Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Errantry Press
Description
While Nita mourns her mother's death, teenage wizard Kit and his dog Ponch set out to find a young autistic boy who vanished in the middle of his Ordeal, pursued by the Lone Power.
User reviews
LibraryThing member calmclam
I love this book for its portrayals of Nita and Kit's continued growth--Nita's depression after her mother's death and her early stages of recovery, and Kit's tendency, seen for the first time, to lose himself to his wizardry in dangerous and frightening ways.
That said, I have a huge issue with the
That said, I have a huge issue with the
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way this story portrays autism. The climax of the novel is Daryl's miracle cure from the disorder that the Lone Power foisted on him in an attempt to destroy his wizardry. I'm also not totally convinced by Daryl's characterization *as* autistic. A wizard with autism could have made for an interesting, unique character--not a lot of YA novels have non-neurotypical characters--but that would have required making Daryl's autism a part of him, something that was not necessarily all bad or a result of the Lone Power. Unfortunately, this novel falls flat. :( Show Less
LibraryThing member hoosgracie
Nita and Kit separate and work on separate projects. Nita grieves over her mother's death, while Kit helps a young autistic wizard.
LibraryThing member sara_k
I liked this book better than others in the series! Woohoo! Nina is sent to check on a Wizard who has been in his ordeal for a very long time. She finds the wizard locked in autism in a dangerous battle with the darkness. How can she help him without interfering in the rulesof the ordeal?
LibraryThing member bluesalamanders
I'm a big fan of Duane's Young Wizards series. I picked up the third book, High Wizardry, around 11 years ago at a KMart or some such when I was on a long trip with my parents and needed something to read. I did, I admit, judge a book by its cover, but I wasn't disappointed. It took me a few years
The two main characters in most of the books are friends and wizarding partners Kit and Nita. In this book, Nita is suffering from depression due to a great loss in the previous book (The Wizard's Dilemma) and so Kit strikes out on his own to try and contact another local wizard who is stuck in the middle of his Ordeal - a sort of test that every wizard goes through when the power is first offered to them. The catch is that that wizard, Darryl, is autistic, and entering his mind to try to communicate with him starts to take its toll on Kit.
A lot of YW fans don't care for this book, and I believe it is not because it's not a good book but because it is - because it gives you a taste of the depression, the lonliness that Nita is feeling, and even an idea of how cut off from the world Kit feels because of his time spent with Darryl. I tend to read it when I'm a little depressed, because while it intesifies those feelings for a while, it eventually brings you back out of it, too.
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to realize it was part of a series, though. These are ostensibly written for young adults but the writing style - particularly of some of the later books - and many of the themes can speak to adult readers of fantasy as well.The two main characters in most of the books are friends and wizarding partners Kit and Nita. In this book, Nita is suffering from depression due to a great loss in the previous book (The Wizard's Dilemma) and so Kit strikes out on his own to try and contact another local wizard who is stuck in the middle of his Ordeal - a sort of test that every wizard goes through when the power is first offered to them. The catch is that that wizard, Darryl, is autistic, and entering his mind to try to communicate with him starts to take its toll on Kit.
A lot of YW fans don't care for this book, and I believe it is not because it's not a good book but because it is - because it gives you a taste of the depression, the lonliness that Nita is feeling, and even an idea of how cut off from the world Kit feels because of his time spent with Darryl. I tend to read it when I'm a little depressed, because while it intesifies those feelings for a while, it eventually brings you back out of it, too.
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LibraryThing member melodyreads
One of my favorites in the series. Kit discovers that an autisitic boy is battling the Lone Power over and over again, and attempts to help him. Nita is still suffering from her failure to prevent her mother's death. Ponch, the dog, is now doing wizardry of his own.
LibraryThing member cmbohn
Kit and Nita discover a young wizard who has been on Ordeal for 3 months. Kit wants to help him, but can't figure out how to reach him. And Nita is still dealing with her mother's death. But both of them will have to figure out a way to reach Darryl and help him defeat the One.
LibraryThing member NickF.
All first time wizards must go through an initation in magic called a Ordeal. The more powerful the novice. the longer and harder the ordeal. Most only last a few days. So why has Darryl been on Ordeal for three months? Or has he? Darryl hasn't acutally gone anywhere. It's his body is still there
I love this book. Very action packed. I think it's cool how Darryl makes his own world. He makes It stuck there, It's amazing how progresses Daine and Kit have become. Daine and Kit show you some amazzing invisilbility spells and power spells. Overall it's a 5/5.
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it's his mind. Can Kit and Daine save him?I love this book. Very action packed. I think it's cool how Darryl makes his own world. He makes It stuck there, It's amazing how progresses Daine and Kit have become. Daine and Kit show you some amazzing invisilbility spells and power spells. Overall it's a 5/5.
