Wizard's Holiday

Young Wizards #7

by Diane Duane

Even wizards need a break sometimes...

Rest and relaxation: that's what Nita Callahan thinks she's going to get when she discovers that her little sister Dairine has signed her up for a wizardly "cultural exchange" program, sending Nita and her partner-wizard Kit halfway across the Galaxy over the spring break.

But nothing about wizardry is ever quite that simple. For one thing, back home, Dairine and her dad have to cope with the other side of the exchange: the three young wizards who've just moved into the Callahan household, eager to start experiencing a strange alien culture -- Earth.

After only a few days of riding herd on a nervous shrub, a chatty, adventurous giant centipede and a stuck-up alien prince, Dairine's already not sure she can stand two weeks of this -- or if her father, not to mention the rest of the New York metropolitan area, will ever recover. And then the real trouble starts...

Meanwhile, thousands of lightyears away, Kit and Nita are taking it easy as honored guests in a nearly perfect world: a utopian planet that hardly seems to need wizards at all, where things almost never go wrong. But their own slowly growing suspicions and the increasingly strange senses of Kit's dog Ponch lead the three of them to the paradise planet's one shadowy secret.

Its discovery forces Nita and Kit to go underground and hook up with a most unusual ally -- their oldest and deadliest enemy, bizarrely intent on doing what may be the good deed of a lifetime. Or may not...and only Nita and Kit can stop the plot, or see it through: save a whole species, or condemn it to a horrible fate.

Just another wizard's holiday...

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Magic, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

263 pages, ebook

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

Diane Duane has been a writer of science fiction, fantasy, TV and film for more than forty years.

Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a fair amount of time on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there.

She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of more than thirty years, the screenwriter and novelist Peter Morwood.

Her favorite color is blue, her favorite food is a weird kind of Swiss scrambled-potato dish called maluns, she was born in a Year of the Dragon, and her sign is "Runway 24 Left, Hold For Clearance."

(From her official website)

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has to be my favorite of the Young Wizards series, although others come close. The premise, the story, the characters, the places; everything Duane did fantastically in her other books gets stepped up a notch.

While Kit and Nita's journey was strange and eye-opening (and seeing the depths of the Lone One's ambiguous deviousness was fun--especially as a girl this time!) But it has to be admitted; it was the events with the foreign exchange wizards back on Earth that stole the show.

I like watching Dairine's character grow, especially as I thought she was being neglected ever since "A Wizard Abroad". This book gave her a huge chance to do that. But really, we can talk character development all we want. But taking a Christmas tree, a giant purple centipede, and a holier-than-thou alien prince to the mall? It does not get better than this. Filif and Sker'ret were a lot of fun, but I think Roshaun was the best newcomer-character. I loved the dynamic between him and Dairine...it was built at just the right pace.

And the climax was breathtaking. Be prepared for cliffhangers galore.

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 70% of this wizard-exchange holiday was everything you'd expect of alien wizards visiting and getting to know other worlds and cultures: good, wacky fun; some clashing of worlds; and nice, relaxing kickback time at the beach. The last 30% proves that there's no such thing as a holiday for our poor wizards.



The pacing did feel a little off on this one, and with Nita and Kit's half of the story in particular, the resolution almost feels like it comes out of nowhere. I'm sure there are hints there that I didn't pick up on, but it felt random.

I did love all the exchange wizards, especially Filif, and even Roshaun grew on me (though he's still a douche). It was great to see Dairine's growth since the start of this series, and in this book particularly as she deals with the massive drop in her power levels and having to do wizardry the "regular" way. Seeing her and Harry get some bonding time after the events of the last couple of books was nice too.

There were a few dangling threads at the end of this, no doubt set up for the next book, and while the main conflicts are resolved, the ending felt abrupt.

This isn't my favorite Young Wizards book, but it's still a lot of fun.

[Dixie Conley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book in this series. In this one, Nita and Kit go on holiday to a paradise planet where people live long, simple lives and die in peace, remaining afterwards as whispers that comfort those left behind. Only problem? They've permanently locked themselves in this state. They can't evolve any further and they need to.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, three alien wizards are visiting. Yes, it's all a big student exchange program. One's a tree, one's a gigantic bug and the other's a stuck up alien prince. Well, you can't have everything. Nita's little sister hates him and is about to send him packing when he points out a tiny little problem -- the sun's about to flare up and melt off one side of Earth. Oopsie!

