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Od Magic

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Because of the Harry Potter literary trend, there are a lot of "wizard school" books coming out. But Patricia McKillip turns that trend on its ear with "Od Magic," the most intelligent and exquisite "wizard school" book yet written. Don't expect flashy magic and goofy antics -- this is pure magic from start to finish.

Brendan Vetch has always had a way with plants, and that is why the ancient wizard Od asked him to come to her wizards' school in the city of Kelior. When Brendan journeys there, he finds that Kelior is ruled by a king who fears magic, and the cold-hearted wizard Valoren. Any magic they don't approve is immediately outlawed, and strict rules are wound around the wizards' school.

As Brendan arrives, other things begin to happen -- rebellious Princess Sulys finds out that she's been betrothed to Valoren. A mysterious masked wizard and his ever-changing daughter arrive in the forbidden Twilight Quarter. And when Brendan's powers suddenly show themselves, he flees to a strange mountain -- where the most powerful magic of all is hiding.

"Od Magic" follows the basic template of McKillip's past novels: Rich prose, primal and exquisite magic, and several storylines that don't seem to be connected, but come together by the end. And while that end seems a bit too easy, it's a glorious ride to finally get there.

The wizards' school is only a setting for magic that many fantasy writers can only dream of -- a magical maze, a girl who does illusions, and the veiled wildness of the Twilight Quarter. McKillip's velvety prose softens up the royal intrigues, with smoke, mirrors, ribbons, word games and illusions. Calling it intoxicating isn't much of a stretch; writing this lush and dreamy is something you can get drunk on.

There are a few flaws -- the stuff about the "faces of magic" comes in rather late in the story, and the ending seems rather sudden and a bit too neat. It's a relief from endings that cannot be understood, though. However, she'll keep you guessing about what's going to happen until the very last pages. She even harkens back to her classic Riddlemaster series, with those ancient magical shapeshifters.

Though "Od Magic" has the odd flaws (od flaws?), Patricia McKillip's enchanting writing and imaginative story make this a thing of beauty. Beautiful, deep and rich.

There are few writers in the fantasy field these days whose work is so consistently good as Patricia McKillip. OD MAGIC, while perhaps a notch short of her fluid, near-flawless best (see: OMBRIA IN SHADOW, SONG FOR THE BASILISK), is among the best fantasy novels I have read so far this year.

Moreso than many of McKillip's recent novels, OD MAGIC weaves together a diverse group of characters and storylines, more loosely tied together than I'd expected--her previous novel, ALPHABET OF THORN, was a marvel of synthesis that wove what felt like two completely distinct books into a single, multifacted story; here, the four or five principals exist side-by-side in the same time and setting, but some are less integrated and less integral than others, and most part in much the same way they were drawn together in the first place. It feels odd (no pun intended) when an author noted mostly for the creation of a strong cast of characters changes the focus somewhat, but it works, and the characters that rise highest from the group--the story telegraphs none of this, and that's a knock-out--are more than worth waiting for.

As always, McKillip's artistry envelopes the novel in a mood and feel far brighter and deeper than any McFantasy can reach. OD MAGIC is a fine book, and deserves a place in any collection of traditional and literate fantasy fiction.

Od Magic (2005) is a standalone fantasy novel. In the Kingdom of Numis, all magicians are trained at the Od School of Magic in Kelior. The school was started within an abandoned cobbler shop in the shadows of the King's Palace, but has been slowly absorbed into the Palace over the past four hundred years.

In this novel, Brenden Vetch has been invited to the school by Od herself to replace the gardener of magic plants. He has been listening to the plants for a few years, but feels frustrated by certain plants. He is also carrying a huge load of guilt for the death of his mother and father, despite his attempts to save them. His brother Jode, whom he managed to save, has tried to talk him out of his fugue, as had his lover Meryd, but to no avail. Both had eventually left him to travel to Kelior.

Now he is in Kelior himself, looking for the door under the shoe. After entering the door, he feels magic around him. A tall darkly robed man melts out of the air in front of him and Brenden states his name and then his purpose. The man seems surprised at his presence and story, but takes him to someone who will show him the garden and his room.

Yar Ayrwood has been at the school for nineteen years. He too had entered by the door under the shoe (most have never seen that door, having been admitted through the main entrance). When he finds Brenden in the vestibule, Yar takes him to Wye, who takes care of the administrative tasks. They are both troubled by the great reserve of magic in the gardener, but Od has sent the man, so they say nothing to the King or his advisors.

Ceta Thiel is writing a history of Od, telling of her disposition of enemy forces seeking to conquer Kelior and the subsequent founding of the School of Magic. Ceta has found a few odd references to powers hiding on Skyrgard Mountain, which she passes on to her lover Yar. She also wants to see the labyrinth in the school basement.

Princess Sulya is the King's daughter and the sister of Enys, the heir to the Kingdom. Neither have listened to her comments and questions since her mother died. Fortunately, Lady Dittany, her great-grandmother, still talks to her and shares her secrets.

Tyramin is a purveyor of magic, creating astounding displays of color and form that fascinate all who see them. Mistral is his daughter and assistant, who sometimes turns into a flock of doves. His magic show has just come to town and is holding nightly performances in the Twilight Quarter.

Valeren Grayle is the King's wizard, who sees threats to Numis on every side. Learning of Brenden and Tyramin, he immediately discerns great dangers and tries to discover more about them. Of course, his efforts generate fear in all whom he uses to investigate these risks to the Kingdom.

Arneth Pyt is the son of Murat Pyt, the High Warden, and is the Quarter Warden for the Twilight Quarter. Thoroughly bored with his administrative job, Arneth leaps at the opportunity to search out Tyramin and discover whether the man is a mountebank or a wizard. He has trouble finding Tyramin, but locates his daughter and falls in love with her.

Elver is a new student at the Od School of Magic. He is full of questions and mischief. He follows Yar around everywhere, even into the Twilight Quarter, and gets into a great deal of trouble.

In this story, Od sees great potential in Brenden and sends him to Kelior as a catalyst to bring new life to the study of magic. When Brenden arrives, the school is stirred into a delightful confusion.

Highly recommended for McKillip fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of the origins and evolution of magic and wizards.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Patricia A. McKillip's latest novel, Od Magic, is not part of a series. But it is one of a consistent set of novels that she puts out, pretty much one per year, tidily sized (about 90,000 words in this case), tidily shaped. In Od Magic there are no bad guys, just temporarily misled people. Which isn't a bad or dishonest thing, really. But in this particular case it does sort of dull the edge of the book.

Od is a legendary female wizard, very long lived but hardly ever seen. Centuries earlier she founded a school of wizardry in Kelior, the capital city of the Kingdom of Numis. Now she appears to a young man in the North named Brenden Vetch, and asks him to go to her school to be the gardener, and to look for the door under the shoe.

I confess I expected a story about Brenden, but this isn't what McKillip was after. Instead she follows a variety of people: Brenden of course, but also the influential wizard of Od's school, Yar; his politically connected lover Ceta; the High Warden's son, another Warden (that is to say, policeman), Arneth Pyt; the King's daughter, Princess Sulys, who is about to be married to a man she doesn't know, a priggish but powerful wizard; and the small-time wizard (small-time? perhaps!) Tyramin and his enigmatic daughter. The story revolves about the King's concern about the potential abilities of Tyramin, who is not under his control, and about Sulys's desire to actually have a chance to know her husband, and moreover her desire to use certain small powers she possesses, and about Yar's concern that his school -- Od's school -- may have become hidebound, too much a tool of the King (even though the King seems for the most part a pretty good King). And also about Brenden Vetch, and his quite remarkable powers, and his connection with certain beings that have long secretly inhabited the kingdom.

It's all a very nice novel, and always readable, and full of characters you like and root for -- but at the same time it seems a bit inconsequential -- or perhaps the term is "easy". In a way I found this refreshing -- the people really are all trying to do their best, they are just often misguided -- and in all honesty that seems truer than the common evil/good divide. But that said there really isn't much tension in the novel -- or much risk. I enjoyed it, and I think most readers will. But it didn't stay with me.

Od is a gray-haired giantess who wanders the land of Numis, healing animals with her magic. When her wizardry saves the life and throne of the king, she asks only that she be allowed to set up a school of magic in an old cobbler's shop, in the Royal City of Kelior.

