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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
This book seems to have escaped the "Last Book in the Series" curse, as I liked it well enough. The only complaint that I really have is that this book is a little more 'woke' than the other books in the series. Ordinarily this wouldn't bother me, if done well, but this was done in a heavy-handed way. The author seems to push her views of gender/sexuality into the story every chance she gets, even if it doesn't really make sense for the story.
For instance, there's when Nita meets Jupiter. Her first thought is "I wonder what his gender is?" and the first thing she thinks to ask him is whether or not he has sex. Really? For the entire series Nita has been portrayed as a very level headed, focused young woman and, when she is faced with the physical embodiment of a planet in human form all she can think about is gender and sex?
Then there's the fact that Matt is gay. When Nita finds out she is horrified that she didn't know that and has to go give him an abject apology that she didn't somehow, in the one time that she met him, divine that he was gay. It's ridiculous. Matt even tells her that she's being ridiculous. The whole scene is not connected to anything else in the story and it stands out like a raisin in the middle sugar cookie. If the author just wanted to introduce a gay character it could have been done better. He could have just introduced her to his boyfriend at one of the parties. No freak out required.
Overall the author come across as strongly pushing a political view or just really sex/gender obsessed. Or as if she thinks that all teenagers are sex obsessed, which she contradicts by having her own characters state that they don't really think that sex is all that important as yet. Or maybe, considering that the first book in this series was written in 1983, she's just a member of an older generation trying to be 'cool' and 'speak the lingo' of a younger generation and failing because she is just trying to hard.
Still, all of this wasn't enough to make me not like the book, just to think that it needed a little editing to make it all fit together a little better. There were hints in the story that there might be another book coming (the whole 'don't let them take Kit thing') and if so I will probably read it.
For instance, there's when Nita meets Jupiter. Her first thought is "I wonder what his gender is?" and the first thing she thinks to ask him is whether or not he has sex. Really? For the entire series Nita has been portrayed as a very level headed, focused young woman and, when she is faced with the physical embodiment of a planet in human form all she can think about is gender and sex?
Then there's the fact that Matt is gay. When Nita finds out she is horrified that she didn't know that and has to go give him an abject apology that she didn't somehow, in the one time that she met him, divine that he was gay. It's ridiculous. Matt even tells her that she's being ridiculous. The whole scene is not connected to anything else in the story and it stands out like a raisin in the middle sugar cookie. If the author just wanted to introduce a gay character it could have been done better. He could have just introduced her to his boyfriend at one of the parties. No freak out required.
Overall the author come across as strongly pushing a political view or just really sex/gender obsessed. Or as if she thinks that all teenagers are sex obsessed, which she contradicts by having her own characters state that they don't really think that sex is all that important as yet. Or maybe, considering that the first book in this series was written in 1983, she's just a member of an older generation trying to be 'cool' and 'speak the lingo' of a younger generation and failing because she is just trying to hard.
Still, all of this wasn't enough to make me not like the book, just to think that it needed a little editing to make it all fit together a little better. There were hints in the story that there might be another book coming (the whole 'don't let them take Kit thing') and if so I will probably read it.
I've been reading this series since elementary school and I couldn't be happier with this installment.
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The plot of this one is not as gripping as series highlights like Deep Wizardry or Wizard's Dilemma, but it's nice to have a long, low-pressure sojourn in Duane's world. Her characters are charming and inspiring and her worldbuilding encompasses everything from interstellar tentacle porn to ancient Middle Eastern wizarding families. Her sense of humor really shines in this one. One passage where an embodiment of Pluto and an ace teenager talk through the loneliness of long journeys to find your place in the universe was the sweetest and funniest thing I've read in a while.
Nita and Kit in a romantic relationship: still not super satisfying. They're emotional closeness was better drawn in previous books, this is just rather boring teenage angst. Probably good for the intended audience?
Also, this book sweeps the representation Olympics. Ace kids, gay kids, Muslim women, male lead Asian boys, working moms (the wizarding world's top person literally carries her baby around all the time) plus Kit and Nita, all presented as normal humans without sensationalizing or glossing over their identities. A+
Nita and Kit in a romantic relationship: still not super satisfying. They're emotional closeness was better drawn in previous books, this is just rather boring teenage angst. Probably good for the intended audience?
Also, this book sweeps the representation Olympics. Ace kids, gay kids, Muslim women, male lead Asian boys, working moms (the wizarding world's top person literally carries her baby around all the time) plus Kit and Nita, all presented as normal humans without sensationalizing or glossing over their identities. A+
Plot points resolved, a sense of ongoing generations in the worldbuilding, callbacks to the first few books. I’m glad I read it. I didn’t realize that this book was a full length novel in the main sequence because it wasn’t grouped with the others due to changes in publishers. Now I see where it was all going.
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
Spoiler
Penn and Kit fighting over Nita was just awkward.Also, on inclusion.
Spoiler
I am the absolute last person to say that something is "too PC"--give me all your inclusion and give it to me YESTERDAY--but as others have mentioned, Lissa and Matt's sexuality felt very inorganic in the way that they were shoehorned in. It seemed as if their whole purpose was to cause the main, heterosexual characters (as far as we know for now) to Learn Something, and that felt awkward.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.
This is a fun addition to the Young Wizards series. There are a number of both loose ends from previous books and references to previous events and characters, so I wouldn't jump into this one cold -you'll want the background. The setting is the Invitational, an exciting event where young wizards, with the assistance of their assigned mentors, show off their skills by creating new solutions to existing problems, which provides a lot of neat wizardry!
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated