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Masters & Renegades #1
Magic University
Nine candidates with nine very different backgrounds and reasons for participating - each of them are vying for one of the elite apprentice seats at Magic University, but only three will succeed. In the next several hours, they will have to prove themselves worthy in the twelve strenuous admission trials that the university has prepared for them. Will those who have something to hide be hampered by their secrets or the personal demons they happen to be carrying with them? Will youth and vigor outperform age and experience or vice versa? Will dark inter-dimensional magic reign supreme?
Their fates will soon be decided, and none of the candidates will walk away unchanged…
Their fates will soon be decided, and none of the candidates will walk away unchanged…
- GenresFantasy
347 pages, ebook
First published September 12, 2011
2 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Chantal Boudreau
71 books89 followersChantal Boudreau is an accountant by day and an author/illustrator during evenings and weekends, who lives by the ocean in beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada with her husband and two children. In addition to being a CMA-MBA, she has a BA with a major in English from Dalhousie University. A member of the Horror Writers Association, she writes and illustrates predominantly horror, dark fantasy and fantasy and has had several of her short stories published in anthologies. Fervor, her debut novel, a dystopian science fantasy tale, was released in March of 2011, followed by its sequels, Elevation, Transcendence and Providence Other books published include her Masters & Renegades fantasy series (Magic University, Casualties of War,Prisoners of Fate)and The Snowy Barrens Trilogy, her YA tribal dark fantasy trilogy.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 16, 2011
This is the fantasy series you NEED to read if you are feeling lost after Wheel of Time and others have run their course. There is heavy character development and a lot going on in this, just the first book in the series. Ms. Boudreau has the chops to be the next "it-girl" in writing now that Rowling is done holding court and Charlaine Harris has said that the Sookie series is coming to an end.
There are some great story lines here and plenty of characters for you to have a favorite. The setting gets a bit of a backseat and it will be interesting to see how the world these characters live in unfolds. I do hope that the scope broadens...bringing in more intrigue as the series progresses. MAGIC UNIVERSITY seems like it was more of an introduction of the central characters more than anything. I like this approach versus some huge save-the-world plot right out of the gate like in SWORD OF TRUTH or WHEEL OF TIME.
If character rich fantasy is your thing...this is the next book you should buy.
There are some great story lines here and plenty of characters for you to have a favorite. The setting gets a bit of a backseat and it will be interesting to see how the world these characters live in unfolds. I do hope that the scope broadens...bringing in more intrigue as the series progresses. MAGIC UNIVERSITY seems like it was more of an introduction of the central characters more than anything. I like this approach versus some huge save-the-world plot right out of the gate like in SWORD OF TRUTH or WHEEL OF TIME.
If character rich fantasy is your thing...this is the next book you should buy.
October 6, 2011
'Magic University' by author Chantal Boudreau is thrilling and is guaranteed to keep you sitting on the edge of your seat. You won’t be able to put her book down once you start reading it until you find out exactly what happens. The time Chantal takes to go into such depth about each character is so realistic that you swear she is just a scribe and that the events in the book actually took place. It amazes me how prolific Chantal is and how everything she writes is of a high-caliber right off the bat. She’s definitely an inspiration and there’s much more still to come. :)
June 13, 2012
Fantasy is not my forte, in general. This is not to state that I run from fantasy, but rather that given my druthers, I’ll reach for horror, Supernatural, or mystery every time. There are, however, certain authors of fantasy whom I am compelled to read. Among these are C. J. Cherryh, Mercedes Lackey, Terry Goodkind, Tad Williams-and recently, Ms. Chantal Boudreau, to whom I have been happily introduced via the venue of May-December Publications. Ms. Boudreau does not limit herself to fantasy-she offers horror, mystery, and other genres as well; but here in her “Masters and Renegades” Series, of which “Magic University” is Book One, she proffers not only fantasy, but mystery, thrills, deep characterisations, suspense, chills, romantic interests, authority figures, secrets and revelations-and makes the reader absolutely adore it!
