I was thinking about the Space Channel special on teen girls, reading and the popularity of the fantasy genre and I noted that almost all of my favourite YA books are also fantasy books. Perhaps this is because of the same reasons addressed in the Space Channel special – that in fantasy anything is possible.
It is for these same reasons that I loved Raymond E. Feist’s The Riftwar Saga books and Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea novels – books that I read at separate times, but books that have become intricately linked in my memories as similar reading experiences.
Raymond E. Feist’s four books that comprise the Riftwar Saga focus on a young man, Pug, who overcomes adversity and lack of stature to become the most powerful magician in this fantastical universe. The first book in the series, Magician: Apprentice (1982), centres on Pug’s rise from penniless orphan to powerful magician who helps fight an alien invasion. The book and series as a whole deals with issues of xenophobia, class, and social pressures all within a wonderful fantastical shell.
I was first given this book by a friend in Grade 7 or 8 and quickly tore through the whole series.The books then circulated throughout my group of friends and we all discussed and dissected the nuances of Pug’s actions and the fate of the mythical Midkemia. These books are very Tolkien-esque, but as a YA reader I found them more accessible and more relevant to the experience of being a young adult than Tolkien
