I took a long time reading this book because the subject matter (illness and disease) upsets me quite a bit more than any of the other books in the series. I kept taking breaks because thinking about what Nita and her family go though is very upsetting to me. That said the book deals with it well and the story is interesting as always. ( )

This one I found to be a hard read, both for content, and for, "Wait, I'm not sure that follows," In a couple places. Which really boils down to, "I loved it enough to be frustrated by some very small areas," Which means I got way more invested in it than I do for most books. ( )

Would have been my favorite in the series thus far if not for the ending. I found it profoundly dissatisfying. ( )

This book may take a little longer to get into than the previous installments, but once it does, it is the same roller-coaster ride as always.

For the first time since their Ordeal, Nita and Kit have had a major fight. Unsure of how to reconcile, they drift their seperate ways for a while. And everything is just made ten times worse when Nita's family gets the news: her mother has brain cancer.

Nita's only hope seems to lie in a very difficult and technical type of wizardry that involves manipulating the "kernel" of a universe, its energy center. Only by rewiring her mother's inner "kernel" can Nita possibly save her.

While Kit tries to deal with a rapidly changing Ponch, who is developing weird powers, Nita attends a "training ground" for wizards working with "kernels." But when the Lone Power comes to her to make a deal to save her mother's life, Nita finds herself questioning everything she is as a human and a wizard. And only Kit may be able to intervene before it's too late.

Gripping, powerful, and heart-wrenching, this book tackles the big questions that haunt us all: What would you be willing to do to save the ones you love? What is it like to be losing a mother? How powerful is the love of a parent? And when everything around you is falling apart, who's going to hold you together? ( )

This one is quite depressing. ( )