BRAN HAMBRIC

Yet another journeyman fantasy composed by a teenage author. Wavering back and forth between labored farce and conventional bildungsroman, Nation’s debut casts 14-year-old Bran as a parentless lad ignorant of his vast magical gifts being raised by the Dursleys—er, a caricatured unmagical family—who treat him like a servant. Having been attacked by a crazed stranger, followed by a mysterious black van and led to a hidden library of magic textbooks, Bran comes to realize that all is not as it seems in the magic-hating town of Dunce. As it turns out, he is a horcrux—er, repository—for the spirit of Voldemort—er, Baslyn—an incompletely dead dark magician. Though still an amateur wordsmith (“His teeth were tightened together, feeling angry and betrayed…”) the author tucks in promisingly clever touches (magical power is measured in “witts,” and weak mages are dubbed “dimwitts”) and has a knack for crafting violent, quickly paced chases and fights. He doesn’t lack for ambition either, with a soundtrack already composed and notes for five sequels in the hopper. That ambition outstrips his skill; look for better work down the line. (Fantasy. 11-13)