A PLAGUE OF SORCERERS

The weather's gone oddly awry; Aunt Merovice has been cursed in a sorcerous duel; an oily foreign visitor is slipping around offering bribes to all and sundry; and now a mysterious plague is felling the city's magic workers—what's a poor apprentice magician to do? Jermyn has plenty of talent but can't always control it, especially when he also has to cope with his familiar, Delia, an affectionate but overprotective skunk. Fortunately, Eschar, the great Theoretician, has promised to help, and in Eschar's pretty ward Meggan O'Loughlin Jermyn finds another ally—or does he? This well-wrought fantasy features several engaging characters (especially Delia); logically developed, clearly described rules of both light and dark magic; and a plot that hangs together, twisting cleverly at the climax. (Fiction. 11-15)