QUADEHAR THE SORCERER

In his debut novel, the first of the planned Book of the Stars series, L'Homme imagines a three-tiered universe: The Real World (just what it sounds like), The Uncertain World (nebulous and apparently not a nice place to be), with a Lost Isle right in the middle. The Isle seems a composite of several different stages in history: medieval pageantry sits side-by-side with kids playing computer games; windmills provide the electricity for laptops; sorcerers talk of chaos theory. Misfit Robin Penmarch is unexpectedly tapped to be the apprentice of the legendary sorcerer Quadehar. He turns out to be adept at magic, surprising everyone, chiefly himself. Then his arch-enemy, Agatha, is kidnapped by shadowy forces from The Uncertain World, by mistake—the criminals had wanted Robin. Good-hearted Robin and his friends set off into The Uncertain World to rescue Agatha, but when his incantation to open the portal backfires, the five friends wind up in five different locations. At this point the story begins to run out of steam. A somewhat hasty ending includes a deus ex machina in the form of a spell that works unexpectedly, wrapping up with a vague but effective cliffhanger. Still, the setting is strong enough to make the sequel worth a look. Ages 9-12. (Sept.)