The school expands and thrives, and Od wanders off into the world. She is sighted so infrequently that succeeding generations of students believe she is a legend. The kings of Numis keep the magic in their kingdom under strict control and the school becomes very conservative in its teachings.

Of course, 'conservative' is not a state of affairs that will last very long in a McKillip fantasy. The School of Magic's new gardener, a teacher-wizard, a new student, a street magician, and the king's daughter combine in Od ways to shake the stodgy foundations of the school and the kingdom of Numis.

As always, McKillip's characters seem a bit dazed by life, dazed even by their own good deeds. The bad guy is only a villain-manqué and never really gets a chance to commit evil before he is swept up in the movement to bring wild magic back to the Kingdom.

Unfortunately this author's books need an honest-to-satan slime-ball villain to bring them into focus. Otherwise the reader is inclined to wander through the plot, hypnotized by McKillip's strange and beautiful settings, until the novel glides to an end and he or she says, 'Huh, did I miss something?"

Beautiful surfaces, matched by a very beautiful jacket illustration by Kinuko Y. Craft, but not much depth to "Od Magic." I'm hoping for a sequel that brings all of the characters together against a much more formidable villain. Even the wild magic comes tamely to the denouement, about as threatening as someone's collection of pet rocks.

Well it certainly was a very pleasant book, wasn't it? Diverting and well written, with good characters to root for and a setting that felt reasonably unique and detailed, it has everything going for it except for a solid story line that left me wanting anything, let alone "more". Except maybe a genuine reason to care for the characters. Maybe bit more tension. Or any tension at all, really.

There are no great acts of villainy here: no mad wizards, no slavering beasts (except in one flashback), no plots to avenge ancient wrongs or bring about Armageddon. The antagonists here are bureaucratic in nature. Here we have a king who wants to control magic and magicians (but never cruelly, mind you) under the guise of education and a creepy aide who wants to help the king get his misguided way. That's essentially it. It's not an ideal situation, but neither is it especially harrowing.

As a result, our heroes (all of them creative types who you can't help but root for) muddle about, falling in love, chaffing at the roles society forces them to play and getting in to tight situations that never feel perilous. Will the gardener escape the Twilight Quarter unharmed? Can the professors decipher the mystery of the school's utterly nonthreatening yet vaguely irritating labyrinth in the basement? Even the one chase scene feels as though it's been awkwardly wedged in to ramp up the excitement and falls apart upon further consideration. Ultimately the good guys win and the bureaucrats are forced to concede that changes must be made.

Which would be impressive except that, aside from their misguided beliefs, we're given no reason to really root against the bureaucrats. OK, so the king is going to force his daughter to marry his aide and they the king and the aide are both so wrapped up in the workings of the kingdom that they never listen to her when she has important things to say but... is this really that big a deal? They're not genuinely evil, they're not malevolent, they're just set in their ways. They're bureaucrats, which diminishes the climax of the book, giving it all the emotional weight of an After-School Special; preferably one that's about how everyone is unique and should be cherished and nurtured and... and I learned something, too, I guess.

It was diverting enough, it was fun on the bus and in the coffeehouse, but in the end I just don't think it was that good or even that much fun.

As a fan of Patricia McKillip's work (The Tower at Stony Wood and The Song for the Basilisk are among my favorite books), I have to admit that I was a little disapointed in Od Magic.

The story introduces us to Brenden Vetch, a young man whose talent with herbs enables him to save most of his village from a plague. The first chapter describes this, as well as giving background on how both his brother Jode and his lover Meryd left him to pursue a happier place. From the very beginning, Patricia McKillip skillfully captures the sense of sorrow in a young man burdened by sorrow, loneliness, and grief, with no company but his plants.

Enter Od, a grey-haired giantess around whom the animals she has healed will flock, who asks Brenden to come to her school to teach the others what he has learned. He agrees to do so, and through a bizarre chain of events, manages to throw the entire kingdom into chaos that forces the king and his counselor to reconsider the relationship between political power and knowledge of magic.

Like many of her books, a colorful cast of supporting characters surround Brenden, often overshadowing him as the main character. In a way, Yar Ayrwood could also be considered a main character, as he actively influences the direction the events take and manages to tie almost all the characters together. Because of this, I found him much more interesting than Brenden who does very little of interest between arriving at the school and leaving the capital city of Kelior, and seems to be more of a plot device than a character who shows major development throughout the course of the novel. I definitely feel that Yar is the strongest character in this novel, and he shows the mix of cynicism and wry humor that I've come to love in Patricia McKillip's supporitng cast. Like Brenden, Yar arrived at the school a poor young man with a powerful magic that he didn't understand. After saving the city he had come to in search of understanding the wonderous powers he had given, he was asked to pass under "the door with the shoe" on Od's bidding, and was the only person to do so in 79 years until Brenden Vetch arrived nineteen years later. During that time span, he had become a teacher, teaching as the king orders and enforcing his orders and laws, but always wondering if magic should be something more. At one point in the novel, Wye, the head of the school, tells him to be careful. His response struck a chord with me: "I have been for nineteen years. That's long enough."

The complete opposite of Yar is Valoren Greye, a former student of his who has become the king's counselor. Perhaps because I am a student, I loved the characteriziation of Valoren, who had come to the school young and filled with wonder but left stern, vapid, expressionless, desiring only to mindlessly serve society and please the king. I loved how on our first meeting of the young wizard, Yar recounts, "He remembered a time when Valoren knew how to smile." However, I found his character change at the end of the novel construed and not believable, and as a reader I felt that there was no indication that he would not revert back to his old ways.

Another character is Tyramin, a magician/illusionist who enchants the Twilight Quarter, an area of town which wizards are forbidden to go to for fear that they will become inspired to sedition. Although this at first seems like a random side plot, it showcases Patricia McKillip's wonderful ability to describe magic, and in her typical fashion, the author manages to wave this into a tangled plot with the central one. Her desriptions are especially wonderful as they capture the essence of Mistral, the magician's daughter, a solemn, quiet, but strong-willed young lady filled with magic and talent. I wish that Arneth Pyt, the quarter warden, had been fleshed in more detail, so that he would not have to seem flat and vapid besides her. Nonetheless, Mistral's role when Brenden Vetch ventures into the Twilight Quarter in search of events adds to the intriguing plot.

Another side plot revolves around Princess Sulys, daughter of the king and a princess from a faraway kingdom where magic is common. Although at first I admired her curious spirit, I soon found her very irritable, two-dimensional, and cliche, as she constantly whines about her unhappiness at her proposed marriage to Valoren and her lack of friends. As such a predicament is common among young ladies in the fantasy world (including this one, as exemplified by both Lady Dittany, Sulys's grandmother, and Ceta, Yar's lover and Sulys's eventual friend), I found her inability to accept her fate annoying and had little sympathy for her plights. Also difficult to sympathize with is Elver, a student who seems slightly arrogant and is always getting into trouble. There are reasons for this that become clear late in the novel, but I think his character could have been better executed so as to not be annoying.

In the end, Sulys is central to the resolution of conflict. However, I was extremely disappointed in this, as I felt her role in the conflict resolution could have easily been carried by Arneth Pyt and Mistral. Moreover, this side plot itself was, even in the king's words, a "moot point", after the main one was resolved. I was not sure what the function of the beings on Skygard Mountain were other than to instill terror, and I found myself bothered by how readily almost all characters expressed a complete change in philosophy merely because of a single event that had transpired (even Brenden, who several chapters before was shown fleeing the city in terror of pursuit). The moral of the story also felt cliched, and I was left with the feeling that despite the intriguing and multi-threaded plot, the lasting impression that the book made was minimal.

I would definitely not recommend this book if you have never read Patricia McKillip's books. I wouldn't go as far to say to not read it, as much of the first two-thirds of the book are very enjoyable and as enchanting as her others, but I think a reader who is familiar with her work must be prepared to be very disappointed by the end.

Back when I was a kid, Patricia McKillip really knocked me out with her Riddlemaster of Hed trilogy. Then a bunch of years got by me and I sort of lost track of her. Recently I've been on a rampage of rediscovery. She has several very loosely related volumes, including this one -- no connection among the story lines, but they have a distinctive style that sort of ties them together. They are all fabulous.

