Big disappointment on this one. Zilpha Keatley Snyder is one of the greatest juvielit writers of all time, but she's phoning it in this time. The protagonist is a cipher of a character apart from her magic skill, and the few attempts at suspense hint at an eventual payoff that is never delivered. There's no real crisis, no moment of high drama or confrontation, no big reveal, and not much in the way of magic, either. Pretty weak tea, especially from the author of The Egypt Game and The Headless Cupid and The Velvet Room and Black And Blue Magic and the Earthsky trilogy.Why two stars, rather than one? Because even when she writes a dud, Zilpha Keatley Snyder (I can't imagine referring to her by anything other than her full name) still knows how to write. It's not bad. But it sure ain't good.