Games Wizards Play is the tenth and latest installment in Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, which I started reading probably a decade or so ago (long after the first book's publication in the 1980s) and have happily kept up with ever since. Before reading Games Wizards Play, I decided I wanted to go back and re-read the first nine books, partly because they're great and I haven't read them in maybe four years, and partly because over the course of nine books, there are a lot of characters and events and I wanted to have everything fresh in my mind before embarking on the newest book.
The big problem with this series is the timeline--I don't know how, between Duane and her editor, these otherwise well-plotted and intricate books have ended up with a jumbled and frankly nonsensical timeline. For example, one character is mentioned as being 11 years old in books one and nine, even as the other characters have aged by several years over the course of those books. Also, instead of keeping the series set in the late 1980s, Duane kept integrating new technology and world events into the later books, such that in the first book, there is no mention of computers, and by the tenth book, characters have cell phones, iPods, tablets, etc--even though (as best I can tell from the jumbled timeline) no more than five years of the story can have passed. So there are some issues that need to be resolved! Duane has released updated versions of all the books, which are supposed to correct the timeline, but these updated editions are only available as e-books, and I vastly prefer to read in print.
Okay, having said all that, I do really enjoy reading this series! While there is some repetition of themes across the books, in general, each installment feels fresh while building on the previous books and providing more character development, not just for our main characters, Nita Callahan and Kit Rodriguez, but for the increasingly large cast of secondary characters, especially Dairine and Carmela, but also Nita's dad. If you're someone who's put off or annoyed by YA series in which the parents are portrayed as one-dimensional and antagonistic characters, you'll find Young Wizards to be refreshingly different in that respect (not to say the parents in these books don't do things like ground our heroes, but for good reasons). Also, as the series progresses, we get introduced to several really interesting alien characters, not just humanoids but totally different life-forms, which really helps flesh out Duane's universe-building in the series.
What I particularly appreciate about Games Wizards Play is that it finally gives us a look at Nita and Kit's wizardly life when they're not on errantry (i.e. not on a specific mission or job). The basic premise is that there's an Earth-wide competition for the youngest wizards to show off pet projects, and Nita and Kit have been chosen to mentor one of the competitors. No other urgent jobs come up, so we get to see more of the day-to-day practice of Nita and Kit, as well as other wizards, and get more of a sense of wizardly social life. A potential for romance has been simmering beneath the surface of Nita and Kit's wizardly partnership for the last few books, and this aspect is also starting to be addressed directly, but the elements of romance are still pretty minimal, leaving the focus on wizardry. (Again, if overly fast or involved or unrealistic relationships tend to put you off of YA novels, no worries here--the romance is very understated, which works well with the characters and the overall tone of the series.)
On the whole, I really enjoyed re-reading the first nine books and finally reading Games Wizards Play, and I felt surprisingly bereft when I finished the final book--like, I don't get to hang out with Nita and Kit anymore for a while? If you're looking for an engrossing and unique fantasy series, I'd definitely suggest Young Wizards (the first book is called So You Want To Be a Wizard?), but be aware going into it that the series isn't yet complete, and you may be getting yourself into a lengthy (but rewarding) relationship!
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