SOLVED. Middle Reader Fantasy. Everyone has a special power except the protagonist, but it turns out he's just late blooming and has the special-est power of all. Read 1979-1984. [s]

[Craig]

As I remember it, in this book kids all develop a special power as they grow up. There's a limited list of powers, but everyone gets one. The protagonist doesn't though and as time goes on he feels he's a failure. But eventually he does develop a power that hasn't been seen for generations, and it's the powerful-est of powers, and (I think) there's a rule that the more powerful the power the later it develops, but people had forgotten that.

I think he uses this power to Save the World. I also vaguely remember that he befriends a member of another race -- in my mind it's some sort of lizard-like race, that lives in volcanoes, and are discriminated against, but that could be way off. And that he and his friend save the world together, which leads to a detente between humans and the lizard-volcano-creatures.

I probably read this sometime between 1979 and 1984, but it was from the library so may have been published significantly earlier.

[Chloe3]

Pretty sure it’s Slan. Loved this book.

[SamSpayedPI]

Slan for (maybe) Chloe3's link.

[Craig]

An interesting thougt!, but I don't think it's Slan -- from the description it sounds like the protagonist of that book is part of the despised race, but in this book it's the friend who is. Also, I don't remember there being a big city like Centropolis, or science inventions of any sort; it was definitely more fantasy than sci fi.

[Craig]

Another thought: maybe the lizard-creatures lived in pools of water, not volcanoes. And they were the ultimate inspiration for Jar-Jar Binks. :-P

[Craig]

(Bumping.)

[Robert]

Power of Three, by Diana Wynne Jones?

"This is the story of Ayna and Ceri, who both had Gifts, and of Gair, who thought he was ordinary. Gair spent his time gazing out onto the Moor and brooding. Ayna could answer questions about the future, Ceri could find things which were lost. Gair seems to have no Gift and knew he was a disappointment to his jovial, heroic father – who is Chief. Perhaps his feelings of not fitting in was what made him so curious about these other different sorts of beings who lived on the Moor – the Giants and the Dorig. Certainly it was because he believed he was ordinary that he did his best to become wise, and to learn as much as he could abou the three great Powers of Sun, Moon and Earth. And when the crisis came, Gair found the knowledge he had gained was to help save not only his own life but those of all his people."

[Craig]

That sounds very promising! I'll have to re-read it and see if it matches.

[Kris]

Here's the Google Books preview of Power of Three by Diana Wynne Jones - Robert's suggestion:

https://books.google.com/books?id=HvW... There are different cover images.

Wikipedia's plot summary - with Spoilers - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_o...

[Craig]

OK, I (re-)read the book, and we have a winner!

It's interesting how much my memory was wrong in almost every particular. I don't know where I got the "the stronger the talent the later it develops" thing from -- presumably a different book.

But it says something this book stuck with me all these years!