Games Wizards Play

by Diane Duane

Overview

Every eleven years, Earth's senior wizards hold the Invitational: an intensive three-week event where the planet's newest, sharpest young wizards show off their best and hottest spells. Wizardly partners Kit Rodriguez and Nita Callahan, and Nita's sister, former wizard-prodigy Dairine Callahan, are drafted in to mentor two brilliant and difficult cases: for Nita and Kit, there’s Penn Shao-Feng, a would-be sun technician with a dangerous new take on managing solar weather; and for Dairine, there's shy young Mehrnaz Farrahi, an Iranian wizard-girl trying to specialize in defusing earthquakes while struggling with a toxic extended wizardly family that demands she perform to their expectations.

Together they're plunged into a whirlwind of cutthroat competition and ruthless judging. Penn's egotistical attitude toward his mentors complicates matters as the pair tries to negotiate their burgeoning romance. Meanwhile, Dairine struggles to stabilize her hero-worshipping, insecure protégée against the interference of powerful relatives using her to further their own tangled agendas. When both candidates make it through to the finals stage on the dark side of the Moon, they and their mentors are flung into a final conflict that could change the solar system for the better . . .

or damage Earth beyond even wizardly repair.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547418063
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	02/02/2016
Series:	Young Wizards Series , #10
Pages:	640
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.50(h) x 2.10(d)
Lexile:	890L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

DIANE DUANE is the author of nearly fifty science fiction and fantasy novels, including ten books in the Young Wizards series. Four of her Star Trek novels have been New York Times bestsellers, including Spock's World. She lives with her husband in rural Ireland. Visit her online at www.DianeDuane.com and www.youngwizards.com.

Editorial Reviews

The long awaited tenth book in the Young Wizards series focuses on the Invitational, an intense competition for young, hotshot wizards. Wizard partners from the previous books, Kit and Nita, are brought in to mentor a talented but cocky young man named Penn in the competition. Penn is so sure of his spellcasting skills and his appeal to young women that he nearly brushes off the valuable aid of the mentors. Nita’s sister Dairine mentors another young wizard, the sheltered Mehrnaz. At first glance, Mehrnaz’s parents seem to be simply overprotective, but as Dairine looks further into the family dynamics, she notes that they may be sabotaging Mehrnaz. As the three-week Invitational unfolds, each finds themselves tangled in matters involving far more than the competition—the whole solar system is at risk in a finale that sets up the next book in the series. Readers have been waiting quite a while for this entry in the Young Wizards series, as book nine was published in 2010 and the first book, So You Want To Be A Wizard (Harcourt) was released in 1983. There will be quite a bit of adult interest in the title as well, as Duane has a significant fan base that is passionate about this series. Readers new to the series will not need to have read the previous titles to enjoy this book; the strong narrative allows it to stand alone. This is a highly recommended purchase for libraries serving older teenagers and adults. Reviewer: Sherrie Williams; Ages 15 to 18.

VOYA, February 2016 (Vol. 38, No. 6) - Sherrie Williams

12/01/2015
Gr 7 Up—In this 10th installment of the "Young Wizards" series (HMH), Kit, Nita, Dairine, and their wizard friends return for more interplanetary adventures. Every 11 years, Earth's wizards hold the Invitational, a prestigious competition in which young wizards compete to craft and execute the perfect spell. The three young protagonists are each invited to mentor a young wizard in the competition, and each ends up facing unique challenges. Among them, Nita has a complicated vision that could change everything, and through a series of events, the stakes quickly become much higher than winning a contest. The story is slow to develop and heavily hinges on knowledge obtained in previous installments. Everything comes together in the end, though, to create a well-thought-out climax, with a satisfying resolution. Recommend this series to young teens who devour books about magic and wizards. VERDICT This is a solid addition to the series; purchase where there are fans of the previous volumes or kids looking for "Harry Potter" read-alikes.—Candyce Pruitt-Goddard, Sno-Isle Libraries, Marysville, WA

School Library Journal

2015-11-11
Apprentices become teachers, friendships turn to romance, and long-simmering subplots achieve resolution in the 10th entry of this well-loved fantasy series. Kit, Nita, and Nita's sister, Dairine, are accustomed to being the hotshot wizards-in-training, so it's somewhat disconcerting when the Powers That Be propose that they serve as mentors to the newest crop competing in the prestigious Invitational. Kit and Nita are assigned obnoxious, arrogant Penn, who's tinkering with solar engineering, while Dairine works with shy, self-sabotaging Mehrnaz and her earthquake project. The tournament storyline serves mostly as a framework to explore the shifting and expanding of characters' relationships and roles. The spotlight this time is on Nita, struggling with her developing visionary powers, her place in the wizarding world, and (not least) her new and scary "boyfriend" label for Kit. Still, the leisurely narrative also provides plenty of pages to scrutinize brilliant, fiery, guilt-ridden Dairine, display a dazzling variety of ingenious spells, and check in with an effortlessly diverse multitude of supporting characters. Only in the final chapters do the stakes suddenly spike to "apocalyptic"; in a conflagrant climax overflowing with images of glory and wonder, Duane neatly manages to pull together and tie off plot threads that have been dangling since the earliest volumes. A delightful treat for dedicated fans but well-nigh impenetrable as an entry point to the series. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews

"Duane neatly manages to pull together and tie off plot threads that have been dangling since the earliest volumes. A delightful treat for dedicated fans."
—Kirkus Reviews

“Recommend this series to young teens who devour books about magic and wizards. . . . or kids looking for 'Harry Potter' read-alikes.”
—SLJ

From the Publisher