While I regretted last time around that I had not encountered Diane Duane's Young Wizards books when I was a young'un, this time around I'm pretty glad I didn't, because if I'd come across Deep Wizardry when I was the age of its two young protagonists, I would have required extensive therapy afterward. Look, I'm not going to get into this much, but man, I could have used a trigger warning becauseGIANT SQUID ATTACKS YOU GUYS.I'm having trouble breathing after just having typed those words.*Fortunately, I'm a grown up now, and have evolved and developed coping techniques for dealing with scenes like theGIANT SQUID ATTACKS YOU GUYSand am thus somewhat capable of admiring that scene for the majestic and badass bit of action writing that it is. Somewhat. I'm still very glad I put this book down to sleep last night well before the advent of theGIANT SQUID ATTACKS YOU GUYSor I wouldn't have slept at all and would probably have to be hauled off to a mental ward like one of H.P. Lovecraft's less strongly-constituted wus-heroes.All that aside, Deep Wizardry is a remarkably wise, thoughtful and lovely book. We start up not long after Nita and Kit saved the world from the "Lone Power" in So You Want to be a Wizard, with Nita's family (and Kit along for good measure) vacationing on the beach and Nita and Kit exploring the delights of ocean swimming along with their budding powers and responsibilities. Soon it's those responsibilities -- as I observed last time around, Duane's version of magic has a heavy ethical/ecological bent and literally preserves the world -- that come crashing to the fore like a tidal wave when the duo meet up with a badly injured humpback whale, who turns out to be a young wizard herself, and who has just lost her mentor at the worst possible time.Soon Nita and Kit are drawn into an awesome round of ritual and rite of passage upon which the fate of the eastern seaboard depends -- the Lone Power they defeated and sealed off last time around is always finding new and old ways to attack the fragile living cosmos these kids and their kind are sworn to defend and preserve -- and into a frame of reference that is startling in its maturity, as they have to spend much of the novel contemplating death quite seriously and personally.Adding to the shivery archetypal dread of this story is the magnificent giant white "Master-shark" (as in the biggest Great White Shark that ever lived, so old -- possibly thousands of years old -- and vast that he is actually all white, like a deadly ghost slicing through the water), Ed** (short for Ed'Rashtekaresket), who pretty much steals the novel. Ed is a giant slab of uncanny, inhuman awesome, utterly believable as both shark and sentient, at home in his role as the "ender of distress" and full of bleak, harsh and yet still oddly compassionate wisdom in his dealings with Nita and Kit, who assume the forms of a humpback and a sperm whale, respectively, for their dealings in the deep. And while they might therefore be a little bigger than Ed, his lordly, dreadful power keeps them and us in awe through their every dealing with him.Really, were I at all a reasonable person, I'd be much more afraid of Ed than of theGIANT SQUID ATTACKS YOU GUYSbut anyone who knows me or even just reads my blog at all often probably already knows that if there is one thing I am not, it's a reasonable person. As it is, well, Ed versus theGIANT SQUID ATTACKS YOU GUYSis one of the most thrilling and seat-wetting passages I've ever encountered in literature. Holy crap, you guys?And but so, Duane has published seven more of these Young Wizards books to date, and another one is due later this year. Could she ever possibly top this? Or even come close to hitting its (pardon me) high water mark? I dunno. But I'm ready to find out.After some milk and cookies and soothing music to cure me of my lingering horrors from theGIANT SQUID ATTACKS YOU GUYSand the after-effects of some truly tragic content as well.Deep and powerful stuff.*My greatest childhood phobia was that a giant squid was under my bed and gonna attack me from the watery ocean depths that were also under my bed and yes I knew at the time this was quite impossible given that said bed was some 6000 feet above sea level not far from the Continental Divide but that's what phobias are, you guys. They're as powerful as they are irrational.
This may be my favorite of the series; it's certainly one of the top three, because of the emotional and moral power of the story. While on a peaceful vacation on the beach, Nita and Kit find themselves slammed into an adventure that may have deadly consequences. It's essential that the wizards of the sea re-enact the song of the twelve. If it isn't done, and isn't done right, millions of people may die. Nita and Kit volunteer to help the whales, but they have no idea what they're getting into-I can't even imagine how hard this book would have hit me if I'd read it as a child. I think it would rapidly have joined "A Wrinkle in Time" as a seminal book. It's certainly in that company in showing a young teen girl's very specific grit, intelligence and resolve. Nita comes across as a real kid in a really horrible situation. In addition, other things I love:1. Her determination to tell the truth to her parents, and the way they respond.2. That devastating conversation with Tom or Carl (I'm sorry; I can't remember which, but I think it's Carl), in which poor Nita breaks down and the only comfort her adult mentor can offer is the stern truth.3. A glimpse of whale society, and some very interesting personalities.4. Ed! The pale slayer is a fascinating character, and something of a hero in his own right. A friend suggested that I write a comparison between Ed and Severus Snape. I'm not up for it - not yet - but maybe I'll do it sometime. There are certainly strong similarities.5. Finally, Ed, and that conversation, and Nita's resolve, make it very clear that there is a difference between "nice" and "good". Goodness can be scary, even dangerous. Duane gets that, and she shows it. I can understand some readers of Duane getting frustrated with the "technobabble" aspect of the wizardry in these books. Sometimes I do find it a bit much, but I basically love that wizardry is based in real scientific concepts. This book was the one that sucked me in to the rest of the series. It's powerful and imaginative and thought-provoking. If you love fantasy quests, or have any taste at all for sf, you should give it a try. Recommended.(This was a reread, btw.Duane has just published updated e-versions of the first three novels in the series, and I picked them up. I'm glad I did.)
What do You think about Deep Wizardry (2003)?
Nita's mother was staring up at the sky with a look of joy so great it was pain - the completely bearable anguish of an impossible dream that suddenly comes true after years of hopeless yearning. Tears were running down her mother's face at the sight of that sky, so pure a velvet black that the eye insisted on finding light in it where light was not - a night sky set with thousands of stars, all blazing with a cold fierce brilliance that only astronauts ever saw, a night sky that nonetheless had a ravening sun standing noonday high in it, pooling all their shadows black and razor-sharp about their feet.When I first read these, this was my favourite of the first three. I turned to this one time and time again, mostly because of that bit up there and the whale song (especially the kraken attacks [SORRY, KATE!]).For some reason, the last time I read these, I wasn't as enchanted with this one, but the magic was back this time (punintentional, swearsies). (view spoiler)[Ed, man. Ed. (hide spoiler)]
—sj
One of my favourites in the series. I feel I gained perhaps a little extra insight trying to write fanfiction about Ed (for my friends, that's my Yuletide Madness 2009/10 story "Through the Echoing Dark"). I love hearing about non-human wizards, and the Song of the Twelve is nothing short of delightful in its language, conception and execution. (I love that so much, it's the origin of one of my domain names.) One of the things I enjoy most about the Young Wizards series is that Diane Duane does her best never to talk down to her readers, even though it's YA. And so it goes here. I very much like the drawing of Nita's and Kit's families, and the teens' attempts to do wizardry in secret while still having to keep up as normal a family life as possible, so that their parents and siblings don't suspect what they're doing - whether or not they would believe it. At the same time, trying to save all their lives occasionally requires a bit of disobedience - for example, when Nita is told she can't go out and has to anyway. Her unhappiness at having to disobey her parents is clear, even while she knows their lives are all at stake.Definitely a favourite.
—Tria
If ever anyone asks you what exactly is the point of a site like Goodreads, do please direct them to this review. A few months ago, I read the first in this series, 'So You Want To Be A Wizard', and although I liked it, I had no great desire to read any more in the sequence. But when I posted this in my Goodreads review, a friend begged me to carry on, because this, the second book in the series, was one of her all time favourite books. So I took her advice, and you know what? I love it too. It's astonishing how many wonderful stories I've found through Goodreads - not just friends' recommendations, but other reviews, discussion groups or simply surfing around, following links from book to book to author to book... It's an invaluable resource for readers.This is a children's (or perhaps more properly a young adult) book, the second of a long series, but it's also an excellent read for adults. I am several decades above the intended demographic, but I absolutely loved it. The first half of the book is a fairly straightforward tale of two kids, Nita and Kit, learning to enjoy their newfound powers of wizardry, while avoiding Nita's pesky younger sister and trying not to be caught out by her parents. There's a sprinkling of politically correct ecology (pollution is bad, children), plus some swimming with dolphins and whales and such like fluff.But then, about half way through, the story transforms into something deeper, darker and much more interesting. Suddenly it's about love and death, and willing sacrifice, and keeping your word no matter the cost. Oh, and a little about the innateness (or not) of male aggression. Which was unexpected. Even though you know, of course, that Nita and Kit will be fine (since the series goes on and on) and even I saw what had to happen to make things come out right, it was still exciting and scary and very moving. I cried, a lot, and that's embarrassing at my age (and I was on a train, too). Not sure what teenage (or younger) readers would make of it, but I thought it was terrific. A good 4 stars.
—Pauline Ross
