Od Magic

by Patricia A. McKillip

Overview

Brenden Vetch has a gift. With an innate sense he cannot explain to himself or describe to others, he connects to the agricultural world, nurturing gardens to flourish and instinctively knowing the healing properties each plant and herb has to offer. But Brenden’s gift isolates him from people—and from becoming part of a community.Until the day he receives a personal invitation from the wizard Od. She needs a gardener for her school in the great city of Kelior, where every potential wizard must be trained to serve the Kingdom of Numis. For decades the rulers of Numis have controlled the school, believing they can contain the power within it—and punish any wizard who dares defy the law.But unknown to the reigning monarchy is the power possessed by the school’s new gardener—a power that even Brenden isn’t fully aware of, and which is the true reason Od recruited him...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101208403
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/07/2005
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	358 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Patricia A. McKillip is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, and the author of many fantasy novels, including The Riddlemaster of Hed trilogy, Stepping from the Shadows, and The Cygnet and the Firebird. She lives in Oregon.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“McKillip demonstrates once again her exquisite grasp of the fantasist’s craft.”—Publishers Weekly

“Lyrical prose, well-limned characterizations, vibrant action, a sense of the wonder of magic, and a generous dollop of romance . . . a story that will bind readers in its spell.”
—Booklist

“More enchantments and wonders from McKillip.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A terrific fantasy tale starring a delightful protagonist, a vile villain, and an assortment of eccentric supporting characters including the mysterious wonderful Wizard of Od. The story line grips . . . mesmerizes readers until the final spell is spun.”—Midwest Book Review

Editorial Reviews

McKillip shines in her presentation of the characters, the city of Kelior, and in her depiction of what magic really means. The varied districts of Kelior, including the mysterious Twilight Quarter, are nearly tangible, rich in sensory heft. And in her evocation of magic as a ceaseless pursuit of knowledge and art, not power, McKillip draws subtle parallels with her own mission as a writer.
— The Washington Post

Paul Di Filippo

More enchantments and wonders from McKillip (The Tower at Stony Wood, 2000, etc.), here displayed in a tale where almost everybody forlornly carries secrets and sorrows they cannot share. Brenden Vetch carries his grief like a sack of stones as he wanders far and wide, learning about plants by literally becoming them. In the snows of distant Skrygard Mountain, he comes upon a strange group of ancient, charred stumps, clearly alive and compellingly magical but impervious to his talents. Then the tall, semi-legendary, 400-year-old wizard Od tells him to go to King Galin's school of magic, where they have need of a gardener. At the school, Brenden meets unhappy teacher Yar Ayrwood, constrained by King Galin's chronic mistrust of unknown magics and unable to entirely rely on his lover, Ceta Thiel, whose cousin, the wizard Valoren Greye, enforces the king's rules. Sulys, Galin's daughter, is engaged to marry Valoren but finds he won't listen to her; Sulys works her own small magics with needle and thread, water and wax, inherited from her grandmother but not approved by the school. In the Twilight Quarter, meanwhile, the dazzling but mysterious magician Tyramin again takes up residence. Tyramin's public face is that of his beautiful daughter, Mistral, who must pretend that her own potent magic is nothing but illusion and spectacle, because it lies outside the royal purview. Od, clearly orchestrating affairs, must prompt a wholesale reorganization of events into a somewhat less melancholic configuration. McKillip's hallmarks are charm and elegance, diminished here by busy, fussy plotting, lack of suspense and little expectation that the characters might solve their problems by their ownefforts.

Kirkus Reviews

McKillip demonstrates once again her exquisite grasp of the fantasist’s craft.”—Publishers Weekly

“Lyrical prose, well-limned characterizations, vibrant action, a sense of the wonder of magic, and a generous dollop of romance . . . a story that will bind readers in its spell.”—Booklist

“More enchantments and wonders from McKillip.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A terrific fantasy tale starring a delightful protagonist, a vile villain, and an assortment of eccentric supporting characters including the mysterious wonderful Wizard of Od. The story line grips . . . mesmerizes readers until the final spell is spun.”—Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher