Duane, Diane - So You Want to Be a Wizard
Wed, Mar. 28th, 2007 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterNita keeps being beat up by the mean girls at school, so one day, she runs into the library to try and escape them. And there, among all the other So You Want to Be... career books for kids, she finds So You Want to Be a Wizard. She eventually makes friends with Kit, who is also being picked on at school and who also found a copy of the book. Together, they fight crime the evil forces of the universe!
I never read these as a kid, so it's interesting coming to them as an adult. There are a lot of cool bits in this book, from the importance of books and reading and language to being able to talk to trees. Some of the cool bits are fairly standard ones that didn't excite me (magic via Speech, talking to trees), but others were pretty nifty (a burping white hole, talking to machines).
You can clearly see the Tolkein and L'Engle influences on this book, and while I think the Gollum-take is a shoutout to Tolkein, many of the L'Engle influences look more like fic with the numbers filed off than shoutouts, just because so much of the plot is out of A Wind Through the Doors. I didn't mind in the beginning, but the similarities ended up throwing me out of what should have been the main emotional climax of the book.
That said, what makes this book stand apart from the hordes of other "kids discover secret powers and save the world" books is its sense of place. Duane loves New York City, and it shows.
Also, yay for Kit being Hispanic! I am not sure if Nita is or not; her first name is "Juanita," but I think her last name is "Callahan."
I was a little irked at the more traditional male/female split of talents between Kit and Nita; Kit (the boy) leans more toward talking with mechanical objects like cars and trains, while Nita (the girl) has more abilities to talk to plants.
But it was still a fun and fast read, and despite the L'Engle bits, there's enough of Duane's own neat ideas that I may go through the series.
I never read these as a kid, so it's interesting coming to them as an adult. There are a lot of cool bits in this book, from the importance of books and reading and language to being able to talk to trees. Some of the cool bits are fairly standard ones that didn't excite me (magic via Speech, talking to trees), but others were pretty nifty (a burping white hole, talking to machines).
You can clearly see the Tolkein and L'Engle influences on this book, and while I think the Gollum-take is a shoutout to Tolkein, many of the L'Engle influences look more like fic with the numbers filed off than shoutouts, just because so much of the plot is out of A Wind Through the Doors. I didn't mind in the beginning, but the similarities ended up throwing me out of what should have been the main emotional climax of the book.
That said, what makes this book stand apart from the hordes of other "kids discover secret powers and save the world" books is its sense of place. Duane loves New York City, and it shows.
Also, yay for Kit being Hispanic! I am not sure if Nita is or not; her first name is "Juanita," but I think her last name is "Callahan."
I was a little irked at the more traditional male/female split of talents between Kit and Nita; Kit (the boy) leans more toward talking with mechanical objects like cars and trains, while Nita (the girl) has more abilities to talk to plants.
But it was still a fun and fast read, and despite the L'Engle bits, there's enough of Duane's own neat ideas that I may go through the series.
(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 29th, 2007 01:22 am (UTC)I mostly suspected Nita wasn't Hispanic, as it isn't mentioned. Ah well.
So... I am guessing this isn't just a trilogy! ;) Good lord, I seem to be tumbling into series left and right. I'm also curious about Duane's other series for adults; Rachel recced to me a while back, but I don't remember the name. Also, I read this solely so I could read a highly recced Yuletide fic, hee.
(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 29th, 2007 01:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 29th, 2007 01:31 am (UTC)The series for adults is _The Door Into . . . _ (Fire, Shadow, Sunset). It is very much like the Young Wizards books except in a secondary world with bisexual polyamory. That sounds flip, but I'm serious: Duane has a very characteristic tone and set of concerns.
The first two were reprinted by Meisha Merlin; I don't know how difficult the third is to find. Duane has long said she will write a fourth, which surprised me greatly when I heard it because I didn't see that it needed a fourth, though _ . . . Starlight_ doesn't appear on her "in progress" list at her website.
(There are also a couple of "adult" books in the Young Wizards universe, featuring cat wizards; they aren't as strong.)
And yes, I read that fic, and it was good.
(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 29th, 2007 01:52 am (UTC)She doesn't seem to have a contract for it anymore, which is distressing, though I could be wrong.
(For Oyce's info-- She may well show up here. She's got an LJ and all.)
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Thu, Mar. 29th, 2007 01:59 am (UTC)They were originally going to do _Sunset_ and _Starlight_ in the same volume, which is why _Sunset_ hasn't been reprinted AFAIK.
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Thu, Mar. 29th, 2007 02:06 am (UTC)Thanks!
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Thu, Mar. 29th, 2007 04:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 29th, 2007 03:48 am (UTC)