Starting from the premise of a group of individuals aspiring to train at the elitist Magic University, undergoing first a public explication of their secrets (via the Magic Mirror), and subsequently numerous divergent trials, Ms. Boudreau weaves a story line that will keep readers edging from their seats, heart in mouth, waiting for the next event, the next denouement, the next cliffhanger. Luckily Book Two is just about to appear, so readers need not wait much longer to continue this exciting story.
Just remember; you don’t have to be a fantasy fan to find this book appealing-and more than appealing, captivating.
Starting from the premise of a group of individuals aspiring to train at the elitist Magic University, undergoing first a public explication of their secrets (via the Magic Mirror), and subsequently numerous divergent trials, Ms. Boudreau weaves a story line that will keep readers edging from their seats, heart in mouth, waiting for the next event, the next denouement, the next cliffhanger. Luckily Book Two is just about to appear, so readers need not wait much longer to continue this exciting story.
Just remember; you don’t have to be a fantasy fan to find this book appealing-and more than appealing, captivating.
July 4, 2012
Not bad!
January 6, 2014
What an excellent book. I found the plot to be engaging and when i finished I could only hope for more books in the series. A must read.
Want to Read
May 9, 2014Author's guest post at my blog:
http://bookfare.blogspot.com/2014/05/...
http://bookfare.blogspot.com/2014/05/...
October 29, 2020
Confess I found it a bit of a slow start...lots of characters being introduced. However, it didn't take long to become engaged in the story and in each character's story. Fascinating work creating the trials they undergo as part of their attempt to enter the University and the varying approach of each character. The ending was real and the evolution of each character to reach that point brilliantly done.
April 29, 2022
Interesting, but...
For.one thing it needs an editor. There were two instances where passages were repeated Also, it needs more fleshing of the characters. They are mostly one dimensional and it's not until the end of the book that they start being interesting. But with a bit of tweaking, this could be a good series.
For.one thing it needs an editor. There were two instances where passages were repeated Also, it needs more fleshing of the characters. They are mostly one dimensional and it's not until the end of the book that they start being interesting. But with a bit of tweaking, this could be a good series.
August 13, 2012
Oh dear.
I picked up this book hoping based on the description for some light-hearted fantasy, perhaps in the style of the early Piers Anthony Xanth novels.
I knew it was going to be rough going when I noticed the first typo during the first page of the author's introduction. I don't usually pay much attention to things like that, even books from the big publishers are prone to a few. But there were several more in the next few pages and to make matters worse the formatting was messed up.
This was all distracting, but it wouldn't have been that big a deal if the story was strong enough. Unfortunately it isn't.
The author references role playing as one of the sources of material for the story and unfortunately it shows. The setting seems to be a very generic Dungeons and Dragons fantasy land. I say seems to be, because we really never get a feel for it. The names of a couple of places are mentioned but we never get anything resembling a description of them never mind the politics and interactions of these places.
In part this is because all the events take place at the blandly named Magic University. But you would think the disparate group of characters might make some reference to these things...
This blandness and lack of distinct detail is also present in the characters. Yes one's a dwarf and one's an elf, but I found that for the first hundred or so pages, when a name was mentioned I couldn't remember which was which. Never a good sign.
The magic is equally without character. They're all magic users of some sort of course, but we don't get a feel for any sort of systems of magic. People just cast spells. Again it strongly reminds me of Dungeons and Dragons which has one of most generic magic systems ever devised. You would think that at a Magic University, there might be some discussion of the hows and whys of magic.
There's nothing horrible here. It's just all so... bland. We are presented with far too many characters, most of which don't really do anything and the character arcs (limited as they are) are predictable from the start of the story.
There's no sense of danger either. At no point did I feel like any of the characters was remotely at risk even when they were hurling lightning bolts and fireballs around.
It's an inoffensive read, but you'd be better of picking up something else.
I picked up this book hoping based on the description for some light-hearted fantasy, perhaps in the style of the early Piers Anthony Xanth novels.
