Young Wizards vs. Harry Potter, Part 3 (Themes)

Last week I talked about the basic stories of both series. Now we get to look at the fun stuff: themes, writing style, character analysis, the universes, and cover art (yes, I do think that covers are important). This week we'll look at themes.

Young Wizard Themes:

This installment has strong themes of redemption.

Diane Duane's wizard series is famous for dealing with difficult themes. Each book has its own particular themes, but recurring ones include death, friendship, responsibility, family, and the need for knowledge. I admire that Duane incorporates themes into her books that most people don't really like to talk about.

I thought about discussing themes from every single book, but do you know how long that would take? That's right, a long time. I decided to write about a small selection of my favorite books instead (1, 5, and 6). The first book deals particularly with good and evil. Through out Kit and Nita's entire Ordeal, they keep coming face-to-face with examples of how evil takes something mundane or beautiful and twists it. For example, in the world ruled by the Lone Power there's a carnivorous fire hydrant with a tongue like a chameleon. Then Duane places special emphasis one the difference between the feeling of the Book of Night With The Moon (created by the Powers that Be to describe everything perfectly in its entirety) and the Dark Book (the other Book's polar opposite, created by the Lone Power to twist everything). The Light Book feels like a well of goodness, but the Dark Book stings and sucks up all the light in the area.

In book 5, you may remember that the conflict is that Nita's mother is dying from a malignant brain tumor. The main themes of the book are grief, death of loved ones, and accepting what you really can't change. Each of the Callahans deal with their pain in different ways. Mr. and Mrs. Callhan suffer quietly and try to savor every moment. Dairine tries to help, but gets grounded by the Senior wizards in the area so she must suffer in silence. Nita gets approval to make a desperate attempt to eradicate the cancerous cells from her mother's body. For the next few days Nita throws herself into her work in order to cope. In the end, Nita is able to get rid of most of the cancer so that the doctors can remove the tumor with the least amount of trouble. However, Nita's mother still dies, because not all of the cancer has been destroyed. Her mother explains that it's better to have enough time to live out the rest of her life in love instead of trying to live forever. Nita finally accepts that she can't change the inevitable and decides to enjoy the six months she has left with her mother.


In book 6, Nita is trying to deal with the death of her mother and Kit is becoming distant from everyone. The basic themes include the importance of friends, you can't shut out the world forever, grief, and anger. Both Nita and Kit are hurting after the death of Nita's mother (Kit's hurting because Nita's shutting him out) and they're trying to help wizard-in-training Darryl (an autistic magical prodigy who can't seem to finish his Ordeal). Darryl shuts out the world because of his autism and because he sees the effects of the Lone Power in everyone. Nita and Kit must both accept that they still have responsibilities and need help before they can truly help Darryl with his problem, which is to accept the concept of "other" before he can be a wizard. Nita must also learn to control her anger at the injustice of losing her mother in order to truly be helpful instead of helpless. I think that book 6 is my favorite of the entire series because Duane so readily deals with themes like this while also bringing up the hopeful ideas, like love and friendship.




Harry Potter Themes

This one also deals with revenge and betrayal.

JK Rowling seems to deal exclusively with the themes friendship, love, fate versus choice, sacrifice, and death. The series also includes classic fantasy themes like black and white hero/villain relationships (think Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in A New Hope), quests, and magic. Each book in its own way has something to do do with every theme. Harry wouldn't be able to accomplish half the things that he does without friends and he wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for the power of love. Harry willingly sacrifices himself for his friends so that they don't have to suffer. He even goes to meet Voldemort in the end so that he himself would die and no more people would die. But I feel that one recurring theme is the difference between Harry and Voldemort. Voldemort lets fate make his decisions while Harry chooses his own path. Voldemort killed Harry's parents after hearing about a prophecy concerning him and an unnamed boy, that "neither can live while the other survives." Harry, on the other hand, is told by the Sorting Hat that he would do well in Slytherin but chooses not to go into Slytherin House.


I actually feel that there's not much to say about the themes in the Harry Potter books. Each book has the same themes, which isn't really surprising when you remember that it's a children's series. It invites jokes from just about everyone (like the part in A Very Potter Musical where Harry tells Ginny that his invisibility cloak "was left to me by my dad, my dad that's dead. My father is dead. I have a dead father."), but I think that it's good for a series like that to have the same themes in every book. However, it doesn't leave much room for talking about it.


