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Young Wizards #10
Games Wizards Play
Every eleven years, Earth's senior wizards hold the Invitational: an intensive three-week event where the planet's newest, sharpest young wizards show off their best and hottest spells. Wizardly partners Kit Rodriguez and Nita Callahan, and Nita's sister, former wizard-prodigy Dairine Callahan, are drafted in to mentor two brilliant and difficult cases: for Nita and Kit, there’s Penn Shao-Feng, a would-be sun technician with a dangerous new take on managing solar weather; and for Dairine, there's shy young Mehrnaz Farrahi, an Iranian wizard-girl trying to specialize in defusing earthquakes while struggling with a toxic extended wizardly family that demands she perform to their expectations.
Together they're plunged into a whirlwind of cutthroat competition and ruthless judging. Penn's egotistical attitude toward his mentors complicates matters as the pair tries to negotiate their burgeoning romance. Meanwhile, Dairine struggles to stabilize her hero-worshipping, insecure protégée against the interference of powerful relatives using her to further their own tangled agendas. When both candidates make it through to the finals stage on the dark side of the Moon, they and their mentors are flung into a final conflict that could change the solar system for the better . . .
or damage Earth beyond even wizardly repair.
Together they're plunged into a whirlwind of cutthroat competition and ruthless judging. Penn's egotistical attitude toward his mentors complicates matters as the pair tries to negotiate their burgeoning romance. Meanwhile, Dairine struggles to stabilize her hero-worshipping, insecure protégée against the interference of powerful relatives using her to further their own tangled agendas. When both candidates make it through to the finals stage on the dark side of the Moon, they and their mentors are flung into a final conflict that could change the solar system for the better . . .
or damage Earth beyond even wizardly repair.
640 pages, Hardcover
First published February 2, 2016
About the author
Diane Duane
176 books2,368 followersDiane Duane has been a writer of science fiction, fantasy, TV and film for more than forty years.
Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a fair amount of time on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there.
She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of more than thirty years, the screenwriter and novelist Peter Morwood.
Her favorite color is blue, her favorite food is a weird kind of Swiss scrambled-potato dish called maluns, she was born in a Year of the Dragon, and her sign is "Runway 24 Left, Hold For Clearance."
(From her official website)
Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a fair amount of time on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there.
She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of more than thirty years, the screenwriter and novelist Peter Morwood.
Her favorite color is blue, her favorite food is a weird kind of Swiss scrambled-potato dish called maluns, she was born in a Year of the Dragon, and her sign is "Runway 24 Left, Hold For Clearance."
(From her official website)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 180 reviews
February 10, 2017
I started reading this series when I was in middle school and reread the first four books countless times, so when I won a Twitter contest to be a named character in this book I was ECSTATIC. (Rivka added the relevant pages (no spoilers) to her review). It was a very peculiar feeling to read along in a book with characters that I have known for years and run into a description of myself (TALL BLOND LADIES FOREVER AMIRITE?). So I obviously loved that part of the book, and as someone who loves the Magic Tournament trope I was all in on the rest of the plot.
The most important thing to know about this installment is that it is only for people who have read and loved the other Young Wizards books. This is a doorstopper of a book, at 600+ pages, and about 400 of those pages are conversations with or cameos from wizards we've met before. The plot threads pull from previous books too. I would have liked for more focus to be on the Invitational, because ultimately these characters end up saving the world in every book -- I was looking forward to having a lightweight, human-focused plot line in this book with some added shenanigans. That said, I did like the exploration of the different kinds of wizardry practiced in different countries, and the Mehrnaz/Dairine relationship was great.
On Nita and Kit:
As a final note, I know someone who looks and dresses like Penn Shao Feng in real life so I enjoyed that very much.
The most important thing to know about this installment is that it is only for people who have read and loved the other Young Wizards books. This is a doorstopper of a book, at 600+ pages, and about 400 of those pages are conversations with or cameos from wizards we've met before. The plot threads pull from previous books too. I would have liked for more focus to be on the Invitational, because ultimately these characters end up saving the world in every book -- I was looking forward to having a lightweight, human-focused plot line in this book with some added shenanigans. That said, I did like the exploration of the different kinds of wizardry practiced in different countries, and the Mehrnaz/Dairine relationship was great.
On Nita and Kit:
As a final note, I know someone who looks and dresses like Penn Shao Feng in real life so I enjoyed that very much.
December 8, 2016
Oh gosh, where do I even begin but to say how much I freaking LOVED IT!!!!!!
UPDATED 6/24/13
Expected publication 2014!?
ARC Please? :(
UPDATED 2/25/14
Well now this is getting depressing... it's been pushed back yet ANOTHER year!? :*(
UPDATED 10/13/14
WE HAVE AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 2, 2016
*Patiently starts the countdown*
UPDATED 4/12/15:
I've pre-ordered my copy!!!!!!!!!! Come on, February!
UPDATED 2/2/16
*Pets my copy lovingly* My Preciousssss...
UPDATED 6/24/13
Expected publication 2014!?
ARC Please? :(
UPDATED 2/25/14
Well now this is getting depressing... it's been pushed back yet ANOTHER year!? :*(
UPDATED 10/13/14
WE HAVE AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 2, 2016
*Patiently starts the countdown*
UPDATED 4/12/15:
I've pre-ordered my copy!!!!!!!!!! Come on, February!
UPDATED 2/2/16
*Pets my copy lovingly* My Preciousssss...
Want to read
April 22, 2015Edit: 4/22/15
Oof. I think this review was first made in 2011. 2011! And it's not even coming out until next year. I don't even remember was last happened in this series.
Edit 8/3/14
Okay, why isn't this book out yet? Why does it say 2015? My old person college brain is going to forget everything that's happened in the series by the time it comes out.
Edit 4/29/12
The description! The. DESCRIPTION.
Between this, Harry Potter, and other witch culture, I want to be a witch/wizard. So bad.
~~~~~~
I want to read this book right now! It kills me to just have a title. Hopefully this will be out before 2013.
Oof. I think this review was first made in 2011. 2011! And it's not even coming out until next year. I don't even remember was last happened in this series.
Edit 8/3/14
Okay, why isn't this book out yet? Why does it say 2015? My old person college brain is going to forget everything that's happened in the series by the time it comes out.
Edit 4/29/12
The description! The. DESCRIPTION.
Between this, Harry Potter, and other witch culture, I want to be a witch/wizard. So bad.
~~~~~~
I want to read this book right now! It kills me to just have a title. Hopefully this will be out before 2013.
August 12, 2021
Always a delight to get back to my favorite young wizards! Things are finally happening on the romance front- FINALLY. Nita and Dairine's dad has the most adorable friendship going with a dad from another planet, and something super crazy happens at what should be a very routine sort of "science fair for wizards."
February 19, 2020
Why have I rated this book 5 stars and put it under six-star-books? Because I'm Nita Callahan, that's why! (The only other people who would get this are the YW fans on FF!)
I just need to read this book! I've been deprived of YW since... Beginning of seventh grade? That's a full two years! When I began reading he books, I was astounded at the quality of the writing...and I hadn't even tried any trashy books by then!!! True, Animorphs began my reading career, but until I began reading SYWtbaW I wasn't a bookworm.
My friend introduced me to these books, and I will be forever grateful. We were racing to read them, and eventually I became so absorbed in them that... I didn't realise she was pulling ahead of me. :( When I moved that September, I kept on poising through the books as soon as I gained access to my now ex-layer... The JIS middle school library. Mwahahahahaha!
As much as I LOVED the books, I just couldn't bring myself to even get a fourth of the way through WH. I first read WaW and WoM then put off reading WH for another, oh, let's just say a year or so.
That's when I found out about GWP. I was in a hotel, I presume in Kansas, on this exact same iPod searching for SoN leaks when I got an FF PM from another fan telling me that THERE WOULD BE A TENTH BOOK!!! I squealed with joy. My heart flowed over with desire, my body could barely contain my enthusiasm, and, and...and it comes out in TWO THOUSAND FREAKING THIRTEEN? WHY!!!
But now it's 2012. It comes out in less than a year. I can do this. Just wait, girl! You can do this!
I can't wait for 2013 so many good thins are to come! GWP, CP2, Fyre, and...whatever comes after MoA.
I just need to read this book! I've been deprived of YW since... Beginning of seventh grade? That's a full two years! When I began reading he books, I was astounded at the quality of the writing...and I hadn't even tried any trashy books by then!!! True, Animorphs began my reading career, but until I began reading SYWtbaW I wasn't a bookworm.
My friend introduced me to these books, and I will be forever grateful. We were racing to read them, and eventually I became so absorbed in them that... I didn't realise she was pulling ahead of me. :( When I moved that September, I kept on poising through the books as soon as I gained access to my now ex-layer... The JIS middle school library. Mwahahahahaha!