Of course, both problems get solved and there's derring do and adventures and even lots and lots of walking that made me tired just reading about it. There's also cultural differences, which are probably the best part of this story. What a living tree makes out of a florist like Nita's dad. Or how the bug has to be carefully informed not to eat the plates. Or the tablecloth. Or the table.

It's a fun read.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Kit and Nita are participating in a young wizard student exchange program, taking a vacation to a far-off planet to learn how other wizards and species live on other worlds. And there are three wizards from off-world visiting Earth at Nita's house with Dairine. Although everything seems peaceful, Nita begins to realize that something is wrong with the planet they are visiting. Dairine has trouble with one of the exchange student wizards who is very arrogant, but he is a specialist in a type of magic they will need.

As always, it is utterly impossible to describe the wonder, the grandeur, the sheer enchantment of a book by Diane Duane. There's something so indescribably foreign and deliciously familiar in all her characters. They possess great magical power; they encounter mystic beings; and they get embarrassed when their socks don't match. Those little down-to-earth moments, like drinking a cup of tea and finding your favorite tennis shoes before going off to fight in the planetary wars, are what make her stories so special.

There's always a current of awareness running under her stories that glances out through little things, showing the dark and brightness in every human heart with a startling clarity. I love the way that each wizard responds to and experiences the magical powers they harness, and there is a reflection of struggle and understanding inside themselves. It makes the magic system so deep and wide and omnipresent in each aspect of the story, because of its complexity and actuality.
(I'm trying so hard to explain the particular enchantment of this magical setting, but I'm failing miserably. It won't make sense unless you've read the magic yourself.)

As always, I adore Nita and Kit's friendship! They are so comfortable together, and there is such a depth of understanding between them. Every scene with them is so carefully and beautifully written. In this book, they are adjusting to a new planet and a new culture that is very different from their own, but they find that all life has basic commonalities no matter where they are.

The plot in this one kept me reading and wondering and enjoying every page! All the aliens are so imaginative and different. One is basically a sentient tree, and he is appalled that people on Earth actually eat plants. Another one has a lot of legs and can eat almost anything. He eats metal and wood and glass, anything at all, so Dairine has to make sure to tell him not to eat the plates at dinner. It's really funny!

I love that this author always deals with heavy subjects - sacrifice, and honor, and the meaning of truth- but there's also much light-hearted fun in her books.
I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear Diane Duane,

Who told you you could do that? Because you shouldn't be able to do that. Just sayin'.

Much love (and fist-shaking),
Nancy

[TerryC · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was an exception book just like the rest of the series. I definitely would recommend it.

[Cheyenne · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed reading this book, I had some very mixed feelings about one of the two main plots in it. I also got a bit confused by some of the details.

The main idea of the story is that Nita and Kit end up partaking in what was explained to be a sort of wizard exchange program; wizards visit other cultures, and in return, their home is used to house exchange wizards from other planets. However, the math of it didn't make any sense to me. I figured Nita and Kit would go to a home where one or two wizards had left, while an exchange wizard would be housed in each of their homes. What actually happened was that three exchange wizards stayed at Nita's house (none at Kit's), and no one on the entire planet Nita and Kit visited left to be an exchange wizard. The math of the whole process felt sloppy and illogical to me, though admittedly, I've never done a cultural exchange program in real life, so I don't know if it's as neat and logical as I expected it to be or not.

Now, the at-home story about the three exchange wizards that stay at Nita's house with Dairine made sense to me and was enjoyable. I liked reading about the different aliens' physiologies and perceptions of Earth; in fact, I would have enjoyed seeing even more of this, as reading about Earth from an alien perspective is a favored trope of mine. However, I didn't much like Nita and Kit's plot line, at all. They are assigned to this tropical paradise of a planet; unlike humans and most other species, the people of this planet actually rejected the Lone Power during their Choice, leading to complete peace, long life, and a lingering presence of spirits after death. The whole planet felt ideal to me, exactly as I wish Earth could be, but Nita kept feeling this nagging sense that something wasn't right, and that idea that some nameless thing was wrong with what could be considered perfection was really the only thing that pushed the plot forward in the first place (and pretty late into the book, I might add). In the end, they run into the Lone Power (shocked, aren't you?) and It tells them that the Choice these people made stunted their ability to evolve, which It makes out to be much more important than the eternal happiness that they are effectively lounging in. Now, for some reason, Nita and Kit actually agree and immediately begin trying to convince the wizard they're staying with that her people need to give up world peace and long life so that they can stop stagnating (what evolution actually needs to occur when you've already accomplished world peace and long life is beyond me). In the end, it turned out that the evolution that needed to occur was dying and leaving the planet permanently (like we do IRL), and the second that the wizard responsible for this planet accepted this and renounced their Choice, everyone on the entire planet died instantly. What's worse, this was considered a good thing, and Nita and Kit went home feeling accomplished. How messed up is that?