McKillip has a lyrical writing style that has a poetic rhythm to it that for me calls to mind Dylan Thomas's work. I love how she anchors her imagery in sea, stone, fire and wind. You just can't write fantasy any better than this. If you're a fan of the genre, this is must reading. Even if you're not typically a fantasy reader, you'll be hooked by McKillip's stuff.

Brenden Vetch has spent most of his life learning to listen to the plants and growing things in the mountains of his home. Then he learned loss: loss of his father and his mother to death, many villagers to a fever, his brother to roaming to forget his losses, and his girlfriend to inattention. But Od showed up one day and invited Brenden to come and care for the gardens in her School of Magic. He finds the door to the school under the sign of the shoe in the capitol city of Numis, Kelior.

Brenden Vetch considers himself a gardener. A better than average gardener, he'll grant you but nothing special - definitely not a magician. However, Brenden comes into the School of Magic by way of the door under the sign of the shoe. It's been years since anyone has come to the school by that door. Only Od has ever sent students to that entry. Wizard Yar is called by magic and meets Brenden as he enters the school. Yar sends him to the garden and decides to keep him a secret, at least for a while, for Brenden insists he isn't a wizard.

Od founded the School of Magic centuries ago. With the founding of the school a war was ended. Sponsored by the King, the school which was attached to the castle as a way to see that all who had talent were trained appropriately. Untrained magical users in the kingdom are killed or banished, because of the danger of an untrained magic user loose among the people.

But, in Od Magic, we quickly learn that what we see is not necessarily what is true and that truth is often not only not seen, but denied. Students of the school and wizards are banned from entering the Twilight Quarter of the city. In the Twilight Quarter, day is night and night is day and anything can and does seem to happen when Tyramin the trickster entertains. The King demands to know if Tyramin is a wizard or simply a sleight of hand artist. But, Tyramin is harder to pin down than water in a stream. Arneth, the Warden for that area of the city, isn't even sure Tyramin exists.

The characters and plot elements separate and twine about each other confusing the reader, not that the plot is vague or confusing, but that the confusion of the reader is intentional in order to keep us from seeing more than the characters. We learn as we read and we are in some way a part of the story not just the reader of the book. The language and phrasing are so rich, you find yourself drawn in and spellbound until the last page is read.

The wizard Od once protected the kingdom of Numis from destruction, thereby winning the loyalty of its kings and permission to establish a school of magic in Kelior, the royal city. Centuries later, the school has devolved into a tightly regulated institution, controlling and constricting all magic users' thought. Deciding that Numis needs a little change, Od reappears from her wanderings for the first time in 19 years and recruits the school's new gardener: the half-feral Brenden Vetch, who has immersed himself in wild Northern magic after his parents' death. Brenden, though, becomes one of only many worries for blustery King Galin. The famed magician Tyramin (whose magic may or may not be simple entertainment) appears in the nocturnal Twilight Quarter; the recalcitrant princess's small magics may become an increasing problem for her intended, the cold and too-well-trained magician Valoren. As the king and his wizards gradually begin to learn, magic will only tolerate being restricted for so long.

Patricia McKillip is one of my three favorite authors, but I didn't enjoy Od Magic quite as much as some of her earlier works. Though I still love her dreamlike, colorful style, and her elegant, understated characterization, I felt that the plot had less of a pull, with no strong direction for a great deal of the book. I kept reading the book because I liked many of the characters (particularly Mistral, Tyramin's daughter, and Yar Ayrwood, an embittered wizard-teacher) and the images of the exotic, lively city, but there was little of the real compulsion to read that I often find in her books. Though the message is clear - magic should not be feared simply because it is not understood - its driving force is diffuse.

In addition, though McKillip is extremely skilled at handling multiple viewpoints, I felt that Od Magic covered too many main characters, with 5 or 6 protagonists given nearly equal coverage in only a little over 300 pages. Brenden is ostensibly the hero, but he only appeared directly in perhaps four chapters, with the result that, at the end of the book, I still felt as if I didn't know him.

Overall, though still a lovely book and magical to read simply for the lush imagery, Od Magic doesn't stand out to me among McKillip's collection.