I read the first 3 books, "So you want to be a wizard", "deep wizardry", and "high wizardry", maybe 20 years ago. I loved the first two, but the 3rd damaged my suspension of disbelief. However, while surfing around on amazon, I found that she has been pumping out the sequels like OSC pumps out Enderverse novels. The reviews seem to say that the later books are actually better than "high wizardry". I'm wondering if the later books are worth the time/money. If they are, I'll read them, them give them to my 9-year-old.
Any thoughts?
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
I read the first 6 1/2 books. I liked them up through book 5, couldn't finish 6. My 10 yo read uo through book 7 but didn't really enjoy anything through book 4. I'd say, library before you buy.
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
Eh...well...DARN. Anybody else read them all? Any thoughts from those folks?
Posted by ambyr (Member # 7616) on :
I think the first three are the best, honestly, with two the peak -- re-reading it still makes me bawl my eyes out. I just finished reading eight a few weeks ago, and my response was pretty much "meh." Too many lightning bolts, not enough character development. I think part of the problem is that she's unwilling to let her characters age at a rate of more than a few weeks or months a book, which doesn't really allow them to change much (barring The Wizard's Dilemma, which is all about Nita's character grow, though a bit too focused on magical technobabble for me to really enjoy).
Rather than reading the later books, I'd pick up her parallel Feline Wizards series, starting with The Book of Night with Moon. Fun stuff (well, if you like cats).
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I've read them all, except I think the most recent one.
Anyone who thinks the first three are the best hasn't read The Wizard's Dilemma. A bright 9 year old should enjoy all of them (although I'd generally suggest them more to the 11-13 age range). The cat books are good, but really more for adults than kids.