Sunday, May 29, 2005

The Wizard Test

Dayven and his cousin Soren, are a watcherlads in their city; they serve a powerful leader, Lord Enar, and train as warriors, preparing for an imminent war with a neighboring city. Despite this, the day that Dayven turns fourteen, he must take the Wizard Test to see if he has the capabilities to be a wizard. The wizard who administers the test finds that he is one of the very few who displays an ability to become a wizard. However, wizards are disliked and distrusted by many citizens. For this and numerous other reasons, Dayven is quite reluctant to become a wizard. Lord Enar makes a pact with Dayven to begin the wizard training, but to spy on the wizards to make sure that they will be dependable source of help when the war starts. Dayvan must choose who to be faithful to, Lord Enar, Soren, and his city or the wizards and their cause.

“The Wizard Test” was a short book that had very little action until the last 20 or so pages. Nevertheless, the problem that Dayvan faced in the end was well created and very relevant to the focus of the whole book. The dialogue was easy to read, but some of things that characters said were unrealistic for their situations. For example, when Dayvan starts learning how to be a wizard, his teacher treats him like he has known Dayvan for all his life, rather than for 10 minutes. Even so, “The Wizard Test” is an ideal book for someone looking to try fantasy for the first time.