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So You Want to Be a Wizard: The First Book in the Young Wizards Series

So You Want to Be a Wizard: The First Book in the Young Wizards Series

List Price: $6.95
Your Price: $6.26
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Book Like No Other
Review: This book is a far step more advanced and original than any of the new Harry Potter-type fantasy books. It brings you into new universes that only Diane Duane's books could unleash to the world. I bought this book yesterday and finished it already after reading vigorously for the past day and night, this is a book that once you open you won't be closing until you've read every last word. It keeps you on the edge of your seat with the out of this world thrills and adventures of Kit and Nita. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

Also, if you plan on buying this book I would suggest the 20th Anniversary Hardcover edition, as the cover illustrations are gorgeous and who can resist a good hardbound fantasy book?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Wizard's First Ordeal
Review: This is a fabulous book for young adults and adults that wish to dive into fantacy about magic and young teens. If you liked the Harry Potter series of books, you will love these Wizard series by Diane Duane. Nita Callahan, a 13 year old, is chosen to become a Wizard by the Wizard's Manual itself. Nita thinks this is a way out of being bullied by some school mates but finds that the price is much much higher. She meets a new friend Kit who is also a Wizard and together they fight for the preservation of life against the Lone Power. Without giving the entire plot away, you will find yourself lost in her world of wizardry without the impact of today's violence you see on the TV. Its truely an exciting series to be recommended to all young adults and the young at heart.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Where it all starts...
Review: Frankly, I loved this one. Not as much as the second book in the series perhaps, but...

Juanita (Nita) Callahan is a thirteen-year old adult before her time, hopelessly bookish and out of step with the local bullies. What life would be like if her ten-year old brat of a sister didn't have to threaten anyone who tries to beat her up...

But her life changes forever one day at the local library when she finds a manual of wizardry masquerading as a kids' book. She just thought she'd get a little magic to solve all her problems. But reciting the Wizards' Oath sends her on an ordeal that pairs her up with the fellow wizard who will become her best friend and takes both of them through darkness, horror, and grief in an alternate version of Manhatten to untapped wells of strength and courage that might even defeat ultimate evil...for the moment.

Fresh concept, and Duane doesn't pull her punches. Wizardry is very dangerous, and much of becoming a wizard is whether you can take the heat when wizardry demands far more of you than you thought you were willing to give. It is a commitment to service with serious consequences, not simply a cop-out for solving your own problems.

Nita and Kit are both engaging, and their growth and development are sensitively realized.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An exciting novel that will thrill all
Review: This novel is about a young girl who finds herself in posession of a book of magic. With it, she can do whatever she wants, and even meets a friend in the same position as her. If you liked the Harry Potter series, then this is a book for you, but the plot is a bit too complex for young readers.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best fantasy books I've ever read!
Review: I'm ten years old, and so far this book and its sequels (Deep Wizardry, High Wizardry, etc.)are among the best fantasy books I've ever read (I've read a lot of books). The magic in them is much more complex than it is in the Harry Potter books. It's not just a wave of your wand and some Latin words; it's geometric shapes and strange words in Speech (the wizarding language) written in the sand, wizard's knots and paragraphs to say in Speech. I also like the idea of a manual that teaches Nita and Kit (the main characters) wizardry, instead of a teacher. The characters also seem more real than they do in some other fantasy books (at least the human ones do). This is a great series!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent
Review: Where other books that deal with 'magic' might take it for granted that it works, this book (and in fact the whole series) gives you more of an insight into WHY and HOW it could work. Suddenly, magic becomes less "magic" and more "real". Because of this, the reader is helped to suspend their disbelief, ably assisted by Miss Duane's compelling imagery. I will always be able to clearly envision the dark Manhattan street down which novice wizards Nita and Kit (and don't forget Fred!) make their way (without giving too many further details of the plot away), even if I never reread the book again (and I have).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Completely disappointing.
Review: I bought this book three years ago when I got into a huge YA fantasy kick. I was really intrigued by the idea of the "So You Want to be a Wizard" book existing in the library in the book itself, and thought it sounded quite good. I was wrong. I have a grievous tendency to finish anything I start; if I read the first book in a series, I have to read all of them. I can't help it.

I gritted my teeth through four books in this series before finally I just couldn't take it anymore. The main characters are flat, one-dimensional characters that you could find in almost any children's book written before authors decided children enjoyed characterisation. The magic itself in the books was vaguely dull and unexciting, which, considering that it's magic, says a lot.

I have to admit that I haven't read these books in a few years and disliked them so much that I scarcely remember the details. This is coming from someone who loves pretty much every book they read, so it's very rare that I wouldn't remember a book in a very detailed manner. These books are at least one hundred pages too long than they ought to be, and I found myself simply wishing it was over.

If you're looking for YA fantasy, try Diana Wynne Jones or Philip Pullman.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Sci-Fi!
Review: I love this book! ^^ It is about a 13 year-old Nita Callahan who, while running from a gang-ish group trying to pound her, finds a book "so you want to be... a wizard" She (obviously) doesn't really believe this, it has to be a joke.. right? Yet, when she reads the oath, taken by all wizards, she finds herself with a wizard partner batteling evil with good, using spells to help slow down entropy so that the world will live longer.

This book is excellent, a great read, believable, (though... you never really know...) and though slow at times, it will bring you back to an action packed book so close to reality that you could take the oath yourself and expect to be battling "the Lone One"

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: less than my expectations.
Review: i'd seen this book in the front of a few bookstores as required summer reading, so i checked it out from the library.
the story and characters are good and still quite original, seeing as how most would compare it to harry potter (though this series was released first). my only complaint is that the narration was a bit long-winded in areas. the end of the book, with the re-describing of the world is reminiscent of the last battle, from the chronicles of narnia. but where i was as enthralled in every minute detail of the world being recreated in narnia, i found myself skimming paragraphs in this novel. the descriptions were just lacking in the proper feeling, or had too much objective description.

i don't regret reading it, but i do not think that i'll continue the series...it failed to catch my interest or affect me emotionally. maybe it has something to do with the fact that i'm 16?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great mystical adventure
Review: People today do not beleive in magic, but one day a teenager, Nita, finds one of those So You Want to Be a... books but this one says So You Want to Be a Wizard. She can hardlly beleive it but that book would change her life forever. She finds herself talking to trees; finding new friends and meeting interdeminsinal beings. Her best friend is Kit a fellow wizard who can talk to metal. Then they meet Fred, a white hole, who Kit and Nita accidentaly summoned who helps them along the way while they try to discover the truth behind the " Starsnuffer", the " Dark power" that was kept silent until now. Do you think that I would give away the ending to you? You'll have to read it yourself to see the fate of Nita,Kit, and Fred.


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