Now, maybe Diane Duane has more religious leanings than I was aware of (with the heavy science influence of her books, I wouldn't have expected that), but as an agnostic who believes there's no way of knowing what will happen after death, it sickens me to think that anyone would believe so strongly in a happy afterlife that they would willingly let themselves die to reach it. These people were capable of living thousands of years in a beautiful and violence-free world and effectively living on a different version of their planet permanently after they "died," as well. They even had proof that their spirits would exist after they died because the dead could still speak to the living to some extent. Yet every single person on the entire planet agreed within what I read to be the span of a few minutes that they would rather give up all that to die and see what's out there. Never in a million years would I have agreed with that decision, but there was next to no dissent whatsoever. And what's worse, this completely undermined everything the series seemed to be saying in the earlier books. The Lone Power is known to be so horrible because it created death and its broader manifestation, entropy, and because it corrupted most civilizations in existence with this poisonous touch. So how can Nita and Kit possibly encourage this death and corruption, especially when not a single soul seemed unhappy with the way things were in this perfect society? It Duane intended to paint the world as a happy-on-the-surface-but-secretly-torture situation, she failed miserably. And Nita also lost her mother a few books back; how she could encourage the death of a whole species without once questioning anything about her decision, I'll never understand.

Anyway, here's hoping the next book is more consistent with the values of the originals.

[Maximum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite book in the series, but honestly just a solid read. Great progression and just more of this world that I'm attached to.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was different in some ways. It was nice to see Dairinne being smacked down by the planetary wizards. And by her coworkers. However, while her ego may have been cut down some, I don't think it affected her basic self confidence. Nita and Kit are sent off on a "holiday" that of course, turned out to be anything but an actual holiday .Dairinne's wizardly guests turned out to be just different enough to drive her nuts....she had to stop one in all innocence from eating part of their house and lets not even think about what happened in the mall. It was a healthy corrective to have a sentient being in the shape of a tree and realize that eating vegetables might be extremely frightening to that person. It made meals quite a challenge when you had to avoid salad like items in order not to horrify a guest! It is also nice to see Dairinne be bested in many ways by a boy....one she can't stand. Or maybe she can stand him, a great deal. She isn't a little girl any more, definitely.

Instead of Duanne's general preoccupation with death, she did the same theme from the opposite direction: is it healthy to have a life on a planet where nothing ever changes and everyone seems happy? Is this truly a good thing? I'm not sure she completely answered her question but then, it is a pretty big question to answer. Perhaps death is better than everlasting sameness with no growth. I see her point but I'm also still missing my Dad and can't emotionally be convinced that unending sameness is necessarily a bad thing. Intellectually I see her point. Emotionally, I'm not sure I am ready for this or will ever be ready.

This may get revised after I let the book sink into my consciousness some more.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this marks the point where the series, or perhaps Nita and Kit themselves, begin to mature. Before I begin the spoiler part of this review, I'll say this much: nobody gets a holiday. Bet you'd never guess that…

The really interesting part of this book, to me, anyway, is that it implies that the Lone Power is actually necessary to spur races/civilizations on towards growth. Previous to this, at least in the books I've read of this series, It's invention, death, has been played as something that was not supposed to be. Now, I wonder.

Of course, as a veteran of The Silmarillion, I tend to wonder about evil's place in fantasies where the creator powers are involved. In Tolkien's Arda, it's made pretty clear in the "Ainulindalë" that the tamperings of Melkor, his version of the Lone Power, make the One's creation ultimately greater, if sadder, than it might otherwise have been. I wonder now if the same is true for the Wizardverse. Since these two writers seem to draw, to an extent, on the same sources, I'd guess so. Hopefully, Duane will deal with that in the next two books.

…would you?

