imperfectletter

Originally posted August 02, 2006 in

fiveforsilver:

53. A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane (332)
54. The Wizard's Dilemma by Diane Duane (403)
55. A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane (320)
56. Wizard's Holiday by Diane Duane (416)
57. Wizards at War by Diane Duane (551)

The 4-8th books in the Young Wizards series. I belong to the author-owned forums/chat and some of the members recently started a weekly book chat, one book per week. I read the 4th book...and got a little carried away and read all the rest of them in about a week, instead of spacing it out. These are ostensibly YA books, but many of the concepts and references are beyond the average YA's grasp, so while many young people like these books about magic and fighting, good versus evil, adults can enjoy them as well. I can't really talk about the plots without giving away major spoilers for the previous books, but suffice it to say I enjoy all of them. A Wizard Alone is possibly my favorite of this bunch (the first three being my favorites of the series). This was my second reading of the 8th book, Wizards at War, and I liked it much better this tie than the first time I read it.

58. He, She, and It by Marge Piercy (429)

After recommending this several times recently, I felt like rereading it myself. From the back of the book:

In the middle of the twenty-first century, life as we know it has changed for all time. Environmental disasters have ravaged the planet's resources, and the world has been divided into coroporate enclaves.

Shira Shipman's marriage has broken up, and her young son has been taken from her by the corporation that runs her zone, so she has returned to Tikva, the Jewish free town where she grew up. there she is welcomed by Malkah, the brilliant grandmother who raised her, and meets the extraordinary man who is not a man at all, but a unique cyborg implanted with intelligence, emotions - and the ability to kill...

59. Mutants ed. by Isaac Asimoc, Martin H. Greenberg, & Charles G. Waugh (256)

Again, from the back:

Exceptionally gifted, strange, sometimes brilliant, but always different - mutants live among ordinary human beings in this collection of stories by some of science fiction's finest writers. Some of the mutations are obvious, some are invisible:
> In Ray Bradbury's "Hail and Farewell," Willie must move from town to town so no one will notice that he never grows older.
> Born with wings, David must choose between a girl who loves him and the live in the skies he was meant to lead, in "He That Hath Wings" by Edmond Hamilton.
> Amy is the first psychic in human history. Will the psychiatrist manipulate her powers to track down others like her, in Alan E. Nourse's "Second Sight"?
All that these mutants want is to belong. But will we let them?

These stories are from the 50's, and in many ways it shows - the treatment of female characters, for instance, and some dated scientific ideas. But I still find many of the interesting, regardless. My favorites are He That Hath Wings (regardless of the annoying female character) and What Friends Are For.