"Why do you want me to move you planet? It is fine where it is!"

[ryouji.livejournal.com]

Has anyone realised that the "About" on the user page is missing "Wizards at War?"

Either which way, I just found the Young Wizards series, and have instantly falled in love. I just recieved the complete set as part of a graduation pressent. *laughs*. I am here now because I want to find other people that love it too, as I found myself to be the only one who has read them in my currant area. *nods*

Question, What attracted 'you' guys to the Young Wizards series?

Comments

[toshfraggle.livejournal.com]

A friend told me about them my senior year of college. I read the first four in two days. It's been sweet sweet wizard love ever since. :)

[pewter-alyssum.livejournal.com]

I was in an airport with my family, waiting for a hideously late plane after waking up at an obscene hour of the morning. Mom took me to a bookstore in an effort to appease me and I spotted So You Want To Be A Wizard, complete with cool cover and intriguing blurb. I finished it before the plane took off and discovered. Two whole years later (I still cringe that it took me this long), I discovered that there were more of these really awesome books. It's earned its place as my favorite series.

[ryouji.livejournal.com]

To answer my own question, I worked in the Library, and I was organizing and putting books away. (Note to everyone, Working as a TA (Teacher Aid) for the School Library is by far the hardest TA available, But I had a great time doing it, and found a lot of good books ^_^) Anyways, I was running my finger accross them, checking to make sure then were in order on the shelf.

And there it was.

I was allready at 2 books, and could not check them back in, leaving me only one checkout available.
Sad thing was, everything was due back the next day

I finnished it that night, and had to wait to get the others... I had no money and the public library had then all checked out!

My family surprised me with the entire set for graduation at the end of the month.


I think the best part is when I read a review by a 'noob' who says "Dont read "So you want to be a Wizard! The author stole all her ideas from Harry Potter"
Give me a break. A: Not only is there no comparrison in the wizards, as they are compleatly different, but B: Check the Publish date! Harry potter was not around in 1983!

hehe

[melata-fic.livejournal.com]

Someone recommended them to me in a way that was quite brilliant.

And now I'm probably going to special order them for the rest of my life, or something.

[izzybeth.livejournal.com]

a family friend gave me the "Support Your Local Wizard" edition (the first three books in one nice hardback) when i was... oh heck, 12? read it and reread it and reread it to DEATH. only last year did i manage to get my hands on 4 and 5 (i'm 24 now, to give you a bit of perspective here). and i'm STILL not caught up! being poor sucks.

[fiveforsilver]

I ran across High Wizardry in a Kmart or something while on a road trip with my parents in about 1995. I'd finished my books (I've always been a quick reader) and it looked interesting (yes, I judged a book by it's cover :) so I got it.

I really liked it, even though I didn't understand it - jumping into the middle of this series is tough. It took me a couple of years to discover that it was part of a series.

[gwaihiril.livejournal.com]

My brother had the first one. I stole that and read it. Then I stole the Support Your Local Wizard 3-in-1 edition he had. I bought the rest of them as they came out/when I had money. I'm in the process of convincing my mom to read them...she says she will, but she hasn't yet.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

I was looking for a book and picked up 'So You Want To Be A Wizard' - and fell in love with the writing and complexity.

I was 25 at the time and that was five years ago. I'm still reading the series, quite avidly (just finished Wizards At War, actually).

I think it's the fact that if the protagonists are teenagers, they're very mature - they think thoughts that have me reeling at twice their age.

[ibneko.livejournal.com]

Found 'So You Want To Be A Wizard' in the library, when I was... dunno. Back when there was only three of the books out. And... it's mostly just the fact that anything having to do with magic catches my attention. ^^;; ::enjoys feeding his imagination::

[flowed.livejournal.com]

Honestly? XD I saw the word 'wizard'. This was quite some time ago...when I read the book, I was an instant fan.

[naori.livejournal.com]

a friend of mine told me all about them. after High Wizardry i was hooked at had to have them all^^ fantastically intelligent with humor and imagination; can't get a better book than that.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Diane Duane has been one of my favorite writers ever since I fell headlong into My Enemy, My Ally. I have everything she's written except the Spider-Man novels. Part of the reason I like the Wizards series so much is that it's clearly set in the same philosophical universe as her "Doors" books, so many of the concepts were familiar to me right away. I've incorporated some of those concepts into my own religious philosophy as well. And I think it's a damn shame that Harry Potter gets all the hype, because the Wizards books are IMO much better in both plotting and writing!

Snagged in the library :-)

[voyager42.livejournal.com]

/me delurks

I think I happened on the first book purely by chance (snagged, as it were). I've read the first four (and I own two of them). I've also read some of the Cat spin-offs if I can call them that. I was very surprised to hear there are about 7? of the Young Wizard books published, and I never see them in bookshops here (in South Africa). One of these days I'll splash out and order the rest of them online. Or get someone to buy them for my birthday.

The thing that sets the books apart for me (what kept me coming back) is their setting in the modern age and how the wizardry is woven into everyday life.

[pewter-alyssum.livejournal.com]

Same here. I love how everything is explained, it's not just wave a stick and stuff happens. Also, Harry Potter is made up of characters; Young Wizards, people.

Note: It's generally a bad idea to get within a thrity-foot radius of me when I see a sign proclaiming, "While You're Waiting For Harry Potter, Here's Some Books You Might Like!" Nearly invariabley, Young Wizards is on the list, mostly because of the title.

[caiteydid.livejournal.com]

I get bored out of my mind a LOT during summers. My parents, after dinner a lot of times, will drag everyone to the bookstore, which is really okay by me. I was trying to find anything and everything to keep me distracted until Harry Potter or one of the new Pierce books came out... and I don't quite remember what I was up to, but I can probably guess accurately.

See, when I am trying to find things to read, I go to the young adult fiction section and go book grabbing. As in, if it has a pretty cover, I grab it! Or if the title intrigues me, or even I'll close my eyes and point, if I'm desperately desperate. So I think I remember looking at all the title, and that one jumped out at me, and I was like, "Cool cover" and thenr ead that back and the first couple pages.

And finished it and read the rest in about a summer... would have been faster, but I could not for the LIFE of me find one of the books at the bookstores OR the library. And then it took forever for... Wizards at War to come out, so I reread them. Turns out, Harry Potter is now my "keep my attention until the next YW book comes out series, instead of vice versa.

[chattycheese.livejournal.com]

I came across SYWTBAW years ago in a Borders somewhere, and I've not looked back. I love them so veyr much- my obsessions with them has supplanted picked up, walked to the edge of a canyon, and kicked harry potter over without a parachute.

[dawnfirenight.livejournal.com]

I was wandering my school library the day before Christmas vacation when I was twelve or so and found High Wizardry on display on one of the shelves. I could tell it was the third one in the series because of the prominent 3 on the spine, but the first two weren't there, so I picked it up in the hopes that it would keep me occupied for at least some of the days before Christmas.

No such luck. I finished it in about a day! :P I gradually read the other three and then bought The Wizard's Dilemma when it came out in paperback that fall. Since then, I've just kept reading them as they came out.

[hushpiper.livejournal.com]

*delurks* Saw it in the library, liked the title... Mostly because it had the word "wizard" in it. I identified a lot with Nita in the first book. Kind of nerdy, book-loving, with, uh... not the best relationship with my schoolmates. I liked the scientific sort of flavor (it actually introduced and converted me to science fiction, where I used to only read fantasy), the humor, the sort of snappy way they all talked. *shrug* Liked it ever since. ^^

[paxluvfelicitas.livejournal.com]

I actually purposefully passed up SYWTBAW for a very, very long time because of the cover and the jacket blurb. I kid you not. I just seemed very incredibly corny and bad, plus the cover scared me. I forget what made me finally read it - I think I was just out of excuses not to. And then of course, I loved it and wanted to have Diane Duane's literary babies and spent quite a while kicking myself for not reading it sooner, and have been known to walk half an hour in 90 degree weather to buy the latest installment in hardback the day it comes out. So I guess you could say I became a fan. ;)

Never judge a book by the cover!

[bar-gamer.livejournal.com]

*Gasp!* Such shallow people, I swear. Hahahaha. Seriously, I've read all kinds of sci-fi and fantasy books, and encountered all kinds of magic systems. CS Friedman's "Coldfire" trilogy, Runelords, DND, Katherine Kurtz's "Deryni" novels, Holly Lisle's "Secret Texts" series, Garth Nix's "Keys to the Kingdom," and countless more. "Wizardry" is the only one I've found which is set in the modern day AND makes enough sense to work, without talking down to you. The One knows kids get talked down to enough, already.

But other than that, I love the writing, I love the messages, I love the characters. That's not to say I won't still pick up the latest Megatokyo or Alan Dean Foster book. ;)

And if we're swapping stories... I stole my copy from the kids my sister and I were babysitting. XDDD

[kirise.livejournal.com]

(apologizes for responding to this thread so late.)

I completely agree with the distaste for "Like Harry Potter? Try These!" signs. It really upsets me because I loved so many of the books on the lists before Harry Potter knew the light of day.... And frankly, the Harry Potter books and the Young Wizards series could not be more different. It isn't that I don't enjoy reading Harry Potter, but more that I object to attempts to classify other series with magical characters as completely in the same vein.

The long and short of it is that seeing the phrase "Like Harry? Try Diana" on my Chrestomanci books makes me twitch. A lot.

Re: Never judge a book by the cover!

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I really like that YW is probable.

Since we do seem to be swapping stories, I found 'Wizard's Holiday' on cassette tape in my local library. I picked it up because the title sounded interesting, and the cover was totally cool. Once I started listening to it, I went to our /other/ local library and checked out the YW books they had in at the time (SYWTBAW and A Wizard's Dillemma[sp?] if you want to know. Now I'm a total fan of Young Wizards, and a complete Dairine/Roshaun shipper.

~LandUnderWave, visiting from fanfiction.net