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Searching... Mount Angel Public Library | YA DUANE | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
To give Nita a vacation from magic, her parents pack her off for a stay with her eccentric aunt in Ireland. But Nita soon finds herself with a host of Irish wizards battling creatures from a nightmare land.
Author Notes
Author Diane Duane was born in New York City on May 18, 1952, and grew up in Roosevelt, Long Island. She is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Duane studied nursing in college and became a psychiatric nurse. She began writing full time in 1980 and has published numerous novels, including several with her husband, Peter Morwood. She also writes screenplays, served as senior writer for the BBC-TV education series "Science Challenge," and writes scripts for CD-ROM computer games. Her "Young Wizards" series won a special commendation in the Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize in Children's Literature, 2003. She currently lives in County Wicklow, Ireland.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8Nita 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 Kitbut 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. With the ancient harvest festival of Lughnasád approaching, signs point to a major attack from the malicious Lone Power, the very inventor of Death, in its guise as Balor of the Evil Eye. The assembled wizards of Ireland have but one hope: to find or re-create the Four Treasures of the Tuatha de Danaan, said in ancient stories to have helped defeat Balor once before. Moving easily between light, everyday language and the sonorous formality of high fantasy, Duane seamlessly interweaves encounters with creatures from legend with glimpses of modern Irish life and teen culture. Her view of magic's place in the scheme of things is so clever and well reasoned that readers will have no trouble suspending belief. Nita is an appealingly hot-tempered teenager who faces slavering dire wolves and trollish drows with more courage than the dismaying realization that she's gotten "the hots" for young fellow wizard Ronan. Balor's appearance in the climactic battle is all too brief, but against this army of wizards, it never stands a chance. At least in retrospect. An unusually consistent fantasy, rich in details, subplots, and Irish lore.John Peters, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
When Nita goes to Ireland to spend the summer with her aunt, she soon discovers that Aunt Annie is also a wizard, and the two of them join forces with all of the wizards of the land to combat a rising evil. They must resurrect the power of four ancient magical weapons and re-enact the mythical Battle of Moytura. Because the fourth book in the series refers often to events from previous books, the novel does not stand well alone. Glos. From HORN BOOK 1997, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 6^-9. Duane weaves the heroes and demons of Irish legends into her fourth book in the Wizardry series. Fourteen-year-old Nita has been sent to her aunt in Ireland because her parents are concerned about the intensity of her wizardry partnership with her friend Kit. However, soon after her arrival, Nita realizes the country is dangerously alive with ancient magic and in jeopardy from the Fomori, the monster people who ruled early Ireland. Together with Kit, her aunt, a host of Irish wizards and fairies, and a kitten bard, Nita restores the ancient Irish symbols of power and raises a new champion to defeat Balor, the Fomori king. Readers who enjoyed So You Want to Be a Wizard (1983), Deep Wizardry (1984), and High Wizardry (1989) will find this equally satisfying and may even want to search out the original Irish myths. --Chris Sherman