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Buying books via our Amazon.com links helps support The Cauldron. Book Review: L.O.S.T. (Diadem: Worlds of Magic #5)
Author: Debbie Federici and Susan Vaught Trade Paperback, 326 pages Publisher: Llewellyn Publication date: 2004 Ages: Young Adult List: US$9.95, C$13.50 ISBN: 0738705616 Price & More Info: Click Here	How often do you meet the hero of a book who tells you right off the bat that he has ADHD, and who started his (unplanned) adventures without his medication, but with a full bladder? The story is told, alternately, by Brenden (Bren) and Jasmina (Jazz). He is a soon-to-be high school senior. She is Queen of all the Witches (let's not get into that discussion. This is a novel, after all). This is not a story about Wicca. This Witchcraft if not the reality we have all encountered, but rather the Witchcraft of ages past. Live Oak Springs Township (the "L.O.S.T." of the title) is, like a magic circle, a place which is not a place and a time outside of normal time. It is a place where all is not as it seems, and which figures prominently only in the beginning and the ending of the story. Jasmina Corey (now, where have I heard the name "Corey" before in reference to Witchcraft?) is the descendant of a powerful Witch couple. Her father is dead, her mother is missing. Although this is purely a fantasy work, she is aware of and abides by (most of the time) the Wiccan Rede. If you have read the Diana Tregarde novels by Mercedes Lackey, you may have a feeling for what this novel is like. Bren is a young man who starts off not believing in anything except the concrete realities of the day-to-day world. His ADHD provides him with a convenient excuse for not being able to do magic, when he is exposed to the idea that magic is real. As he spends time with Jazz he finds his magical abilities expanding, even though he conceals this information from her (for reasons he can't even explain to himself). Jazz is frustrated through his, apparent, lack of progress in learning magic. She has her own set of issues, many of which she refuses to face. She is frustrated by the level of responsibility which is hers by right of birth. This book ends with a bittersweet taste, unlike many books aimed at this age group. Brenden must make uncomfortable choices, and Jazz must learn what it is to lose, and by losing - win. I doubt if this is the start of a series, it is pretty neatly tied up at the end, although I could see ways for it to be expanded for another couple of books, at least. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. Reviewed by Mike Gleason