A re-read after many years of volume 1 in the Time Master series, which was a rewrite and expansion/development of the author's earlier novel, Lord of No Time, which I re-read as a preliminary. Despite therefore knowing the general plot outline, I still greatly enjoyed this, second time around. It was interesting also to contrast the different ways the author developed certain characters and how she re-wove the story and built up the religious conflict.

The story is set in a world with two moons where once the Lords of Chaos ruled, worshipped by a race now known as the Old Ones, whose mastery of sorcery far exceeded that of the humans who overthrew them. The humans called upon Aeoris, chief of the gods of Order and his six brothers, and Aeoris became incarnate and drove the Lords of Chaos into exile. Their worshippers were slaughtered and their mysterious castle on the northern coast became the dwelling place of the Initiates, the magicians who worship Order. Together with the Sisterhood and the hereditary ruler of the land, the Initiates lead the worship of Order and ensure that Chaos is never allowed to return.

Centuries later, a twelve-year- old boy feels an outsider. His illegitimate birth has led to his mother's disgrace and her regret that she kept him and brought him up, which she takes out on him. He has only one friend, his cousin, Coran, who is discouraged from playing with him. To console himself, the boy fantasises that he has a secret name, Tarod: later, it transpires this is his true name. He also has a ring which his father left with his mother after their brief liaison - a ring which he wears on his left hand and which mysteriously appears to grow as he grows.

Tarod and Coran play a game on festival day, when the gods of Order are celebrated: they pretend to be Initiates. But when Tarod 'curses' his cousin in exchange for Coran's own pretend curses, a bolt of energy shoots from his hand, seemingly powered by his ring, and kills Coran. The event is witnessed by the whole community who are about to lynch Tarod as a demon of Chaos when one of the unexplained and feared Warps, the storms which appear to rip through the dimensions, strikes and Tarod uses the distraction to escape. He is carried off by the Warp to the mountains, and after dangers which reveal his powers once more, he is taken in by the Initiates and trained to become one of them.

The story picks up ten years later. Tarod has risen to become a seventh grade Adept, the most powerful among the community, earning the envy of some of the other Initiates although he is friends with the son of the High Initiate and has a firm supporter in one of the female Initiates who has been more of a mother to him than his real one. But a sense of disatisfaction and an insight that their order has stagnated and is not helping the outside world, which now suffers the increased frequency of Warp storms, and a general outbreak of brigandy, threatens to bring him into conflict with his colleagues. And then he begins to suffer terrible nightmares ....

I won't say more about the plot but will add a few observations about the differences in some of the characters between this and the earlier version of the story. In Lord of No Time Tarod was a rather unpleasant, almost pychopathic, man who treated women abominably, whereas in the present volume, he is probably somewhat of a naive romantic, falling hopelessly in love. The object of his affections, Sashka, is now a gold-digging social climber rather than the lovelorn doormat of the earlier book whom Tarod discarded when he tired of her. Similarly, the transformation of his best friend to his worst enemy is handled much more believably. And the introduction of the working class woman Cyllan and Tarod's relationship with her is more convincing. Plus I like the no-nonsense old herbalist Sister of Aeoris, Erminent, whose own early heartbreak convinces her to emphasise with Tarod's.

There is a depth to the author's work which wasn't there in the earlier story, which came across as sketchy and didn't get into the character's heads. This time we do see into the rationales, albeit specious, of characters such as Tarod's supposed friend. The underlying theme of Chaos versus Order is developed much more, with the stagnating religion of Aeoris being responsible for vast complacency, consisting of rituals carried out by rote, and empty platitudes which are used to paste over a lack of compassion, loyalty or honour. With few exceptions, the Initiates excuse their cowardice and envy, easily dismissing any slight pangs of conscience. The one feature that still hangs over from the earlier book is a tendency to head-hop within scenes, normally something I find irritating, but I forgave it here because I enjoyed the book so much. ( )

Una voz desconocida pronuncia este nombre martilleando sin cesar el cerebro del joven que no sabe cómo se llama ni por quién ha sido engendrado. El muchacho lo adopta como su nombre. Tarod reside en un fastuoso castillo, situado en la Península de la Estrella, donde habitan los Sumos Sacerdotes de Aeoris, dios del Bien, dios del Orden, y es instruido en las artes arcanas, convirtiéndose en uno de los hechiceros de mayor rango. Es el iniciado. Pero un día la voz se materializa en una forma humana de espíritu demoníaco. Es Yandros, personificación del mal. Por él sabe el iniciado que ha sido designado para volver a introducir el Caos en el mundo.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-initiate-by-louise-cooper/

I enjoyed it. The protagonist undergoes a fairly standard fantasy narrative arc, exiled from his home after an unfortunate magical accident to get trained at wizard school; but he is a deeply flawed individual, and the effect of the dark side of his personality on his colleagues and friends is well depicted. A rounded off novel in itself which still leaves us well set up for the next book. ( )

Almost stopped reading. Starts off as a great, is a fun read. The world is interesting, and so is the main character's story line. But from the plot just stops developing temporarily, for some 30 pages in the middle of the book, which caused my to almost give up on this book.

I'm happy I pushed through, though. I like how things ended and I like how the rest of the book panned out (around about page 180~ish it picks up again). ( )

Somebody gave me the whole trilogy when I was 12 and, since I didn't like the covers to much (the Spanish covers, that is) I didn't pay attention to the books for more than a year.
What a waste of time... One day I was bored and had nothing else to read but these books so I thought "Well, why not? Let's give them a try...". That evening I didn't do anything else but read the first book and that night the others two (of course I had to use a lantern because, let's face it, I was a little kid and I had to sleep early and go to school).
I think I have read the whole trilogy at least 20 more times after that. Every time I do I immerse myself in a completely new world where the Gods are really important and there's a battle that no one knows about but the Good and Evil gods... And, can you trust these gods?

The first book, The Initiate, is where the author Louise Cooper introduce us to Tarod (I wish I could name my future boy like him one day!) a kid that, after killing his cousin during a game finds himself transported for a "warp" far away from his village before the people decides to judge him for his crime. He is then found and taken to the Star Peninsula and into the Circle, a group of adepts that use magic and are the chosen of the Gods to keep the Dark forces far from the people.
He is raised by the High Priest of the Circle and Keridil (the son of the High Priest), turns into a brother for Tarod
In the Circle Tarod realizes that he has an extraordinary ability with magic... maybe because of a ring that he always wears and that is always with him.

Life goes on and he turns into a tall handsome man with unruly black hair and intense, emerald green eyes. He is loyal to the people and principles he believes in, and you wouldn't want him as an enemy.
But after a tragedy he falls in love with a gorgeous girl, Shashka, a yound lady that knows what people want to see and hear... and she uses that to get everything she wants.
He also meets a normal country girl, Cyllan, that despite the fact that she is not as pretty as Shashka is more loyal and trustworthy than her.

In the end of the first book Tarod is forced to choose between a punishment or save his life by swearing loyalty to the Evil gods... and he chooses to live in a different "place" inside the Circle. He also learns that love is not important for a girl that wants power...

In my opinion The Initiate is not the best book of the trilogy, but it builds the foundation for the next two books... And they are amazingly good. ( )