Wizard
By Paula Paul
ISBN# 978-1618770714 
Author Website: http://www.paulapaul.net/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Annabell 

Synopsis:

In a world corrupted by acceptance, could you be yourself?

Meghan’s life had never been easy, either being overlooked as Merlin’s younger sister, or getting the wrong kind of attention for being different. When Merlin’s attempt to save Megahn’s life by transporting her to eleventh century Amorika, France, goes awry, she finds herself in the twenty-first century America. There, she discovers that it is all too easy to fit in with the popular crowd—if she hides who she really is. Meghan faces the choice of condoning the same oppression that she had encountered before or giving up her newly won acceptance and becoming an outcast again. She soon realizes that her decision will not only affect her life, but will determine whether a friend lives or dies to the same forces that once threatened her.

Review:

 As a HUGE lover of all things King Arthur related, which includes Merlin, I had been excited to get the chance to read Wizard. I thought it would be an interesting twist.

Meghan winds up in the face down in a duck pond in the twenty-first century thanks to Merlin’s miscalculations and from the moment the book starts, the reader is drawn in by Meghan’s sarcasm and adorable charm. She is naïve and ditzy in a cute way. Tyler and Ryan are the two other main characters. They are best friends who help Meghan adapt to the new world she’s thrown into. Tyler is a jokester, is strong and brave. Ryan is fiercely loyal, tough but sweet, and like any typical teenage boy confused about girls.

I also liked the secondary characters. Professor Kingsolver is as much in love with the myth of Merlin and King Arthur as any scholar can be and is definitely surprised when he meets Meghan. He cracked me up with his relationship with his sister Alicia, who believes she is a witch even though she never actually had any real proof. She is spunky, sassy, and speaks her mind which drives Professor Kingsolver crazy. They were entertaining.

Jason is the villain of Meghan’s tale. He is the stereotypical popular jock who runs the social scene of the school and who everyone follows, mostly out of fear. He is a bigot with a huge ego and extremely arrogant. He treats people like his personal property and discards them without apology when he’s done using them. I liked the way the author used Jason to show how fitting can come at a very high price.

The book explores not only Meghan’s disastrous attempts at magic but also the tough subjects of bullying, harassment, and hate crimes.  I liked the way the author approached  such subjects through the interactions of the characters and showed how much our words are just as powerful, if not more powerful, than a physical action against someone.

There were a few things about the book that bothered me though. Meghan is supposed to be from the 6th century but her narration comes off to much in twenty-first century vernacular. There’s also a section in chapter two where she claims not to know what the word “teenager” means but she had used it in the first chapter. I would have preferred a more formal speak as she learned to adapt to the new century she was thrown into. Meghan, although cute, was far too gullible and weak. As soon as Jason paid attention to her, she fell head over heels even though she knew Jason was nothing more than a jerk who was treating Tyler like garbage! Then later on in the story, she claims to start having feelings for Ryan, which seemed to come out of nowhere making Meghan seem shallow. There was also far too much repetition throughout the novel of how Meghan learned 21st century form of speaking and what had already happened. The story dragged because of it.

Wizard was a pretty quick and fun read though. There was a good amount of cute humor and good moral lessons to be learned. Fantasy fans will enjoy the book.