[Luann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series just gets better and better. Diane Duane has some pretty deep things to say about entropy and choice which I found very interesting and will continue to ponder. Most fantasy series don't go this deep while still staying this entertaining and enjoyable to read. I also enjoyed going back and forth between Nita & Kit's story with Quelt on Alaalu and Dairine's story at home with Sker'ret, Filif, and Roshaun. I don't always enjoy books that go back and forth between two different stories, but this one was very well done. I've already been to the library and checked out the next book: Wizards at War.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites in the series so far. It's funny to see something as ordinary as a student exchange program be entirely different with wizardry. Who would expect a giant centipede, a talking Christmas tree, and a prince to be lounging in their living room?

This book probably was the funniest so far. Some of it was in the dialogue, and some in the situation. Picture the aforementioned Christmas tree wearing a baseball cap.

On thing that I thought was cool was how the author developed Roshaun's character. At first he seemed snobbish, but as you got to know him and his past, it all made sense.

Anyway, I enjoyed this book., even though my wife said I read it slowly. (She has read over 5 times the books I have read so far this year.)

Great series.

[MB (What she read) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-read to prep me for new book coming out soon. I tend to forget just how good Diane Duane's "Young Wizards" series is! Highly recommended for all children and young adults who like to read fantasy.

(I personally think this series is better than Harry Potter and almost on par with Dianne Wynne Jones. Be sure to start with the first one So You Want to Be a Wizard and to read them in order.)

[Rachel (Kalanadi) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dairine's dealing with no longer being the kid wizard prodigy, Kit and Nita feel like real grown ups now, and the wizard cultural exchange program is a brilliant premise. Plus every scene between Roshaun and Carmela is PURE GOLD.

[Rowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing my read through of Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, this was my least favorite so far. It was presented as sort of a "exchange student" plot where Kit and Nita go to a fabulously peaceful beach planet, and Dairine stays at home, helping her dad host 3 wizards from another planet for a "holiday" on earth.

Of course, since this is a book, I already knew that the "holidays" would not be without complications, no surprise there.

The Kit/Nita plot would've made a better short story than the novella length needed to fill out the book and the Dairine story was possibly the right length - or it too might've made a good short story - or a short story at any rate. It wasn't that good. Unlike many, I do love Dairine -- and Spot -- but I didn't love the story line she got trapped in. I don't feel it showed her very well. I do see she matured a bit, and maybe this plotline wouldn't have bugged me as much as a subplot instead of half of the narrative.

It didn't to me seem to advance her character arc and the visiting wizards were only passingly interesting.

I hope this information was necessary for the series and not just a filler, because I feel a little cheated.

Pluses:
The Kit/Nita plot has a sonorous and lovely ending which is experienced like a paean to entropy.
Some of the concepts in the world Kit/Nita visited were cool like the herd animals that flew.
Dairine is dealing better with the lost of her "youngster" power boost and getting a more mature attitude.
Nice bit of foreshadowing at the end for the next book.
A little bit more of the mystery that is Ponch.

Would've liked to have seen:
Less wordy passages in Kit/Nita plotline
More of Spot
More of Kit's sister
I like it that Dairine has a character arc and is maturing but I like that girl partly because of her bite, and I hope that comes back in time.

I don't even know how I feel about:
that arrogant visiting wizard

All in all I if I ever reread this series I might skip this book. The dual plot lines made it hard to get into and it felt like there was a lot of fluff added to run up word count perhaps. The side characters didn't feel well fleshed out, and I don't feel like I know a lot more about science or the magic/world view of the 'verse the series is set in, but there may be an exception to this that I won't realize until I read the last 2 books in the series.

I will say that I do love Diane Duane as an author, and many of the concepts of the series are still fresh after all these years. So I do not feel discouraged from finishing the series and I did love that little foreshadowing at the end.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do have a rather love/hate relationship with this series and this is one of the books that I loved. Although I have a few minor annoyances (chapter length and Carmela) I overall really liked this book, especially as it's aimed towards a much younger audience than me and yet gets so much into it and gives a generally good message to it's readers.

So, in this edition to the series Nita and Kit get to go on holiday, but being wizards there's no such thing as a break from wizardry, everywhere they go at all times there's something that the Powers That Be require of them, only in this instance it's purely choice about whether or not they help out.

Meanwhile back at home Dairine has to take care of some visitors to the planet. Dairine isn't necessarily a character that I like, she's quite egotistical in a way and sees wizardry as a way to have fun, but now she's dealing with her powers declining and so I'm sensing a huge amount of character development from her as well as maturing in her attitude towards wizardry and the others around her.

