From Amazon.com
In this friendly little fantasy, three different seekers pursue a lost dragon. And this isn’t just any dragon--her name is Wycca, and she’s a wyvern, the most catlike of the species. Wycca belongs to Gideon, a busy twelfth-century wizard. When he finds that she has wandered through a bolt-hole into the future, he sighs, packs up his magic implements and his familiars--Ignus the flame and the two-headed snake he calls Ouroboros--and steps into the mysterious opening to emerge in twenty-first century Boston. There he meets Iain Merlin O’Shea, the Wizard of Harvard Square, who takes him home and explains the magic of technology while they search for the lost wyvern. Other seekers are also abroad: Kobold, Gideon’s half-brother and arch enemy, wants to capture Wycca to turn her against her master; he has brought along an assistant demon, Febrys, who in her uncomfortable disguise as a human woman finds that cloven hooves are not compatible with high heels. Caught between these two magical forces is twelve-year-old Theodora, or Dodo, who yearns for the black wyvern card to complete her set and gain her admittance to the Wyvernkeeper’s Circle that meets in the local bookstore. To complicate matters, Wycca is with egg, and when she has nested and hatched her chick, there are two wyverns on the loose in Boston in this fast-moving tale that will entertain younger fantasy readers. (Ages 10 to 14)
--Patty Campbell
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-Wycca, a small dragon called a wyvern, is looking for the perfect place to lay her egg when she stumbles into a bolt-hole that transports her from 13th-century England to 21st-century Boston. Although she is quite unbothered by this change in locale and proceeds to lay her egg, her wizard Gideon needs to find her fast, before the evil wizard Kobold and his demon can locate her and use her against him. Meanwhile, 11-year-old Theodora, an avid fan of a game called Wizards & Wyverns, finds a magical card and unwittingly summons Wycca's hatchling, which draws all the other magical folk to her, as well. The delight of this fantasy lies in the interactions of the well-drawn characters and in the fluid, skillful writing. The attempts of Gideon and his 21st-century wizard ally, the pompous but good-hearted Professor Merlin of Harvard University, to work traditional magic using modern materials are entertaining, as is Wycca's preoccupation with obtaining chocolate, her newfound addiction. Theodora's part in the plot is a bit forced, as are some of the circumstances and characters surrounding her, and there are a great many coincidences, including a plethora of modern-day wizards who are always right where they need to be. Those quibbles aside, this is a charming fantasy that will appeal to fans of Diana Wynne Jones. An extra bonus is Rayyan's artwork that heads each chapter, depicting the wyvern egg and the hatchling that emerges from it.
Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public LibraryCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
