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The Wizard's Dilemma: The Fifth Book in the Young Wizards Series

The Wizard's Dilemma: The Fifth Book in the Young Wizards Series

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

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Really Good!!!
Review: This is one of my favorites of the Young Wizards series. Up until this book, Nita and Kit's families hadn't been involved too much. In this book, Nita's mother gets sick and goes to the hospital, and Nita and Kit have to save her. They do something that most wizards don't think is possible with the help of Nita's mother, who turns into something of a wizard(not a real one, but she acts like one, and produces results like one). This is also the first book where some real conflict between Kit and Nita is brought into the story line. Nita gets mad a Kit because he won't agree with her about her solution to the problem they have. Kit get mad at Nita for the same reason. This is unusual because in the past they have both known what the other person's opinion would be, and they just about always got along. Kit's dog is brought into the storyline, also, with some magic of his own. Overall this is a very good book. If you haven't read the rest of the books, read those first, because it could get very confusing. If you have read the rest of the books, GET THIS [ONE!!!]

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Believable despite being unbelievable
Review: This is probably my favorite book in the Ms. Duane's wizardry series. It took me a little while to pick up where I left off with "Wizard Abroad" but once I did, I experienced Kit and Nita's troubles just as vividly as any of the other books. I especially admire Ms. Duane for not making the mistake many authors make. They make everything sweetness and light and the heroes tie up every loose end, often saving others against incredible, unbelievable odds. Besides the obvious elements, this book was very believable, partly because the character's lives aren't perfect and there is a bittersweet taste to even the happier endings of the series. Because this ending isn't a perfect one for everyone involved, it makes the book that much more enjoyable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Believable despite being unbelievable
Review: This is probably my favorite book in the Ms. Duane's wizardry series. It took me a little while to pick up where I left off with "Wizard Abroad" but once I did, I experienced Kit and Nita's troubles just as vividly as any of the other books. I especially admire Ms. Duane for not making the mistake many authors make. They make everything sweetness and light and the heroes tie up every loose end, often saving others against incredible, unbelievable odds. Besides the obvious elements, this book was very believable, partly because the character's lives aren't perfect and there is a bittersweet taste to even the happier endings of the series. Because this ending isn't a perfect one for everyone involved, it makes the book that much more enjoyable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best!!
Review: This one of the best books in the young wizardry series. My fav. one was Wizard Abroud. I think I like the last two because they are more mature then the others. Their in High School and the problems are more like something that could happen to you. Well your mother could get cancer but you could not go inside her to stop the cancer. So, You could say another great book by Daine Duane

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Really Cool
Review: This time Duane has out done her self. I have read all of her other books and this one is one of her best ones! This is the kind of book that will keep you up late reading it. I really enjoyed it. If you are looking for an alternitave to "Harry Potter" then this is the series for you. I am only givving this book 4 out of 5 stars thought because Duane has done better. Over all I really liked this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: She'sss BACK
Review: Unlike the poorly realized A Wizard Abroad, The Wizard's Dilemma repeats the good writing, the well understood world of teenage ethics and the hazards of growing up -- all well presented in a well written book.

I like the fuss between Nita and Kit blowing up out of misunderstanding and both fearing to approach the other. I like the hints of deeper partnership to come. And Nita being actually able to help her mother and understand that she has only delayed death -- a growing up experience if ever there was!

I highly recommend this book to any fan of of the Wizardy series. It probably reads better if you have read the preceding books, but you can easily skip "A Wizard Abroad."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Interesting
Review: What sticks with me from this book is the central conflict. Young wizard Nita Callahan is, as always, growing up. When a minor argument shakes her and her wizard friend Kit's confidence in their long-standing partnership, she finds herself adrift handling her greatest crisis so far--her mother's brain cancer. Especially this time, wizardry doesn't have all the answers and the only way to save her mother's life may play right into her worst enemy's hands.

In all of these books, this was the only one where I really feared for Nita as a person. Death, danger, the Lone Power she faces down with aplomb. Losing her wizardry...that's more than half a person. That's scary. Though the development of the conflict is mildly cliché (of course, help would come in time!), you won't come away from a good reading without tackling some hard issues. Nita certainly wouldn't be the only one with some very hard questions about the Wizard's Oath, the competing interests of different lives and forms of life, and how far you can go to prevent a tragedy that is personal but nonetheless natural and in some sense inevitable. I can't blame Nita for being willing to do almost anything to help...though it seems strange that a wizard who's faced so much already, seen Timeheart multiple times, and been willing to make so many other sacrifices for wizardry is so afraid of loss here. But this is her mother; it's very personal here. It also leads one to wonder: what about all the wizards out there who don't have a partner looking after them?

The writing is pretty good, though I was having a somewhat difficult time following some of the wizardry here. A little too much of it without significant developments. I'd also have liked to see more of Kit, but then I always do. I have a difficult time believing 1. that matters between Nita and Kit would blow up over something so little and that 2. Kit wouldn't have been more proactively involved in things. But then, Nita wasn't exactly giving him much of a chance to.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another exceptional book in this series
Review: While this is not my favorite volume (story-wise) in the Young Wizards series, I continue to be astounded at the difficult situations that Nita and Kit encounter, the reasoning they use to solve their problems and the standards of behavior they apply in seeking the solutions. This episode's plot is particularly poignant. The characters are so well drawn, it's hard to remember that they're not real -- especially the humans! These books are not just for young readers. I do recommend that you indulge yourself in some of the prior volumes in the series before you tackle this one, but it deserves to be read -- and you deserve the chance to savor it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Darker But Emotionally Deeper ... The Best of the Series
Review: Why these books have somehow become quantified as young adult is beyond me ... they deal, as Ms. Duane's books always do, with an incredible wealth of plot, characterization, and ideas suitable for any age. As a 27-year-old adult, I find Ms. Duane's "Young Wizardry" series to be some of the best literature I have ever read, and this book is quite possibly the best of the best. There was a pleasant and unforeseen element at the ending. Additionally, I would consider this book a far more darker entry than others in Ms. Duane's series, and much like "The Empire Strikes Back" in the "Star Wars" trilogy, the darker tone serves the narrative quite well. Fans of Harry Potter who run across Ms. Duane's novels will soon find his world to be a paltry and lifeless knockoff.


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