Rating: 
Summary: Every bit as good as Lord of the Rings
Review: Magician and The Riftwar Saga' are among the greatest works of fantasy/science fiction ever.
Yes, I believe Raymond E Feist is just as good as Tolkien!
It is filled with great new ideas, and while he has in his books some of the older concepts from Tolkien and Lewis - eg Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Elvandar and Mc Mordain Cadel, which bear similarities to places and peoples in the older works, he has reworked them with great creativity into something new and exciting. in the some way that Shakespeare's works took concepts from older balladeers and authors.There are new concepts such as the Valheru (the Dragon Lords) , the Tsurani , the Rift , the Empire of Great Kesh and new types of magic. What emerges is a great and engaging epic that matches up every bit to Lord of the Rings. Feist's advanced understandings on magic, warcraft, the nature of world and it's peoples, and its internal politics is astounding. It is jam packed with energy and is somewhat faster moving than Tolkien. I also like Feist's gentler concept of dragons, far more than Tolkien's (the pet firedrake Fantus is just great) I love reading about all the Princes, Dukes, Earls, Squires, Knight-Marshals etc in the Kingdom, as I similarly enjoy the stranger politics of Tsuranuanni (which is based of Japan/Korea as the Kingdom is on Europe/North America)
With it's system of honor and Great Families, the Emperor, the Warlord, the Great Ones, and the different shifting alliances and parties such as the Blue Wheel Party , the War Party , the Party for Progress etc. I also think the characters are nicely developed. I finished the book wanting more of Thomas, Pug, Carline (one of my favourites), Arutha, Anita, Amos Trask, Gardan etc, which are available in the subsequent Midkemia/Kelewan books. Feist explores (albeit in a tasteful way) love and sensuality more than does Tolkien. And Feist's worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan are also well developed, you'll really find yourself lost in these intricate lands.
Certainly Magician and it's sequels are immense in scope in creating a vast world of magic,war,adventure,love,hate and political intrigue
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: I won't use any spoilers like some of the reviews below mine. I will say that I rarely read Fantasy genre books, yet I still found this to be a very enjoyable read. I also enjoyed the little bits a humor. A lot of character developement? No. Simply an engaging tale.
At the end of the book,you are left with a million questions that draw you into getting the next book in the saga. Magician:Master. If you are going to buy this book, you might as well get the next one too, because you are going to want to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Wow - this has got to be the best book I have ever read!
Review: I cant belive how wonderfuly Feist wrights. I am not even done with the book yet and I can still tell that this is the best book I have read in.. probly ever. the story is about 2 boys, Pug the magician's Apperentice and Thomas the swords-masters apprentice, who get mixed up in an extremly long journey and a war with the asain/japanise Tussain (sorry if I am spelling these wrong not the best at spelling). the best part of this book is how feist beutifuly decribes the landmarks. he uses vivid words that actualy make you feel like you are in the book. at one point I was reading outside (85+ degree weather) and I was shivering with chills durring the snowy mountain part of the story which occurse as Pug and Thomas go to meet with the Dwarves. Its a Relly good book and I would recomend it to anyone who can get there hands on it to read it. I gaurentee it will be worth your time!
Now on the other hand it can get a tad bit slow at points and the one major problem I have is when I am getting cought up with one characters story line it switched to another character's which just keeps myself from getting into the story. but over all a GREAT book
Rating:
Summary: Epic
Review: The first book to a great saga. Pug, a clumsy orphan boy, ends up under the wing of the Magician Kulgan. Kulgan finds that pug has a hidden ability for the arcane but not sure how to use it. A must read for any fan who enjoys fantasy adventure.
Rating:
Summary: An absolutely great book!
Review: In the far off town of Crydee, two boys prepare for their upcoming apprenticeships. Thomas dreams of being a great warrior, winning great renown, and becoming an accustomed guest of the elves, while Pug dreams of becoming a great magician, the most powerful in the world. When men of the Tsurani Empire on a far-off world open a magical rift to Pug and Thomas's world, a great war begins, a war that will lead the boys on adventures beyond their wildest imaginations. This is the first book in a two-book series that describes a great war between worlds. The Kingdom is based on medieval Europe, while the Tsurani are based on Asian (primarily Japanese) cultures, which provide for some fascinating interactions - Knights, elves and dwarves on one side, and honor-bound warriors, magicians and fantastic creatures on the other. This is an absolutely great book, which is sure to please any fan of fantasy literature! At the beginning, you may expect it to be another repetition of themes found in J.R.R. Tolkien, but author Raymond Feist quickly moves beyond the familiar, and carries the reader into a whole new world. I found this book to be completely impossible to put down, and I highly recommend it to everyone!
Rating:
Summary: Who the heck is Raymond Feist?
