Od Magic - Patricia A. McKillip Book Review

Enter a review
of your own!

Other books by
author Patricia A. McKillip

"Od Magic"
Message Board

Patricia A. McKillip Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR: Michelle

SCHOLARS: Zainab Iqtidar Kevin Tolley

Would you like to be a scholar and make five dollars per review? Click here to submit a review!

Review Summaries

"Grief stricken at loosing his parents, Brenden Vetch has withdrawn into himself. He listens to the unspoken language of living things, especially plants. He has gained a reputation for great skill with all kinds of plants. Then one spring day an unusual woman named Od asks Brenden to come be the gardener at her magic school. She wants him to grow things for magic. Od realizes that Brenden knows the magic of living things, even if he does not realize it himself. He agrees and a few months later he travels to her magic school. He follows Od's directions and looks for a door under a shoe sign. He enters the door and surprises the wizards teaching there. No one has entered that door since the wizard Yar, nineteen years ago. It's been even longer since Od has visited her school, so Brenden creates quite a commotion. He learns that 400 years ago Od came into the city of Numis, which was at war. She came to the king and said she wanted to start a school in his city. The king told her that if she saved the city she could start the school. So she defeated the opposing armies and started her school. Since then she shows up every several with stories about her travels, checks on the school, and leaves again. Now the school is mostly controlled by the kings of Numis, who keep a very close eye on all the students. The wizard Yar decides to keep the fact that the gardener has strong magical abilities to himself. Yar thinks that Od has sent Brenden to the school for a reason. Little does he realize the destiny Brenden has. Meanwhile the guard, Arneth, has been assigned to investigate the rumors about the magician Tyramin. Rumor says he is staying in the Twilight Quarter of Numis. Some rumors say he is a master illusionist, others say he is practicing real magic, something the king has forbidden outside of the school of magic. The king wants Arneth to discover the truth. In order to do that, Arneth will end up needing the Princess' help, who may herself be a magician. "
Michelle, Resident Patricia A. McKillip Scholar

Click above for the new Obama Girl Parody video!

Overall Review

Our unique search engine breaks down books and movies into dozens of literary elements, all of which are searchable.

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past
Coming of age Yes
Youngster becomes - a powerful magician
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - mage/magician
Age: - 20's-30's
Has magical/special powers? Yes
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Main Adversary
Identity: - society
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount

Setting
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a primitive/fantasy society
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog

Most similar books by Gordonator ranking
Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
A Faerie Ring by Michael Honeth
Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud
Left Horse Black by S.J. Reisner
The Aware by Glenda Larke

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

Try our new Star Wars & Star Trek puzzle pictures! Click here

Advertise with us
Feedback
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith plot spoilers
Hobbits
The politics game
The lawyer game

3 Book search options!
1) Simple lookup
(title or author)

or
2) Detailed book search
(click here) or

3) One-click plot searches! Simply click on a plot below!

Animal Story

Clones

Coming of age

Cultural problems, alien culture

Explore/1st contact/ enviro story

Family relations

GIANT monster(s)

Horror story?

Inner Struggle

Lifeform altered?

Mental/magical powers focus

Parody

Political power play

Religious overtones?

Repressive society story

Robots, Computers, VR

Romance

Spying & Investigations

Tech./$$$/Info hunt

Time Travel story?

Training/Apprent.

War or Invasion

Games:
Trivia Masters!

Rescue your favorite
scifi characters from
slavery!

Talk to your favorite
scifi characters!

Eating New Yorkers
Computer Game

Pomeranians

Most recent TV & Movie discussions:

Charmed: Is Piper really a Halliwell? 11/13/2009 11:30:45 AM

Lord of the Rings: Why would Aragorn choose pig lips Arwen Evenstar over Eowyn? 11/12/2009 6:40:39 PM

Xena: 37 reasons why Xena and Gabrielle are... you know.... 11/12/2009 7:23:13 AM

A Boy and His Dog: A Boy and His Dog 11/11/2009 11:48:16 PM

Battlestar Galactica: Was Battlestar Galactica politically conservative? 11/1/2009 9:51:45 AM

Battlestar Galactica: Why were the Cylons so slow and thinking impaired? 10/31/2009 8:36:52 PM

Blade Runner: Blade Runner 10/22/2009 2:43:11 AM

Star Trek Enterprise: Jolene Blalock on T'Pol and Star Trek Enterprise 10/19/2009 2:48:46 PM

Charmed: If Piper Halliwell gets pregnant, can Leo give her an abortion? 10/3/2009 12:29:33 PM

Star Wars: Why did stormtroopers wear armor that didn't work against blasters? 9/30/2009 9:48:47 PM

Newest slaves:
Anthony Hopkins 9:54:10 PM
Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic) 9:53:54 PM
Steven Spielberg 9:53:37 PM
Paris Hilton 9:46:24 PM
Jenny Garth (Beverly Hills 90210) 9:46:24 PM
Gene Hackman (Lex Luthor) 9:44:05 PM
George Lucas 9:43:48 PM
Denzel Washington 9:43:25 PM
John Belushi (Jake Blues Brothers) 9:42:21 PM
Joan Crawford 9:41:22 PM
All slaves
(click here)

Celebrity interviews:
President George W. Bush 6:32:00 PM
Jan-Michael Vincent 2:16:51 PM
Captain Kathryn Janeway 3:47:46 PM
Jack ONeill (Richard Dean Anderson) 1:39:22 PM
Jennifer Aniston (Friends) 5:01:07 PM
All celebrities
(click here)