Diane Duane is one of my favourite young adult writers - I found her (as many did) while trawling around in the library, hungry for more fantasy like Harry Potter. The Young Wizards series always struck me as unique, because wizardry was so much like science. Wizardry is never presented as magic, more as an advanced science that we humans haven't discovered yet; something that required precision and exactitude, materials and knowledge beyond a wand and saying some funny Latin-esque words. Young Wizards never felt like real fantasy, really, or real science fiction, but something between the two. A Wizard of Mars is the latest Young Wizards book, the 9th in the series.
In a way, it's very Duane - things build up pretty slowly, and then they go kablooey at the end. I admit I'm already attached to the characters and know who everyone is, but I'd definitely warn people to start from the first Young Wizards book before reading this one. I re-read the entire series except the eighth book (Wizards at War), and I still felt a little lost in the beginning. A lot of what's happened in prior books follows through in this one, so if you haven't read the earlier books, it'll be difficult to follow along. Furthermore, there's just an expectation that you know who the characters are already - I feel like if you didn't know the past history between Kit and Nita, you'd just be wondering "Why is Nita so attached to this jerkface?" because this book doesn't show how attached they actually are to each other, but assumes we know it from earlier books.
My major complaint about A Wizard of Mars is that it's hard to read independently of having read the earlier eight books. However, I'd strongly recommend reading the whole series; the magic system is unique and thoroughly non-magical, there are great characters and it's an inventive mix of fantasy and science fiction and everything all at once.
I also read her online subscriber project The Big Meow which wraps up the Feline Wizards series, which is also closely intertwined with the Young Wizards series . . . though probably written for a bit of an older audience. I don't want to say too much about it, other than it does provide a great wrap-up for our characters from that series, because it hasn't been formally published. I don't know if it ever will be, either, though I really hope so because I would like a hard copy of that without subscribing to it. I'm not actually counting that book as part of the challenge.
In a way, it's very Duane - things build up pretty slowly, and then they go kablooey at the end. I admit I'm already attached to the characters and know who everyone is, but I'd definitely warn people to start from the first Young Wizards book before reading this one. I re-read the entire series except the eighth book (Wizards at War), and I still felt a little lost in the beginning. A lot of what's happened in prior books follows through in this one, so if you haven't read the earlier books, it'll be difficult to follow along. Furthermore, there's just an expectation that you know who the characters are already - I feel like if you didn't know the past history between Kit and Nita, you'd just be wondering "Why is Nita so attached to this jerkface?" because this book doesn't show how attached they actually are to each other, but assumes we know it from earlier books.
My major complaint about A Wizard of Mars is that it's hard to read independently of having read the earlier eight books. However, I'd strongly recommend reading the whole series; the magic system is unique and thoroughly non-magical, there are great characters and it's an inventive mix of fantasy and science fiction and everything all at once.
I also read her online subscriber project The Big Meow which wraps up the Feline Wizards series, which is also closely intertwined with the Young Wizards series . . . though probably written for a bit of an older audience. I don't want to say too much about it, other than it does provide a great wrap-up for our characters from that series, because it hasn't been formally published. I don't know if it ever will be, either, though I really hope so because I would like a hard copy of that without subscribing to it. I'm not actually counting that book as part of the challenge.
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