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A review by teenage_reads
Apprentice Needed by Obert Skye
2.0
Plot:
Remember how the lawyer walked into the polar bear exhibit, and the women got up on stage to sing? They said they “blacked out” and did not remember how they got there, or what happened during their incident. Ozzy feels similar to that, as he woke up on the beach to Sigi and Clark screaming at him for trying to drown himself. Before his midnight swim, Ozzy’s life was normal. He had school to attend, he lived with Patti and Sigi, even though Rin disappeared, Ozzy was putting the horrors of the last few months behind him. He still visited the cloak house, only by motorcycle this time instead of walking, and from his parent's safety deposit box has a new picture of the three of them together and some music to remember them by. Where he was still attracted to the past, he was ready to move on. Yet, him blacking out and walking into the ocean scared him, and with no Rin to ask, how was he supposed to stop it from happening? When a weekend ticket for him came to the house one day, to a hotel whose initials spell RIN, Ozzy knew he had to go, in case this was the wizard trying to contact him. Sigi, who would not let Ozzy go by himself, and Clark insisting he must also attend, the two children and bird flew across the country in search of the missing wizard. However it was not Rin waiting for them at the hotel, but Ray. The man that helped kill Ozzy parents, who wanted what his parents were working on. Almost kidnapping the kids, Ozzy and Sigi managed to escape with the help of the hard to contact wizard Rin. The children, wizard, and the bird need to figure out several things that include how to stop Ray from hurting them, figure out what is wrong with Ozzy, find out if Rin truly is a wizard, and find some metal that is willing to hold a decent conversation with Clark, not necessarily in that order.
Thoughts:
Obert Skye is continuing his “real magic could exist” world in this next installment of the series. The story picks up a few weeks after the first one ended, with Ozzy in a more settled place. The town, including the police force, knows he exists, he has a lawyer settling out the legal bits of him being an orphan, and Ozzy is living with Sigi and her mom at their house. Yet for the boy who grew up in the woods by himself, normal was never going to last for him. Almost immediately Skye has Ozzy, Clark, and Sigi up for some maybe-magical adventure, this time with the children flying to New York City. Ozzy's character has developed through this novel, as he is no longer the naive woods boy he was, but starting to get this world, and really pushes Rin in this novel for the truth of if he truly was a wizard, or not. Sigi also gets more of a spotlight in this novel, as she helps out her friend, and begins to open up about how having an absent wizard for a father has affected her growing up. Clark and Rin, still annoying characters with little developed, and decreasing likeability as the story goes on - mostly for Clark. This story, like the last, also does not explain if magic or real, following a similar plot to the first of nothing really happening, until the end with one giant event that leaves readers, as well as Ozzy and Sigi questioning if Rin is a wizard or not. Frustrating, because on that topic this book does not explain any more than the last book did about magic, leaving the final determination for the next book, making this one seem a bit pointless. Honestly for the size of the novel, and the content you needed from it to finish the series (a bit of character growth and 3 things), this novel was kind of drawn out with not a lot of meaningful stuff going on that can have past-this-book effects on the characters. Where Skye is really pushing for this series to be a trilogy, this book suffers the fate that too many middle books feel, that it is unnecessary with only two lines of actual substance that will be relevant in the final installment of the series.
Remember how the lawyer walked into the polar bear exhibit, and the women got up on stage to sing? They said they “blacked out” and did not remember how they got there, or what happened during their incident. Ozzy feels similar to that, as he woke up on the beach to Sigi and Clark screaming at him for trying to drown himself. Before his midnight swim, Ozzy’s life was normal. He had school to attend, he lived with Patti and Sigi, even though Rin disappeared, Ozzy was putting the horrors of the last few months behind him. He still visited the cloak house, only by motorcycle this time instead of walking, and from his parent's safety deposit box has a new picture of the three of them together and some music to remember them by. Where he was still attracted to the past, he was ready to move on. Yet, him blacking out and walking into the ocean scared him, and with no Rin to ask, how was he supposed to stop it from happening? When a weekend ticket for him came to the house one day, to a hotel whose initials spell RIN, Ozzy knew he had to go, in case this was the wizard trying to contact him. Sigi, who would not let Ozzy go by himself, and Clark insisting he must also attend, the two children and bird flew across the country in search of the missing wizard. However it was not Rin waiting for them at the hotel, but Ray. The man that helped kill Ozzy parents, who wanted what his parents were working on. Almost kidnapping the kids, Ozzy and Sigi managed to escape with the help of the hard to contact wizard Rin. The children, wizard, and the bird need to figure out several things that include how to stop Ray from hurting them, figure out what is wrong with Ozzy, find out if Rin truly is a wizard, and find some metal that is willing to hold a decent conversation with Clark, not necessarily in that order.
Thoughts:
Obert Skye is continuing his “real magic could exist” world in this next installment of the series. The story picks up a few weeks after the first one ended, with Ozzy in a more settled place. The town, including the police force, knows he exists, he has a lawyer settling out the legal bits of him being an orphan, and Ozzy is living with Sigi and her mom at their house. Yet for the boy who grew up in the woods by himself, normal was never going to last for him. Almost immediately Skye has Ozzy, Clark, and Sigi up for some maybe-magical adventure, this time with the children flying to New York City. Ozzy's character has developed through this novel, as he is no longer the naive woods boy he was, but starting to get this world, and really pushes Rin in this novel for the truth of if he truly was a wizard, or not. Sigi also gets more of a spotlight in this novel, as she helps out her friend, and begins to open up about how having an absent wizard for a father has affected her growing up. Clark and Rin, still annoying characters with little developed, and decreasing likeability as the story goes on - mostly for Clark. This story, like the last, also does not explain if magic or real, following a similar plot to the first of nothing really happening, until the end with one giant event that leaves readers, as well as Ozzy and Sigi questioning if Rin is a wizard or not. Frustrating, because on that topic this book does not explain any more than the last book did about magic, leaving the final determination for the next book, making this one seem a bit pointless. Honestly for the size of the novel, and the content you needed from it to finish the series (a bit of character growth and 3 things), this novel was kind of drawn out with not a lot of meaningful stuff going on that can have past-this-book effects on the characters. Where Skye is really pushing for this series to be a trilogy, this book suffers the fate that too many middle books feel, that it is unnecessary with only two lines of actual substance that will be relevant in the final installment of the series.