A Wizard Named Nell [Paperback]

Nell is a young princess in Xandria, who is learning some witchcraft but craves more knowledge. The ante is upped when, on her birthday, a horde of evil banshees invade the castle and attack her father. The wizards fail to banish the creature, but Nell manages to. That unexpected success spurs her to ask if she can try to become the next Imperial Wizard.

Of course, her father says no; not only is she a princess, but she's a girl, and only boys can be wizards. But Nell won't be held back -- she sets out on the necessary journey, believing that she just might be the prophecied chosen one who will defeat the evil Graieconn of Darkearth, a dark lord who can't stand even a little light. But is Nell the chosen one, and can she do what all the boys who tried before her have failed in?

If you think it sounds familiar, that's because it is. Koller draws on everything from Star Wars to Harry Potter -- you have the necessary dark lord, dragons, castles, prophecies, magical wands, generic medieval civilizations, plucky princesses and pyrotechnic magic. There is not a single original element in the entire book.

Worse, it isn't even well-written. The dialogue is on par with a Saturday morning cartoon show ("Spirits of the Sacred Light! Take this darkness from our sight!"), and the descriptions are lackluster at best and wretched at worst ("Oozy things squished under her feet").

Nell is like a thousand plucky princesses that we've seen before; she really has no personality worth speaking of, and her courage and gutsiness seem two-dimensional because there is no reason for her to act as she does. Supporting characters like Minna the demidragon and her father come across as cardboard props.

Unoriginal and terribly written, "A Wizard Named Nell" only promises to get more grindingly terrible as the series progresses. Not recommended.