The Magician of Hoad

Heriot Tarbas was born with a gift. Visions wake him in the middle of the night, and others' thoughts invade his head. Heriot's mind already feels torn apart when the King of Hoad decides to tear him away from his family.

Heriot quickly discovers that life in the royal court is much more difficult and complex than life on the farm. Being at the beck and call of a King who expects him to read friends' and foes' minds alike is no small challenge, but neither is being caught in a power struggle among three princes and an intimidating Hero of Hoad.

As Heriot hones his skills and grows into the role of the Magician of Hoad, the number of people he can trust becomes smaller. Loneliness threatens to engulf him until a chance encounter brings a street urchin named Cayley into his life. Heriot feels inexplicably drawn to Cayley, someone he sees so much of himself in, yet at times feels like he does not understand at all. But even amidst the turmoil, Heriot is certain that his ever-developing power is the key to his destiny...if only he could figure out exactly what that destiny is supposed to be.

Award-winning author Margaret Mahy conjures a faraway, majestic land where truth is an illusion, freedom is a battle, and pure magic may be the only saving grace.

Where will your destiny lead you?

For as long as he can remember, Heriot Tarbas has been plagued with fits, headaches, dreams, and nightmares that make him feel as if a part of his very self is being torn away. His visions are only whispered about in his quiet life on the family farm. But when the King of Hoad hears word of his powers and seeks him out to be a member of the royal court, it becomes clear that Heriot has a gift, and a valuable one. While Heriot unwillingly learns to use his mind-reading and other abilities to serve the king as his most trusted advisor, four remarkably different lives—that of a Hero, a Magician, a noble girl, and a Prince—weave their way, for better or for worse, toward his. When their paths finally converge in the midst of political upheaval, hand-to-hand battles, and burgeoning romances, Heriot must decide how he’ll choose to use his magic—and what his destiny will be.

With a complex cast of characters set against a majestic land, award-winning author Margaret Mahy weaves her magic in a fantastical tale exploring the meaning of truth, freedom, and loyalty to one’s greater destiny.

Publishers Weekly

Hans Christian Andersen Award–winner Mahy serves up a highly successful fantasy concerning Heriot Tarbas, a young man subject to fits and prophetic dreams, who believed that “something ravenous was feeding on him and tearing him into two.” Heriot is soon sent to the capitol to become the Magician of Hoad, serving the king by reading the minds of courtiers and diplomats and creating magical entertainments. He must also deal with the treachery of Carlyon, the Hero of Hoad (the king’s ceremonial co-ruler); the eccentricities of the king’s three sons, two of whom may be mad and one of whom is in love; and his own growing attachment to Cayley, a feisty gutter rat of uncertain parentage and gender. Mahy (Maddigan’s Fantasia) is a master at creating odd but compelling characters and Heriot makes a fine, somewhat fey protagonist. Although Hoad is a fairly generic medieval kingdom, Heriot’s magic owes as much to the logic of dreams and surrealism as it does to the traditions of Tolkien and genre fantasy. This is a lovely tale that should thoroughly please the author’s many readers. Ages 14–up. (Nov.)

Margaret Mahy has lived in New Zealand her entire life. A former children’s librarian, she decided to become a full-time writer in 1980. From picture books to YA novels, the age groups for which she writes vary as much as the characters in her stories. She won the British Library Association’s Carnegie medal for The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance. She has also written such books as Alchemy and Maddigan’s Fantasia. An author whose books have received many accolades and praise around the world, Mahy was awarded the Order of New Zealand, the highest honor a citizen of that country can receive, and in 2006 she was announced the winner of the International Board on Books for Young People’s Hans Christian Andersen Award, given to a living author whose works have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature.