Wizards at War

Title: Wizards at War
Author: Diane Duane

Summary (with spoilers):
Since this is the eighth book in the series, I'm going to assume you've read the other ones, and jump right into the plot summary!

A new threat is causing problems, not just on Earth, but throughout the universe. Tom and Carl gather Nita, Kit, Dairine, and all of the visiting alien wizards (Filif, Sker'ret, and Roshaun) to tell them that space is expanding. This problem will eventually cause wizards to lose their powers and result in violence all over Earth, in addition to problems elsewhere. The older wizards, like Tom and Carl, are already starting to lose their powers, so it's up to Nita, Kit and the other young wizards of the universe to figure out a solution.

Ronan (who carries the One's Champion inside of him) shows up to accompany the gang, telling them that there could be a secret tool (the Instrumentality) to use against the new threat, if only they can find it. He gives Ponch the scent, and they travel to a strange place, with dark masses overhead, called the Pullulus. Ponch stops by the world he created to grab a spell manifested as a squirrel, which everyone follows to the world of Rashah. Rashah is home to the Yaldiv, strange beings that look like giant bugs who can break through Nita's defense spell and otherwise affect wizardry. The Yaldiv are hive mind creatures who are all avatars of the Lone Power. The wizards set up camp in a cave on the planet to do more exploring, while Nita and Sker'ret begin the journey back to Earth, so that Nita can check on her dad. In addition, Nita has been conversing with the peridexic effect, which is the source behind spells and the Speech.

Meanwhile, Dairine and Roshaun travel back to Roshaun's home planet, where he confronts his father, and then to the world that created the mobiles (which you may remember from Dairine's Ordeal). The mobiles decode a message from data that Dairine and Spot were carrying. Dairine and Roshaun meet back up with the rest of the group, revealing that the Instrumentality is a Hesper, which is a "bright" version of the Lone Power.

When Nita and Sker'ret arrive at the Crossings, they realize something is not right. It turns out a group of Tawalf have been paid to take over the Crossings. Nita and Sker hunker down in a control dome while the Tawalf shoot high energy weapons at them. Nita casts a spell which destroys one of the weapons, but it's not enough. Just when it seems that Nita and Sker'ret are doomed, Carmela shows up with her own modified weapon (which looks like a curling iron) to save the day. Then she convinces the Tawalf to surrender by giving them a bar of chocolate. Nita travels back to Earth, where she learns that Tom and Carl have lost their powers. What's worse, they've forgotten that they were ever wizards. At least Nita gets to visit with the prophetic koi.

On Rashah, the wizards take the form of the Yaldiv to do some scouting, and end up in a huge city, which houses the king of the Yaldiv. Despite their disguises, the king recognizes the wizards, but he is so confident of his control of the city that he lets the wizards do as they will. The Yaldiv who is the Hesper (who is later named Memeki) visits the wizards in their base camp. She is willing to help, but the wizards aren't sure exactly what to do next. Some warrior Yaldiv tunnel up through the ground, attacking the group. Nita and Carmela gate in during the battle and help the wizards win.

The wizards and Memeki travel to the Yaldiv city, where they have a confrontation with the king. Unfortunately, wizardry isn't working, and they can't cast spells. Carmela, pretending to be under the control of the king, blasts it with her curling iron. The Lone Power manifests itself, and everything looks grim for the wizards. Then Ronan stabs himself with the Spear to release the Champion, who is able to beat back the Lone Power, which allows Memeki to become the Hesper.

Nita and Kit cast a spell to put Ronan into stasis, and all of the wizards head to the moon to deal with the Pullulus. The group wizardry fails to stop it. Next, Roshaun channels the power of the Sun through his stone, but he is unable to fully stop the Pullulus. Roshaun disappears and his stone becomes clear, without fire. Kit believes the end is near, so he tells Ponch to go back to Earth and bring his family to safety. Ponch instead embodies great power and battles the Pullulus, finally defeating it. In the process, Ponch becomes the dog version of the One, making a new choice for dogs.

