Nomadin by Shawn P. Cormier Search Amazon for other books by or about Shawn P. Cormier. Rating: Reviewed by: John Walsh

Ilien Woodhill is a fairly ordinary boy who happens to live with his uncle (his mother has slipped off somewhere) who happens to be a wizard and who is teaching Ilien spells, with the aid of a magical pencil. However, his life very quickly turns into a dangerous and occasionally bizarre adventure that requires him to rescue the Princess Windy while preventing the return of the dreaded necromancer to the world of Nedae. At the same time, he is engaged on a quest to discover who he himself is while trying to decide what is false and what is real. His adventure includes fierce giants, a visionary swan, extra large dogs, the hideous groll and the very sinister NiDemon.

There is scarcely a moment to pause in the runaway pace of the narrative which will be a delight to young readers and lovers of fantasy alike. It is an exciting and very fast-moving tale in the tradition of rites of passage young adult fantasy fiction.

Having said all this, there are some small problems with this book. Firstly, there are one or two too many typographical errors of the your/you're and reeked/wreaked (or, more accurately, wrought) nature. The style, which is very cinematic, could very easily be imagined as an animated feature film. Much of the occasional humour is cast at this level too, as in for example:

"He suddenly stopped and pulled out his pencil. 'Does anyone have any paper?' he asked.
Silence fell as the dogs looked at each other in disbelief. 'We're dogs,' said Breach. 'Does it look like we have any paper?'"

Some instances of anachronism and non sequiturs also occasionally grate - why is so little made by Ilien of his mother's unexplained absence when the nature of his real family is otherwise so prominent a theme? Why does it seem that deaths follow Ilien around so profusely? Is this part of the book's warning to young people that 'things are not always whgat they appear'? Nevertheless, this is a fine book and one which is warmly recommended.