I really enjoyed the two plotlines happening together and how Nita's and Dairine's plots managed to foreshadow what was happening in each other's plot points while both dealing with something entirely different.

The alien characters were quite delightful, although there's parts of the main characters in the series personalities that I find to be irritating in some ways I find that as they interact with other people and species they grow and expand as characters which is fun to watch happen, they've all changed so much from the start of the series as they're really finding out what it is to be a wizard and the dangers they're putting themselves in.

As always the Lone One appears again in a different form and for once we're given a bit of insight into It. With the help of Nita in a previous book the Lone One is being able to become something different, but how different is It willing to become? I hope to get answers and see the Lone One really start to progress.

Overall this book was a fantastic read with a strong ending to Nita's plotline which was full of emotion, sadly for Dairine's part it wasn't so but I think it's a set up towards something better for her in future books. However, watching Dairine trying to teach alien species about life on Earth really makes up for how her part in this book ended.

Duane's writing of this series gets stronger with each book and I'm totally excited to read the next book in the series.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this instalment of the Young Wizards series a bit confusing. There were two parallel but mostly unrelated stories, and the author spent a lot of time setting up the scene for both stories. But then when the action finally happened, it went so fast that I wasn't sure what actually happened.

The plot involves a foreign exchange programme...on an interplanetary level. Nita and Kit travel halfway across the universe to stay with a host family in another solar system, while three other wizards come from halfway across the universe to stay with Dairine and her father. 80% of the book is about the kids learning things about their host families and trying to fit in. But then suddenly things go wrong on both planets. And then about ten pages later, everything is all okay again, only I'm not really clear on how either problem was fixed. I even read the ending again wondering if I missed something, but it didn't become any more clear.

The series also suffers from being inconsistent between books. Kit used to have a bunch of sisters but now he only has one (and it's not like they all moved out or something--the books all take place within a few months). For the first few books the kids would get physically ill making relatively short interplanetary hops, but in this one they can repeatedly travel back and forth across the entire universe with no problems. Magic used to be about words and talking and persuasion, but now it's about creating spells which can be stuck in a pocket and manipulated manually.

I'm invested enough now to eventually finish the series, but if I was going to advise someone who was just starting the series, I would recommend stopping after book 3. The original trilogy was great and wrapped up wonderfully. But then things started to go downhill when the author decided the series needed more books.

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Young Wizards" book 7.

If a people is stagnant, does an outsider have the right, or even an obligation, to disturb the waters and make them move forward?

Nita's sister Dairine applies, without permission, for a sort of interstellar exchange program. Her punishment when caught is that Dairi is restricted to the Solar system, while Nita and Kit (the titular Young Wizards) take the trip.

The planet Alaalu seems a paradise, a place where the people rejected the Lone Power and Its gift of entropy. The inhabitants live long lives, undisturbed by war or natural disasters, and hang around as friendly ghosts even after death. What's wrong with this picture?

In the meanwhile, alien exchange students have descended on the Callahan house, and Dairine must accommodate to them. Two of them, though very alien indeed (a giant centipede and a sentient, mobile tree), are eager, earnest students of Earthly culture. but the third, Roshaun, is a snooty prince whom nothing pleases ... or so it seems at first. Then they discover that Earth's Sun has become unstable and may scorch-scour the planet of life at any time...

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dairine signs herself and Nita up for an 'excursion', but gets in trouble for it and is grounded. But Nita and Kit are allowed to take advantage of it for a trip to Alaalu, and Ponch goes too. Since it is an exchange program, Dairine is left at home to cope with the three alien 'exchange students' assigned to them. Initially with hilarious consequences, but later things become serious when the Sun begins to show signs of major problems. Meanwhile on Alaalu, the family with which Kit and Nita are staying turns out to have the only wizard for the entire planet, with a house on the beach; Kit and Nita are looking forward to a restful holiday. But Nita senses that something is missing - the planet and people are just too 'nice'. So all the vacationing wizards end up with problems to solve - the wizardly version of a busman's holiday.

[Marinda Misra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Getting through this book felt like homework.

I’m still reeling over the gross misstep in sensitivity from the last book, but I’m invested. I think I’ve pin pointed what’s bothering me so much about Kit and Nita’s relationship- it’s stagnated. I know I’ve complained about the jarringness of them as a potential couple, but them moving to anything deeper just isn’t there. If you read it as flat then that’s fine, but if your looking for something more dynamic then you should be ready to be disappointed.