Score:
Harry Potter: 2, Young Wizards: 3


Harry Potter is great for finding classic themes, but otherwise it kind of falls flat. Young Wizards has a huge scope of themes. I know that Harry Potter is a children's series and Young Wizards is young adult, but since Rowling turned the last two books in Harry Potter into young adult books I feel justified in my comparison.


Next week will be a character analysis.


Agree with my review? Disagree? Comment below!

Young Wizards vs. Harry Potter, Part 2 (The Stories)

Last week we were introduced to the premises of the two series, now we will look at the story arcs of the series. Sorry if the descriptions come off as really vague, but I try to honor the integrity of the series by not reprinting the entire series on my blog.

Young Wizards

This was the first book in the series that I read

Readers are first introduced to Nita Callahan (in book one, So You Want To Be A Wizard) as she's running away from a group of bullies. Nita is able to avoid them by running into the library. While waiting for them to leave, Nita peruses the children's stacks where her hand is caught on a book called So You Want To Be A Wizard. When she takes it home she discovers that it's a manual for actual wizards. After taking the Wizard's Oath, Nita is thrown into her Ordeal (a test to see if a prospective wizard is ready for real wizard work) with new friend Kit Rodriguez. After meeting and losing friends along the way, Nita and Kit come out victorious from their Ordeal.

That summer, the Callahans decide to splurge on a vacation on Long Island and take Kit along with them. Nita and Kit meet a fellow wizard, who happens to be a whale. The whale, S'reee, is in charge of a major spell that will stop tremors in the ocean and re-trap an incarnation of the Lone Power in the bottom of the ocean. Eventually, the wizards succeed and Nita finally reveals to her parents that she and kit are wizards.

In the next book (High Wizardry, which I assume is later that summer) Nita's little sister, Dairine, takes the Wizard's Oath and gets her own manual in the form of a computer. Dairine is thrust into her Ordeal immediately and travels almost to the end of the universe to accomplish her task. Nita and Kit go after her and  find Dairine after she's created a silicone-based species. They then battle the Lone Power and that sliver of It accepts redemption, slowing entropy considerably.

In the next book (A Wizard Abroad), Nita's parents are worried that she's spending too much time with Kit and pack her off to spend the last month of summer vacation in Ireland. There, Nita must battle the Lone Power in It's attempt to bring Ireland back to its mythical roots. With their inevitable success, Nita goes home and starts school. But soon another problem starts. In A Wizard's Dilemma, Nita's mother develops a deadly brain tumor and Nita takes it upon herself to cure her mother. Nita learns about how universes can be manipulated (from the major Universe we live in to the miniature universe that encompasses each living being). Kit finds out his dog can create new universes, and finally Nita is able to give her mother 6 more months instead of 2 weeks.

In A Wizard Alone, Nita's mother has died and the Callahans are in mourning. Nita tries to fill the void her mother left behind while also trying to figure out the mysterious messages she's receiving from a young wizard in trouble. Kit is also on his own, while trying to find a boy with autism in the middle of his Ordeal. Eventually Nita and Kit both help the boy, because his entire Ordeal was to understand that he must step out of his comfort zone and accept help from others. After all of this turmoil, Dairine signs Nita up for an exchange program (in A Wizard's Holiday) on another planet with Kit. While Dairine must deal with extra-terrestrial wizards and a sun in turmoil, Nita and Kit have to help a seemingly perfect planet with some strange problem. The problems continue in Wizards at War because entropy has sped up so much that wizardry itself is disappearing. Nita, Kit, Dairine and their friends must find and wake up a certain sliver of the Lone Power that could stop all of this. After much hardship and sacrifice the universe is saved, there's a new Power (what the Lone Power was before It fell), and entropy is beginning to slow down.

In the latest installment (A Wizard of Mars), Kit has become increasingly obsessed with Mars. Nita is developing her ability to see the future. Dairine is learning the wizardry associated with stars. After Kit is abducted by a part of himself that's a Martian wizard (there's this weird reincarnation thing that I'm not going to get into here going on), Nita and various other friends must save Kit and stop a Martian invasion. There's an epic battle between Nita and a Martian princess (no, not Princess Helium) at the end. In the end, it turns out that the Martian people were even aliens to Mars. There was never intelligent life on Mars. But Nita and Kit's relationship is strengthened. The next book will be called Games Wizards Play.

Harry Potter

This was the very first chapter book I ever read.

