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A review by jmhdutro
Interim Errantry: Three Tales of The Young Wizards by Diane Duane
3.0
These short stories were nowhere near her best work, but enjoyable nonetheless. Seeing everyone involved with Halloween and Christmas was a treat, but at the same time, it is obvious why such things do not make up their own books. However, I would have loved to see how these characters handled these holidays, without some sort of token wizardly conflict seemingly shoehorned in, as part of one of her mainstream books.
Lifeboats, on the other hand, I think was simultaneously fascinating and lacking. The ending didn't feel particularly earned, and the resolution, so simple, that it wasn't particularly compelling. I know that not all wizardry in this world is supposed to be fraught conflict, and sometimes even just the smallest accidental solutions do solve things in real life, but stories, to me, shouldn't be like that. I was also bothered by the sex focused storylines as I don't feel like it fit in with Diane's wizard books, despite the new status of the main two characters. I have always loved that this series focused far more on adventure and friendship than awkward sexually related situations, so this addition disappointed me.
In terms of the text itself, it could have done with some better editing. There were many times I felt pulled out of the story simply because a word was missing that should have been there to have the sentence make sense. I have noticed this trend with most of her digital books (though this was a print one, I believe it came out digitally first?), and would really like to see the quality improve in the future.
Lifeboats, on the other hand, I think was simultaneously fascinating and lacking. The ending didn't feel particularly earned, and the resolution, so simple, that it wasn't particularly compelling. I know that not all wizardry in this world is supposed to be fraught conflict, and sometimes even just the smallest accidental solutions do solve things in real life, but stories, to me, shouldn't be like that. I was also bothered by the sex focused storylines as I don't feel like it fit in with Diane's wizard books, despite the new status of the main two characters. I have always loved that this series focused far more on adventure and friendship than awkward sexually related situations, so this addition disappointed me.
In terms of the text itself, it could have done with some better editing. There were many times I felt pulled out of the story simply because a word was missing that should have been there to have the sentence make sense. I have noticed this trend with most of her digital books (though this was a print one, I believe it came out digitally first?), and would really like to see the quality improve in the future.