Assassin's Apprentice

Picked this up on a recommendation from a client - it's like, the most classic fantasy book; Earthsea-like. I wondered so many times: when was this written? Is it using all the tropes, or did it write them? There's a big third-act theme that involves an interlude of punishing psychic training with a master who clearly hates our hero, because the master hated our hero's dead father? Our hero thinks he's terrible at the physic power but actually he's preternaturally gifted. It's the harry/snape/occlumency plot, exactly, right?

Turns out: this book predates the Rowling by about ten years.

Noted on April 15, 2025