All that being said, it was still interesting plot wise and actually addressed the whole “wait I thought you got redeemed” plot hole of the lone power, which made me happy.

I’m so close to finishing. I need to just power through it and hope for better things. The first book was SO GOOD - this book was easily her weakest but maybe it’ll get good again.

[John Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is obviously a reference to "Busman's Holiday", the idea being that people ostensibly go away on holiday and then wind up doing the same thing that they'd do at home. That's slightly unfortunate for the characters, but good for us as readers.

This book introduces several new characters, but it works well: they all get enough time to stand out and become memorable. There are also 2 plots going on, with a thematic link but no real interaction between them.

Interestingly, 1 of them doesn't directly involve the Lone Power (beyond the general effect of entropy). That was actually the subplot that I preferred, and it makes sense that lots of wizardry will be like that.

Looking at the subplot which did involve the Lone Power, I really liked the idea that she's become ambivalent rather than being pure evil. I gather that Marvel Comics have recently adopted a similar attitude towards Loki: if he lies all the time then you'd have to be a complete idiot to believe anything he says, but if he tells the truth some of the time then it makes his lies more convincing.

There are a couple of references to the "Martian project", which act as foreshadowing for the later novel A Wizard of Mars.

Unfortunately, there are a few questionable bits to the story.

In chapter 3 (page 46), Kit and Nita discuss the planet that they're going to visit, and Nita says "I have it on page nine-sixty-two." However, at this point it's been well established that their manuals change size depending on what the wizard needs to know, and that Kit and Nita's pages don't necessarily line up, so that's not very useful.

One common theme in the series is for the human wizards to encounter other creatures with very long names and abbreviate them for simplicity. Kit and Nita did that with Fred (the black hole) and Ed (the shark), but they asked permission first and Ed specifically commented that it was a "sprat's name", i.e. something that would normally be insulting to him.

Similarly, when the 3 new wizards arrive on Earth, Dairine says: "I hope you'll forgive me, but your name's kind of a mouthful for me. Will Filif be all right?" That's perfectly reasonable behaviour. However, when Dairine introduces them to her father, she simply says "And this is Roshaun", which prompts him to supply the rest of his name. I think that we're supposed to take Dairine's side against him, but she didn't extend him the same courtesy as she did to Filif. Still, I suppose it's true to life: I've noticed that lots of English people have a tendency to abbreviate names without asking first, e.g. turning Nicholas into Nick.

Soon after that, they all discuss dinner plans, and Filif (being a sentient tree) is rather shocked that they eat vegetables. Dairine justifies it on the basis that the plants they eat aren't sentient. However, Nita has been talking to the willow tree in her back garden since book 1, so that doesn't quite ring true. I also noticed that any debate about the ethical issues of eating meat is notable by its absence. I had a similar reaction to The Wizard's Dilemma when they said that the Wizard's Oath (guarding life) applies at the cellular level. If the author doesn't want to get into that discussion then that's fair enough, but in that case I think it would be better for the book to steer well clear of the whole subject. Doing it this way just makes the characters look like hypocrites, which I'm sure wasn't the intention. (I think that the spin-off "cat wizard" novels handle this subject a lot better: they simply state that cats need to eat meat to survive, end of discussion.)

Each of the visiting wizards brought a "pup tent" and personal worldgate with them. Roshaun fiddles with his pup tent so that he can stroll out the back end and arrive back on his homeworld, which Dairine criticises him for. However, it seems rather silly that he'd even bother; if he didn't want to sleep in the tent, why not just use his worldgate, which is already set up to blip him home whenever he likes?

In chapter 11, Kit and Nita talk to Esemeli (aka the Lone Power), and she proposes a plan that will set her free. They aren't enthusiastic about this, but she tells them that it won't have any effect on the rest of the universe. "I'm already everywhere. I don't have to 'go' anyplace. What you need to get through your heads is that this particular manifestation has had its turn to do its job, and has failed." That's a valid concept in general terms, but it implies that Darryl was wasting his time in A Wizard Alone by keeping another manifestation of the Lone Power occupied. Still, maybe Esemeli was lying about that.