Readers are first introduced to the mysterious circumstances leading to the orphan Harry Potter being raised by his next-of-kin, the Dursleys. The Dursleys regularly make Harry feel terrible. He lives under the stairs in a closet, he gets his cousin's old clothes, and is constantly treated like a disgusting bug that no ones likes. After some mysterious circumstances involving disappearing glass in the snake exhibit in the zoo, letters from no one , and Uncle Vernon trying to avoid someone he's terrified of, Harry finds out that he's a wizard. Not only that, Harry is famous for surviving a killing curse as a baby that rebounded onto his attacker. Harry is then swept away to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn the essentials for living in the wizarding world.

In the The Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, Harry learns that Voldemort (the evil wizard that plagued the world until his death with the rebounding curse) is trying to come back by make the elixir of life from the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone. Harry and his new friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, find the stone and are able to defeat Voldemort. But trouble looms over the school the next year. Over the summer, Harry is almost stopped by an elf (Dobby) when it's time to go to school because there's great danger ahead. When Harry does get to school, students start getting attacked. Some monster or person is petrifying students. Harry and his friends determine that it's the monster of Slytherin and spend a bunch of the year trying to figure out who's behind the attacks. When Ron's little sister is abducted, Harry goes to save her and finds out that it's Voldemort himself again trying to come back. Harry battles a giant basilisk and is finally able to defeat both it and Voldemort.

In the Prisoner of Azkaban, it's Harry's third year at school, but deranged murdered Sirius Black is after Harry. Harry soon learns that Black was his father's best friend, and becomes determined to find Black to avenge the death of his parents and the part that Black played in it. But in the end it turns out that it was another friend of Harry's father, Peter Pettigrew, that betrayed the Potters. Pettigrew escapes, and Harry becomes friends with Black. In his fourth year at Hogwarts (The Goblet of Fire) Harry is somehow entered into a wizarding school contest that he's too young for. Harry must overcome several deadly rounds of the contest, and finally makes it to the final round. But it was all a trap, a secret enemy and spy lured Harry into the contest in order to bring Voldemort back to life. Voldemort successfully regenerated and Harry narrowly escapes.

Unfortunately, no one believes Harry. In the Order of the Phoenix Harry is trying to convince the wizarding world that Voldemort is really back. He becomes involved with a secret organization that is opposed to Voldemort (the Order of the Phoenix) and starts to try and find out what Voldemort is up to. In the end, Harry finds out that Voldemort is trying to find a prophesy about the two of them. Harry defeats Voldemort's plan and the wizarding world finally accepts that he's back. The next year, in The Half-Blood Prince, everyone's on edge. Voldemort is operating out in the open. Dumbledore, Harry's mentor, helps Harry learn about Voldemort while Harry tries to get by in the harder school curriculum. Harry soon discovers a textbook that helps him with his difficult class (from the Half-Blood Prince) and is able to focus on murder attempts at the school. Soon, Harry learns that Voldemort came back to life because he ripped up his soul into bits and pieces and tied them to physical objects (called horcruxes). Dumbledore and Harry have an unsuccessful attempt at getting one of those objects, and Dumbledore dies. After the funeral, Harry vows that he wont go back to school, but instead will hunt down horcruxes until he can completely kill Voldemort.

In the final book, The Deathly Hallows, Harry is dealing with the death of Dumbledore while also being on the run from Voldemort. Harry, Ron, and Hermione find the remaining horcruxes and destroy them. Harry also becomes intrigued by the Deathly Hallows, which are objects that enable the owner power over death. Voldemort chases Harry back to Hogwarts, where the final battle begins. Harry goes to Voldemort in order to willingly die, because he's the final horcrux. Harry and Voldemort have a final duel and Voldemort's killing curse is rebounded on him again, Voldemort dies. Although many people died, the world is finally safe.


Score:
Harry Potter: 2, Young Wizards: 2

Both stories are such classics and appeal to a wide variety of audiences, I can't decide on a winner for this round. Next week, Themes.

Young Wizards vs. Harry Potter, Part 1 (The Premise)

Lately I have been re-reading my two favorite fantasy series: the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane and Harry Potter by JK Rowling. For the next series of posts I will be comparing the two series. I'm sure all of you know about Harry Potter, but I'm not very sure how many of you know about Young Wizards.

