Young Wizards is a series of novels by Diane Duane.

The Young Wizards series presently consists of eleven books, focusing on the adventures of two young wizards named Nita and Kit. The series began in 1983 with the book So You Want to Be a Wizard, which told the story of their first experiences with wizardry. In 1997, Duane began a spin-off, the Feline Wizards series, which takes place in the same universe, but with different protagonists.

This series incorporates elements of fantasy, science fiction, and religion. The series deals with issues such as death, sacrifice, and redemption.

Synopsis

The Young Wizards series is set in a world where an entity known as the "Lone Power" is bent on destruction of the entire universe. Fighting back against this is the "Powers That Be", powerful agents working on behalf of the "One" to ensure the universe continues. To help their causes the Powers invite promising individuals to become wizards and join the fight. The entries in the main series follow Nina and Kit, two young teenagers who attend the same school.

Books

Main series

The official title of book 12 has yet to be released, but in a 2012 interview with GeekDads, Diane Duane used the working title, Wizardry in Shadow.

Short stories and novellas

  • "Uptown Local", first published in the 1986 anthology Dragons and Dreams anthology, later republished in the 20th anniversary edition of So You Want to Be a Wizard and as part of an ebook, Uptown Local and Other Interventions.
  • "Theobroma", first published in the 2011 collection Uptown Local and Other Interventions.
  • Interim Errantry, a 2015 collection of three stories set between books 9 and 10. Contains "Not on My Patch," "How Lovely Are Thy Branches," and the novel Lifeboats.
  • Owl Be Home for Christmas (2020)

Interim Errantry: On Ordeal

In 2016 Duane published the first of three novels set within the Young Wizards universe. Each focus on a wizard and their first trial against the Lone Power. The three were later combined into a single volume titled Interim Errantry 2: On Ordeal.

  • On Ordeal: Roshaun ke Nelaid (2016, Ebooks Direct)
  • On Ordeal: Mamvish fsh Wimsih (2016, Errantry Press)
  • On Ordeal: Ronan Nolan Jnr (2017)

Feline Wizardry

Duane has published three books in the Feline Wizardry sequence, which takes place within the Young Wizards universe. The first entry was released in 1997, with a subsequent novel published the following year. A pre-edited version of the third entry was published in 2011, followed by an ebook version in 2017.

  1. The Book of Night with Moon (1997) (US , UK )
  2. To Visit the Queen (1998) (), published in the UK as On Her Majesty's Wizardly Service ()
  3. The Big Meow (2011) pre-edited version published online; (2017) ebook version

Concepts

The Powers That Be

The series shows the influence of many religious and mythological tropes from around the world, and the traits of traditional angels and various gods or heroes of ancient mythology are united in semi-divine, demiurgic beings referred to as the Powers that Be. The Powers exist outside of mortal time, capable of manifesting themselves anywhere in the universe, at any point in time. They were created by a being known only as "the One" (the source of all energy, wizardry, and creative forces in all of the universes) and are portrayed as Its active assistants in the business of creating and maintaining the universe.

During the process of Creation, one of the Powers that Be—originally described as the greatest and most glorious of Powers, second only to the One—went apart from the others and invented the "gift" of death (often referred to in the series under the blanket term of entropy,) turning it loose in the universe and thus corrupting or subverting much work done by the other Powers. This rebellious (or at least extremely self-willed) being became known as the Lone Power, and as a result of Its destructive behavior was cast out of the creative order by the One. It has since manifested in many avatars or alternate forms throughout the universe. Its incarnations roam the multiverse, seeking new species to trick into accepting Its "gift". When a species becomes sentient, a process called "The Choice" begins, during which the Lone Power appears and offers the species the opportunity to support a lifestyle or course of action which may seem tempting but ultimately serves entropy (not coincidentally, the Lone Power is often compared to, or even equated to, The Devil). However, the species also has the opportunity to reject the offered "gift" and choose to fight against entropic behavior—but that does not mean that the species has necessarily chosen to fight against pain, death, and evil. The Lone Power is conniving and devious, so to make the right Choice is difficult. Rejecting the Choice outright can sometimes lead to suffering for the entire species.

Humanity's Choice appears to have ties to the Biblical story of creation involving Adam and Eve eating the fruit from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, with the Lone Power being "behind" the purported actions of the serpent.

When involved in a Choice, the Lone Power tends to work subtly, controlling minds or events to result in its "gift" being accepted. It sometimes appears physically when becoming involved in the Choice process, though almost always in some kind of disguise.

One of the central themes of the series, however, is the idea that the Lone Power truly wants to return to the light, and in some senses already has due to events in the third book, "High Wizardry". However, because the Powers primarily exist outside of time the reconciliation of the single "projection" of the Lone Power does nothing to change other projections of the Lone Power created throughout the eons, leading to further conflict.

Wizardry

To combat the Lone Power, the One created wizards. Wizards manifest their power through The Speech, which allows them to describe the desired effects of the wizardry exactly. "It is the language of the Universe." Non-wizards can learn the Speech, but cannot effect change using it.

The Powers that Be choose individuals who have the potential to become wizards. The selection is often motivated by the need for a particular individual to solve a particular problem. Once a person has been offered the opportunity to become a wizard, if he or she decides to accept it, that person will be offered the "Wizard's Oath"—a pledge to fight entropy wherever it may be found.

If the potential wizard takes the Oath, This sets the events of that book firmly in 2008. The New Millennium Editions are intended to repair the "very broken, inconsistent and frankly dysfunctional timeline" which was making it hard for the series to find new readers. The new timeline sees all the first nine books happen over a span of about 3 years, as Dairine is said to be 11 in book 1, and she is now said to be 13 in book 9.

The first nine books are now available as New Millennium Editions. The tenth, Games Wizards Play, was originally published in the new timeline and therefore will not be re-released as a New Millennium Edition.

Notes

References

  • YoungWizards.com - interactive website
  • Author's Weblog
  • Diane Duane's Bibliography
  • Uptown Local and Other Interventions