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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
That's good. I want to reread the old edition too - she mentioned that she made a lot of changes because of people who deal with real autism writing to her to point out where her original depiction of autism failed. And a lot of the reviews here mention that! Hey, guys, try the New Millennium
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edition of the book. Darryl does _not_ end up cured - functional, yes, but not "cured". That aside - I do like this book, particularly because it's the first time we get a clear view of another wizard's view of things. OK, Dairine, and to some extent the Irish wizards - but Darryl gives us (by showing Kit and Nita) a fascinating look at a completely different opinion about what wizardry "should" be. We also see some developments - Nita starts working her way through her grief and back into full functionality for her, and Kit...goes a little off the tracks, and has to be fetched back. Ponch starts encountering some foreshadowing of his future - but honestly, my favorite character in the book is Millman. I forgot, as I usually do, the revelation concerning him at the end. I think that's great, that there are non-wizards working in their own ways to help - and I can identify with him more than with the wizards. And one more thing - because Nita's working through/past her grief, this one is - not light, but less heavy and depressing than Dilemma. Good as always. Show Less
LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35
Kit and Nita end up helping another young wizard through his ordeal in this installment of Diane Duane's Young Wizards series. The situation is further complicated by the wizard in question having autism. Furthermore, Nita stumbles across information that the wizard she and Kit are helping is
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important beyond her imaging. Interesting reading, more fun than the previous book in the series. Show Less
LibraryThing member lavaturtle
I wasn't so thrilled with the depiction of autism as an advanced kind of solipsism, or a easily-detachable part of someone. Other than that, though, I liked the book as a whole.
LibraryThing member LisCarey
It's been barely a month since Nita's mother died, and Nita, Dairine, and their father are all still deep in grief and only marginally functional. When Tom and Carl assign Kit to look into a case of a new wizard who has apparently been stuck in his Ordeal for three months--a wizard who's an
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autistic eleven-year-old--Nita doesn't feel ready to act as back-up. She's still too distracted by her own pain, by trying to keep up at school anyway, and trying to keep Dairine at least going through the motions, if nothing else. On top of all that, she's having weird dreams, of clowns and robots attempting to contact her, apparently asking for help, but who aren't really understandable even in the wizardly Speech. Kit gets drawn in deeper and deeper to the autistic wizard's Ordeal, causing serious worry to his dog, Ponch, who is himself getting very strange even by the standards of wizards' pets, and Nita gets more and more absorbed by the strange creature(s) that's apparently trying to contact her, and eventually everything blows up quite satisfyingly. The last Wizards book, The Wizard's Dilemma, felt a bit as if Duane might be losing interest in the series; if so, she's recovered her interest. Enjoyable. Show Less
LibraryThing member pwaites
There are two things you need to know about A Wizard Alone. The first is that it’s the sixth book in the Young Wizard series, which starts with So You Want to Be a Wizard, and that you should probably read the series in order. Secondly, there are two different versions of A Wizard Alone and the
“She felt as if there was some kind of thick skin between her and the world, muffling the way she knew she ought to feel about things… and she didn’t know what to do to get rid of it.”
Nita’s mother dies about a month before the start of this book, and she’s fallen into a depression. Meanwhile, Kit has started on a new assignment, looking for an autistic eleven year old potential wizard who’s been on Ordeal for three months now.
The differences between the two editions of the book have a lot to do with the autistic wizard, Darryl McAllister. The original had some serious problems with its portrayal of autism. When Diane Duane was reworking the series to set all of the books in the 2000s, she went back and on the advise of autistic readers changed parts of A Wizard Alone, in particular the ending. these two reviews are by autistic reviewers who compare and contrast the two versions depiction of autism. Note that both involve spoilers. If you have the option, I heavily recommend that you read the revised New Millennium Edition.
Given the weightiness of Nita’s initial sections, I really appreciated the lighter sections with Kit’s family. I love the ongoing humor with the disagreement between the TV and the remote, and I liked seeing more of his family’s dynamic. Ponch, Kit’s dog, has been playing a larger role since the last book, and I absolutely adore him. He’s got to be one of my favorite literary canines. Ponch has been going through changes with his owner being a wizard, and there’s a moving scene where he connects how he feels upset when is person is hurt to realizing that other people can be hurt as well. Yet through all of it, he remains such a recognizable dog, especially in his schemes to get more dog biscuits.
A Wizard Alone has a smaller scale than some of the other Young Wizard books. It’s not about millions of lives being at risk, but instead focuses on Nita, Kit, and Darryl. Possibly it was a bit slower because of this, but it’s still a book that I really enjoyed.
I highly recommend this series for a lot of reasons I’ve already gone over in my reviews of the previous books.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
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differences are significant. There is the original version and the New Millennium Edition. For this reread, I read the New Millennium Edition and I would advise you to do the same. “She felt as if there was some kind of thick skin between her and the world, muffling the way she knew she ought to feel about things… and she didn’t know what to do to get rid of it.”
