Nita's having some problems.First, she's started high school, and while she's still considered brainy, her subjects aren't coming as easily to her as they used to. She's starting to feel kinda inadequate next to Kit, who, though a year younger, is still breezing through everything.Going along with that, she's not quite sure what to do about Kit. Their partnership is hitting some rough water, and she can't understand how he can insist on being so...wrong! It's affecting their friendship and their wizardry, and she's not quite sure which is worse.Finally, there's her mom. She's sick. Real sick. Sick enough that the doctors aren't too hopeful. But Nita knows things doctors don't, and can do things they can't. Most of all, Nita knows exactly Who's fault this is.Now it's personal.But with so much doubt in herself, Kit being uncooperative, and her mom's life at stake, can Nita find a cure in time? Or might she have to make a deal with that One she's devoted her life to fighting?I cried a LOT in this book. When Nita's mom first gets sick. When they first visit the hospital. When Dairine breaks down. When Nita breaks down. And more. Just the thought of losing my own mom...like that... I'm warning you, there is a lot of realistic emotional distress here, for realistic reasons, and if your family or friends have experienced anything similar, it might hit even harder.I found this book a lot more engaging than the last. Nita and Kit are back in the forefront of things. In fact, Kit gets his own share of narration, like Dairine did in High Wizardry. Though Nita is still in charge of the main plot, having Kit's side of things helps not only soften the blow of Nita's despair but also provides more insight into our co-main character which we have been so sorely lacking before now.It's been really easy for me to forget how young these characters really are. I think in book one Nita was 12 and Kit was 11; here, Nita is 14 and Kit is 13. This is the first time I found them acting their ages consistently throughout the book. Yes, they're both dealing with magical responsibilities and situations well above a 'normal' teenager, but their internal and personal struggles finally feel real. Not to say the other books lacked for it, but it definitely set this one apart in a good way.As far as complexity goes, this installment has its fair share of advanced content. Nita's attempt to help her mom requires experience and practice in a field she hasn't yet acquired, so she's sent to train in 'practice universes', where the natural or physical laws aren't quite as solid as in our universe. Tom and Carl get into some technobabble when trying to explain these, but Nita manages to translate things well enough for the reader. It's complex, but engaging at the same time.If you managed to make it through book 4, this one is definitely worth the struggle. It's longer, and you might have to take a couple breaks to dry your eyes (luckily, I had the audiobook going through the tears), but you're compelled through it, even from the first page where Nita and her mom are engaged in a completely relatable conversation. If you care about the characters, which by this point it's practically impossible not to be, you'll read this book with a fervor.Approximate Reading Time: 5.5 Hours
Montana Library 2GoChanged rules in the middle of a series, shallow everywhere, horrible Kindle transcription, all combine to spoil what could have been a touching and meaningful installment in the Young Wizards books. Apparently Duane decided that the rules she had created for this world were not satisfactory to her, because she's changed the way the wizardry works. It was annoying enough before that she was insisting on pretending that wizardry was 'definitely not magic' but also not science, being more complicated than magic and beyond science because science couldn't possibly understand and all the et ceteras. I've seen others complain about this, so I know I'm not the only one, it's really just a way of turning her back on two literary genres at the same time, which comes across as very conceited. Sorry, Duane, you're not better than either fantasy or sci-fi, and since this was written before specfic was in common vogue (though of course not before the term was coined), you don't get to swim around in that. Regardless of what you want to call it, you really can't do 4 books that cover about a year and a half of the characters' lives with them using their wizardry in specifically defined ways and then start book 5 with them in the habit of using it differently. Suddenly the spells that were always simply verbal before can be held in the hand, tucked into a pocket, and handed (or thrown) to each other? Funny, the exact same spells in previous books were phrases that Kit would think through almost to completion, so that he just had to speak a last word to complete them. They weren't physical things. Kit wasn't carrying around little snippets of spell that he'd cut off of other spells. If a spell was drawn or written down it was done so by using concrete objects such as paper or dirt, not mysticism. Now, though, because it was necessary for the denouement, rules for wizardry have changed. (This might be mildly acceptable, though still a cheat, if Kit and Nita had acknowledged the change. If they'd had a quick conversation at the beginning about how hard it was to get into the habit of doing wizardry in different ways as they advanced or something.) The main problem here is that the book is so surface and so shallow. Part of the issue is that I come to the series years later, so I know the books continue, and therefore there was no moment that it was plausible that Nita might give up her wizardry or that she might die. Even if the series didn't continue, however, I would never have believed in that possibility for a moment. It just doesn't fit Nita's personality or Duane's writing. That we are at book 5 and Duane decided to acknowledge that all previous books were resolved through somebody else essentially throwing themselves under the bus on Nita's behalf, but didn't choose to change anything? That just reinforces the shallow feeling of the book. I had the additional issue that I had accidentally seen the plot synopsis for book 6, which stated that (view spoiler)[Nita's mother has died (hide spoiler)]
In this one, Nita's mother has cancer and Nita has a dilemma -- try to cure her mother and ultimately fail, or make a deal with the Lone Power, cure her mother and lose her wizardry forever.Except it's not that simple. It never is. For one, everyone knows that if you make a deal with the devil, look out for the fine print. Or better yet, don't make any deals to begin with. Nita doesn't see any other way out.There's more boy girl trouble in this one as Nita's mother rephrases one of Robert Heinlein's timeless adages -- in an argument, should you discover that you are right, apologize at once. Nita doesn't get it; it is counterintuitive after all, but it's the only thing that works. There's also a bit about fiddling with a universe's core reality and making universes.A decent read, but I'm not sure whether this book should be for adults, as its ultimate message is, "We all die in the end".
—Dixie A.
Duane Duane's wonderful YA'Young Wizardry' series is an imaginative, engaging retelling of the adventures of two budding wizards, Nita and Kit, as they journey through space and time, while still having to cope with the daily mundaneities of life and school. 'The Wizard's Dilemma' is perhaps the most rewarding yet. For the first time, a rift seems to have developed between the two friends, one borne of misunderstandings and the natural emotional upheavals that are just a part of life when you're their ages (13-15). They're both faced with individual challenges – even staggeringly overwhelming ones – without managing to reach out to each other. Can they reconnect before the Lone One manages to destroy Nita?Emotionally meaty as this book is (and it does indeed become heartbreaking, especially near the end when Nita is being torn apart inside), there are many lighthearted aspects that are just plain delightful to read about. We meet a variety of extremely colorful alien creatures so imaginative you just know Duane had a great time inventing them. You also get to know Kit's playful dog Ponch a little better and join the two as they adventure through various colorful universes. You can really tell Duane's imagination was running full gear here. So many little details to enjoy.Now, since mortality is a key theme in this book, it does run to super-saccharine at the end, unfortunately, which is the main reason this is a four-star review instead of five. But overall, its a delightful, wildly imaginative chapter in the series, and I finished wanting more.
—Samantha
