A School for Sorcery (Paperback)

by E. Rose Sabin (Author) "Tria! Tria, come into the house right away!..." (more)
Key Phrases: faculty residence hall, magically gifted, crystal place, Mistress Dova, Mistress Blake, Dire Women (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The teenage heroine of Sabin's 1992 Gryphon Award winner, Tria Tesserell, a country-mouse first-year student at the Lesley Simonton School for the Magically Gifted, is faced with three onerous tasks: befriending her unprincipled and talented roommate, Lina, learning to tame and use her own considerable magical powers and rescuing her love interest from the clutches of second-years Oryon and Kress and their demonic thralls. To make things worse, the faculty have made a deal to stay out of the conflict with Oryon and Kress, leaving Tria armed only with a few tentative friendships and what little she can remember from her sleep-inducing classes. As she and her fellow students-most of whom are little more than plot points with names-go from classroom to school dance to interdimensional corridor, they encounter a number of genuinely interesting concepts and creatures; but Sabin seems determined to fit everything into one book (in a break from recent trends, she ties off every possible loose end, leaving no room for sequels) and the most intriguing aspects of the school end up sadly undeveloped. The story has its charms, but it's so easy to follow and predict that the plot twists don't and the surprise ending isn't. The 12-and-under set will appreciate the uncomplicated tale, snippets of magical boarding-school life and happy ending, but only if they've yet to encounter J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, which outclass this one by a substantial margin.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
A “most enjoyable book!”--Joan Aiken

"This is a most enjoyable book! It belongs to a genre of stories I adored when I was young; books such as A Girl of Limberlost and Anne of Green Gables. Tria, the heroine of A School for Sorcery, is faced with an outsized tussle: her elegant, spiteful roommate has a habit of turning into a black panther at times of stress, a hostile male student summons fearsome entities known as the Dire Women, and the whole sorcery course looks as if it will come to a cataclysmic end until Tria manages to call upon unexpected reserves of power. This is an elegant, complicated story, at times running into parallel action to perplex the pursuing reader. E. Rose Sabin is a writer to look out for."— Joan Aiken, author of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

“J. K. Rowling introduced us to the charms and secrets of Hogwarts; now E. Rose Sabin opens up a school for teens who posses equal talents. A School for Sorcery is an excellent study of teens and magic in a very unusual school.”—Andre Norton, SFWA Grand Master
-- Review

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Starscape; 1st edition (August 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765342197
• ISBN-13: 978-0765342195
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #989,004 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sort of like Harry Potter meets Anne of Green Gables..., January 4, 2004

By	TAHINAZ (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A School for Sorcery (Hardcover)

A Hogwarts-type school at the turn of the century! What an intruiging idea!

Though this book starts out a little campy, with the main character gathering eggs on a small farm, and continues with some very pegan-like philosophy about magic, I found myself thoroughly enjoying "A School for Sorcery." Sabin's style is simple and lyrical, and her story has just enough unusual aspects to carry the reader through untill you begin to realize that the seemingly predictable plot is not what it seems!

I finished this book in two days. It was excellant.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaing new fantasy novel, October 8, 2002

By	Nancy E. "Nancy" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A School for Sorcery (Hardcover)

It seems that ever since JK Rowling's fantastic Harry Potter series hit the shelves, we have received book after book of child and teen fantasy novels. It seems that everyone is trying to out-Potter each other. In some cases these "novels" can turn out to be embarrassingly bad. Fortunately this is not the case. A School for Sorcery by E. Rose Sabin is a thrilling novel about what happened if Harry Potter was female, a few years older, and in a completely different world.

Tria Tesserell is a 16-year-old farmer's daughter who has always known that she had had some magic gifts. Unfortunately, because of her close minded father, she has been forced to keep her powers hidden. But when she gets accepted to the Lesley Simonton School for the Magically Gifted she is thrilled. She won't have to keep her powers hidden any longer. But her enthusiasm is diminished when she actually gets to the campus. The buildings are crumbling, the hallway seems to be covered in a thick layer of dust and grime, and the food is old and stale. Tria gets in trouble right away when one of her powers she never knew she possessed works without her even knowing it. To top it off Tria's new roommate is a witch in more ways than one. Tria feels as if she can never learn to love this school. And just when she start's getting used to it and things start looking up a darker more sinister evil takes into play. Oryon, a second year student, has summoned an evil source that has kidnapped two of Tria's fellow students and friends. It looks like Tria is the only one that can save them, but she doesn't even know how.

I was unsure whether to give this book 4 stars of 5. There were many good qualities. The author manages to take a familiar scene (a magic school) and take it in a completely different direction. The characters are amusing and sometimes scary. And the emphasis in this book is more on ethical magic than breaking the rules for the greater good (like in Harry Potter). Still there are a few plot holes. Because there are so many characters many of them get introduced and seem like they will become large parts in the books. Instead they merely vanish about halfway through the book. But beyond that this book is great. I hope to see more works of fantasy from E. Rose Sabin, maybe in this world. I recommend it to fans of JK Rowling and Diane Wynne Jones.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This School gets a "C" in my book, February 2, 2004

By	"liaden" (Somewhere Over the Rainbow) - See all my reviews

The title is quick to draw eager Harry Potter fans to its place on a bookshelf, and the whimsical cover may appear quirky and magical, but for fans of other "schools of sorcery", this novel may be disapointing.

A School for Sorcery focuses on an alternate universe based on late 19th century Europe where magic is common. Sabin's characters are original enough, but somewhat undefined; their pasts, though hinted at, are never discussed. Going in depth into an exciting magical world, what Rowling did so well with Harry Potter, Sabin fails to do with School; the reader is left completely in the dark mysterious land.

It begins as Tria and her mother secretly send Tria to Simonton School for the Magically Gifted, for Tria's rare magic to be trained. Her father scorns her gift, and Tria's mother is forced to spend all her savings to pay for tuition. When Tria arrives, the school appears to be in disrepair; everything is dusty and old, and much different than the broshure. The food is bad, her vain roommate randomly turns into a panther, and mysterious students Oryan and Kress have a deadly scheme. Now she must save her love Wilce from the clutches of the Dire Women within a year or Oryan will take over the school and all the students will suffer.

This book teaches an artful lesson about looking beyond the obvious and what's on the inside. Sabin should be acknowledged for her beautiful use of imagery and symbolism, however, the book contained flaws as well. Tria is a strong heroine, but younger readers will not be able to appreciate the intricate plot that brings out these qualities. The plot is both thrilling and darkly brilliant, as Tria discovers herself and her magical powers.

This book is a good read for someone who reads a great deal; for those who like a good book only once in a while, keep searching. I reccomend books such as Ella Enchanted(Levine), Witch Week(Wynne Jones), or Dragon's Milk (Fletcher) instead.Nevertheless, fantasy fans of Anne of Green Gables would appreciate this novel as would avid readers. Its paperback edition makes it affordable enough that you can read it and pass it on to a friend.

So, 3 stars for originality (despite the whole Harry-Potter-but-not thing) in the plot and characters, and the other two left off for lack of character development and interest. Happy Reading!