Ronan is healed by one of the many wizards on the moon. Dairine delivers the news about Roshaun to his parents and accepts the stone and the responsibilities entailed. She visits Roshaun's Timeheart in a dream. (It's implied that Roshaun is merely missing, not lost forever.) Kit has a last word with Ponch, who is now present in all dogs on Earth.

My Thoughts:
The beauty of this series has always been the description of wizardry. The complex spells (which require a lot of knowledge on the part of the caster), also take an energy toll. Often, the spells are described in a scientific manner, with comments on how the spells move matter around, etc. The magic system feels real. It's so well integrated with the real world.

It's been a while since I read the other books in the series, so it was difficult for me to jump right into this one. I'd forgotten the back stories of most of the side characters, especially the visiting wizards. There were tons of characters in this one, but not enough time for their full development. For example, we're told that Roshaun and Dairine are close, but we don't get to see enough of this closeness. There just isn't enough time to focus on them (even though they do get a whole chapter at the beginning).

I enjoyed the discussion between Ponch and Memeki, where they compared origin stories for their species. Other fun moments include Carmela showing up to save the day and Ponch becoming The One Dog.

A Word on Ratings

I do like to rate the books that I review here, but these ratings only reflect by own personal enjoyment of the book. They are not meant to categorically define a book's true worth. Honestly, I don't think anyone can give a book an absolute rating. We all judge books based on how we interpret them, from our own life experiences and preferences. For example, if I give a book a one star rating, I'm not saying that it's a terrible book; it simply means I didn't enjoy that book. If someone else wants to give the same book a five star rating, I won't argue with them.

Anyway, here is my scale:

5 Stars: Loved this book. One of the best books I've read this year.
4 Stars: Great book. Very enjoyable.
3 Stars: Good book. Glad I read it.
2 Stars: Okay book. Although I didn't like it as much as other books, it had some redeeming qualities.
1 Star: Did not like this book. Wish I hadn't read it.

The majority of my ratings are 3 stars, with a fair amount of 4 stars and 2 stars thrown in. I'll rate a few books a year 5 stars, and I'll rarely rate a book 1 star.

I've noticed that I'm a bit harsher in my ratings than most people. Even if I enjoyed a book somewhat, I still might give it 2 stars, if it just doesn't meet that 3 star standard for me. Again, it's probably a perfectly fine book. I just don't see the point of have a 5 star rating system if I don't use all of the ratings.

Isla and the Happily Ever After

Book title: Isla and the Happily Ever After
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary (with spoilers):
Isla Martin attends the School of America in Paris with Josh, a talented artist and Isla's long-time crush. After getting her wisdom teeth removed, Isla runs into Josh in a cafe, and has the courage to talk to him because she is a bit loopy from the medicine she is taking.

Once they get back to school, Isla has trouble talking to Josh, but he knocks on her door and asks her out to the local comic book shop. Once Josh realizes that Isla's best friend Kurt really is just her friend, Josh and Isla start dating. They share several sweet moments, like their first kiss on an escalator (even though it ends in a bloody nose for Isla), Josh painting the "treehouse," and  both recounting favorite childhood memories.

Isla and Josh decide to spend the weekend in Spain, breaking the school's rules about traveling. When Isla's sister Hattie starts asking about Isla, the school realizes that something is amiss, and confront Kurt about Isla's whereabouts. This results in Josh's expulsion from school. His parents are furious and confiscate his phone.

While Isla and Josh are separated by an ocean, Josh's dad is running for senator. Isla watches the news around the election, which includes a clip of Josh saying he doesn't have a girlfriend (which he later claims he did to protect Isla from nosy people in the political world). When Isla is back in the US for a holiday, she receives a package with a copy of Josh's autobiographical graphic novel. Isla is upset at the presence of Rashmi in the novel, especially since there are nude drawings of her. While being driven home from a posh political party, Isla picks a fight with Josh, and breaks up with him, fearing that it is only a matter of time before he would have broken up with her.

