Deep Secret

Publishers Weekly

Told from the perspective of Rupert Venables, a Magid from planet Earth who keeps the "Multiverse" in balance, Diana Wynne Jones's Deep Secret (1997) follows Rupert's efforts to find his own replacement after his mentor dies and Rupert moves up to take his place. "What might first be perceived simply as mere embellishment and rich detailing prove to be adroitly handled story elements of an intricate plot," wrote PW.

KLIATT

Rupert Venebles is a Magid, one who steers people and events in the correct order for the good of all. Magic is used, of course, but on Earth it is concealed because no one believes in it. Rupert's mentor is dead and Rupert must choose someone to mentor, to keep the number of Magids constant and in balance. Maree, who seems most suitable, is too weird a female for Rupert to want to choose. Another candidate, from Croatia, is too damaged by war to be of any help, not to mention that he considers it his job to wipe out any "witches." In order for Rupert to select from all his candidates, he decides to get them all together at a science fiction convention. While he is trying to figure all the people out, a crisis of terrible proportions happens on the planet; the Emperor has been murdered. Rupert must also help to figure out who the next heir is to rule the planet. This is a complex, well-written book with many characters, and keeping track of all of them and the places to which they belong requires good reading skills. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 1997, Tor, Starscape, 375p.,
— Stacey Conrad

As the junior member of the society of magids (or mages) who oversee the affairs of the Multiverse, Rupert Venables assumes the task of finding a replacement for his dead mentor while simultaneously trying to locate the unknown heir of the decadent Empire of Korfyros. Both tasks come together during an sf convention in Britain, with wildly unexpected complications for Rupert and his fellow magids. The author of A Sudden Wild Magic (Morrow, 1992; Avon, 1994. reprint) displays a marked talent for lighthearted, engagingly written fantasy filled with tongue-in-cheek dialog and intriguing characters. A good selection for fantasy and YA collections.

Deep Secret ...is a thoroughly involving book. Jones is one of those natural storytellers: her books compel reading. The characters are real, and very likable. The plot is exciting, and resolved logically.
— SF Site

Belated US appearance for this 1997 fantasy from the England resident author of A Sudden Wild Magic (1992). Jones's "Multiverse" has a magical dimension running from Ayewards, where magic is accepted and practiced, to Naywards, where few believe in it and even fewer use it. Traditionally, Earth's junior Magid keeps an eye on the Koyrfonic Empire, but when his boss dies, Rupert Venables succeeds him and must select his own replacement from a list provided by Them Up There. The candidates prove remarkably difficult to round up, never mind to interview. Meanwhile, an assassin's bomb takes out Koyrfon's thornbush-worshiping Emperor Timos IX; worse, the dismally paranoid Timos has hidden the location and identity of his heirs under a code word, Babylon, that only the reclusive centaur Knarros might elucidate. On Earth, Rupert locates one candidate, the bag-lady look-alike Maree Mallory; they loathe one another immediately. So he magically arranges to draw the other candidates together at PhantasmaCon, a fantasy convention being held in England at the apparently multidimensional Babylon Hotel. Somehow, Maree gets tangled up in the spell too, along with her weird cousin Nick. Rupert locates Knarros, but the centaur's soon murdered along with several of the emperor's offspring in an attack mounted from Earth by Nick's ghastly mother Janine. Then White, Janine's black-magician associate, zaps Maree, a potential Magid—she's not so bad, Rupert decides. To save her, Rupert must open a Deep Secret magical candle-lit road to Babylon. But is Nick really Koyrfon's heir? And what of Rupert's mysterious Viking–look-alike neighbor, not to mention the music-loving ghost in his car?