Review: That's what I was thinking as I began reading this book about 10 years ago, as I had never heard of him before. Despite my reservations because I hadn't heard anything about the book or the author, I was quickly hooked. The world of Midkemia that Feist creates in this book is very well done, I really got a good sense of how life was there through the eyes of Pug, the young magician's apprentice. Just as I was getting comfortable with this new world and the characters in it, the book gets very exciting when a war breaks out between the Midkemians and the Tsurani who have been transported to Midkemia through a rift that connects the two worlds. This was a very interesting and engrossing book, and I would recommend it to any fans of good epic fantasy.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid fantasy storytelling, but lacks spice
Review: "Magician" was the first fantasy book I've ever read in English and I found it quite a page-turner the first time around. The world of Midkemia may not be terribly original, but I enjoyed the way Feist describes it's races, politics, cultures in many great details to make the place "real" for the reader, and the very complex plot kept me interested throughout. Unfortunately, once finished the book and the series didn't make me want to go back for a repeat reading and I doubt they ever will. Much of it has to do with Feist's rather flat and mundane prose, and his characters which, with few exceptions, are just not very engaging or interesting. Thus the books are lacking certain something; an extra pinch of "oomph" or a sparkle to make them great. As they are, they are merely good and certainly worth a visit, just don't expect something extraordinary.
Rating:
Summary: Untitled
Review: This book is a book for the young and old alike a classic fantasy tale where good and evil are not defined, as you begin to read this you will think you have it all figured out then Feist will give you another unexpected twist, the unexpected is to be expected, this is not your normal novel of good vs. evil, at one in the morning once you finish the first verse of this on-going epic you will immediately start the next with Magician: Master and continue the adventures of Pug the magician master. Raymond E. Feist is truly a genius.
Rating:
Summary: Not your typical "boyhood to manhood" type story
Review: This is the first of Feist's greatest, and so good that it had to be split in two (Apprentice and Master). Not quite your typical "boyhood to manhood" type story, you will soon find yourself buying ALL of Feist's books after this. The main character, Pug, starts off as a common kitchen boy with dreams of becoming a warrior. However, fate has other plans in mind, eventually leading Pug to become an apprentice under the tutelage of the resident magician, Kulgan. In many ways, this relationship is much like Merlin's training of Arthur as a boy, though that is a loose interpretation. The catalyst of the story is an invasion and Pug's home (Crydee) is attacked by fierce unknown warriors (Tsurani) from a distant planet (Kelewan) across a magical rift (hence the series title: Riftwar Saga). The result of this invasion causes the characters' relationships within Crydee to deepen and accellerate as they are forced to battle and survive a relentless foe. The cool thing about Feist's writing is the fullness of his writings. Like many of his books, there is a 3-dimensional aspect to his writing. Not only do the characters face a deadly foe in the invaders, but they also: must survive in a shifting and unpredictable setting, make alliances with mystical neighbors, face powerful creatures, and discover themselves. A compelling and gripping read, you will want to go out and buy "Magician: Master" immediately after... so you should order it along with this story. If you want further background into the invaders, I also highly recommend reading the Empire Trilogy (starting off with "Daughter of the Empire" by Raymond E. Fiest and Janny Wurts). Eddings fans will also enjoy this series of books.
Rating: 
Summary: Should have been better
Review: "Magician: Apprentice" is a good book for the first three hundred or so pages. After that, though, it starts on a downward spiral. The story centers around two young boys, Pug and Tomas, who live in a castle on the western edge of civilization. Pug is training to be a magician, but he struggles with even the simplest spells. Tomas is a young soldier. When Pug's mentor Kulgan infers that there will soon be an invasion by powerful wizards from a parallel universe, a group of people from the castle heads off on a journey to warn the King. Pug and Tomas go along and end up getting caught up in a series of wild adventures. So far, so good. But the problem is that Feist can't stay focused on his two main characters. This should be a fairly simple story, right? We have two young men and we see an epic conflict unfolding as they get caught up in it. But instead the two of them just sort of disappear after a certain point of the book, while we instead get to see a different battle take place from the perspective of a set of different, and less interesting, characters. While this book was never going to be a masterpiece, it did have the potential to be a quick and amusing read, perhaps on the same order as David Eddings' books. The problem is that Feist let the story get away from him. Also, though there are a few smiles here and there, Feist never really pokes fun at himself quite as mercilessly as Eddings does. Finally, the blatant way in which "Magician: Apprentice" borrows from Tolkien and other authors becomes harder and harder to ignore as the book goes along. All of which is a shame, because the author really does show some promise. His dialogue is well written, he includes some good fight scenes and chase sequences, and he has a gift for pacing and springing surprises on you. Nevertheless, thought it allowed me to waste a few hours of my spare time, I can't honestly recommend this to anybody.
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