However, Isla is still very much in love with Josh. She buys him a signed copy of a graphic novel, which Isla's sister Hattie sends to Josh. Josh visits France during the Olympics and meets up with Isla. After they watch St. Clair propose to Anna (who gleefully accepts, of course), Josh walks Isla to her dorm and hands her his revised graphic novel, telling her to read it right away and call him after she is done. His novel ends with Josh declaring his love for Isla and waiting outside for her to call. When she peeks out of the window, Josh is actually there. She runs outside and tells him that she loves him.

My Thoughts:

Unlike most romance novels, the focus is on the relationship after Isla and Josh get together. Perhaps this is a play on the "happily ever after" title, since most novels would end right after the protagonists get together. Although it's interesting to take a look at this side of relationships, the plot still needs conflict to move along. That conflict comes in the form of relationship issues between Josh and Isla. Many of their issues are shallow but accurate for teens. (Six months does seem like forever when you're a teen. Not so much as an adult.) I'm not sure that I buy that Isla would really break up with Josh, just to avoid being hurt later. He's her dream guy, and he clearly is happy to be with her. The break up is really about her issues with self confidence.

I thought Josh's character was well drawn. (Pun intended.) While reading Anna and the French Kiss, I was intrigued by Josh, so I'm glad he got his own book. I also really liked Isla (shy, smart, and short), even though she had some annoying moments.

The best part of the book was Josh's graphic novel. It was easy to envision the artwork, and I loved reading the story of his life described in comic book panels. The ending of the book with Isla reading Josh's novel was just perfect.

I enjoyed reading about Isla's relationship with Kurt, and I liked that Isla was respectful of his autism. It was refreshing that Kurt and Isla actually did have a platonic relationship and weren't secretly in love with each other or anything like that.

Overall, I liked this book more than Lola, but Anna is still my favorite.

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Summary (with spoilers)
Lola is in love with Cricket Bell, the boy next door, or at least she used to be, until he broke her heart and moved away. When Cricket and family move back, Lola starts to fall for him again, especially when it's clear that Cricket likes her and it's revealed that Calliope (Cricket's twin) was the one who didn't invite her to Cricket's birthday party two years ago.

There's only one problem. Lola is dating her lame, much-too-old-for-her boyfriend, Max. Lola is convinced she's in love with Max, but as the story progresses, Lola and Cricket share a lot of intense moments. They work on her Mary Antoinette dress for Lola's winter formal, and Cricket climbs into her bedroom through the window.

Meanwhile, Anna and St. Clair make an appearance, since they work with Lola at the movie theater. Also, Cricket and St. Clair live in the same housing complex in Berkeley.

Lola's mom moves back in with Lola (and Lola's two dads, Andy and Nathan). Lola's mom has a drug problem and is not a reliable parent. However, while she's living there, Lola is able to get to know her mother a little better. There's also a plot line with Lola's best friend Lindsey, who wants to be a detective and has a crush on a guy at school, but doesn't want to date until she graduates.

Eventually, Lola breaks up with Max and realizes that she was never in love with him. However, she feels like she needs time to get over Max and to become a better person before she starts dating Cricket. Lola makes an emergency costume for Calliope, who is competing to be in the Olympics for figure skating. Cricket flies back from the skating competition to surprise Lola and take her to the dance. Finally, Cricket and Lola get together.

My Thoughts
Although I really liked Anna and the French Kiss, I felt that this book didn't have the same magic. I'm not sure why Lola doesn't break up with her lame boyfriend in the beginning of the book, once it's clear that she and Cricket are into each other. It seems like the book just drags on. We all know they are going to get together in the end.

The charm of the book is in the details the author adds to each character. Lola dresses in a unique way every day; Cricket is a whiz with mechanical devices and a snappy dresser; one of Lola's dads has his own pie baking company; and Calliope is a world-class figure skater. Every character has a passion, even the minor ones.

I also enjoyed Cricket's story at the end, where he describes the girl who talked to the moon, and how, since he couldn't take her with him, he took the stars. Very poetic.

Although the book is set in San Francisco, it doesn't have the same depth of description as Anna and the French Kiss did for Paris. There are a few iconic San Francisco places thrown in, but the location isn't nearly as important in this book. I'll probably go on to read the third book, Isla and the Happily Ever After, since it returns to the School of America in Paris.