As much as I LOVED the books, I just couldn't bring myself to even get a fourth of the way through WH. I first read WaW and WoM then put off reading WH for another, oh, let's just say a year or so.
That's when I found out about GWP. I was in a hotel, I presume in Kansas, on this exact same iPod searching for SoN leaks when I got an FF PM from another fan telling me that THERE WOULD BE A TENTH BOOK!!! I squealed with joy. My heart flowed over with desire, my body could barely contain my enthusiasm, and, and...and it comes out in TWO THOUSAND FREAKING THIRTEEN? WHY!!!
But now it's 2012. It comes out in less than a year. I can do this. Just wait, girl! You can do this!
I can't wait for 2013 so many good thins are to come! GWP, CP2, Fyre, and...whatever comes after MoA.
February 7, 2016
I've been waiting for this book for 5 years. I not only bought it new, I pre-ordered it - and I almost never do that.
The opening chapter is reminiscent of the opening of STII:TWOK, but the rest of the book is more like a rollicking travelogue. And all on Earth (and the Moon) for a change - no trips through Crossings to far distant planets this time. Instead, we get the Javits Center in Manhattan, the streets of Mumbai, a hill in San Francisco, a spot in Canberra, an ice cave in Antarctica, and of course several trips to the dark side of the Moon.
And while I did find certain aspects annoying, by and large it was so much fun. And I really liked the 3 distinct plot payoffs.
(Also, a friend of mine won a brief appearance in this book, and she brought me along for the ride! Photo of relevant pages - no significant spoilers)
The opening chapter is reminiscent of the opening of STII:TWOK, but the rest of the book is more like a rollicking travelogue. And all on Earth (and the Moon) for a change - no trips through Crossings to far distant planets this time. Instead, we get the Javits Center in Manhattan, the streets of Mumbai, a hill in San Francisco, a spot in Canberra, an ice cave in Antarctica, and of course several trips to the dark side of the Moon.
And while I did find certain aspects annoying, by and large it was so much fun. And I really liked the 3 distinct plot payoffs.
(Also, a friend of mine won a brief appearance in this book, and she brought me along for the ride! Photo of relevant pages - no significant spoilers)
May 1, 2016
I first discovered the Young Wizards series back in middle school, around eight years ago, and the last time I read any of these books was when A Wizard of Mars came out back in 2010. These books are definitely marketed towards a YA audience, so perhaps my 15-year-old self would have enjoyed Games more than I did reading it this week. I suspect, though, that this wouldn't be the case.
I tend to judge books more on character development and setting more than on plot. Even so, I expect something to happen in a 650 page book. The gang is invited to mentor participants in a planet-wide magical science fair, where the best and brightest young wizards present their ideas for spells that could potentially solve some of the biggest problems that plague our planet, like global warming and the energy crisis. Both mentees - Penn for Nita and Kit, and Mehrnaz for Dairine - act a bit strangely, and most of the plot seems to revolve around figuring out how to deal with Penn acting like a jerk and Mehrnaz acting extremely withdrawn.
I found Nita and Kit's sections of the books to be extremely boring. Instead of being the smart action girl who always manages to save the day of previous, Nita in Games is reduced to a typical teenage girl who is trying to figure out how much her boyfriend likes her. Almost all of Nita's POV sections revolve around the following things: 1. being annoyed at how much of a jerk Penn is. 2. wondering about her relationship with Kit 3. learning about all of her other friends' boyfriends/girlfriends/various relationship statuses. Shoehorned around her romantic problems are a couple of dream-visions of the Lone Power, a threat that doesn't get resolved in a satisfying fashion. Most of her other scenes are filled with cameos with characters of past books who ultimately add nothing to the current book or plot.
Other than being one half of the Nita-and-Kit pair, as well as being the object of Nita's affections, Kit really doesn't do much this entire book. He does one stupid thing with Penn towards the end of the book that has completely unrealistic consequences . . . and that's it. I read this book yesterday and I can't think of a single other thing he did without Nita the entire book. He was more of a prop than a character.
The only reason why I'm giving this book a semi-favorable rating is because of Dairine. She was the only balanced and complex character in the entire book. She is a heroine with flaws. She's still in love with Roshaun, and is desperate to get him back, but she's actively learning star-magic with Nelaid in order to learn more about what happened to Roshaun. She's jealous of Penn for his aptitude with star magic, but is still willing to help him when he gets stuck. She's at once cognizant and proud of the great acts of wizardy she's accomplished, but also incredibly shy when fans of her wizardry ask her for her autographs. She's proud of what she did when she was a younger wizard, and worries how she will continue contributing now that she's older and less powerful. She worries about her power, and her future. Dairine feels like a complex person with flaws and fears and feelings. Also, her relationship with Mehrnaz was very well done.
My other problem with the book was the ending.
In short, die-hard fans of the series might want to read this book, but I would recommend that everyone else give it a pass.
I tend to judge books more on character development and setting more than on plot. Even so, I expect something to happen in a 650 page book. The gang is invited to mentor participants in a planet-wide magical science fair, where the best and brightest young wizards present their ideas for spells that could potentially solve some of the biggest problems that plague our planet, like global warming and the energy crisis. Both mentees - Penn for Nita and Kit, and Mehrnaz for Dairine - act a bit strangely, and most of the plot seems to revolve around figuring out how to deal with Penn acting like a jerk and Mehrnaz acting extremely withdrawn.
I found Nita and Kit's sections of the books to be extremely boring. Instead of being the smart action girl who always manages to save the day of previous, Nita in Games is reduced to a typical teenage girl who is trying to figure out how much her boyfriend likes her. Almost all of Nita's POV sections revolve around the following things: 1. being annoyed at how much of a jerk Penn is. 2. wondering about her relationship with Kit 3. learning about all of her other friends' boyfriends/girlfriends/various relationship statuses. Shoehorned around her romantic problems are a couple of dream-visions of the Lone Power, a threat that doesn't get resolved in a satisfying fashion. Most of her other scenes are filled with cameos with characters of past books who ultimately add nothing to the current book or plot.
Other than being one half of the Nita-and-Kit pair, as well as being the object of Nita's affections, Kit really doesn't do much this entire book. He does one stupid thing with Penn towards the end of the book that has completely unrealistic consequences . . . and that's it. I read this book yesterday and I can't think of a single other thing he did without Nita the entire book. He was more of a prop than a character.
The only reason why I'm giving this book a semi-favorable rating is because of Dairine. She was the only balanced and complex character in the entire book. She is a heroine with flaws. She's still in love with Roshaun, and is desperate to get him back, but she's actively learning star-magic with Nelaid in order to learn more about what happened to Roshaun. She's jealous of Penn for his aptitude with star magic, but is still willing to help him when he gets stuck. She's at once cognizant and proud of the great acts of wizardy she's accomplished, but also incredibly shy when fans of her wizardry ask her for her autographs. She's proud of what she did when she was a younger wizard, and worries how she will continue contributing now that she's older and less powerful. She worries about her power, and her future. Dairine feels like a complex person with flaws and fears and feelings. Also, her relationship with Mehrnaz was very well done.
My other problem with the book was the ending.
In short, die-hard fans of the series might want to read this book, but I would recommend that everyone else give it a pass.
May 23, 2020
3.5 stars
So much of this is 4-star worthy but there are a few things that knocked off a half-star for me.
For the majority of the Young Wizards series, Nita, Dairine and Kit have been running from one crisis to another, doing what they could to slow down entropy and defeat the Lone Power. But as they're growing up, they're realizing that things aren't so black and white, and that there are multiple, subtle ways for the LP to work and some of those ways are their in their own doubts, insecurities and assumptions. Kit and Nita are also still adapting to the change in their relationship now that they're officially a couple.
Nita, Kit and Dairine have been asked to serve as mentors in the Wizard Invitational, an event that happens once every eleven years where young and upcoming wizards get to display their talents and wizardries in what is basically a worldwide wizard science fair. Dairine's and Nita and Kit's mentees prove challenging in their own ways. Mehrnaz is sweet and full of enthusiasm but has some deep-rooted doubts due to her family situation. Penn is an entitled, sexist assmonkey who things he's God's gift to wizardry but he also has something going on deep down.
It's rare in this series to see wizards who are less than professional and who aren't first and foremost concerned with saving the universe. It's actually one of the things that niggled me in the previous books. How is it possible that every single wizard in existence is so great and wonderful? Well, they're not, as it turns out. It was great to see Dairine rise to the challenge with her mentee, and she delivers some brilliant and much-earned verbal smackdowns throughout the course of this book.
