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Substitute Wizard
In Substitute Wizard, Rianna Keats, an eighth grader at Keatman Academy, a school in Malibu, California, strangely assembled from the stones of a Welsh castle, monastery, and town, thinks that her substitute English teacher is a wizard. On her quest for the truth about Mr. Whirzel, Rianna must endure confusions, confrontations, the Callaways, Principal Nabal, The Long Stack, Dead Man's Sleep, the Porthstone, but none of this compares to the life and death adventure Mr. Whirzel devises on Halloween night. The question is: When the twelfth bell rings, will Rianna Keats survive?
354 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 7, 2023
This book isn't normally the genre I read, but I gave it a chance because my parents had given me a copy of it years ago as a kid and I never got around to reading it. I tried really hard to get through it, but I struggled with it for multiple reasons. I made it over halfway through when I finally decided to stop reading.
Overall, the story was hard to follow due to a lack of world building and establishing setting. A lot of the names were hard to pronounce, which typically wouldn't be an issue when reading, but there weren't a lot of descriptions about these places (and/or things?), and you had to hope you'd get an explanation of it later. The writing is very repetitive, which can be used an effective writing device at times, but I didn't feel it worked here. The premise of the story felt off from the beginning, and reading about teachers/authority figures who couldn't possibly address the horrible bullying happening to the main character were frustrating and disheartening to read.
Part of me wanted to finish reading it just to cross another book off my list, but I felt like I wasted a lot of time trying to get into something that wasn't a fit from the beginning. It's challenging to write a critique with very little positive notes, as I'm a writer myself also working on a novel and know the hard work it takes to put them together. Ultimately, the short chapter structure, lack of world building, and repetitive nature of this book made me put it down.
Overall, the story was hard to follow due to a lack of world building and establishing setting. A lot of the names were hard to pronounce, which typically wouldn't be an issue when reading, but there weren't a lot of descriptions about these places (and/or things?), and you had to hope you'd get an explanation of it later. The writing is very repetitive, which can be used an effective writing device at times, but I didn't feel it worked here. The premise of the story felt off from the beginning, and reading about teachers/authority figures who couldn't possibly address the horrible bullying happening to the main character were frustrating and disheartening to read.
Part of me wanted to finish reading it just to cross another book off my list, but I felt like I wasted a lot of time trying to get into something that wasn't a fit from the beginning. It's challenging to write a critique with very little positive notes, as I'm a writer myself also working on a novel and know the hard work it takes to put them together. Ultimately, the short chapter structure, lack of world building, and repetitive nature of this book made me put it down.
September 23, 2013
The Substitute Wizard was rather strange. I couldn't finish the book due to the fact that the plot made me feel uncomfortable. Rianna meets her English teacher whose lover is connecting to him through her? Does anyone else find that strange. Not to mention the fact that he is constantly making the other kids believe that he is in love with her. This book is not a good read. It is strange, and I have to say that I have read some strange things, but this takes the cake.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews