A Wizard Abroad: Young Wizard Series, Book 4

Diane Duane's Young Wizards series predates Harry Potter and takes a different tack to the notion of young adults with magical talent.While Harry contended with Voldemort and his minions, Nita, Kit, and Dairine contend against the Lone Power, the creator of death and entropy. This fourth book in the series is set in Ireland, where Nita has been sent by her parents for a vacation with her aunt. She quickly finds herself working with the local wizards to put down an uprising of creatures from Celtic mythology. This book carries on the fine tradition of its predecessors.

I loved this wonderful mind trip through Ireland carried away by an engrossing tale of wizardry and wonder. I think every teen will adore it but so will every older booklover like me. Draws you in and you will want to stay. I am going to order and read more of this great series read.

I love this series. I have them in hardback but have re-bought them in e-format. It has themes and plots that apply to adult reads as well as young-adults.

The whole series is intelligent and fun, but loved this one in particular because it took place in Ireland and addressed the Irish mythology in a way that was uncannily perceptive, beautiful and smart.

I know these books are written for youth, but I thoroughly enjoy them at 77! Well defined characters who maintain their primary personality characteristics throughout the series. Just a good fun read.

Duane's books are always good and this series is fun because the story line is rivieting, the characters are not perfect and the line between fact and fantasy is stretched

I found the fourth book of this series a sad departure from what made the previous books great. It moves the overall story line further, but its a step i wish i could have skipped

Different twist on this genre, I really liked it. I look forward to reading the other books in this series and ready any of the authors other series.

I bought this book because I had read 'So You Want to Be a Wizard' (the first book in the series to which this book is the fourth) when I was in elementary school, and for nostalgia's sake, I wanted to read the whole series. The book came in perfect condition (save a few dings in the softcover from shipping). It was well worth the money!!

best book in the series! although they're all really good.

Diane Duane's Young Wizards series predates Harry Potter and takes a different tack to the notion of young adults with magical talent.While Harry contended with Voldemort and his minions, Nita, Kit, and Dairine contend against the Lone Power, the creator of death and entropy. This fourth book in the series is set in Ireland, where Nita has been sent by her parents for a vacation with her aunt. She quickly finds herself working with the local wizards to put down an uprising of creatures from Celtic mythology. This book carries on the fine tradition of its predecessors.

I loved this wonderful mind trip through Ireland carried away by an engrossing tale of wizardry and wonder. I think every teen will adore it but so will every older booklover like me. Draws you in and you will want to stay. I am going to order and read more of this great series read.

I love this series. I have them in hardback but have re-bought them in e-format. It has themes and plots that apply to adult reads as well as young-adults.

The whole series is intelligent and fun, but loved this one in particular because it took place in Ireland and addressed the Irish mythology in a way that was uncannily perceptive, beautiful and smart.

I know these books are written for youth, but I thoroughly enjoy them at 77! Well defined characters who maintain their primary personality characteristics throughout the series. Just a good fun read.

Duane's books are always good and this series is fun because the story line is rivieting, the characters are not perfect and the line between fact and fantasy is stretched

I found the fourth book of this series a sad departure from what made the previous books great. It moves the overall story line further, but its a step i wish i could have skipped

Different twist on this genre, I really liked it. I look forward to reading the other books in this series and ready any of the authors other series.

I bought this book because I had read 'So You Want to Be a Wizard' (the first book in the series to which this book is the fourth) when I was in elementary school, and for nostalgia's sake, I wanted to read the whole series. The book came in perfect condition (save a few dings in the softcover from shipping). It was well worth the money!!

best book in the series! although they're all really good.

Excellent and set in Ireland.

Enjoyable Sequel

Perfect hard to find niece reading the series

Very good book series

Been looking for a hc edition for a couple of years. Very glad to have found a copy in good condition.

love it

Good.

A Wizard Abroad is the fourth book in the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane, which starts with So You Want to Be a Wizard. It’s also my least favorite book in the reread so far. In A Wizard Abroad, Nita’s parents decided to send her to Ireland to go stay with her aunt so that she can “take a break” from wizardry and working with her friend Kit. However, once Nita gets to Ireland she finds that the entire country is layered with old magic and that the distance between worlds and times is incredibly close. If the situation isn’t dealt with, bad things could happen. “If we can’t stop this, then the barriers between present and past will break down everywhere, and the physical world will be progressively overrun by the nonphysical: All the myths and truths that become myth, all the dreams and nightmares, all the more central and more peripheral realities will superimpose themselves on this one… inextricably.” I didn’t feel a sense of urgency or threat regarding the plot. There’s a couple of instances of dangerous things happening because of the closeness of the realities – Nita gets attacked by ancient wolves and a village square gets wrecked by drows – but overall it still feels very vague. A Wizard Abroad was also very heavy on Irish mythology, which I don’t know a lot about. Possibly this is a large part of why I didn’t care for it as much as the other books in the series. The Irish mythology might also have played into the extremely slow pace. There was a lot of time spent on descriptions and not much on things happening. Some more things did start to go on at the very end, but it wasn’t enough. Unfortunately this has also been the longest book in the series thus far. A Wizard Abroad also has an abortive attempt at teen romance, which I didn’t care for. It did drizzle out by the end, thankfully. I could say more on this point, but the bad boy “love interest” character doesn’t reappear for another few books. I think what makes me dislike A Wizard Abroad is that it doesn’t really have the elements that make me love the Young Wizards series. It could be almost any YA urban fantasy set in Ireland. It doesn’t have the intermingling of science fiction and fantasy. It doesn’t have as much of the ethical choices that underline the other books. It does build on the mythology and world of wizardry, but the mythology approach was stale, especially compared to the dark New York of the first book or the ocean wizardry of the second. Additionally, it doesn’t have as much page time spent with familiar characters. For the first hundred pages or so, it’s all Nita, without Kit or anyone else. Basically, compared to the previous three books, A Wizard Abroad is longer and not as good. If I’d read this one first, I don’t think I would have picked up the rest of the series. Luckily, that was not the case.

In this book Diane Duane returns from the heavily science fiction influenced "High Wizardry" to a book influenced by the legends of Ireland. 14-year-old Juanita (Nita) Callahan is sent to Ireland by her parents thinking that the relationship between her and her best friend Christopher (Kit) Rodriguez is getting too serious. Further her parents want her to take a break from wizardry. Little do her parents know that the aunt they send Nita to visit is a wizard herself, and the Emerald Isle is filled with the residue of thousands of magical events. In this book Diane Duane mixes the story of wizardry that began in "So You Want to Be a Wizard" with myths and legends of Ireland in an effective and intriguing way. An ancient ritual must be re-enacted to return the land to rest. In order to perform the ritual certain artifacts must be recovered. However, some of the artifacts have gone missing, perhaps forever. How can they be recovered in time to perform the necessary ritual? Along the way Nita must visit dangerous parallel worlds where she can easily become killed, and where ultimately many of those who are part of the ancient ritual will become killed. I prefer this fourth book in the series over the first three. There is a chance to explore Nita's character in more depth along with her maturity into womanhood. The mixture of her newly created Young Wizards mythology with the mythology of Ireland is interesting and fascinating. The story is complex, and thus occasionally confusing to the unfocused reader, but a reader captivated by the story will be well rewarded with Diane Duane's best story in this series to date. Well worth five stars. This story stands reasonably well by itself. However, I recommend reading at least the first story in the series, "So You Want to Be a Wizard," and preferably the second story, "Deep Wizardry," prior to reading this book. Reading the third book in the series, "High Wizardry," adds little background information other than reinforcing the relationship between Nita and Kit.

Nita Callahan isn't quite 15, and she's a wizard. She and her friend and partner, Kit Rodriguez, have already saved the world at least three times (see the previous books in this excellent series, and my review of "A Box of Wizadry"). Unfortunately, her parents are mundane, and they don't understand. Whether or not they really think she and Kit are up to hanky-panky, as Nita is sure they do, they're determined to get her away from "all that." So they send her to County Wicklow to stay with her aunt, Annie Callahan, for six weeks. What they don't realize is that Ireland is top-heavy with old magic--there's hardly a square foot of it that isn't overlaid with the residue of enchantments and workings reaching back thousands of years--or that Annie is herself a wizard. Nita soon discovers that the Powers That Be *want* her to be there--along with Kit and kid sister Dairine, whose powers are even more impressive than Nita's but who at least doesn't have a male partner--to once again beat off the incursions of the renegade Lone Power. And she even meets an Irish boy with whom she shares a first kiss. Duane's great gift is to blend the "weirdness" of magic so perfectly with everyday life that it seems utterly acceptable, even though her magic tends to be highly technical--the reverse of Arthur C. Clarke's famous dictum, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Nita fights off a pack of dire wolves, calls the Faery-Folk to cope with an invasion of drows, and eventually imports Dairine to help recreate the Spear of Victory, one of the great magical treasures of Ireland, by literally reaching back in time for iron plasma from the heart of a star! Duane herself, if memory serves, lives in Ireland, and obviously enjoyed putting her home into her work. An excellent addition to a superior YA series which can be equally well appreciated by adults.

Well, I really liked the first three books. This one was...a little harder. (All right, all right. I'm a chronic Kit fan, and find him completely underdeveloped and underused here.) The lowdown: Juanita (Nita) Callahan is furious when her parents send her to her Aunt Annie in Ireland for an enforced rest from wizardry...and, most of all, her best friend and wizarding partner Christopher (Kit) Rodriguez. They even make her promise she won't pop back to see him. (A Wizard can't break promises.) But there's rarely any such thing as a vacation for a wizard, and Nita is soon up to her neck working with Irish wizards to stop the past, myths, and memories of Ireland from destroying it. Duane has made excellent use of Irish geography, culture, and mythology here, and the ideas behind how wizardry works are always interesting. She usually does an excellent job of setting up her characters and conflicts. Unfortunately, Duane doesn't always follow things through. She takes great care developing Nita's relationship with the young Irish wizard Ronan and then introducing Kit back into the mix, but nothing seems to come of the whole situation? What does a kiss or two mean here...to Nita and to Ronan? Will there be further contact? Especially between wizards, isn't there more aftermath to physical intimacy with another wizard? How much does Kit know about it all, and how would knowing more change his relationship with Nita? Half of character is dealing with the consequences of decisions, and I was eager to see Nita deal with some of these questions only to find out they were never addressed. Part of the challenge here is that Nita's only fourteen, but has to act and think much more like an adult than you average teenager. People are counting on her and her wizardry. Though she's young, Nita's stuck with this kind of power and has to make adult decisions. We have to see the backlash of those decisions if they're to be meaningful. Not fair to her, but...that's wizardry. I was disappointed to see very little of Kit working outside his comfort zone here, when there were plenty of opportunities for developing him. Surely his family must have noticed his extended absences? As always, he's placed in a supporting role when he needs to develop on his own, too. He needs some tests of his own, not to mention that people seem to forget he's been involved in almost everything Nita has. (I was glad to see this book paid a little more attention to his specialities, though his contributions rarely seem to be critical.) So when do we get to see him dealing with his own problems, totally separate from Nita's? When does he get moody or mad, and why? How has he really felt about the interventions he's been involved in so far? What does he contribute besides an extra pair of hands? What does Nita appreciate about him, and what about him annoys or troubles her? Why do he and Nita seem to agree so easily on so many things, and where would they disagree? How committed are he and Nita to their partnership, and at what cost? Maybe future books will address some of this a little better. In any case, a pleasant read.

In the fourth installment of Diane Duane's "Young Wizards" series, chronicling the adventures of modern day teens who are professional wizards in a world-wide organization, our fourteen-year-old heroine Nita Callahan again travels to a new location to do battle with the fearsome Lone Power. She's been to the bottom of the Ocean and the far reaches of the universe, but this time she's going someplace even stranger: Ireland. Ireland for a wizard is a dangerous place; it's steeped in magical powers, creatures, gateways to other worlds, and dangerously overlapping areas of old spells. And it seems that Ireland has become the center of a growing disturbance that will consume the whole world unless Nita and the other wizards of the area can come together and awaken the powers of country's sacred magic objects. And to think that Nita's parents were just sending her here for summer vacation! A wizard's work is never done. After a bit of a dip in quality in the previous book, "High Wizardry," Diane Duane bounces back in this wonderful trip through the mythology of Ireland. Duane lives in Ireland and has extensive knowledge of the land and its legends, and she helps to create a vivid, living picture of the Emerald Isle as seen through Nita's eyes. As usual with this series, the story walks a thin line between ancient magic and modern attitude. Imagine what our world would be like if Celtic gods suddenly jumped into the middle of our cities, and you have something approaching Diane Duane's style in this book. This is, however, the most traditionally high fantasy novel of the series, with less focus on the pseudo-scientific magic background that dominates the earlier books. We're on familiar medieval fantasy ground here with the gods and spirits of Ireland (and there's a glossary to help out), and people who loved the scientific aspects of the first three novels may not enjoy this one as much. In general, however, this is one the quickest moving of all the books and the scene setting is superb. Nita takes center stage; her sister Dairene and wizard partner Kit only appear in certain sections. Nita has grown a lot since the series started, and for the first time she faces the possibility of genuine romance with a boy -- a handsome Irish wizard named Ronan. Unfortunately for both of them, Ronan's part in the adventure might be larger than they guess. For anyone who has enjoyed the Harry Potter novels, the entire "Young Wizards" series is highly recommended (it starts with "So You Want to Be a Wizard.") Be warned, however, that this is definitely a different kind of reading experience, and you may be hooked.

Somewhere between Madeleine L'Engle and Judy Blume is where this book by Diane Duane fits in. I hadn't paid attention to the fact that this was a 4th book in a series. I was caught by the cover and title and took it home with me. Despite plunging into #4 without any background on the series, it wasn't hard to pick up and follow - the story in this book stood on its own and didn't require a lot of 'flashback' referencing. The writing is strong enough - and well-suited for the teenage crowd that Duane seems to be targeting. The magical adventures and lore is interspersed with teen angst and qualms, "Not important stuff, like kissing -- how do you do it and still breathe? Is not wearing a bra a come-on?" Much more adult than the Harry Potter series, Duane goes right into battles with thick descriptions - and death in tow, not shying away from the facts of things. She also takes the time to tuck in the myth, history and lore that flush out the story. A good read - I'll take the time sometime to go back to #1 and roll forward. However - the writing here should steer readers to progress toward similarly crafted books by Alan Garner, Madeleine L'Engle, or Ursula K. LeGuin.

The first three books in the series are based on personal tragedy and struggle, where great things happen all across the world and it personally affects the characters lives and loves. After High Wizardry, where the battle was waged on behalf of the whole universe, it seems a little weak to suddenly be concerned with the fate of a single country again. Of course, the whole world is at stake, but the point is that the action takes place in Ireland, and the characters are primarily concerned with Ireland. It just seems so small scale after High Wizardry. It's like watching Star Wars Episode IV and then watching Episode 1. The scale is just far different. Another thing that bugs me is the lack of personal tragedy and struggle. The characters really don't seem to have anything huge happening to them that changes their characters or anything. The events of High Wizardry seem to have been forgotten or glossed over. Character Development seems to have simply halted in this story. Basically, the plot boils down to this formula: Nita goes to Ireland, discovers evil there, helps to fight it while discovering Irish Lore and Wizardry. If you like Ireland, you will enjoy that part of this book, because Duane puts a good chunk of Irish-ness into the book. It's Ireland meets Wizardry, which is good so long as you don't want anything new in the Wizardry department. In that regard, Duane has just taken things out of the previous books, stirred them up, and then redelivered them. Nothing really new to talk about here.