I wish Nita and Kit had taken some notes from her, because they are not as forthcoming or direct with Penn when he's being a jerk (which, admittedly, is not a small portion of the time), and that was just one of things that made this less than 4-stars for me. Nita and Kit spend a lot of time complaining about Penn's behavior but not much time actually confronting him about it. True, it's not their job to teach him social skills or explain why misogyny is bad. If this was someone they were only working with on a one-time mission, that would be one thing, but they have to work with him for three solid weeks under some pretty intense circumstances. That's a long time to put up with his level of obnoxiousness without at least once telling him what is and is not acceptable behavior to them. When they do attempt it, it's not in a way that's going to get their point across.
The other thing that bugged me was that during Interim Errantry (which was written after this book) Kit and Nita seemed to be doing rather well adjusting to their budding romance and figuring out what the new boundaries are in regards to that. Here, they appear to have taken several steps back, and again, not once did they actually sit down and talk about any of it. If they were your ordinary teenagers, I might be willing to give them a pass, but they've proven more than capable of discussing plenty of dicey and awkward topics in the past. You're friends - TALK TO EACH OTHER!
Still, there is plenty to adore about this book too. Duane's always been very inclusive in representation in her books, but up to now most of the gender fluidity and sexually fluidity has been reserved for alien species. Now we finally get some human characters declaring themselves LGBT and it's great. (Still no in-book confirmation on Tom and Carl though, but I still maintain they're a couple.) Nelaid, Roshaun's father and the one who has been teaching Dairine how to manipulate sun energy after Roshaun's strange disappearance at the end of Wizards At War, and her dad Harry have the most beautiful and epic bromance ever in this book and it's a treat to watch. They really have become a found-family in the most amazing of ways. (And let's face it, Harry needs all the help he can get with Dairine.) Also, the two other Planetaries we meet here are a hoot, and Nita's prophetic dreams are getting more and more interesting. I figured out what they were trying to tell her by the second dream, but it was still neat to see her and Dairine put the pieces together in the final chapter.
The ending got rather rushed, unfortunately, and I really wouldn't have minded seeing more time given between the semi-finals and the finals. And the climax on the moon was both epic and head-scratching. It could have been better paced, and as long as these books are there's no reason why it needed to be so truncated in the last quarter of the book when the rest of it was willing to let the story breathe and the characters drive the action. It was a jarring transition to go from this detailed meandering story to such a quick-paced conclusion.
So much of this is 4-star worthy but there are a few things that knocked off a half-star for me.
For the majority of the Young Wizards series, Nita, Dairine and Kit have been running from one crisis to another, doing what they could to slow down entropy and defeat the Lone Power. But as they're growing up, they're realizing that things aren't so black and white, and that there are multiple, subtle ways for the LP to work and some of those ways are their in their own doubts, insecurities and assumptions. Kit and Nita are also still adapting to the change in their relationship now that they're officially a couple.
Nita, Kit and Dairine have been asked to serve as mentors in the Wizard Invitational, an event that happens once every eleven years where young and upcoming wizards get to display their talents and wizardries in what is basically a worldwide wizard science fair. Dairine's and Nita and Kit's mentees prove challenging in their own ways. Mehrnaz is sweet and full of enthusiasm but has some deep-rooted doubts due to her family situation. Penn is an entitled, sexist assmonkey who things he's God's gift to wizardry but he also has something going on deep down.
It's rare in this series to see wizards who are less than professional and who aren't first and foremost concerned with saving the universe. It's actually one of the things that niggled me in the previous books. How is it possible that every single wizard in existence is so great and wonderful? Well, they're not, as it turns out. It was great to see Dairine rise to the challenge with her mentee, and she delivers some brilliant and much-earned verbal smackdowns throughout the course of this book.
I wish Nita and Kit had taken some notes from her, because they are not as forthcoming or direct with Penn when he's being a jerk (which, admittedly, is not a small portion of the time), and that was just one of things that made this less than 4-stars for me. Nita and Kit spend a lot of time complaining about Penn's behavior but not much time actually confronting him about it. True, it's not their job to teach him social skills or explain why misogyny is bad. If this was someone they were only working with on a one-time mission, that would be one thing, but they have to work with him for three solid weeks under some pretty intense circumstances. That's a long time to put up with his level of obnoxiousness without at least once telling him what is and is not acceptable behavior to them. When they do attempt it, it's not in a way that's going to get their point across.
The other thing that bugged me was that during Interim Errantry (which was written after this book) Kit and Nita seemed to be doing rather well adjusting to their budding romance and figuring out what the new boundaries are in regards to that. Here, they appear to have taken several steps back, and again, not once did they actually sit down and talk about any of it. If they were your ordinary teenagers, I might be willing to give them a pass, but they've proven more than capable of discussing plenty of dicey and awkward topics in the past. You're friends - TALK TO EACH OTHER!
Still, there is plenty to adore about this book too. Duane's always been very inclusive in representation in her books, but up to now most of the gender fluidity and sexually fluidity has been reserved for alien species. Now we finally get some human characters declaring themselves LGBT and it's great. (Still no in-book confirmation on Tom and Carl though, but I still maintain they're a couple.) Nelaid, Roshaun's father and the one who has been teaching Dairine how to manipulate sun energy after Roshaun's strange disappearance at the end of Wizards At War, and her dad Harry have the most beautiful and epic bromance ever in this book and it's a treat to watch. They really have become a found-family in the most amazing of ways. (And let's face it, Harry needs all the help he can get with Dairine.) Also, the two other Planetaries we meet here are a hoot, and Nita's prophetic dreams are getting more and more interesting. I figured out what they were trying to tell her by the second dream, but it was still neat to see her and Dairine put the pieces together in the final chapter.
The ending got rather rushed, unfortunately, and I really wouldn't have minded seeing more time given between the semi-finals and the finals. And the climax on the moon was both epic and head-scratching. It could have been better paced, and as long as these books are there's no reason why it needed to be so truncated in the last quarter of the book when the rest of it was willing to let the story breathe and the characters drive the action. It was a jarring transition to go from this detailed meandering story to such a quick-paced conclusion.
February 7, 2016
First order of business. this series has long been transitioning into (modern) YA territory, and I'd say it's definitely there. I used to recommend these to younger kids because any references to sex would pretty much go over a young person's head. I can't do that any more. As the characters are growing up, they are definitely thinking more grown-up thoughts. Still relatively innocent as YA goes, but I'm upping my rating to PG-13.
Now, if you're on this book, I sure hope you've read the first 9 in the series. It would be tough to follow, otherwise! So if you haven't done that, start with So You Want to be a Wizard.
The relationships between all the characters were all really well handled in this installment (trying to avoid spoilers, but those who have read the series should know what I mean.) The romances don't overtake the story (thank goodness), and I can't tell you how much I love the relationship between Nita and Dairine, it's so real. Nita just keeps getting more awesome!
Okay, so. I won't keep you any longer. If you've read the last 9 books, you just want to know if the series is still going strong. It is! As always, well worth the long wait. The book is as good as I hoped, and now I can't wait for the next one!!
Now, if you're on this book, I sure hope you've read the first 9 in the series. It would be tough to follow, otherwise! So if you haven't done that, start with So You Want to be a Wizard.
The relationships between all the characters were all really well handled in this installment (trying to avoid spoilers, but those who have read the series should know what I mean.) The romances don't overtake the story (thank goodness), and I can't tell you how much I love the relationship between Nita and Dairine, it's so real. Nita just keeps getting more awesome!
Okay, so. I won't keep you any longer. If you've read the last 9 books, you just want to know if the series is still going strong. It is! As always, well worth the long wait. The book is as good as I hoped, and now I can't wait for the next one!!
February 10, 2017
As a fan of the Young Wizards series, I'm sad to say this is by far the weakest entry in the series so far. I debated between one and two stars but there were at least glimmers of a story in the book. It is true that the last entry was also fairly weak compared to earlier entries - early on things like the loss of a parent were touched upon and explored in a way that felt more real than anything this book gave us.
My issues were as follows:
1. The story itself was extremely weak. The endgame of Roshaun was at least hinted at a ton, but none of the stuff involving Penn was really explored beyond one aside about a passenger and an involved effort to make us hates his guts. I have to say at least the book succeeded in making us dislike a character whose only "redeeming" quality might have been losing his mother whom he loved. I do not actually consider that enough of a quality to connect to him when we never hear Penn himself address the issue and are only told it exists by another party. We literally never see him not acting like a complete asshole until the end when he goes oh I guess I was a jerk!! And everyone else goes Yep you def were. The end sequence of the plot felt really handwavey since it was all so disjointed and things were mostly told rather than shown a lot.
2. There was simply not enough focus on the parts of the story that DID work. Mehrnaz was an interesting character in some ways but we never explored those and she felt extremely one dimensional and like a plot point more than a person because of it. She was there, it felt like, to be Muslim and make Dairine think. More attention should have been given to how she dealt with her feelings about her family and coming into her own. It ended up being Dairine forcing her through and doing the family confrontations and help FOR Merhrnaz. At no point did it really feel like Mehrnaz had her own agency or was able to really solve her own problems, for all that we were told this was her issue with her family - them not giving her leeway to be her own person.
