The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan

Sonea had been living in the city, but she, her aunt, and her uncle were kicked out during the Purge. The Purge was developed by the previous king in order to rid the city of beggars and thieves. Every year, magicians went through and made sure everyone got out. As a result, those living in the slums hate the magicians. When Sonea arrives in the slums where she used to live, she met her old gang, and goes with them to throw rocks at the magicians. This is purely a statement on the part of the "dwells," those dwelling in the slums, because the magicians have a magic shield so the rocks can't get near them. Sonea's stone, however, flies through the shield and knocks out one of the magicians (because if nothing happened, where would the story be?). This is how Sonea discovers that she has the gift of the hated magicians. Knowing that magician's are not allowed outside of the magician's guild, she flees for her life.

Sonea spends the next couple hundred pages running from the magicians by moving to various hiding spots, eventually getting help from the Thieves, and trying to use her magic, which usually ends up with something in flames.

The book also gives the point of view of Rothen and Dannyl, two magicians. Rothen was the only one who saw Sonea, so he is at the head of the search. Dannyl is his friend. They gave some insight to the magician's side of things, and made it so the magicians were not evil. Rather, they needed to get Sonea before she destroyed the entire city with her uncontrolled magic. As a reader knowing that Sonea had to be caught or die, I spent all of Part One waiting for her to be caught, which took away all the intended suspense, and the whole thing got a little repetitive.

Rothen takes Sonea in when she finally gets caught and tries to gain her trust and train her so she doesn't explode everything, and the book goes on in a more interesting way. There's also a little kind of side plot with Sonea's friend Cery.

The story gets a 3.3. It stretches out at some parts, but some parts are amusing. It was predictable, and I really didn't like Sonea, but I liked the Thieves and Rothen and Dannyl. It was like vanilla cake with a picture on it because you can see the whole picture, and it's not chocolate, but still enjoyable.