The differences between the two editions of the book have a lot to do with the autistic wizard, Darryl McAllister. The original had some serious problems with its portrayal of autism. When Diane Duane was reworking the series to set all of the books in the 2000s, she went back and on the advise of autistic readers changed parts of A Wizard Alone, in particular the ending. these two reviews are by autistic reviewers who compare and contrast the two versions depiction of autism. Note that both involve spoilers. If you have the option, I heavily recommend that you read the revised New Millennium Edition.
Given the weightiness of Nita’s initial sections, I really appreciated the lighter sections with Kit’s family. I love the ongoing humor with the disagreement between the TV and the remote, and I liked seeing more of his family’s dynamic. Ponch, Kit’s dog, has been playing a larger role since the last book, and I absolutely adore him. He’s got to be one of my favorite literary canines. Ponch has been going through changes with his owner being a wizard, and there’s a moving scene where he connects how he feels upset when is person is hurt to realizing that other people can be hurt as well. Yet through all of it, he remains such a recognizable dog, especially in his schemes to get more dog biscuits.
A Wizard Alone has a smaller scale than some of the other Young Wizard books. It’s not about millions of lives being at risk, but instead focuses on Nita, Kit, and Darryl. Possibly it was a bit slower because of this, but it’s still a book that I really enjoyed.
I highly recommend this series for a lot of reasons I’ve already gone over in my reviews of the previous books.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
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LibraryThing member livingtech
I liked this, but less than a lot of the others in the series. Still continuing with the series, reading them to my 8-year old.
This one took place mostly in the mind of a young kid with asperger’s syndrom. This “going into the world of someone’s mind” was a new idea introduced in the last
This one took place mostly in the mind of a young kid with asperger’s syndrom. This “going into the world of someone’s mind” was a new idea introduced in the last
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book in the series, and I like it less than a lot of the other wizardry the folks in these books can do. I hope it’s not a continuing trend, frankly. Show Less
LibraryThing member dreamweaversunited
auuuuuggghhh the ableism I may vomit
At the beginning, I was really excited about this book, because I thought it would have a positive take on how an autistic person could wield magic and fight ultimate evil in his own way. I also liked the description of how Nita dealt with grief. I thought this
Wow, was I disappointed. The depictions of autism got worse and worse as the book went on, and by the end I was gnashing my teeth in rage. Autism does not make you a saint or an otherworldly power. Autistic people are fully aware that other people exist in the world, so it's not solipsism, thanks. Most importantly, most autistic people who are able to articulate their own desires and choices would not, if you gave them the opportunity, choose to be "cured." Autistic people aren't broken. They have a different way of seeing the world that people who don't share that view don't understand. But that doesn't mean they can't live happy lives and even value the way their alternative neural wiring reveals the world to them.
Magical cures for neurodivergent and disabled people are an old, old trope that needs to die. Maybe instead of obsessing over how to get rid of these types of difference, we should think about how to accept them. I love Diane Duane, but I was deeply disappointed by this book.
At the beginning, I was really excited about this book, because I thought it would have a positive take on how an autistic person could wield magic and fight ultimate evil in his own way. I also liked the description of how Nita dealt with grief. I thought this
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was going to be the best book in the series yet.Wow, was I disappointed. The depictions of autism got worse and worse as the book went on, and by the end I was gnashing my teeth in rage. Autism does not make you a saint or an otherworldly power. Autistic people are fully aware that other people exist in the world, so it's not solipsism, thanks. Most importantly, most autistic people who are able to articulate their own desires and choices would not, if you gave them the opportunity, choose to be "cured." Autistic people aren't broken. They have a different way of seeing the world that people who don't share that view don't understand. But that doesn't mean they can't live happy lives and even value the way their alternative neural wiring reveals the world to them.
Magical cures for neurodivergent and disabled people are an old, old trope that needs to die. Maybe instead of obsessing over how to get rid of these types of difference, we should think about how to accept them. I love Diane Duane, but I was deeply disappointed by this book.
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LibraryThing member mutantpudding
First off I want to emphasize that the favorable rating I gave this book refers to the new millennium edition, not the original novel.
The depictions and information about autism in the old book were not only factually a mess, but also really offensive. When I first read the book I didnt really
This book is a little more serious as far as the series goes, but still a good read and a needed emotional follow up to the previous novel.
The depictions and information about autism in the old book were not only factually a mess, but also really offensive. When I first read the book I didnt really
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understand this, but I checked some passages from my old copy while I was rereading the revised edition and found it pretty upsetting. Im so glad the author revised this story heavily to change this while still keeping the original feel of the book in other areas. Its not perfect, but it is a big improvement and good to see an author I love and admire learning and changing her words accordingly.This book is a little more serious as far as the series goes, but still a good read and a needed emotional follow up to the previous novel.
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Awards
Locus Recommended Reading (Young Adult Novel — 2002)
Original publication date
2002
Local notes
Young Wizards IE, 06
DDC/MDS
| Fic SF Duane |
Other editions
A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane (Paperback)