Also in chapter 11 (page 217), Roshaun and Dairine discuss the solar system:
"What's that last planet called?"
"Pluto."
This book was originally written in 2003, but the New Millennium Edition was released in 2013 and the new timeline says that the story took place in April 2010. In 2006, the IAU reclassified Pluto, so that it's no longer a planet. (It's now a plutoid dwarf planet instead.) I don't know whether this was an oversight or the author's personal preference, but it would have been better to sidestep the issue by referring to the Kuiper Belt instead.

Still, despite these nitpicks, I really did enjoy the book; these just made it a 4-star review rather than 5-stars.

[Joe ST · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the characters in this one, there was some hilarious moments that I am hoping for more of... but the pacing was off... maybe because I took a break before finishing? but still it felt like so much build up for everything to get solved very quickly. I really enjoyed all the buildup but of the two premises, one was solved with seemingly no repercussions, and the other was (I don't want to say white-)saviourism "but things are broken here and we can fix it" followed by absolution through "but we only did what fate wanted from us" and all though one of the main premises of the universe, which I find very unbelievable: that death and entropy are inherently bad & evil things.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nita's sister, also a wizard, has applied for a wizard exchange program-- without telling her dad. Which, since dad would be hosting wizards in return, earns her a grounding. She's confined to the solar system. But that leaves two places available in the program, so Kit and Nita are invited to go instead of Dairine, who will instead help host their guests. The planet they visit is lovely, but something seems to be missing. Back on earth, the visitors are fun and interesting-- at least the centipede looking guy and the tree-form aliens are. The more humanoid guy seems to be kind of a jerk. But she'll deal. It's a good read. I liked it.

[Matthew Samuels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kit and Nita go on holiday, and as you might expect, it’s not quite as restful as they’d hoped! In A Wizard’s Holiday, they participate in an exchange programme, while Dairine looks after three new houseguests coming the other way – and it’s not plain sailing either.

I quite liked this one, and it was good to see the cast of characters broadening. Dairine’s ‘crisis’ did come on a little suddenly, and Nita / Kit’s issues felt a little forced, but it was good to spend time with them all. The plot moved along fast enough to keep me interested, and I’m already reading the next one!

[Blind Mapmaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Another good title with surprisingly deep characters and a somewhat ambiguous dilemma. Could have used another twenty pages before the resolution to make it a little more suspensful, but that's about the only criticism I have. The second half of the series presents even more shades of grey than the first half, which is nice in young adult fiction. And kudos for providing shipping fodder for tree and millipede fans. I feel a lot of infinite diversity in infinite combination sentiment in this one.

[Sophie Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a truly delightful book. It’s good sci-fi fun – weird planets with big secrets, quirky aliens you can’t help but fall in love with, philosophical debates and high-stake scenarios that reveal just how much our heroes have grown… The pacing gets a little awkward in the second half, as Duane jumps back and forth between two plotlines with drastically different tones and timelines. However, if you view this book as set-up for the next book – which it very much is – and proceed immediately to Wizards at War, then you might not mind that too much.

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I've been really sick the last three weeks and decided I'd reread as many childhood favorites as possible because wanted something comforting and extremely low effort. Except then I found a bunch of books I'd never read before! So I figured, why not, I'll just read the whole series.

I enjoyed this one because we start to see a lot more nuance in the way that "evil" works in this universe. Also, the humor starts to get more pronounced in this book (and onward), as if the characters really started having their own personalities and sass as Duane got more used to writing them.

[Joseph D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 7 of Young Wizards. This was an excellent novel. This was a two arm adventure coupled with​ a foreign exchange twist. Overall it is what you’ve come to expect from this series. There are strong religious undertones as with the others without it being specific to any one religion. I do love how involved this is showing some type of guiding hand in the universe. Aside from that the series continues to be an excellent read for a young adult audience.

Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com

[CJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The wizards basically do a foreign exchange thing. Nita and Kit (and Ponch) go to a beach paradise planet, and Dairine stays home but has a giant centipede, a Christmas tree, and a haughty humanoid prince come to stay.
Many humorous cultural mishaps with Dairine (until the Sun goes crazy), and lots of relaxation for Nita and Kit until they realize a fundamental problem with the world they're visiting.
Once again, Ponch, the dog, is the hero. (Also the delightful aliens who visit Earth.)

[Mika · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This was enjoyable to return to. I really am attached to the world and after this reading slump it's nice to read in this world that I know.

I had no idea that we'd split the book between Plot A and Plot B, but actually by the end I was far more invested in Plot B. XD

I do think the next book has potential to be a 5 star tho. I look forward to it.