## The Trickster's Apprentice [PDF WARNING!]

* Author: u/traverseda  *With dread but cautious optimism**
* URL: https://www.smashwords.com/books/download/143347/1/latest/0/0/the-tricksters-apprentice-chapter-1-mise-of-inculcation.pdf
* Score: 1

* Created: 2015-01-28T02:52:22

### Post:

[Link to content](https://www.smashwords.com/books/download/143347/1/latest/0/0/the-tricksters-apprentice-chapter-1-mise-of-inculcation.pdf)

### Comments:

> **u/xamueljones** [+2]  *My arch-enemy is entropy* (46 minutes later)
> 
> Here's a [copy](https://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/143347/1/the-tricksters-apprentice-chapter-1-mise-of-inculcation) to read on the Smashwords website without needing to download it, if people are wary of downloads.

>> **u/traverseda** [+1]  *With dread but cautious optimism* (50 minutes later)
>> 
>> The formatting is just so bad though.

> **u/CaptainLoggers** [+2]  (13 hours later)
> 
> I only read this representative first chapter, but I'm afraid I'm not terribly impressed. It fell into the trap of explaining things at a cellular or molecular level without actually producing interesting or novel solutions to problems. Doing an almost correct job of justifying a magic system through current scientific understanding doesn't mean anything unless that explanation is novel in universe (partial transfiguration) or is used in a novel way.  Saying that he had the ability to "increase or decrease order" or some similarly traditional magic mumbojumbo could have explained the shelter, healing, and brain-buster just as well, and the extremely wordy modern explanations didn't make the conflict any more novel or interesting. 
> 
> It didn't help that the character didn't stand out much either. 
> 
> It called to mind Ra, which I think did a really good job of providing the physics of magic in a way that made the magic and physics more interesting and brought out narratively significant changes to both. 
> 
> Of course, I might just be salty that despite all the time and effort put into medical and cellular explanations for how the magic worked, he still got a few things obviously wrong.

---