Diane Duane's Box of Wizardry

Rating:
Summary: While waiting for the next Harry Potter...
Review: ...this would be a perfect series to explore. Like Rowling, Duane (who doesn't write nearly enough, in my opinion--Diane, are you listening?) tells the story of youthful magic-users growing into their powers, learning as they go, and facing an ongoing threat from an insidious enemy. Her main characters, both mavericks among their kind, are well-drawn and sympathetic, and the books (and their sequels) can also be read as Christian allegory. Though usually packaged for "young adults" (which in pubspeak means kids 11 up), they are, like Harry Potter, well-written and exciting enough to appeal to grown-up readers too. Now at last the first three books in the series are again available in a popularly-priced paperback edition. Excellent modern fantasy and not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: The Young Wizards Set of Three
Review: Diane Duane has added to this series over the years, and as of this writing she has written seven books in this series, with an eight in the works. The scope of the books rivals Harry Potter, a much later series, in many aspects, but the mythologies and the rules are completely different.

The first three books are "So You Want to Be a Wizard," where we meet Kit (Christopher) Rodriguez and Nita (Juanita) Callahan for the first time. We learn that they were picked on by bullies and generally felt as though they were outsiders. Both discover a book that was meant for them that invited them to become wizards. Both accept and thus starts a multi-book fight against the Lone Power, who is similar to Satan.

In the second book, "Deep Wizardry," the story continues with Kit and Nita performing a ritual that dates back millenia to keep the sea floor stable in the presence of forces that could create havoc on the ocean floor.

In the third book, "High Wizardy," Nita's younger sister Dairine is discovered to be an extremely powerful wizard. It is also this book that introduces computers to the series. An introduction important to the plot of this book. This book has the most science fiction elements of any book in this series.

The quality of this series has generally been quite good. The later books include "A Wizard Abroad," "A Wizard's Dilemma," "A Wizard Alone," and "A Wizard's Holiday." If you enjoy fantasy and science fiction, and you enjoyed the Harry Potter books, I believe you will find Diane Duane's series interesting.