“So You Want To Be A Wizard” by Diane Duane
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Source: Gift
Summary from Goodreads:
Something stopped Nita’s hand as it ran along the bookshelf. She looked and found that one of the books had a loose thread at the top of its spine. It was one of those So You Want to Be a . . . books, a series on careers. So You Want to Be a Pilot, and a Scientist . . . a Writer. But his one said, So You Want to Be a Wizard.
I don’t belive this, Nina thought. She shut the book and stood there holding it in her hand, confused, amazed, suspicious–and delighted. If it was a joke, it was a great one. If it wasn’t . . . ?
Review
The book reminded me a lot of A Wrinkle in Time. There was a lot of ‘science’ in the book. I was surprised at how dense in made the reading. I had a really hard time getting past the fantasy of the book. It’s not that it was bad because it wasn’t at all. It just wasn’t my type of magic or fantasy so I had a hard time getting into the book.
I do have to say that getting a new perspective on magic was interesting though. Instead of waving a wand and saying a few magic words, you have to ‘translate’ what you want to happen from the Speech (?) and you have balance your equations. (See what I mean by ‘science’?)
The bottom line? It was an interesting read but I probably won’t be picking up the next book any time soon. If you adored A Wrinkle in Time and that type of fantasy, you’d most likely enjoy this!
I actually LOVED this book when I first picked it up (probably about 5 years ago?). The series is pretty good — the first novel is heavier on backstory, but the rest of the series focuses more on the characters. I kept combing my local library for a copy of her ‘how to be a wizard’ guide, but sadly never found it
Awww, I hate when that happens!
Oh that almost sounds a little disappointing
I liked how A Wrinkle in Time was a lot more mature than I expected it to be in the science aspect, but at the same time it didn’t bog you down. Sounds like this one is a little to hard, especially if it’s geared towards kids!
It might be easier reading if you have time to sit down and read for a good chunk of time. I was mainly reading this on my lunch breaks for ~20 minutes. That makes a lot of things a bit difficult to get into/understand.
Ahh gotcha. That makes sense! More something you need to focus on?
Exactly!
Hmmm. A Wrinkle in Time was wonderful, but it about hit my science brain limit. I think I might have to pass on this one. That’s unfortunate, because I DO want to be a wizard…
You should still try it! It was enjoyable enough.
Thanks for your input on this book and for sharing it
I’ve honestly never read A Wrinkle in Time, but have wanted to since I’ve been blogging. This one actually sounds kind of cute, but I can see how the “science” of it might have been a little daunting or dense.
It’s really one of those hit or miss things. I can definitely see why people love both books though!
I didn’t know that. I think I have the first two or something in an omnibus on my TBR – I will get to it someday – I loved Wrinkle in Time though!