v. 1) (Hardcover)

Feists novels all are very amazing reads and I couldn't wait to see the adaptation into a graphic novel. I was very impressed with the beginning chapters. The pictures were very well drawn with vivid color and detail. As I have read all of Feists books, the artists depiction of the characters seemed dead-on and actually showed growth as the pages turned. Chapters 4-6 on the other hand made the main characters seem almost as children with much less detail and color. Even the characters expressions seemed less confident, and age progression was way off following the story line. Reading the second half was very disappointing as far as the drawings went. Overall very worth purchasing if only for the first half. Hopefully as these graphic novels continue, the better artist will take over!