Robin Penmarch lives on the Lost Isle, which is a tiny world between the worlds - a gateway between our real world and a fantastic but dangerous magical world.

In the Lost Isle, children must become apprentices to one of the professions, and all boys - of course - dream of being "Knights of the Wind". But for Robin another destiny awaits when he permanently gives up any hope of becoming a knight so that he may train under the sorceror, Quadehar.

This is an imaginative world, and the world between worlds was appealing to me. I read The Magician's nephew as a child, and one thing I really wanted to do more of was explore that land between the worlds with all the pools in it! Here is a book where the land between worlds is central. I liked the way the characters could use computers and magic and be normal and so different all at once.

The book is intended for younger readers, and because of that the story did not excite me as much as it might have. Anyone who has read a lot of fantasy could see all the plot twists coming, and the tension could have been built more, or perhaps a dose of the dry wit of Jonathon Stroud or J K Rowling would have helped. Thus this is not a book I would recommend to adult readers unless, like me, they are voarcious children and young adult readers. On the other hand, it is perfect for its intended audience of about 9-11+ ( )

Summary: Robin Penmarch thinks he's a regular boy from The Lost Isle - a land that's held halfway between our world and the Uncertain World, where dwell dark creatures and dark magic. Robin lives with his mother - his father disappeared years ago - and he's looking forward to nothing more then spending the summer with his friends when he finds out that he has a unique aptitude for magic. He's taken under the tutelage of Quadehar, the only sorcerer in the land who dares to face The Shadow, but Robin's real test will come when one of his classmates is kidnapped, and he must face the dangers of the Uncertain World to rescue her.

Review: I read a lot of Young Adult and Mid-Grade fantasy. As such, any new entry into the genre has to have something really unique about it about it, something to really grab my attention - whether that's cool characters, an interesting setting, a unique system of magic, an unexpected plot twist, something - in order for me to regard it as anything other than a okay way to pass the time. Unfortunately, Quadehar the Sorcerer didn't have a whole lot going for it that I hadn't already seen elsewhere. It's interesting enough, and there's plenty of action and adventure to move things along quickly, but I felt like the writing skewed a little bit juvenile for my tastes, and the main "secret" of the series is obvious enough that it may as well have been dressed in flashing lights and banging a gong. Overall, it's good enough young-magician-coming-of-age fare, but "good enough" is not enough to elevate it much above "Harry-Potter-lite." 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Younger (maybe 10-12ish?) and less jaded fantasy readers will probably thoroughly enjoy the action, adventure, and magic of this book, and older readers looking for a bit of brain candy will find it suitably diverting, but it doesn't make the transition to adult readership particularly well. ( )

L'écriture est comme-ci, comme-ça. C'était un peu facile. C'était fort quand il utilise la magie et c'était faible quand rien ne se passe. C'était intéressant et long. Je le recommanderais à quelques uns de mes amis. (Savannah O.) ( )

Translated from the french this kids book is a good read with well-developed characters and left me wanting more

Robin Penmarch lives on the lost Isle, where they know about our world and about the Uncertain World but try to keep away from both.

Magic works in this world and Robin finds that he has skills in this area. When his school bully is kidnapped mistakenly for him, he feels he needs to rescue her. ( )