So this is Duane's series of short stories based on the Young Wizards universe (you can read about the first one here). And this one has a theme, is it three tellings of different characters Ordeals, or the harrowing experience/test that makes them wizards. She starts with Roshaun, then Mamvish, and finally Ronan.
Roshaun's Ordeal until now has been largely a mystery. Essentially, both of his parents are wizards and he has just about given up on becoming one himself when he is finally offered the Oath. He travels to the Crossings where he learns of another system whose star is about to go haywire and he steps in to fix it. He has a very easy time of it, then runs into the Lone Power telling him not to go home. He doesn't want to do what the Lone One says, but doesn't want to openly defy him either, so clones himself and the clone heads out into the universe to fix stars until energy runs out and he sneaks home. The price is 3 years of his life (which later ties in as his disappearance from Earth's star).
It's really cool to have Roshaun at the center of the story, but I'll be honest, he seems to have an easy time of it. He puts together one complex spell and that's it. Feels a little disappointing. I was also hoping to see Roshaun more like the one we initially meet in the series that's a little more stuck up. This Roshaun was incredibly sympathetic and caring. Which, fine, I liked the experience better, but it would have been interesting to see how his disposition changes over time.
Second story is Mamvish's, and it describes the planet of dinosaurs she grows up on. She is born and immediately wants to start putting the world to rights. The interesting thing about these dinos is that when they eat each other, they learn what the other dinosaur knew. So Mamvish eats a strong dinosaur and gets stronger, a fast one and gets faster, a wizard and starts to learn the Speech. This goes on until the Lone One backs out of her Ordeal, and she starts traveling around helping the universe.
This is fascinating because the dinosaur's way of learning is so different. Mamvish doesn't just learn their knowledge she has their voices speaking in the back of her head giving advice. Which makes for a really cool concept for a species and then for interesting narration. Most of the time Mamvish is alone so hearing about the voices in her head is pretty interesting. It also doesn't make Mamvish feel too powerful either, because you hear about her learning as she goes, and how driven she is from the beginning. She is special and selected by the Powers, but she also does put in a lot of effort to get to where she is.
Finally there's Ronan. We know a bit about his Ordeal, that he had to take in the sea to save a boat in the past, but this gets way more into the details. Ronan beats a racist kid at school and gets suspended, and while wandering around avoiding home has a vision where his best friend offers him the Oath. The next day he timeslides back to an early Irish village in the middle of a storm. First he stops the wind and saves the village, but there's also a boat in the water. So he takes in the water to be it and subdue it, and saves the boat before passing out and waking up in his own time.
Ronan's was probably my favorite, but I'm biased as he's one of my favorite characters. It seemed like it hit a good balance of showing Ronan's home life, what his Ordeal dealt with, and the obstacles he had to overcome. It also went into the impact of his Ordeal, where he starts doing better in school and the people that he saves go on to do other things. My only issue is that the racist incident at the beginning where he beats another student up smacks of white saviorism. The Black student barely gets to speak, which isn't great if you want to show a person with agency.
Finally there's a bonus story, "Owl Be Home for Christmas." It follows a little owl who makes a home in a tree that then gets cut down. She then is offered the Oath and becomes a wizard, and rallies the other owls to get her tree back (her tree is the Rockefeller Christmas tree). The NYC wizards are now grown up and get together to try and patch this so that no one notices the tree flying off, but the owl gets to keep her tree.
This one takes place in the socially distanced 2020, and the characters are adults which is really cute. Kit arrives in a suit and its revealed that Nita works in the Planetary Wizard's office now. It's a cute story, I don't have too much to say about it besides that it's enjoyable and fun to read, which is a pretty high compliment in my opinion.
All in all, I quite liked this collection and the theme it has. The first Interim Errantry was a good time with the different stories but knowing what's coming next is also really nice. I would highly recommend both of these!
