Amazon.com Review
On a gray, rainy day in England, 12-year-old Natalie crosses a sodden supermarket parking lot carrying a bag of empty beer bottles for the recycling bin. Her attention is caught by a colorful piece of crumpled metallic paper in a puddle. Curious, she picks it up. From this prosaic opening bursts a story that whirls off on wings of fantasy as the bit of litter turns out to be a spell planted by Hawk (the sinister leader of a band of outlaw spellmages) as bait to trap Natalie into becoming the essential 13th member of their spellclave. Halloween approaches, and, during the 24 hours of the Opening, the outlaws plan an assault on the society of true mages who live within a gigantic spelltree in Unicorn Wood. Four teenagers--Natalie, her stepbrother, Tim, her best friend, Jo, and Hawk's fearful son, Merlin--are catapulted into the conflicts of this magical world that lies just outside of ordinary reality. At the same time, while they deal with kidnapping, black magic, unicorns, animal familiars, and the ultimate chemical weapon, they work out more ordinary problems with parents and each other. Hardcore fantasy fans will enjoy the complexities of this intricate and fast-moving tale. (Ages 10 to 14)
--Patty Campbell
From Publishers Weekly
While Roberts (Song Quest) creatively blends aspects of modern society with traditional elements of fantasy, the novel is ultimately weighed down with explanations of the inner workings of Earthaven, an imaginary parallel world. Natalie lives in an "eco-friendly" suburban development with her alcoholic father, stepmom and stepbrother until Hawk, an evil wizard (or Caster), kidnaps her. He knows something that she does not: her late mother was a Spell Lady and Natalie inherited her powers. Hawk plans to use Natalie to invade the enchanted Earthaven and poison a soultree (an intelligent, spell-producing organism) with a chemical solution. It's up to Natalie and her allies who include her stepbrother; Hawk's bumbling son, Merlin; a wolf that can communicate with her; and some unicorns to stop him. Like Philip Pullman's daemons, the characters here possess "familiars" (animal companion/soulmates). Timely examples lend the narrative immediacy (e.g., to prevent the poisoning from being fatal, Merlin must teach the soultree what he knows about fighting computer viruses), but Roberts switches between so many places and characters that readers may have trouble keeping track of the story line and all of Earthaven's rules. These challenges, plus the fact that Natalie learns little about making magic, may leave readers disappointed. Ages 9-up.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
