Rating: 
Summary: Not What I Expected
Review: I am a latecomer to this series as I just read it and it was first published in 1983. I picked up this first in the series based on the recommendation here on Amazon and the fact that I had read some other Diane Duane books, particularly her entries in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series. Having read the Harry Potter books (who hasn't?), I naturally had a preconception that this would be similar, with the teenagers learning and performing spells, etc. And while that is true to a point, I found this book much darker in its tone and the magic is much more serious than most of the things done by Harry & Co. And having said that, I cannot honestly say that this is a book that I will read again as I have the Potter series. However, I did enjoy this book once I became accustomed to the seriousness of it and learned to see the subtle humor sprinkled throughout the book. I will definitely pick up the rest of the series!
Rating: 
Summary: OK but could be better
Review: This book to me had a slightly boring plot, the characters were great but I don't think in the story they knew what they were doing. Some books I gave 5 stars is the Quaret Lioness Rampant by Tamora Peirce.
Rating: 
Summary: not so good
Review: this book has a good title, it sounded great when I got it. The only thing is most of the plot is about how they got sucked into another world. It starts ok but then cars are trying to kill them, do cars randomly runing around trying to kill people sound like an important plot? I cant beleave she made a sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Matter of Words
Review: So You Want to Be a Wizard is the first novel in the Young Wizards series. "A Wizard's business is to conserve energy -- to keep it from being wasted...even slow down the death of the Universe"In this book, Nita is running from a gang of young female thugs and notices that the local library is still open. She hides in the children's section while the friendly librarian sends away her pursuers. As she is reminiscing about the many books that she has read and re-read, her finger is caught by a book that she has never seen before: So You Want to Be a Wizard. She takes it home with her. After reading the introduction, she decides that it can't hurt to take the Wizard's Oath and she might really become a wizard. Afterwards, she falls asleep and, when she awakes the next day, her name has been added, as a novice, to the list of wizards in her area. She rushes out to a private spot to find out more and to do the beginning exercises involving really seeing patterns, then discovers that the tree that she is sitting beneath is talking to her. It is rather upset at wizards at present, since one had been messing up its beautiful collage of leaves. Nita asks about the other wizard and learns his current location, which is another of her private spots nearby. When she finds the other wizard, Kit, he calmly accepts her explanation of the damage he has done to the leave and needle collages, agrees to correct the problem, and then explains what he has been trying to do without success. As he explains, it occurs to him that the missing factor may be her participation and invites her to join him in the spell. Nita and Kit retire to a bare spot nearby and begin a spell of protection with an additional function for finding a special pen stolen by the young female thugs. When completed, this spell takes them to another New York, darker and inhabited by something terrifying. In their efforts to return to their own world, they pull in a white hole to provide extra power. They call the white hole Fred, since his real name is unpronounceable, and they learn that Fred was looking for an Advisory to report that the Book of Night with Moon is missing. Nita and Kit look up the local Advisories in their manuals and find that the nearest is Crazy Swale, who lives near their school. They decide to get Nita's pen back first and Nita corners Joanne and demands her pen back. This direct approach startles Joanne at first, but then she flourishes the pen in front of Nita and dares her to take it back. Fred neatly whisks the pen away, leaving Joanne totally freaked out for a second, but then Joanne goes into aggressive mode. Fortunately, the first bell rings and Joanne postpones her attack until after school. All is temporarily all right, but then Fred announces that he has swallowed Nita's pen and he gets the hiccups. Not just any hiccups, for the first hiccup emits a color TV and the next emits four encyclopedia volumes. After school, Joanne and her gang are waiting, but Fred lures them away by hiccuping a Learjet. After that, Nita and Fred go directly to Crazy Swale's house. Fred emits a Mercedes-Benz just as they arrive. Tom Swale turns out to be a thirty-ish year old man with a sheepdog that finds things and a macaw who tells the future, particularly of pork bellies. His partner is Carl Romeo. They check their references and are able to cure Fred's hiccups, but Nita and Kit will have go to Manhattan and use the Grand Central worldgate to recover the pen. It is obvious from this book that it about the multiverse at a period that wasn't quite used to the concept. The author doesn't let that slow her down, however, as she blithely discusses more dimensions and universes than a theoretic physicist could come up with in a lifetime. The author just doesn't write small. This novel is a fun read and also funny (I haven't even told you about Kit's dog) as well as being stuffed with unusual ideas. The later books in the series get into more serious concepts, but are still fun reads (Kit's dog just keep getting weirder and more likable). The other members of the Callahan and Rodriguez families get more time on stage and deeper characterization, which is all to the good. Note: The Book of Night with Moon later written by this author has entirely different contents than the one described in this novel. Recommended for Duane fans and anyone who enjoys well-crafted fantasy juveniles with innovative concepts.
