Rating: 
Summary: redundancy is a crime
Review: the book is okay but not one my top ten list. it is very redundant playing on the themes that reside in Duane's ealier books. for this book i would recomend going to the library and picking up a copy there before you get your own.
Rating: 
Summary: Wizardry still surprises
Review: The wizard of the title could, in fact, be any one of three. A month after her mother's death, Nita Callahan, middle-schooler, is still struggling with depression and has lost much of her former interest in magic. So, when a new young wizard's Ordeal extends past the three-month mark (a sign that it may be "stuck"), her Senior, Tom, asks her partner Kit Rodriguez to look into the situation, on the theory that a single man inquiring about a boy he's not related to might be seen as suspicious, but another youngster would hardly be noticed. To Kit's astonishment, Darryl McAllister turns out to be autistic, and, like most autistics, trapped in his own Universe--or is he? When Kit and his dog Ponch contrive to enter Darryl's reality, they gradually learn that not only is the Lone Power--the foe of all wizards--in there too, doing Its best to destroy Darryl before he can come into his true power, but that Darryl already has an idea of who and what he's dealing with and has been constructing one Universe after another to keep It occupied and out of the "real" world. Meanwhile Nita finds herself being contacted in dreams, at first obtusely symbolic, by someone she thinks at first is an alien but eventually turns out to be her partner's case--because, as she theorizes, they've both built "walls" against the world. And as Kit's task gradually begins to take him over, Nita discovers that not only *must* she serve as his backup, she *wants* to.
Slightly darker and more mystical in tone than earlier volumes in this excellent series, "A Wizard Alone" also offers some delightful moments of humor (Kit's ongoing struggle to get his family's new DVD player and the remote to stop shouting abuse at each other), surprise (as when Nita's therapist unexpectedly reveals that he knows some people who are on errantry--that is, wizards), and intriguing mystery (Darryl's suggestion that he can see "what Ponch is turning into"--something I hope Duane intends to amplify upon in future volumes). And in the end its message is one of hope, as always seems to be true of Duane's allegorical and fascinating stories. A unique entry into the series.
Rating:
Summary: just started the series
Review: This is actually the first book in this series that I've read, but, overall, I found that this didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the book. The main characters of the book are Kit and Nita, two young wizards. In this book, Kit is assigned to find a young wizard in training named Darryl and figure out why Darryl's Ordeal is taking so long. Kit would like it if Nita were there to help him, but she's still dealing with the death of her mother. However, Nita can't devote all her time to grieving, because a possible alien has been entering her dreams. Whoever or whatever it is, it seems to need her help. She has to help it fast, though, because Kit will need her help if he is to survive his own attempts to help Darryl. The book was, for me, occaisionally slow, but I still enjoyed it. The characters were all very interesting, and I'm looking forward to reading the previous books in the series, so that I can find out more about them. I also enjoyed the humor in this book, especially the parts with the remote control and television. People who are interested in autism or have autistic family members may also like this particular book, since an autistic character plays a very important role. I thought that the way Duane presented the mental landscape of an autistic character was fascinating. I can't wait to read the rest of this series.
Rating:
Summary: just started the series
Review: This is actually the first book in this series that I've read, but, overall, I found that this didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the book. The main characters of the book are Kit and Nita, two young wizards. In this book, Kit is assigned to find a young wizard in training named Darryl and figure out why Darryl's Ordeal is taking so long. Kit would like it if Nita were there to help him, but she's still dealing with the death of her mother. However, Nita can't devote all her time to grieving, because a possible alien has been entering her dreams. Whoever or whatever it is, it seems to need her help. She has to help it fast, though, because Kit will need her help if he is to survive his own attempts to help Darryl. The book was, for me, occaisionally slow, but I still enjoyed it. The characters were all very interesting, and I'm looking forward to reading the previous books in the series, so that I can find out more about them. I also enjoyed the humor in this book, especially the parts with the remote control and television. People who are interested in autism or have autistic family members may also like this particular book, since an autistic character plays a very important role. I thought that the way Duane presented the mental landscape of an autistic character was fascinating. I can't wait to read the rest of this series.
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