Approx length: Three books--there's a sequel trilogy featuring the requested character and a standalone prequel without any known characters, but you only need the first trilogy (Black Magician) to write the character
Where to find it: Available in print, eBook, and audiobook form at bookshops and libraries
What is it, in summary?: Black Magician, the first trilogy is about Sonea, a newly homeless teenage girl who accidentally unleashes magic while protesting getting swept out of the city dealing with the obstacles of becoming a magician in a guild that was forced to take her in, while pushing towards the dual goals of bringing healing to the slums and protecting the guild/country from black magic. There's a well-constructed mystery plot throughout the books which will have you going "oh" as you reread the pieces after hitting the payoff. The setting, somewhere between late medieval and industrial, is the city of Imardin (mostly the slums), then the Magician's Guild, with a subplot and part of the main plot taking the reader to other lands.
Traitor Spy, the second trilogy, in which Sonea remains a main character but isn't the protagonist, has her adult life as a healer, protecting the interests of the lower classes, and once more trying to protect guild and country from rogue magicians, and eventually from another country when its internal conflicts explode--as well as her son. It's set mostly in Imardin and the Guild for her parts, but there's much more of the other country from the start.
The standalone prequel, tells of a girl like Sonea but in a different time and class, during the war that would inform the events of the two trilogies six hundred years after it ended.
What do you love about it?: The characters are fun and funny, and there's a coziness to the tone at the start of the first trilogy which gets you attached to them even as that tone starts shifting throughout the books; the characters don't stop being endearing and fun. The plot twists work so well with what was established before with the characterization and worldbuilding. I enjoy how little details become a subplot and then coalesce into a big plot. There's an increase in scale which eventually turns the series as a whole into epic fantasy. The the romance doesn't hurt either. Most of all, I love Sonea and all her practicality as she adapts to her new situations, determined to reach her goals and always pushing at the boundaries put on her.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Sonea! I want more of her life between books, or after them, doing the work that fulfills her or engaging in the Guild's politics, or being with people she loves, or in what if AUs.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Sonea is the protagonist (among multiple main characters) of the first trilogy, Black Magician (or the Sonea trilogy in some countries), and a main character in the sequel trilogy, Traitor Spy. You can read just the first trilogy and create based on that to fulfill the request. I would also be happy if you wanted to set it during or after the sequel trilogy, or if you wanted to use later material--or material found in the The Magician's Apprentice--to inform your worldbuilding and characterization within the work you create.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): There are brief references to rape. The second book of the first trilogy has explicit depictions of bullying and harassment, both verbal and physical, from beginning to end, and there are references to homophobia, as well as a gay pov character with internalized homophobia dealt with in the text. From the third book of the first trilogy and through the rest of the later books, there are mentions and depictions of slavery and PTSD. There are some racist microaggressions in how dark-skinned characters are described in the first trilogy, and eventually darker-skinned villains, though they are not framed as the representatives of their people and the other books will give more focus and variation to their country.
Black Magician Universe - Trudi Canavan
Media: Books
Approx length: Three books--there's a sequel trilogy featuring the requested character and a standalone prequel without any known characters, but you only need the first trilogy (Black Magician) to write the character
Where to find it: Available in print, eBook, and audiobook form at bookshops and libraries
What is it, in summary?: Black Magician, the first trilogy is about Sonea, a newly homeless teenage girl who accidentally unleashes magic while protesting getting swept out of the city dealing with the obstacles of becoming a magician in a guild that was forced to take her in, while pushing towards the dual goals of bringing healing to the slums and protecting the guild/country from black magic. There's a well-constructed mystery plot throughout the books which will have you going "oh" as you reread the pieces after hitting the payoff. The setting, somewhere between late medieval and industrial, is the city of Imardin (mostly the slums), then the Magician's Guild, with a subplot and part of the main plot taking the reader to other lands.
Traitor Spy, the second trilogy, in which Sonea remains a main character but isn't the protagonist, has her adult life as a healer, protecting the interests of the lower classes, and once more trying to protect guild and country from rogue magicians, and eventually from another country when its internal conflicts explode--as well as her son. It's set mostly in Imardin and the Guild for her parts, but there's much more of the other country from the start.
The standalone prequel, tells of a girl like Sonea but in a different time and class, during the war that would inform the events of the two trilogies six hundred years after it ended.
What do you love about it?: The characters are fun and funny, and there's a coziness to the tone at the start of the first trilogy which gets you attached to them even as that tone starts shifting throughout the books; the characters don't stop being endearing and fun. The plot twists work so well with what was established before with the characterization and worldbuilding. I enjoy how little details become a subplot and then coalesce into a big plot. There's an increase in scale which eventually turns the series as a whole into epic fantasy. The the romance doesn't hurt either. Most of all, I love Sonea and all her practicality as she adapts to her new situations, determined to reach her goals and always pushing at the boundaries put on her.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Sonea! I want more of her life between books, or after them, doing the work that fulfills her or engaging in the Guild's politics, or being with people she loves, or in what if AUs.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Sonea is the protagonist (among multiple main characters) of the first trilogy, Black Magician (or the Sonea trilogy in some countries), and a main character in the sequel trilogy, Traitor Spy. You can read just the first trilogy and create based on that to fulfill the request. I would also be happy if you wanted to set it during or after the sequel trilogy, or if you wanted to use later material--or material found in the The Magician's Apprentice--to inform your worldbuilding and characterization within the work you create.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): There are brief references to rape. The second book of the first trilogy has explicit depictions of bullying and harassment, both verbal and physical, from beginning to end, and there are references to homophobia, as well as a gay pov character with internalized homophobia dealt with in the text. From the third book of the first trilogy and through the rest of the later books, there are mentions and depictions of slavery and PTSD. There are some racist microaggressions in how dark-skinned characters are described in the first trilogy, and eventually darker-skinned villains, though they are not framed as the representatives of their people and the other books will give more focus and variation to their country.