3. There was a ton of focus on "haha but sex though". Teenagers think about sex, that's true, but this felt shoehorned in and awkward. Equally shoehorned and awkward was all the technology stuff that I gather Ms. Duane feels she has to add to be updated - I read this entry after reading straight through the millennium updates of the older books, and the technological references that got put in all feel kind of weird for the most part and along the lines of "AND NOW, LET ME PROVE I AM A MODERN TEEN *wink wink*" rather than "and now let me use a thing that is normal".
4. The characters rarely TALKED to one another even after acknowledging they didn't. Kit and Nita usually at least talk through things by the end of the book but this time they never really hit up certain issues we were forced to read about for the entire length of the thing.
5. There was a weird amount of just shoving stuff in to shove it in, actually. I'm glad Ms. Duane is being more inclusive about what types of characters she has, but it would be nice if her gay and asexual characters hadn't existed, it seems, literally to tell us hey I'm gay and I'm asexual and to allow Nita to go wow!!! And awkwardly think about it. Lissa and Matt exist basically to fill a quota and that sucks because they both seemed like they could have been interesting had they had literally any place in the story; the story, however, was weak and couldn't handle giving them much attention since it barely had anything of interest for the main characters to do. Which, again, sucks.
6. On the whole it just felt...anti-climactic and highlighted a lot of the weird trends in the series. It really pushed Dairine and Roshaun's friendship as Best Friends when we never got to see a ton of the build for that before he disappeared. They went from sniping at one another to a truce to like. Wow this guy disappeared and I love him, more or less. It's weird and I think maybe the issue here is a common ya author failure to really do romance? I'm not sure.
7. There was actually a section where a Kim Possible bff romance song was inserted for a slow dance and I felt like I was reading a bad fanfic. Honestly, a lot of the tropes for that were there. It was just...such a bad turn in the series. I'm disappointed.
My issues were as follows:
1. The story itself was extremely weak. The endgame of Roshaun was at least hinted at a ton, but none of the stuff involving Penn was really explored beyond one aside about a passenger and an involved effort to make us hates his guts. I have to say at least the book succeeded in making us dislike a character whose only "redeeming" quality might have been losing his mother whom he loved. I do not actually consider that enough of a quality to connect to him when we never hear Penn himself address the issue and are only told it exists by another party. We literally never see him not acting like a complete asshole until the end when he goes oh I guess I was a jerk!! And everyone else goes Yep you def were. The end sequence of the plot felt really handwavey since it was all so disjointed and things were mostly told rather than shown a lot.
2. There was simply not enough focus on the parts of the story that DID work. Mehrnaz was an interesting character in some ways but we never explored those and she felt extremely one dimensional and like a plot point more than a person because of it. She was there, it felt like, to be Muslim and make Dairine think. More attention should have been given to how she dealt with her feelings about her family and coming into her own. It ended up being Dairine forcing her through and doing the family confrontations and help FOR Merhrnaz. At no point did it really feel like Mehrnaz had her own agency or was able to really solve her own problems, for all that we were told this was her issue with her family - them not giving her leeway to be her own person.
3. There was a ton of focus on "haha but sex though". Teenagers think about sex, that's true, but this felt shoehorned in and awkward. Equally shoehorned and awkward was all the technology stuff that I gather Ms. Duane feels she has to add to be updated - I read this entry after reading straight through the millennium updates of the older books, and the technological references that got put in all feel kind of weird for the most part and along the lines of "AND NOW, LET ME PROVE I AM A MODERN TEEN *wink wink*" rather than "and now let me use a thing that is normal".
4. The characters rarely TALKED to one another even after acknowledging they didn't. Kit and Nita usually at least talk through things by the end of the book but this time they never really hit up certain issues we were forced to read about for the entire length of the thing.
5. There was a weird amount of just shoving stuff in to shove it in, actually. I'm glad Ms. Duane is being more inclusive about what types of characters she has, but it would be nice if her gay and asexual characters hadn't existed, it seems, literally to tell us hey I'm gay and I'm asexual and to allow Nita to go wow!!! And awkwardly think about it. Lissa and Matt exist basically to fill a quota and that sucks because they both seemed like they could have been interesting had they had literally any place in the story; the story, however, was weak and couldn't handle giving them much attention since it barely had anything of interest for the main characters to do. Which, again, sucks.
6. On the whole it just felt...anti-climactic and highlighted a lot of the weird trends in the series. It really pushed Dairine and Roshaun's friendship as Best Friends when we never got to see a ton of the build for that before he disappeared. They went from sniping at one another to a truce to like. Wow this guy disappeared and I love him, more or less. It's weird and I think maybe the issue here is a common ya author failure to really do romance? I'm not sure.
7. There was actually a section where a Kim Possible bff romance song was inserted for a slow dance and I felt like I was reading a bad fanfic. Honestly, a lot of the tropes for that were there. It was just...such a bad turn in the series. I'm disappointed.
February 9, 2018
Wow do I not have words for how awful this was.
But I will try to.
To preface: I have been reading this series since I was a young teen, which means it took her forever to finish the series AND there is some long-term investment on my part in the series. Overall, I would characterize them as interesting adventures, adequately written, with engaging characters. They were not my MOST FAVORITE BOOKS as a young teen, but they were fun enough. I was looking forward to finishing the series with this book and bought the final book without reading it from the library first (which I have not done for ages and seriously regret having done this time).
What was good about this book? Dairine was still interesting. That was about it.
Problems:
Dairine's relationship with Roshaun and her devastation about him was way overblown.
This was basically a mediocre version of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and there was no other real plot going on. That is a heck of a lot of nothing for 640 pages.
The TOKENISM. There was a lot more diversity in this book than previously and I don't think it was particularly warranted. For one thing: there was already diversity, so I don't think the book was suffering too much to begin with. Kit is Hispanic and Nita's full name is Juanita--she appears to be half-Hispanic, half-Irish descent. For a series that started in the 90s, this is not at all bad. But now the tokenism. Duane crammed as many diverse characters as she could in here, and they are either all stereotypes or wildly tangential to the narrative. Examples: leering Indian men, repressive Muslim family, emotionally-distant Chinese family (with a character whose misogyny was NEVER dealt with), and Indonesian whose name was "too hard to pronounce." And the tangents: when one character is revealed as gay, Nita is shocked. Then we revisit the topic again, because WOW. And then AGAIN, because no way!! With the adjusted timeline, there is no way Nita should have been so flabbergasted in 2011, and she certainly didn't need three different scenes expressing it. Likewise, the asexuality of another character was totally irrelevant to the narrative, as was the character to begin with, and the entire scene felt like Duane was shouting HEY LOOK AT MY DIVERSITY. I'm not saying diversity has to serve a specific purpose in a narrative, but if you're going to center multiple conversations around it, it should be relevant to the book in some way, and it DEFINITELY shouldn't be a stereotype.
Which leads me to Nita and Kit. This is their first book post-expressing-feelings-for-each-other and it was disastrous. This series took puberty and sexuality REALLY slowly, which was fine, but then this book Nita and Kit spend ALL their time thinking about sex. All of it. I wasn't expecting a "should we do it or not" book out of this series, but okay. And THEN it turns out that they actually haven't even kissed each other. They're not even comfortable holding hands. There is actually nothing going on between them at all. And like I said--the books historically have steered away from this and that's fine. But the overwhelming focus on sex when the characters aren't even up to kissing each other was totally incongruous and unconvincing. And it was never resolved and their awkwardness with each other was never adequately dealt with. And there was no chemistry between Kit and Nita either. A Wizard on Mars did this so well--even A Wizard Abroad did it better--and this book did it so disastrously and I don't know WHAT happened, but this book shouldn't have.
I could go on. There is no real plot, the climax is weak, the foreshadowing fails, and on and on. Any one (or even two!) of these things wouldn't have killed this book, but all of them together was unrecoverable. And I am so mad that I bought this instead of getting it from the library. This is why I screen almost everything I read before I buy it. I don't think I even want this book around the house. The rest of the series is great for a middle-grade, early YA reader, but I cannot let my kids read the series at a young age and then read THIS. Total and complete disappointment. This was a worse series ending than the Wheel of Time books--and the WoT author DIED before that series was finished.
But I will try to.
To preface: I have been reading this series since I was a young teen, which means it took her forever to finish the series AND there is some long-term investment on my part in the series. Overall, I would characterize them as interesting adventures, adequately written, with engaging characters. They were not my MOST FAVORITE BOOKS as a young teen, but they were fun enough. I was looking forward to finishing the series with this book and bought the final book without reading it from the library first (which I have not done for ages and seriously regret having done this time).