Rating:
Summary: TOP NOTCH!
Review: So far the first one was the absolute best! They all are good, but the first has more detail and always makes you want to read to the end. Then when you read to the end, you just have to get the next book to find out more. This book is incredibly interesting and begins the Wizarding series with a magnificent start!
Rating:
Summary: SIMPLY THE BEST
Review: This book is a model work of fantasy and should be the set goal for all fantasy authors. The twists and turns in this book send you on a roller coaster. I recommend this book to EVERYONE!... The last two chapters of this book sent me on the verge of tears because the beloved white hole Fred na I better not give it away. To summ it up this good book you read!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: This book is boring compared to other "wizard" books
Review: My two sons ages 8 and 11 have been reading this book and I was pressed into reading it aloud to my younger son for a couple of hours on the plane. I was disappointed. The plot doesn't make a lot of sense after the initial setup that puts the wizarding instruction book in the hands of the protagonist--a "white hole" star has a conversation with the kids over a period of days for instance, really just out of nowhere. The kids plunge into doing very sophisticated magic right away and the philosophy of the magic that gets done, if you can call it that, is of the sophmoric "everything is alive and has feelings" variety, including rusting cars. I couldn't bear to read it aloud after a while. Skimming it might be ok.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding
Review: A never put down book. The book is just the begining but is one of the best I've ever read, and I've read alot of books. The books show a dept of moral with a good guy and a bad guy and the fight for right. It also shows the sacrafices to win only one battle in a war going on for lifetimes. One of the few books with morals and with great creative writing. A great pick for anyone.
Rating:
Summary: ...please don't eat me...
Review: don't get me wrong. this IS a good book. but the other 100 or so reviews have told you that, and more wonderful happy positive stuff about how this book is brilliant, blah, blah...and the truth is, i don't think it's brilliant. good, yes. brilliant, not quite.
other reviewers have compared diane duane to the likes of madeleine l'engle. i would say that duane has the POTENTIAL to write as well as l'engle does, and that shows through in what she's writing now. however, she needs more experience, her style needs to be better developed, and she needs to work on her realism. funny i should say that about a fantasy book, right? wrong. part of the way a good fantasy works is that it maintains well-developed, relatable characters and realistic dialogue. stuff like that. i think duane needs to especially work on the realistic dialogue department. often it seems like she wants the dialogue to be funny or up-to-date or harsh or something, but it just doesn't work because she's still trying to write to kids by talking down or childishly to them. that just won't work because it makes the book seem childish- and this stands out especially to readers like me who enjoy the premise of her stories but don't enjoy being talked down to.
although the previous relates to the first three of the wizard books i've read by her so far, some of the problems i have relating to this book specifically involve the plot... that whole scene of being chased into a library by bullies and finding a mysterious book- has NO ONE read 'The Neverending Story' ? i think you need to read a little more before you can say that something is the best book you've ever read and have that mean something.
as duane progresses, even in the first three books, i've seen her plotlines and characters gain depth. she has her strengths and weaknesses, and her potential lies in that her greatest strength is her wonderful imagination. her books are a good starting place for the young and uninitiated, and perhaps in the future they will become more. after you finish these, try something a little more advanced but along the same lines, like diana wynne jones. her chrestomanci books are a good starting place if you're hooked on wizards. also, 'howl's moving castle'. however, her other books tend to be even more extraordinary, involving magic even if they don't necessarily involve wizards. some lloyd alexander is also good- try the prydain chronicles or westmark.
Rating:
Summary: So You Want to be a Wizard
Review: Diane Duane's book So You Want to be A Wizard is an enthralling and captivating story about a thirteen-year-old girl named Nita, who has always been beat up and made fun of. She finds a book called So You Want to be A Wizard in the children's section of her local library. She reads the Wizard's Oath and is swept away into a parallel world where she finds new friends that help her and a best friend and fellow wizard named Kit. Together, the pair of wizards also meet a new enemy, far more powerful than anyone they've met before. The most climatic part of this book is when Kit and Nita have to stop the Lone Power from destroying their world. This is a fascinating book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes Diana Wynne Jones or Madeline L'Engle books.
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