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Epic map reveals Mars’s geography in unrivalled detail

This week’s recommended book has been brought to you by Dozmjir’s entire council of brethren. Not Dozmjir himself, just the council. “So You Want to Be a Wizard” by Diane Duane is the first book in the rather lengthy Young Wizards series. It reminds one at first of one of those light reading books meant to encourage reading in the reluctant. Yet it has a depth to it. Philosophy and religious discourse, magic, the power of friendships, and even the nature of fear and despair. These books are quite heavy for the age group they are marketed for, and yet somehow it is that very quality which makes them so interesting.

I’m like halfway through GWP and so far Mehrnaz is my new fav. I’m loving the character diversity, I mean I can’t remember the last time I read a book with a Muslim girl character where the whole book wasn’t centered around her being Muslim, thank you DD <3

The New Horizons spacecraft just woke up from a nine year nap. It’s three billion miles away from home, and it’s about to fly within a few thousand miles of Pluto, giving humans their first up close view of the dwarf planet.

Fuck It, Let's Talk About Wizards

I currently view this blog as a way for me to rant about math and stories without anyone being forced to be my audience. So let’s get on with it!

I am going to rant about my all-time favorite book series: The Young Wizards Series by Diane Duane.

SHUT UP. I know what you are thinking, imaginary reader, and YOU ARE WRONG. This is totally not a Harry Potter knockoff. The series was actually started way before Harry Potter. But to assuage your worries, I will list all the things this series has in common with Harry Potter:

It’s about people between the ages of 11 and 17.

Said people have some sort of supernatural powers that could be deemed ‘magical.’

That’s it. That’s the only ways they’re similar. 

Weirdly enough, Young Wizards actually has way more in common with Doctor Who than Harry Potter. Even though it’s basically fantasy, the stories feel much more like science fiction. 

All right, let’s get on with this. I know what you’re thinking, because I can read the minds of all my imaginary readers.

SO WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT ANYWAYS?

Basically, magic is real. It’s given out by “The Powers That Be,” basically the gods, to a bunch of people around the Universe. So that they can fight “The Lone Power,” who is basically Satan.

Yes, Satan. Voldemort doesn’t seem so scary now, does he?

Our protagonists, Kit and Nita, are kids that are both chosen for this. “Chosen” actually makes it sound a lot more organized than it really is. Basically, you find a book that tells you how to do magic and what it’s supposed to be used for. If you take the Wizard’s Oath, you now have magical powers. And as a sort of “welcome to the magical powers club” gift, you now have to immediately go fight Satan in a terrifying Ordeal. It’s fucking awesome.

So the first book, So You Want to be a Wizard, chronicles this Ordeal. After that, things get a bit more varied. The protagonists mainly just travel around the Universe, going on dangerous missions, and fighting Satan.

Yes, the Universe. Being basically the warriors of the gods, they are not confined to Earth. This is a fantasy book with aliens in it. Awesome aliens. Some of them are bad, some of them are good, some of them are also wizards. This is, in short, the books you have been waiting for: the books where MAGIC KIDS AND ALSO  MAGIC ALIENS FIGHT SATAN oh shit that sounds kind of like Homestuck.

The reason these books are my favorites of all time is because they never get old. Most kids’ books are awesome as a kid and kind of lame as an adult. I have loved these no matter how old I am. I loved them in elementary school and I still do now, in college. And not nostalgic love either, where I just like them because I used to. They’re still exactly as good.

It’s not even in the Harry Potter ‘they grow up with you’ way. Like, when you read The Philosopher’s Stone now, it’s not as good as it was when you were a kid. The first couple Young Wizards books are slightly more childish than the others. Slightly.  The series starts off fairly dark and stays that way. Shit gets real. People die. Sacrifices are made. Difficult moral questions are confronted.

One of my favorite parts of this setup is that it’s still our universe. The kids have to hide their powers from the world at large and still show up to school and do normal kid stuff. They have to cope with all that crap while constantly risking their lives to fight evil. And the magic isn’t easy either. 

All right, this rant is getting kind of ridiculously long, so I’ll leave you with one last comment. This is the kind of series where you are constantly fistpumping and yelling “HOLY SHIT” (and terrifying the people around you) because crazy awesome stuff goes down a lot. 

Here is the list of the books so far, in case you want to read them (you should):

So You Want to be a Wizard (Kids get powers, go on their ordeal)

Deep Wizardry (There’s no way I can describe this without it sounding stupid, but it’s awesome, trust me)

High Wizardry (One of the ones where a lot of crazy awesome shit goes down)

A Wizard Abroad 

A Wizard’s Dilemma 

A Wizard Alone 

Wizard’s Holiday 

Wizards at War (HOLY SHIT GUYS THIS ONE IS AWESOME)

A Wizard of Mars

Black hole consumes a star

It was our destiny to walk in the light of other stars.

Top Ten Female Characters from Books or Television

2) Nita Callahan

Favorite quote: “Wow, who sold you that one? I think I’ll go ennoble a couple waffles.” (And basically all of books 6 and 9 where she saves the day)

Nita is my favorite book heroine ever. From the very beginning, I related to her completely for her love of reading and learning, and for being made fun of for it. She is one of the most relatable characters I’ve ever come across. She’s young, but seems so much older- whether because of the wizardry and the responsibility that comes along with it, or because everyone always feels like they’re more mature than the world thinks they are. She shows us that you don’t have to be a respected adult to change (or to save) the world. She’s insecure, selfish, moody (like when she snaps at Kit for no reason), but she also can admit when she’s messed up and learns from her mistakes. She considers giving up wizardry and her best friend to save her mother. She almost goes through with sacrificing herself to save the world (even though she wasn’t too happy about it when she first found out that’s what she got herself into) when she was what, 12/13? She’s quick in a crisis, and very smart. In A Wizard Alone, she taught me so much about grieving, and I wished those books had been there for me when my own mom passed away (though I was probably a bit too young then). Not to mention that in A Wizard Alone she singlehandedly saves the day, using what the Lone Power tried to use to bring her down to bring It down, and save Darryl and Kit. She also nearly singlehandedly saves the day in A Wizard of Mars, not letting her jealousy or anger get in the way of what needed to be done, while also being rather bad ass about it. Nita taught me that it’s okay to be angry- you can use it to your advantage. She helped to teach me that what people think of you doesn’t matter. The people who made fun of/beat up Nita didn’t know that she helped save their lives more than once, and she never let them color her view of humanity. She never once doubted that their lives weren’t worth saving, despite how they treated her. She showed me that being a good sister doesn’t mean you can’t fight and tease each other sometimes.  She went from being very dependent on Kit- always giving her power to him, helping him rather than the other way around- to being a very good, independent wizard who stands on her own and stands tall.

IM NOT FLAILING ARE YOU FLAILING!?!?

DD's ten favorite lines from "Games Wizards Play"

10: “I’d prefer it to rain chocolate frosted donuts in my kitchen on Sunday mornings, but I don’t seem to be getting a lot of that.”

9: “Look, we’re all in The Sims.”

8: “But I’m on your side this time.”

7: “Wizardry is mean to me. I’m gonna tell.”

6: “Just don’t blame me if now she lives long enough to reproduce.”

5: “We’re using such different dictionaries.”

4: “It can probably be seen from space, but don’t let that bother you.”

3: “You may continue to stand in my presence.”

2: "That worked.”

1: "It made my day."

Parallel universe theory