Introducing....Young Wizards by Diane Duane:

The first book in the series, So You Want To Be A Wizard, was published in the early 80s and the rest of the series have been published on and off every few years since then. The books mostly center on Nita Callahan and Kit Rodriguez. Nita's sister, Dairine Callahan, also has some point-of-view time in some of the books and can therefore be considered a major character after the third book, High Wizardry. Each book has its own identifiable conflict, rather than an overall conflict that gets solved bit by bit over the entire series (example: Fablehaven and Eragon). There is, however, one overall conflict that gets brought up over the entire series: the Lone Power is trying to kill the universe with entropy and the main characters must fight whatever manifestation of the Lone Power that pops up.

The series is great, because it has actual science (plus theoretical science, mathematics, and sci-fi geekery) as well as the traditional magic themes in a fantasy series. For example, in High Wizardry Dairine meets Doctor Who in an alien airport that works with high-tech science and magic. It has the traditional sci-fi "common tongue" deal, called the Speech (which describes everything in the universe perfectly). But what exactly is it about?

The series is about these kids that have been called by the Powers of the universe to be wizards. Wizards slow down entropy, fight the Lone Power (inventor of death; the bad kind, not the grateful release kind), and have a bunch of fun adventures trying to broaden everyone's understanding of the universe. Nita and Kit go to alternate universes, turn into whales, fight ancient manifestations of the Lone Power in Ireland, and go on vacation on exotic planets. Dairine even creates an entire race of silicone-based life forms. The most recent book out, A Wizard of Mars, is about what happened to life on Mars and what happens when it comes back. Another great thing, the series is still going (Diane Duane has plans for at least a twelfth installment). Duane is also working to update the technology in the earlier books and make the timeline between books more smooth. For example, Dairine gets a computer in the third book that made it painfully clear that the book was written in 1990.

Introducing...Harry Potter by JK Rowling:

The first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, in the series was published in the early-to-mid 90's. The books almost completely focus on Harry Potter (except in beginning chapters to act as prologues, then the point of view is from another character). Harry is helped by many other friends (adult and teen alike), but the two people that help him the most are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Each book has a specific conflict that ties into a major conflict, which is that evil wizard Voldemort is trying to take over the world.

The books are pretty great in the fact that they're focused on the teen/tween audience, but an adult can still read and enjoy the books. The fantasy aspect is very strong because the wizarding community separates itself from the non-magic community (the world at large, called Muggles). This means that it's all magic wands, flying broomsticks, and old castles. Harry was raised in a muggle household, so he's much more aware of math, science, and day-to-day life in the muggle world. This makes it slightly less annoying that most wizards don't even know what a gun or a light bulb is.

The series is about how Harry Potter has been raised by his horrible aunt and uncle, who hate and neglect him, but then finds out that he's a wizard. Harry then goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn how to use magic, where he then meets and befriends Ron and Hermione. Each book presents a little mystery that the trio must solve in order to keep evil Lord Voldemort from coming back to power. Harry and his friends must find the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's stone, defeat a basilisk, compete in a magical tournament, and eventually fight Voldemort face-to-face. The series did end already (Deahtly Hallows came out in 2007 and the last movie came out on Blue-ray last November), but it's one of those series that you can go back to over and over. JK Rowling recently started an online game called Pottermore, where fans can go through the books in the series chapter by chapter and experience a virtual version of the wizarding world. Pottermore will also have a shop opening later this year (whenever they let more than beta testers in, which appears to be never) that will have the first ever Harry Potter e-books.

And the winner of this round is....


Both. I love both series for various reasons. Harry Potter was the very first chapter book I ever read. Young Wizards is one of the few series where I can actually relate to the characters, and the magic part makes sense (spells are ways that the wizards describe what they want to happen and then try to convince the universe to make happen). So for this round, The Premise, they both win. Next post I will discuss the two story arcs. See ya!

Editor's note: I added pictures, it just had to be done :)

Photos and Stuff

Hi everyone, hope you're all doing well. Today I decided to share some photos of some jewelry that I made and an actual photograph that I'm very proud of.

Okay, so the jewelry pictures are a little fuzzy, but the jewelry is pretty neat anyway.

These are some earrings that I made. I was trying to go for a  modern look.

Pancake ring, made by me. Epicness right here, folks.

Chocolate candy earrings. I've been wearing these all week.

And here's the pièce de résistance, my super-awsomesauce photograph:

This is a tree in my neighborhood.

Have a great weekend!