Trudi Canavan

 

Trudi Canavan (born 1969) is an Australian writer of fantasy novels (born in Melbourne), best known for her best-selling fantasy trilogies The Black Magician and Age of the Five. I was introduced to her writing some years ago by my mate Russ.

The Kyralia Series

The Kyralia Series of 9 books should be mandatory introductory reading for all Trudi Canavan fans. This was where I started my read, doing all 7 books in the order shown. It is a world of magic and wizards but probably different to anything you may have read before. I read them all in 2020, one after the other, and I could hardly put the books down, as the story developed. Many was the late night and lost day when I dallied in the world of Kyralia. 

1. The Magician's Apprentice (2009)

Set hundreds of years before the events of Black Magician Trilogy, this stand-alone novel can be read as an introduction to, or an addition to, the story of Kyralia and its magicians. Tessia has grown up working as an assistant to her father, a village healer. When an encounter with a visiting Sachakan magician causes her to discover her latent magical ability, she is apprenticed to the powerful local magician, Lord Dakon. When the Sachakan magician returns with his allies, intent on conquering Kyralia, she is drawn into a war that will change nations and stretch the boundaries of magical knowledge.

Black Magician Trilogy

The Black Magician trilogy introduces readers to the Magicians’ Guild of Kyralia. Sonea’s magical ability is revealed during a confrontation between the poor and the Magicians’ Guild, and her life seems outside of her control from that moment on. In her struggle to learn magic and find her place, she discovers a dark and terrifying secret at the heart of the Guild that not only involves forbidden magic, but her friends in the city’s underworld, and the very survival of Kyralia and the Allied Lands.

2. The Magicians Guild (2001)
3. The Novice (2002)
4. The High Lord (2003)

The Traitor Spy Trilogy

The Traitor Spy Trilogy takes place a generation after the events of the Black Magician Trilogy. Black magic is no longer forbidden to Guild magicians, but the knowledge and practice of it is severely restricted. The underworld’s shaky alliance is long abandoned, and someone is killing off Thieves. The Allied Lands maintain peaceful relations with Sachaka, fearing they may face worse than invasion by a band of Ichani outcasts. One young magician learns that a form of magical defense may exist that could allow the Guild to reject black magic without leaving itself vulnerable, and seeking this takes him places he – and the Guild – never knew existed.

5. The Ambassador's Mission (2010)
6. The Rogue (2011)
7. The Traitor Queen (2012)

I next read the 3 books that make up the Age of the Five trilogy, set in the mythical world of Ithania. It is just so different to the world of the Black Magicians, but just as enjoyable. 

The Age of The Five trilogy

The Age of the Five is a fantasy trilogy set in a classical world of magic, heroes, gods and forbidden love. They recount the story of Auraya, a young priestess who rises to the highest rank in her world’s religious hierarchy, only to find that there may be more to the gods she worships than she was led to believe.

Priestess of White (2005)
Last of the Wilds (2006)
The Voice of the Gods (2006)

The next Trudi Canavan series I have to read is the Millenium's Rule Series. Onward ever onward. This is her most recent work, with the original trilogy extended to a fourth book in 2020.

Millennium’s Rule Series

An exciting new series set in a multiple-world universe. In one world, Tyen, an archaeology and sorcery student, discovers a sentient book during an expedition to unearth ancient tombs. In another, Rielle, the daughter of rich dye merchants, knows she had forbidden magical ability because she can see Stain, the void left when magic is stripped from the world.

Thief’s Magic (2014)
Angel of Storms (2015)
Successor’s Promise (2017)
Maker’s Curse (2020)

I rate Trudi Canavan alongside Robin Hobb and Andrzej Sapkowski as the best of the current fantasy writers.