LitPick Review
When wizards are said to be deceitful and dishonor the Tharn, Lord Enar ruler of Tharn needs someone to spy on the wizards to see where their loyalties lie. Lord Enar recruits Dayven, a young Tharn boy, said to possess a wizard's power. While hiding his identity, The Wizard Test by Hilari Bell follows Dayven as he learns that loyalty and one's true path are not always what they seem.
Opinion:
I thought this book was wonderful. The ending in this book left room for a sequel and I hope Bell takes advantage of that. I liked how this book was written because in most books wizards are nice and magic is cool, like in the Harry Potter series or the Charlie Bone series. In The Wizard Test, wizards are hated. Hilari Bell has written two other books: The Goblin Wood and A Matter of Profit both of which have won the ALA Best Book for Young Adults and New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. After reading The Wizard Test I believe it could win awards too. I wish Bell would have described Dayven better. Only a few scenes had enough description to be pictures, the rest you had to imagine yourself. I did like Dayven's personality though. If he would have had a goody-goody attitude this book would have been pretty bad. Without Dayven's rowdy attitude you wouldn't be able to find one of the plots for the second half of the book. Bell has a seemingly wonderful vocabulary. After almost every dialogue passage she used an action not the word "said." The plot is a bit hard to follow at times, due to some confusing jumps in time. Despite this, The Wizard Test is a very fun book to read.