What was good about this book? Dairine was still interesting. That was about it.
Problems:
Dairine's relationship with Roshaun and her devastation about him was way overblown.
This was basically a mediocre version of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and there was no other real plot going on. That is a heck of a lot of nothing for 640 pages.
The TOKENISM. There was a lot more diversity in this book than previously and I don't think it was particularly warranted. For one thing: there was already diversity, so I don't think the book was suffering too much to begin with. Kit is Hispanic and Nita's full name is Juanita--she appears to be half-Hispanic, half-Irish descent. For a series that started in the 90s, this is not at all bad. But now the tokenism. Duane crammed as many diverse characters as she could in here, and they are either all stereotypes or wildly tangential to the narrative. Examples: leering Indian men, repressive Muslim family, emotionally-distant Chinese family (with a character whose misogyny was NEVER dealt with), and Indonesian whose name was "too hard to pronounce." And the tangents: when one character is revealed as gay, Nita is shocked. Then we revisit the topic again, because WOW. And then AGAIN, because no way!! With the adjusted timeline, there is no way Nita should have been so flabbergasted in 2011, and she certainly didn't need three different scenes expressing it. Likewise, the asexuality of another character was totally irrelevant to the narrative, as was the character to begin with, and the entire scene felt like Duane was shouting HEY LOOK AT MY DIVERSITY. I'm not saying diversity has to serve a specific purpose in a narrative, but if you're going to center multiple conversations around it, it should be relevant to the book in some way, and it DEFINITELY shouldn't be a stereotype.
Which leads me to Nita and Kit. This is their first book post-expressing-feelings-for-each-other and it was disastrous. This series took puberty and sexuality REALLY slowly, which was fine, but then this book Nita and Kit spend ALL their time thinking about sex. All of it. I wasn't expecting a "should we do it or not" book out of this series, but okay. And THEN it turns out that they actually haven't even kissed each other. They're not even comfortable holding hands. There is actually nothing going on between them at all. And like I said--the books historically have steered away from this and that's fine. But the overwhelming focus on sex when the characters aren't even up to kissing each other was totally incongruous and unconvincing. And it was never resolved and their awkwardness with each other was never adequately dealt with. And there was no chemistry between Kit and Nita either. A Wizard on Mars did this so well--even A Wizard Abroad did it better--and this book did it so disastrously and I don't know WHAT happened, but this book shouldn't have.
I could go on. There is no real plot, the climax is weak, the foreshadowing fails, and on and on. Any one (or even two!) of these things wouldn't have killed this book, but all of them together was unrecoverable. And I am so mad that I bought this instead of getting it from the library. This is why I screen almost everything I read before I buy it. I don't think I even want this book around the house. The rest of the series is great for a middle-grade, early YA reader, but I cannot let my kids read the series at a young age and then read THIS. Total and complete disappointment. This was a worse series ending than the Wheel of Time books--and the WoT author DIED before that series was finished.
February 2, 2016
These books are great, and every time there’s a new one in the series it’s a thing of joy. If you’re not familiar with Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series, imagine a Harry Potter that actually engages with the world around it rather than hiding in Hogwarts; not only do they make friends with wizards and other creatures (I still get choked up over Ed, the Master-Shark.) but the books are also deeply involved with their non-wizardly families as well, and their adventures are both wonderful fun, and grounded in the mundane facets of life. I may be _slightly_ biased; I’ve been reading these since childhood, and they’ve always been a source of comfort and welcoming to me. That said, they hold up just as well as an adult, and like Potter, it’s been great to watch the characters all change and grow together as the series has gone on. So when I found this one… well, I was up until 3am last night to finish reading, and no regrets at all over lost sleep.
So this is the tenth book. Nita and Kit have saved the world a few times, the universe, sometimes the neighborhood and each other (and that’s been as important as anything else). There’s a lot of history behind all of this, but I’d recommend this as a starting point for someone looking to jump in and try it out. There is a world-wide (essentially) wizard’s Science Fair happening, and the characters are helping mentor other wizards as they put together their best presentations, so in addition to introductions for everyone, we also get to see all sorts of wizardry in a way that makes me want to wander through and just look at everything.
So this is the tenth book. Nita and Kit have saved the world a few times, the universe, sometimes the neighborhood and each other (and that’s been as important as anything else). There’s a lot of history behind all of this, but I’d recommend this as a starting point for someone looking to jump in and try it out. There is a world-wide (essentially) wizard’s Science Fair happening, and the characters are helping mentor other wizards as they put together their best presentations, so in addition to introductions for everyone, we also get to see all sorts of wizardry in a way that makes me want to wander through and just look at everything.
February 24, 2016
It is said that the saving of one life is the same as saving the entire world, and that’s a sentiment that the main characters of the Young Wizards series would surely get behind. Unlike previous volumes of the series, where the fate of a city or the planet or even the entire universe are at stake, the stakes are far less – and thus far more. Despite the book’s low stakes, Duane still manages to craft a beautiful, meaningful tale resplendent with character development, exciting (but rather incomprehensible) feats of wizardry, and stunning passages filled with beauty, grandeur, and the immense glory of life.
When Nita, her sort-of boyfriend Kit, and her sister Dairine are called upon to mentor aspiring young wizards competing in the magical equivalent of a science fair, none of them expect their job to be easy. Which is perfectly sensible considering past events. But rather than having to deal with horrors such as apocalyptic threats and reality-shattering paradigm shifts, they have to deal with their protégées’ personal issues and family problems. And at the end of the day, I think they’d have preferred to deal with the apocalypse. That’s something they have experience with, after all.
Okay, I admit that last paragraph didn’t do a good job of selling it. But that’s what makes Duane such a damn good writer: She can turn THAT into a glorious tale. And she does this by characterization and the introduction of one of my new favorite characters, Dairine’s protégé Mehrnaz. (The less said about the other protégé, the sexist solar specialist Penn, the better.) Unfortunately, her established characters don’t fare as well in terms of characterization; Kit and Nita spend nearly the whole book dancing around their new relationship and Dairine spends far too much time moping over her mysteriously indisposed love interest for my liking.
But Mehrnaz is a breath of fresh air. It is a wonderful thing to see a character who is ambitious and that is seen as a good thing. Mehrnaz wants to stop earthquakes like the one that forced her to leave Iran from occurring and despite issues with self-confidence and psychologically abusive wizard family members, she soldiers on. She forms the emotional core of this book, and I was overjoyed to see her slowly and, just as importantly, realistically deal with her issues. Her struggles were painful to watch and her successes brought joy to my heart. That is the mark of a good character.
Games Wizards Play isn’t going to be Duane’s most exciting novel. It is, in fact, as I understand it, something of a breather episode before what all accounts indicate will be a very emotionally devastating eleventh volume. (And considering how she’s devastated our emotions in the past, I dread what Duane thinks is actually emotionally devastating…) But it may be considered among her best. I haven’t even touched on some of the more memorable aspects of this book, in the hopes that they pleasantly surprise you. Go forth and play games with Duane’s magnificent wizards. It is not something you will regret.
When Nita, her sort-of boyfriend Kit, and her sister Dairine are called upon to mentor aspiring young wizards competing in the magical equivalent of a science fair, none of them expect their job to be easy. Which is perfectly sensible considering past events. But rather than having to deal with horrors such as apocalyptic threats and reality-shattering paradigm shifts, they have to deal with their protégées’ personal issues and family problems. And at the end of the day, I think they’d have preferred to deal with the apocalypse. That’s something they have experience with, after all.
Okay, I admit that last paragraph didn’t do a good job of selling it. But that’s what makes Duane such a damn good writer: She can turn THAT into a glorious tale. And she does this by characterization and the introduction of one of my new favorite characters, Dairine’s protégé Mehrnaz. (The less said about the other protégé, the sexist solar specialist Penn, the better.) Unfortunately, her established characters don’t fare as well in terms of characterization; Kit and Nita spend nearly the whole book dancing around their new relationship and Dairine spends far too much time moping over her mysteriously indisposed love interest for my liking.
But Mehrnaz is a breath of fresh air. It is a wonderful thing to see a character who is ambitious and that is seen as a good thing. Mehrnaz wants to stop earthquakes like the one that forced her to leave Iran from occurring and despite issues with self-confidence and psychologically abusive wizard family members, she soldiers on. She forms the emotional core of this book, and I was overjoyed to see her slowly and, just as importantly, realistically deal with her issues. Her struggles were painful to watch and her successes brought joy to my heart. That is the mark of a good character.
Games Wizards Play isn’t going to be Duane’s most exciting novel. It is, in fact, as I understand it, something of a breather episode before what all accounts indicate will be a very emotionally devastating eleventh volume. (And considering how she’s devastated our emotions in the past, I dread what Duane thinks is actually emotionally devastating…) But it may be considered among her best. I haven’t even touched on some of the more memorable aspects of this book, in the hopes that they pleasantly surprise you. Go forth and play games with Duane’s magnificent wizards. It is not something you will regret.
March 15, 2016
The author's version of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Though Duane can still craft some good lines (see below), and her penchant for terrific young characters who turn out to be made of tougher stuff than expected remains her strongest trope, that old storytelling magic didn't kick in for me until the climax--after many, many, many pages of conversations that continue long beyond any constructive purpose, lengthy prophetic dreams, and angsty ruminations over relationships or events from previous episodes. Nita and Kit have been teenagers for decades now (they'd be in their mid-40s now if the series were running in real time), and they're STILL figuring their attachment out, or going over the same ground. I thought for a while that they'd made it at last into the sack (between chapters) but, evidently, not. Well, the series still has plenty of steam for me, and I'll keep reading...just skipping all the long paragraphs.
Memorable lines:
"It didn't blow up anything like as hard as it did the time before last."
"I'm about to discuss sex with a planet. Yes, this is my life."
"'Sorry,' Irina said. 'If you're going to routinely be a force for good, you'd better get used to the paperwork.'"
Memorable lines:
"It didn't blow up anything like as hard as it did the time before last."
"I'm about to discuss sex with a planet. Yes, this is my life."
"'Sorry,' Irina said. 'If you're going to routinely be a force for good, you'd better get used to the paperwork.'"
November 23, 2019
In general this is an excellent book ten in an excellent series! I had emotional responses several times when characters were struggling with their families, frustrated with their relationships, and mourning lost or missing loved ones. And the plot of this story hinging on a competition was pretty interesting; usually these wizards battle life-or-death situations with high stakes, and it's pretty neat to see them working with a plot that has stakes but not generally the life-or-death kind. (I expected everything to lead to something much more catastrophic than it did--though don't get me wrong, a dangerous and life-threatening situation did arise because of this game!--but I really appreciated that the competition plot was front and center throughout the whole story.)
I like that Nita and Kit are still trying to figure out their relationship as it changes and evolves over time, like any two confused and committed kids, and I also love that they still have a lot of important relationships with their families and their day-to-day lives.
Mehrnaz, Dairine's mentee for the competition, is a really interesting character. I thought the narration was setting her up to be evil or something because she was so polite and so self-deprecating, when contrasted with Nita and Kit's mentee, Penn, an obnoxiously overconfident, infuriatingly sexist and braggartly young man. I really liked Mehrnaz's family story and how Dairine helped her through what was at its heart a generational family issue that didn't depend on magic. (I also like that there were consequences for how Dairine talked to Mehrnaz's aunt. I'm kinda tired of plucky young people speaking truth to power in books and then everyone just applauds and the powerful person slinks away in defeat. It's so nice to see how even in the wizarding world, connections and nepotism matter and aren't always fair.)
Penn pissed me off and was supposed to piss me off. His inconsistency was strange, and I wasn't sure how to feel about the ending with him. I guess it makes sense in context that deep down he felt that Nita had "something he needed" and then as a young boy he interpreted that as just wanting to flirt with her and possess her in a relationship sense. But considering how she kept resisting the way he treated her, it felt so weird to see him then concluding that Nita must be in love with him and insisting that there was something between them, and wanting to fight Kit to "win" her. (I liked that there were consequences for that, too.) I have to say all the peeks into Nita's visionary experiences didn't connect to the ending for me--I didn't really understand how the images and interactions Nita saw were explained by the ending of the book.
And I really like the complicated relationship Dairine has with Roshaun's family. The forward motion in that situation was lovely. The idea of the competition was neat too, as it felt a bit like science fairs or trade shows, and even though obviously there are huge elements of the wizarding world that have never been mentioned before and I was surprised a big event that involves the Planetary never came up in conversation before, I thought it was realistic enough. I was curious about the other contestants besides Nita and Kit's and Dairine's mentees. I wanted more of a breath of personality and info from each of them.
I had two reasons for not wanting to give this book full marks, though. One of them was the thing that continues to just kinda irritate me reading these books. The scope of them is pretty massive and it's understandable that Nita, Kit, and Dairine have racked up quite a cast of characters to keep relevant. I do honestly get tired of the parade of cameos that results from this. Characters who really don't do much (or do anything!) in the story have to have their moment to pop in and show you what they've been doing, and don't necessarily connect to anything Nita or Kit or Dairine has been dealing with in the book. On the one hand, I don't demand that every interaction is plot-relevant or kicks off something emotional that matters. On the other hand, when there are SO MANY superficial interactions just so the story can mention a character or have them stroll by to update us on who they're dating or what they're working on, I just start to get dizzy and I feel like some of my investment leaks out the sides of the story.
The other thing that just kinda irritated me was the shoutout to a couple queer orientations in the book. As a reasonably prominent asexual activist myself, it is of course a delight to get more asexual characters (as one character is ace in the book and discusses it explicitly with Nita). And relatedly, I appreciate more LGBT characters popping up in books. The problem I had with it was that it was all framed by Nita's reaction to these characters not being straight; in both cases, Nita sort of beats herself up for "not realizing" or being so oblivious as to not guess that someone was gay or ace. She's like WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE I NEVER. KNEW. HE. WAS. GAY. I TOTALLY DIDN'T PAY ATTENTION! It had this weird sort of "not that there's anything wrong with that, but I can't believe I didn't know!" emphasis on it that I guess sometimes straight people feel (?) but I don't like seeing it modeled. It isn't that big of a deal and "OMG HOW DID I NEVER KNOW U WERE GAY" is . . . you know, this is hard to explain, why it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I guess the fact that you never go "omg. never realized HE WAS STRAIGHT!!?!" when you find out someone has a cross-sex partner is part of it. It shows that on some level this IS shocking to you, and that you WERE assuming the person was straight until proven otherwise. (And dating someone of the same sex does not automatically make a person gay either, so . . . basically, you just need to either have a conversation with the person if you wanna know how they identify, or don't worry about it if it's not relevant to your life.)
The discussion Nita had with the ace character felt a little random, a little queer-roll-call cameo-ish, and though I do admit that characters who are struggling with their own relationships are more likely to willingly engage in conversations with other teens about their relationships, it ended up not connecting to anything in a meaningful way and thus felt a bit like the other type of cameos I get annoyed with in these books: we're putting this in because we want to show the diversity of young adults' relationships, not because it matters with this particular character. I think in both "reveals" I would have appreciated less attention on it, less time out for queer 101 and straight-girl-having-an-omg-reaction, and more just plain old nonchalant inclusion of queer characters with queer relationships (as opposed to queer characters who show up mostly just to have the conversation about that).
(I also would like the author to find better words than "idiot" for what she means. That word was used a lot, even in a conversation where the Planetary says there is no allowance for "idiots," and I think it's a little alarming that this word hasn't been phased out the way it should be.)
Overall I am very pleased with the book, but the things I didn't like about it made it feel pretty uneven. I'm always willing to read more about these folks, though, and the author really does have a talent for building up a story and making it feel personally important and relevant to each character who is affected by the events.
I like that Nita and Kit are still trying to figure out their relationship as it changes and evolves over time, like any two confused and committed kids, and I also love that they still have a lot of important relationships with their families and their day-to-day lives.
Mehrnaz, Dairine's mentee for the competition, is a really interesting character. I thought the narration was setting her up to be evil or something because she was so polite and so self-deprecating, when contrasted with Nita and Kit's mentee, Penn, an obnoxiously overconfident, infuriatingly sexist and braggartly young man. I really liked Mehrnaz's family story and how Dairine helped her through what was at its heart a generational family issue that didn't depend on magic. (I also like that there were consequences for how Dairine talked to Mehrnaz's aunt. I'm kinda tired of plucky young people speaking truth to power in books and then everyone just applauds and the powerful person slinks away in defeat. It's so nice to see how even in the wizarding world, connections and nepotism matter and aren't always fair.)
Penn pissed me off and was supposed to piss me off. His inconsistency was strange, and I wasn't sure how to feel about the ending with him. I guess it makes sense in context that deep down he felt that Nita had "something he needed" and then as a young boy he interpreted that as just wanting to flirt with her and possess her in a relationship sense. But considering how she kept resisting the way he treated her, it felt so weird to see him then concluding that Nita must be in love with him and insisting that there was something between them, and wanting to fight Kit to "win" her. (I liked that there were consequences for that, too.) I have to say all the peeks into Nita's visionary experiences didn't connect to the ending for me--I didn't really understand how the images and interactions Nita saw were explained by the ending of the book.
And I really like the complicated relationship Dairine has with Roshaun's family. The forward motion in that situation was lovely. The idea of the competition was neat too, as it felt a bit like science fairs or trade shows, and even though obviously there are huge elements of the wizarding world that have never been mentioned before and I was surprised a big event that involves the Planetary never came up in conversation before, I thought it was realistic enough. I was curious about the other contestants besides Nita and Kit's and Dairine's mentees. I wanted more of a breath of personality and info from each of them.
I had two reasons for not wanting to give this book full marks, though. One of them was the thing that continues to just kinda irritate me reading these books. The scope of them is pretty massive and it's understandable that Nita, Kit, and Dairine have racked up quite a cast of characters to keep relevant. I do honestly get tired of the parade of cameos that results from this. Characters who really don't do much (or do anything!) in the story have to have their moment to pop in and show you what they've been doing, and don't necessarily connect to anything Nita or Kit or Dairine has been dealing with in the book. On the one hand, I don't demand that every interaction is plot-relevant or kicks off something emotional that matters. On the other hand, when there are SO MANY superficial interactions just so the story can mention a character or have them stroll by to update us on who they're dating or what they're working on, I just start to get dizzy and I feel like some of my investment leaks out the sides of the story.
The other thing that just kinda irritated me was the shoutout to a couple queer orientations in the book. As a reasonably prominent asexual activist myself, it is of course a delight to get more asexual characters (as one character is ace in the book and discusses it explicitly with Nita). And relatedly, I appreciate more LGBT characters popping up in books. The problem I had with it was that it was all framed by Nita's reaction to these characters not being straight; in both cases, Nita sort of beats herself up for "not realizing" or being so oblivious as to not guess that someone was gay or ace. She's like WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE I NEVER. KNEW. HE. WAS. GAY. I TOTALLY DIDN'T PAY ATTENTION! It had this weird sort of "not that there's anything wrong with that, but I can't believe I didn't know!" emphasis on it that I guess sometimes straight people feel (?) but I don't like seeing it modeled. It isn't that big of a deal and "OMG HOW DID I NEVER KNOW U WERE GAY" is . . . you know, this is hard to explain, why it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I guess the fact that you never go "omg. never realized HE WAS STRAIGHT!!?!" when you find out someone has a cross-sex partner is part of it. It shows that on some level this IS shocking to you, and that you WERE assuming the person was straight until proven otherwise. (And dating someone of the same sex does not automatically make a person gay either, so . . . basically, you just need to either have a conversation with the person if you wanna know how they identify, or don't worry about it if it's not relevant to your life.)
The discussion Nita had with the ace character felt a little random, a little queer-roll-call cameo-ish, and though I do admit that characters who are struggling with their own relationships are more likely to willingly engage in conversations with other teens about their relationships, it ended up not connecting to anything in a meaningful way and thus felt a bit like the other type of cameos I get annoyed with in these books: we're putting this in because we want to show the diversity of young adults' relationships, not because it matters with this particular character. I think in both "reveals" I would have appreciated less attention on it, less time out for queer 101 and straight-girl-having-an-omg-reaction, and more just plain old nonchalant inclusion of queer characters with queer relationships (as opposed to queer characters who show up mostly just to have the conversation about that).
(I also would like the author to find better words than "idiot" for what she means. That word was used a lot, even in a conversation where the Planetary says there is no allowance for "idiots," and I think it's a little alarming that this word hasn't been phased out the way it should be.)
Overall I am very pleased with the book, but the things I didn't like about it made it feel pretty uneven. I'm always willing to read more about these folks, though, and the author really does have a talent for building up a story and making it feel personally important and relevant to each character who is affected by the events.
September 26, 2017
EDIT: Yay an expected release date! February 2nd 2016?!?!??!
*breathe*
*breathe*
I mean, what's a year?! IT'S ONLY A YEAR!
Original:
I wish she didn't take FOREVER to come out with each new book. Honestly, it's painful to wait. And I never want to read all the books over again until I know when the next books is coming out. That would be absolutely wonderful to have a release date. Really. Please.
*breathe*
*breathe*
I mean, what's a year?! IT'S ONLY A YEAR!
Original:
I wish she didn't take FOREVER to come out with each new book. Honestly, it's painful to wait. And I never want to read all the books over again until I know when the next books is coming out. That would be absolutely wonderful to have a release date. Really. Please.
February 16, 2019
Ah geez. This is a hard review to write. For starters, this took me over a month to read, which either means I wanted to read every.single.word a la The Blind Assassin or that I just couldn't sustain enough interest to read more than a few pages at a time. I've already returned it to the library once and was about to have to return it again, so I gritted my teeth and finished the last 100 pages or so.
Let me say that I just bought this series for some of my nieces and nephews, and I just reread the first few books and found that there were still parts in at least one of them (you all know which one) that made me cry, still, as a grown woman. I found A Wizard of Mars to be just as satisfying now as I did when I read it the first time as well. This...this felt kind of like fanfiction. I was fine with Kit and Nita deciding to date and am absolutely in favor of them taking it slow (they are so young, after all), but I was not ready to be treated to scenes where Kit ruminated over how Nita looked hot in whatever outfit and
Also, on inclusion. We won't even get into the problems with Penn.
I anticipated this book for years and was very excited when it came out and now...? I really don't know anymore. And that makes me sort of sad. End of an era, I suppose.
Let me say that I just bought this series for some of my nieces and nephews, and I just reread the first few books and found that there were still parts in at least one of them (you all know which one) that made me cry, still, as a grown woman. I found A Wizard of Mars to be just as satisfying now as I did when I read it the first time as well. This...this felt kind of like fanfiction. I was fine with Kit and Nita deciding to date and am absolutely in favor of them taking it slow (they are so young, after all), but I was not ready to be treated to scenes where Kit ruminated over how Nita looked hot in whatever outfit and
Also, on inclusion. We won't even get into the problems with Penn.
I anticipated this book for years and was very excited when it came out and now...? I really don't know anymore. And that makes me sort of sad. End of an era, I suppose.
May 23, 2019
Honestly, I felt this was probable Duane's weakest work of the series. She started with a solid premise, but strayed too often into unnecessary thoughts and talks on sexuality that didn't seem to fit the rest of the book. After spending 9 books with Kit and Nita, it felt like a disservice to Nita to spend so much time in her thoughts where not only was she telling herself to get her crap together, but was so shocked at never having thought of other character's romantic orientations or status. I get that it is something new, and I wasn't bothered when it started as it did make sense in small amounts, but by the time she got to asking about how planets express sexuality, I was finished with it.
Dairine and Mirnaz (I listened to this so don't know how her name is spelled) had the most interesting story and character development. I really enjoyed their parts and it was a refreshing reprieve from the rest. My only regret here is after all that build up, Mirnaz didn't feel like she got the attention she deserved in the end.
I had a hard time getting through parts of this book, but others did really shine, so it is a very mixed 3 rating I give it.
Dairine and Mirnaz (I listened to this so don't know how her name is spelled) had the most interesting story and character development. I really enjoyed their parts and it was a refreshing reprieve from the rest. My only regret here is after all that build up, Mirnaz didn't feel like she got the attention she deserved in the end.
I had a hard time getting through parts of this book, but others did really shine, so it is a very mixed 3 rating I give it.
August 17, 2016
Before reading: Now that I finally finished #9, I don't want to forget that this is coming out in 2013 (now changed to 2015, after being changed earlier to 2014--9/5, it's now 2/2/16)!
After reading: I absolutely love these books, and so enjoy revisiting the characters and the world that she's created for them. The beginning where she set up what their lives were like in current time wasn't quite as good, but after the first 50 pages or so it sucked me in.
4 1/2 stars, rounded up, just because of personal enjoyment. It would only work that well for a fan of the series, of which I am definitely one!
After reading: I absolutely love these books, and so enjoy revisiting the characters and the world that she's created for them. The beginning where she set up what their lives were like in current time wasn't quite as good, but after the first 50 pages or so it sucked me in.
4 1/2 stars, rounded up, just because of personal enjoyment. It would only work that well for a fan of the series, of which I am definitely one!
December 22, 2015
Wow. Um. I'm not sure what to even say, except that I am quite happy with this latest installment. I gave this a pretty high rating, 4 stars, though that may go up a bit with a reread, that's usually how these books go. Great books the first time through, but better the second (or third, fourth...) time through.
**Review while waiting***
Having read the first book in this series when I was 12, I have literally spent more than half my life reading these stories and WAITING for the next book.
Fingers crossed 2015 publication sticks!
**Jan 2015 Update**
Sigh. February of 2016.
(14 years of waiting!)
**Review while waiting***
Having read the first book in this series when I was 12, I have literally spent more than half my life reading these stories and WAITING for the next book.
Fingers crossed 2015 publication sticks!
**Jan 2015 Update**
Sigh. February of 2016.
(14 years of waiting!)
October 13, 2021
This was so incredibly good as a tie up of everything, with everyone we know and love.
January 2, 2022
I can't believe these books are still a thing!! Obviously I'm behind the ball and skipping around. I missed a LOT since this is number 10 and the last one I remember was the trip to Ireland (with Ronan). But I'm very excited to catch up. And I love that Nita and Kit are still kids!! They must go through some harrowing things between now and the last time I saw them, though.
September 28, 2016
9/28/16 3 grudging stars. For a 640 page book, surprisingly little happened. (And that near the end.)
I love this series, but was disappointed in this installment. I don't think the plot 'worked' very well. I found both Kit and Nina to be surprisingly bad (and immature) at 'using their words' in dealing with both Penn, and their changing relationship. For two people who'd been through so much together and had the advantage of a wide experience of all types of life, creatures, wizardly speech, danger, and speaking truth to power--they sure didn't display any of that experience here.
I also found the authorial speculation on her minor characters sex lives (or lack of them) to be oddly weird and uncomfortably (almost) pedophilic. Why?!? What was this obsession with virginity, or lack of it? And, why was it necessary? It had absolutely nothing to do with the plot. That should have been edited out. More action and plot please, less speculation that goes nowhere about other people's sex lives.
On the good side, Dairene, at least, was her usual self. And, she did things. You go girl! Duane always does a nice job with the adults (parents/mentors/etc.) That continued to be displayed here.
I'll continue on, because I do love this series, particularly the earlier ones, but the weird way we're shoehorned into Kit and Nita's relationship is not really working for me. Author and characters: my advice is to "fish or cut bait". I want the old Kit and Nita back who do things and where plots actually advance.
I love this series, but was disappointed in this installment. I don't think the plot 'worked' very well. I found both Kit and Nina to be surprisingly bad (and immature) at 'using their words' in dealing with both Penn, and their changing relationship. For two people who'd been through so much together and had the advantage of a wide experience of all types of life, creatures, wizardly speech, danger, and speaking truth to power--they sure didn't display any of that experience here.
I also found the authorial speculation on her minor characters sex lives (or lack of them) to be oddly weird and uncomfortably (almost) pedophilic. Why?!? What was this obsession with virginity, or lack of it? And, why was it necessary? It had absolutely nothing to do with the plot. That should have been edited out. More action and plot please, less speculation that goes nowhere about other people's sex lives.
On the good side, Dairene, at least, was her usual self. And, she did things. You go girl! Duane always does a nice job with the adults (parents/mentors/etc.) That continued to be displayed here.
I'll continue on, because I do love this series, particularly the earlier ones, but the weird way we're shoehorned into Kit and Nita's relationship is not really working for me. Author and characters: my advice is to "fish or cut bait". I want the old Kit and Nita back who do things and where plots actually advance.
December 31, 2015
I believe this is the first book I've read in the Young Wizards series, though I'm aware of Diane Duane, and I've read some of her other books--but not in this series, which I'm only now aware of. Games Wizards Play caught my attention because I like the idea of the mentors and their mentees and their puzzling backgrounds. The premise is intriguing, and I enjoyed the book. The characters are interesting and fun and sometimes annoying (Grow up, Penn!), and the author filled in the background well. (I'm sorry I never got to know Ponch, and like the characters in the book, I wondered what happened to Roshaun.) I like Spot and Bobo and the Planetaries (cool idea!) So many imaginative characters and interesting premises. Great family and friends relationships--and believable. (I always appreciate that.) This story kept me reading. I don't want to spoil the rescues, especially at the end, or the new characters. I really like this book and plan to reread it. Recommended.
February 13, 2016
Very slice of life, which is strange for a series that usually revolves around life-or-entropy scenarios, but it felt organic. The real thing that makes it shine is being able to see the characters outside of the normal situations we usually see them in. A good comparison would be to the Half Blood Prince--paced differently than other books, but not losing anything by it, and building an atmosphere of the calm before the storm.
There's a lot of new characters, and it feels a little like pandering, but those that you see a lot of--Penn and Mehrnaz, for instance-- have a lot going for them, and draw themselves into the cast well. (I love Mehrnaz oh my god. Words cannot express.) The cast relationships--good lord, the cast relationships-- are really the forepoint of the novel, and it's done EXCELLENTLY. Dairine's opening chapter with Nelaid and Harry being buddies was absolutely worth waiting six years for.
There's a lot of new characters, and it feels a little like pandering, but those that you see a lot of--Penn and Mehrnaz, for instance-- have a lot going for them, and draw themselves into the cast well. (I love Mehrnaz oh my god. Words cannot express.) The cast relationships--good lord, the cast relationships-- are really the forepoint of the novel, and it's done EXCELLENTLY. Dairine's opening chapter with Nelaid and Harry being buddies was absolutely worth waiting six years for.
August 31, 2016
This remains a fun series with an interesting combination of fantasy and science fiction. However, this seems like a minor entry in the series until the end when something happens pretty much out of nowhere.
The plot is Kit and Nita (as well as Nita's little sister Dairine) become mentors to two other wizards who are enrolled in the wizard equivalent of a science fair to show off invented spells. Kit and Nita's new protege is sexist and obnoxious while Dairine's contestant is bullied by her family. Meanwhile Kit and Nita's partnership is having difficulty adjusting to their becoming girlfriend and boyfriend.
The book does have some nice humorous touches and Kit's sister is always a fun character.
The book seemed too long to support such a slight premise and very low stakes considering their usual mission of confronting the Lone Power and saving planets, if not the universe.
I took this out from the library and am glad I read it, but am unlikely to want my own copy.
The plot is Kit and Nita (as well as Nita's little sister Dairine) become mentors to two other wizards who are enrolled in the wizard equivalent of a science fair to show off invented spells. Kit and Nita's new protege is sexist and obnoxious while Dairine's contestant is bullied by her family. Meanwhile Kit and Nita's partnership is having difficulty adjusting to their becoming girlfriend and boyfriend.
The book does have some nice humorous touches and Kit's sister is always a fun character.
The book seemed too long to support such a slight premise and very low stakes considering their usual mission of confronting the Lone Power and saving planets, if not the universe.
I took this out from the library and am glad I read it, but am unlikely to want my own copy.
February 24, 2016
Games Wizards Play is the tenth book in Diane Duane’s YOUNG WIZARDS series, and while a reader could struggle through it as a standalone, I’d say it’s definitely best read in the series, as there are many references to past events, a host of characters big and small and lots of terminology that will resonate more fully to fans of the series. As far as where it stands in that series (which I highly recommend, BTW), I’d say it’s one of the weaker books, though it does advance our main characters’ lives — both their wizardly ones and their personal ones — and set us up for future adventures.
The focus of the 600-plus page book is “The Invitational,” a sort of science fair for young wizards who get mentored as they create, then present, original ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
The focus of the 600-plus page book is “The Invitational,” a sort of science fair for young wizards who get mentored as they create, then present, original ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
March 27, 2016
As always, since i first began reading these books, years ago, Nita and Kit continue to capture my imagination and feelings. This long-awaited book does not disappoint and upon finishing it, I am anxiously waiting to hear when the next one will come. Aside from the compelling story, what has always stuck out to me about these books is that while Kit and Nita might share a starring role to some extent, the series is primarily about Nita. For there to be such a well-developed and developing female character, whose issues with growing up never seem more or less important than her struggles with life and morality, and for that to have remained consistent is so refreshing and nothing less than I would expect of Diane Duane.
These books are, and will remain, some of my favorites, to be treasured and returned to again and again.
These books are, and will remain, some of my favorites, to be treasured and returned to again and again.
January 1, 2018
It ended well but
February 16, 2019
I read the first Young Wizards book when I was around 10 years old. I loved it and have loved every other book since. Until this one. It was way too long, but more importantly, for the majority of 500+ pages nothing happened. The actual story could have been 100 pages.
It seemed as if the author was trying to write what she thought would be wanted in today’s YA fic world rather than staying true to the characters. Nita and Kit went from being best friends and wizard partners to being a couple (which is fine) obsessed with thinking about sex (didn’t ring true). Plus, a subplot threat from Nita’s visions never materialized or was dealt with at all. A recurring threat throughout hundreds of pages and nothing ever comes of it?
I’m pretty bummed that the 10th book of a series I’ve loved for 30+ years was so disappointing.
It seemed as if the author was trying to write what she thought would be wanted in today’s YA fic world rather than staying true to the characters. Nita and Kit went from being best friends and wizard partners to being a couple (which is fine) obsessed with thinking about sex (didn’t ring true). Plus, a subplot threat from Nita’s visions never materialized or was dealt with at all. A recurring threat throughout hundreds of pages and nothing ever comes of it?
I’m pretty bummed that the 10th book of a series I’ve loved for 30+ years was so disappointing.
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