WIND TAMER

In this roughly hewn debut, a contemporary Scottish lad finds himself charged with confronting a huge magical whirlwind in order to break a centuries-old family curse. As curses go, this one seems ill-defined: When the first-born son in each generation passes his tenth birthday, a tornado rears up out of the sea and sucks out some inner quality that leaves him a gentle, slightly fuddled homebody with no stomach for any sort of travel or adventure. Thanks largely to his hysterically overprotective mother, Archie knows nothing of this until his father’s long-absent younger brother arrives to fill in the historical background; help him on the requisite Quest to recover magical tokens; and introduce the Ice Gulls, a vast army of size-changing birds who are, for unclear reasons, his allies in the coming battle. Heralded by powerful, malicious wind spirits, the storm builds to satisfyingly titanic fury, but the climax plays out in an overcomplicated, ritualistic way that never leaves the issue in any real doubt. In a truly ham-fisted aftermath, Archie’s sudden induction into a secret organization called the International Curse Exterminators opens the door to sequels. Perhaps they’ll hang together a little better. (Fantasy. 10-12)