Book 4 of the "Young Wizards" series. Nita Callahan, wizard, has a problem. Her parents have decided that she is spending too much time with her best friend and wizarding partner Christopher "Kit" Rodriguez, so they are going to send her to Ireland for the rest of the summer, where she will stay with her father's sister Annie. Worse, she has been forbidden to teleport home to visit Kit. Naturally, she quickly finds herself in a wizardly muddle. The locals have secrets, her aunt has a secret, and Ireland itself has a _big_ secret ... one which may allow the Lone Power to tear the island apart. Nita must not only hobnob with her fellow wizards, but join them in a desparate battle to save Ireland and, possibly, the world...

There must be conflict in any tale, as noted in

I have the entire series in ebook format. They are written for 5th to 8th graders, and I'd have been constantly checking them out if they'd been in the library where I grew up, but that was before they came out. Diane Duane knows how to spin a yarn, and this is another great one. The book has multiple plotlines, some of them fairly complex, and I wish I could write as well as she does.

It's Ironic that Ronan asked this question. In truth this should have been his story, and He, not Nita, should have been the one to tell it. As it is we get the view from the outside, with a narrator who isn't quite perseptive enough to give us the whole story. And if Nita's place in this story is somewhat periperal then the other young wizards from the previous books are even more so. Kit is the proverbial 3rd wheel, and Dairine is used as nothing more then a convnient power source. I loved the first two books inis series, was disappointed by the third and am sad to say that the story line hasn't recovered in the Fourth. Like its imediat predesor this book feels like the darkness has delibertly been toned down, and frequently omitted, preferring to report the fighting with passages about what Nita remembered rather than dropping us into the thick of it. As a result I just couldn't find anything to get involved with in this story,

This book was okay, but definitly not the best in the series. Actually, let me rephrase that. The parts about Ireland were cool, but just about everything else in this book was not very good compared to the other books in the series. Not that this book lacked exitement. In it, Nita's parents send her to Ireland to be with her aunt, in order to seperate her and Kit so they aren't spending so much time together. Once she gets there, she discovers that her aunt is also a wizard, and so is just about everyone else, including some irritating boy that Nina meets and likes. The worst part is that whole kissing scene between her and that boy. Not only was it totally gross, but also it disgusts me because Nita is way too young, and it's not like the relationship would last. That may sound really lame comeing from a fifteen year old, but lets face it, it's true! This is an okay finish to the saga, but it isn't really neccacary if you don't want to have to put up with the flaws I mentioned.

I have read the first three books, and they had a fun atmosphere. This one does as well, though it seemed far more serious. Nita is out of her depth as she visits her Aunt in Ireland, only to have to use wizardry-the very thing she was supposed to take a break from-to help stop the Lone Power. It was a fascinating read...Ronan is a new favorite character, as was the cat and I liked all the new wizards as well. I found that even though this was a bit more of a serious read, it still had that sense of fun and felt very realistic at times as well. Four out of five stars!

(Yes, I know it's just a book). The fourth installment in the Young Wizards series continues Miss Duane's tradition of excellent writing. I've always wanted to visit Ireland myself and reading her description of the places there made me want to visit even more. She really does seamlessly interweave the real world with the fantasy world in such a way that it is easy to believe and in fact you WANT to believe and you hate coming to the end of the book so soon and you go out and buy the next book. Or, if the next book is not handy, you go back and reread your growing collection. For as long as it takes. A quick note on the amount of magic in this book -- there's less spellcasting and whatnot (although the forging of a certain item near the end of the book is incredible) because it's overshadowed by IRELAND. I mean, IRELAND IS the magic in the book. And it's tough for even the strongest wizard to compete with that.

I've read all of the Wizard series by Diane Duane, and this is definitely the best yet. According to Nita(Juanita)'s parents, she and and her wizardry partner, Kit (Christopher), have been spending way too much time together. Her parents just can't understand that there's NOTHING going on between them, just magic. Nonetheless, Juanita is packed up and sent to live with her aunt in Ireland for six weeks until school starts. Grudgingly, Nita settles in with her aunt, and even starts enjoying a little break from magic, but it's not too long until she realizes how much trouble Ireland is really in, and how one little shift of power in the wrong direction could destroy it. It's up to Nita, Kit, and a few new characters to gather the tools they need and re-enact an ancient battle, or accept their fates. The story is set with Duane's typical magic, melded together with Irish lore to make one of the most creative and thrilling fantasy books of today.

Nita dosen't really like it when she's forced to leave her wizard partner and take a trip to Ireland, but when she gets there inbetween tea time she discovers that something major is going on in the Wizarding world. And it's all starting on the country of Ireland. Nita knows she has to stop it, but what about Kit and her sister? Can she do it without them? Being Irish myself I was suspecious at first on how Ireland would be portrayed (you know the stero-typical pub-filled country with drunk people everywhere). I was surprised to see that it was shown in a good light, it really shone light on some of the old legends also. I was very pleased when I read it. It's a good book. So if you have read the rest of the series read this one!

One day I was looking around a local store when I noticed a book that looked interesting. It was titled "So You Want to be a Wizard". After reading the description, I figured I might as well try it even though it wasn't really my type. I loved it! After that I was totally hooked and bought the entire series. Wizard Abroad, the fourth in the series, is just as wonderful, if not better than the rest. In the book, Nita's parents send her to stay with her aunt in beautiful Ireland. There she discovers a huge problem. The layer between their time and dimension and others is so thin that things are beginning to leak through! With the help of some new friends and some old, she goes to battle with her old enemy, the Lone Power, who is stronger and more powerful than ever. Wizard Abroad showed some of the emotions real teens go through so that it seemed extremely realistic, yet was very imaginative and fun. Nita's time away from Kit in the beginning of the book gives Duane some time to focus on her character a bit more so that we understand more than ever what she is going through. Nita also finally meets a guy who sparks her fancy, the handsome, but arrogant, Ronan. Duane's extensive description of Ireland and skill in writing make this book one of the best I have ever read and I would recommend it to anyone who loves a good book.

This one was very good, sort of a break from the mold because suddenly we jump into more modern times (the first two were written wayyyy before this one). It seemed like even though no time went by in the characters' lives, suddenly we have Internet, you know? I enjoyed it anyway, and as always it kind of gave me chills when the child wizards went up against the Lone Power. It involves re-enacting an ancient battle against Balor (another Lone Power incarnation) to save modern-day Ireland.

I'm a big fan of Diane Duane's wizardry series, and A Wizard Abroad is my favorite in the series. While most of the series takes place in odd, uncommon places(under the ocean, far away galaxies), this one takes place in Ireland(with a few side trips to the land of the Sidhe.) When Nita's parents decide she needs a vacation from her magic and her friend Kit, they ship her off to Ireland to visit her Aunt. Her magic(and the Powers that Be), however, has other ideas. Nita manages to get mixed up in yet another battle with the Lone Power--this one, however, parallels Celtic mythology, probably one of the reasons I found this one so fascinating. NIta and Kit are here, along with some new, very interesting characters--including a cat bard. It's a fast-paced, enjoyable book that I highly recommend.

I'll start this review by saying I first read this book a long time ago, back in the nineties. I read this series back before Harry Potter was a worldwide phenomenon and I can say this is a book I always come back to. I loved the interweaving of Irish folklore with wizardry, loved the build up between Nita and Ronan and the entire fish out of water sense the book entailed. This was one of the books that inspired me to study abroad in college (an experience I fully recommend!) and to look at any problem I had from a different perspective. I'd forgotten about this book until I stumbled across the audio version at my public library and couldn't help myself. I still recommend the written version, I was less than impression with the audio version. She makes Nita sound like a whiny eight year old rather than an early teen and Kit like a full grown man. I wish I hadn't listened to the audio and could preserve the wonderful memories I have of reading this book and imagining the story. Read it.

This fourth book in the Young Wizards Series is still very good. Duane created characters that are very believable. Some of the plot even displays the way Nita matures throughout the years. Once again, the plot is very original, very creative. However, I just have a few complaints: A Wizard Abroad still contains the same formula as the others, good yes, but unfortunately it can get a bit tedious after awhile when you have an idea of what is going to happen. Moreover, the climax is very confusing. Readers beware: it is very very easy to get lost in all that description. Things happen just too quickly. Nevertheless, this fourth addition is still quite magical, and quite good.