Kindle Edition Download to your Nook (eBook) Amazon Barnes & Noble.com Category:  Fantasy Publisher: Tor ISBN-10:  0763308584 Type: Fiction Pages: 288 Copyright: Jan 2005 ISBN-13: 9780763308580 Price: $7.59 (eBook) The sequel to A School for Sorcery, this book chronicles the further adventures of the major characters from School as they complete their final year of training at the Lesley Simonton School for the Magically Gifted. It has been over a  year since Gray Becq’s perilous escape from the Dire Realms. A year since a fellow student—having used his emerging powers of sorcery to league himself with dark forces—betrayed Gray. Locked him away in a world beyond time, a world of unspeakable evil and unbearable tortures. Had it not been for Tria Tesserell, and her extraordinary power, he surely would have died. Now he almost wishes he had. For no sooner has Gray readjusted himself to the familiar surroundings of the Lesley Simonton School for the Magically Gifted—and renewed his friendship with third-year student Rehanne—than a series of horrible “accidents” occur. Suspicion falls on Gray. Could he have brought a demon back with him from the Dire Realms? Impossible! And yet . . . Gray himself has doubts. Could he still be possessed? Finding the truth will require every bit of magic he can summon. And in the end, Gray will have to confront the most powerful demon he has ever faced: the demon that lies within.   Excerpt Reece’s excited description hadn’t prepared Gray for the devastation. The wooden drawers lay splintered and broken. Bottles were smashed. The room reeked of spilled astringent and after-shave lotion. Clothes were scattered across the room, ripped and shredded as though a tiger had been loose in the room. Or a panther. Lina. Her classmates said she didn’t shapechange anymore, but they could be wrong. She might have learned to be more secretive about it. Reason told Gray that Headmistress had to be informed, but a voice inside him said, Find Lina and take care of this yourself. The shards of the mug and bits of glass from broken bottles rose into the air and formed the head of a horned animal, a goatlike creature, but no goat ever conveyed such an impression of evil. Its malignant leer mocked Gray. He willed it to fall, but it hung in place until Headmistress appeared at the door. It turned slowly, faced her, and burst in a spray of glass slivers and jagged bits of china. Headmistress raised her hand, the gem of her ring facing outward. None of the sharp projectiles struck her or Reece, who stood behind her; they fell harmlessly to the floor. Gray was not so lucky. Needles of glass stabbed his face and hands. Incredible pain pierced one eye. Trickles of blood warmed his face. Headmistress strode across the wreckage, glass crunching beneath her thick-soled shoes. “Hold still,” she ordered, clasping his face between her hands. “My eye,” he screamed, letting his mouth fill with the salty taste of blood.

Delightful fantasy
After being taken by the dire women into their dimension, he was tortured and changed into a beast. Gray Becq is no longer enamored with the Lesley Simonton School for the Magically Gifted though he returns there following his summer vacation. He quickly gets into a fight with two of the people who summoned the creatures from the Dire Realms.............. Not long after somebody steals artifacts from the students and a demon enters this world. The Headmistress believes that Gray¿s return from the Dire Realm allowed the demon to enter this dimension. The concern is that they have no spell to send the demon home to the Dire Realm. The students are guarded with seemingly unbreakable spells, but someone manages to do the impossible. Everyone concludes that a killer is bringing in demons from the Dire Realm and using them to break the safety spells. Gray discovers that he hasthe power to travel through different timelines and dimensions. His former enemies join forces with him to battle their common foes and send the demons back to the hell where they belong..................... This is the final book of a delightful trilogy that ties up the loose ends from A SCHOOL FOR SORCERY and A PERILOUS POWER, which obviously means reading the previous novels first. The climax is awesome as the students put aside their jealousies to forge a team knowing this is the only chance, remote as that is, to defeat the overwhelming adversaries. Fans of Harry Potter will enjoy this fine series especially this terrific conclusion...................... Harriet Klausner