I knew it was going to be rough going when I noticed the first typo during the first page of the author's introduction. I don't usually pay much attention to things like that, even books from the big publishers are prone to a few. But there were several more in the next few pages and to make matters worse the formatting was messed up.
This was all distracting, but it wouldn't have been that big a deal if the story was strong enough. Unfortunately it isn't.
The author references role playing as one of the sources of material for the story and unfortunately it shows. The setting seems to be a very generic Dungeons and Dragons fantasy land. I say seems to be, because we really never get a feel for it. The names of a couple of places are mentioned but we never get anything resembling a description of them never mind the politics and interactions of these places.
In part this is because all the events take place at the blandly named Magic University. But you would think the disparate group of characters might make some reference to these things...
This blandness and lack of distinct detail is also present in the characters. Yes one's a dwarf and one's an elf, but I found that for the first hundred or so pages, when a name was mentioned I couldn't remember which was which. Never a good sign.
The magic is equally without character. They're all magic users of some sort of course, but we don't get a feel for any sort of systems of magic. People just cast spells. Again it strongly reminds me of Dungeons and Dragons which has one of most generic magic systems ever devised. You would think that at a Magic University, there might be some discussion of the hows and whys of magic.
There's nothing horrible here. It's just all so... bland. We are presented with far too many characters, most of which don't really do anything and the character arcs (limited as they are) are predictable from the start of the story.
There's no sense of danger either. At no point did I feel like any of the characters was remotely at risk even when they were hurling lightning bolts and fireballs around.
It's an inoffensive read, but you'd be better of picking up something else.
January 25, 2012
This is the first book in the Masters & Renegades series by Chantal Boudreau. I was excited to read this, as I love fantasy books – especially when there is magic involved. I can thank J.K. Rowling for that! LOL! The author has a great talent for description. I loved the detail she put into the different environments and the magic that was used in the book. Her imagination has no limit. I also love the idea of the story: it all takes place in one day, and centers around nine contestants who want to become apprentices at the Magic University. There are only three seats available; the trials they must go through in the competition are difficult and dangerous.
Boudreau did a fantastic job in choosing her characters. They are all very different in backgrounds, appearances, and beliefs. However, throughout the competition, they learn that differences do not matter and none of them are perfect. It is a classic story of how people can change and prejudices can be stripped away if we give each other a chance.
My one problem with this story is that I couldn’t really connect with the characters. By the end of the book, I did not have any strong feelings or ties to any of them. I think the author should have spent more time developing the characters and maybe giving more background on them. I’m not saying that the characters weren’t creative; I think they just needed more substance. However, this is the first book in the series, so we may learn more about them in later books.
All in all, this isn’t a bad book. I liked it, but I wish that the author could have put more into the characters. It would have been nice to have one or two that I could have rooted for to win the competition. I do plan on reading in the next in the series. :)
Boudreau did a fantastic job in choosing her characters. They are all very different in backgrounds, appearances, and beliefs. However, throughout the competition, they learn that differences do not matter and none of them are perfect. It is a classic story of how people can change and prejudices can be stripped away if we give each other a chance.
My one problem with this story is that I couldn’t really connect with the characters. By the end of the book, I did not have any strong feelings or ties to any of them. I think the author should have spent more time developing the characters and maybe giving more background on them. I’m not saying that the characters weren’t creative; I think they just needed more substance. However, this is the first book in the series, so we may learn more about them in later books.
All in all, this isn’t a bad book. I liked it, but I wish that the author could have put more into the characters. It would have been nice to have one or two that I could have rooted for to win the competition. I do plan on reading in the next in the series. :)
July 19, 2012
Funny that even though there were lots of characters I still got to know their 'character' through this book. I believe that is hard for an author to accomplish. Different and fun story.
December 14, 2014
The author has a way of bringing you into the story and making you feel like it is a group of your friends that are participating in the magic trials as you watch. Can't wait for #2!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews