Don't take brilliant, shrewd Dairine Callahan for just any bratty younger sibling. Impatient for adventure, knowledge, and recognition, she finds her sister Nita's wizardry manual and reads the Oath aloud. Disappointingly, nothing happens. But when her family's new computer arrives, Dairene discovers more than the standard issue system software on it and launches herself on a reckless, universe-wide, high-voltage magical conflict with the Lone Power. Being a novice wizard is not without its risk. Dairine nearly folds the known universe inside out with her first attempt at a space-time slide. It is the first of a series of spells that takes us jump after jump across the galaxy.
Grade 5-8 Nita Callahan, a 14-year-old wizard from Long Island, is annoyed when her concerned parents ship her off to Ireland for six weeks on an enforced vacation from magic-working and her partner Kit?but what's time or space to wizards (see So You Want to Be a Wizard [1996] and its sequels [all Harcourt]). In any case, Ireland is hardly the ideal spot for a magic-free getaway, and indeed Nita soon finds herself involved in big doings.
The Wizard begins with Able's return to Mythgathr on his steed Cloud, a great mare the color of her name. Able is filled with new knowledge of the ways of the seven-fold world and possessed of great magical secrets. His knighthood now beyond question, Able works to fulfill his vows to his king, his lover, his friends, his gods, and even his enemies. Able must set his world right, restoring the proper order among the denizens of all the seven worlds.
Lackey's latest Elemental Masters novel is set in Victorian England. The Harton School for Boys and Girls, run by Isabelle and Frederick Harton, is one of the few schools that takes students whose magic doesn't pertain to the elements, and who are, therefore, frequently ignored by the Elemental Masters...
Visitors from Oz: The Wild Adventures of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman
In time for the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Wizard of Oz, popular mathematician, pseudo-science debunker, professional literary eccentric and first chairman of the International Wizard of Oz Club Gardner (Classic Brainteasers; The Annotated Casey at the Bat) has cooked up this rather disenchanted bagatelle, mixing fin de (this) siecle satire with references to several childhood classics. As one would expect from the world's premier math puzzle expert, the book contains a little math puzzle. Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man want to return to earth for a visit, but how can they get through the fourth dimension that separates Oz from earth?
