Kindle Edition Download to your Nook (eBook) Barnes & Noble.com Category:  Fantasy Publisher: Tor ISBN-10:  0765308592 Type: Fiction Pages: 286 Copyright: Jan 2004 ISBN-13: 9780765308597 Prequel to A School for Sorcery, this book tells the story of Trevor Blake and his best friend, Lesley Simonton, for whom the School for the Magically Gifted is named. Trevor Blake is highly gifted with magical power, but his parents have forbidden him to use that power. In the small farming community where Trevor lives with his family, the practice of magic is looked upon as dangerous and evil. But Trevor’s Uncle Matt and Aunt Ellen, gifted themselves, send Trevor to the large coastal city of Port-of-Lords, armed with letters of introduction to a Community of the Gifted where Trevor can get the training his aunt and uncle know he needs. With him goes his best friend, Les Simonton, who has been told that he, too, is gifted, but who has never discovered his gift. The two young men arrive in Port-of-Lords with high hopes, but those hopes are quickly dashed by a series of misadventures. Their rescue from one such misadventure by Veronica, an odd little woman who proves to be an Adept, plunges them into even graver peril. Though Veronica’s astounding abilities, including the power to take the form of a moth, can protect them from some dangers, ultimately they must rely on their own gifts to combat the evil forces bent on their destruction.   Excerpt In a kiosk set among trees, a woman was frying meat cakes on a griddle. The sight made Trevor’s mouth water. He spied an empty bench near the kiosk and dropped onto it. Les joined him. “What good’s this going to do?” Trevor leaned his head against the back of the bench, closed his eyes, and breathed in the aroma, trying to imagine he was eating. His stomach refused to be fooled. It needed the real thing. If he hadn’t already used so much power today . . . He opened his eyes and watched the woman in the kiosk. With a spatula she scooped a meat patty off the griddle, flipped it onto a bun, covered it with peppers and onions from a simmering pan, wrapped it in waxed paper, and handed it to a customer. Several more people waited in line. When the cook was busy making change, he focused his mind on the buns stacked on a tray beside the griddle. Tired and weak as he was, he had to strain to find the power, draw it out, and send the lines of force, wavering, uncertain, snaking toward the stack of buns. He concentrated on the usually effortless process of snagging his quarry, lifting it, reeling it back along the lines of force. Two buns flew through the air and landed in Trevor’s outstretched hands. Resisting the urge to pop one into his mouth, he opened them and watched the cook. She tossed more meat cakes onto the griddle and turned to speak to a customer. Two of the frying patties sailed through the air and landed on the open buns. “Good job!” Les exclaimed, a wide grin splitting his face. He reached for a bun. “Wait,” Trevor said, and sent his mind reaching for the peppers and onions. That trick proved his undoing. The cook turned in time to see a mess of onions and peppers lift out of the pan, dripping hot oil, andeam she swatted at the phenomenon with her spatula. The clump exploded and greasy strands of onions and peppers showered cook and customers. Only three or four strands reached their destination. Amid the confusion, one small boy retained the presence of mind to follow the flight of the garnishes. “They did it!” he shouted, pointing straight at Les and Trevor. “Look! Thieves!” In the act of taking the first bite of his meat-filled bun, Trevor found himself the focus of a crowd of hostile stares. He ate faster. The child kept shouting. “They did it. Get ’em! They stole the patty cakes!” “I think we better run for it, Les.” Trevor got the words out through a mouthful of sandwich. Les nodded, crammed more of his patty cake into his mouth, and jumped to his feet. “They’re running away! Stop them!” screeched the obnoxious boy. Jamming the rest of their food into their mouths, Les and Trevor raced toward the street. Trevor could hear their pursuers swarming behind them. A shrill whistle blasted his ear. He looked up to see ranged in front of him three police officers, billy clubs raised.

Compares favorabkly to Potter

In the village of Amesley, seventeen year old Trevor Blake has won a scholarship to the university, much to the dismay of Mistress Hanley, who believes her daughter should have won it. Trevor and his friend Les Simonton visit Trevor's uncle and the neighbors catch them practicing Magic. With a little skilled magic the neighbors forget what they saw and Trevor is forced to give up his scholarship otherwise Mistress Hanley will reveal Trevor's powers.
Trevor's uncle sponsors Trevor and Les, who is thought to have great magic, to the community in teeming metropolis of Port-of-Lords. When they get off the train they meet Carl who steals their money and letters. After they end up in jail, Trevor sends a mental call for help and Veronica answers the summons. While Les likes Veronica, Trevor only wants to meet the man who will teach him to become an Adept. However, he becomes entangled once again with Carl and a power hungry sorcerer who tries to make then his slaves. It will take a miracle to defeat the evil Carl and his master Dr. Tenney.
Comparisons between Trevor and Harry Potter are inevitable but the latter is more youthful and cocky than Master Potter is. It is Les, who will do anything to save his friends, that is the real hero because the Adepts say he has magical powers but he doesn¿t believe them. The villains are stereotypical but it is a lot of fun to hope they fail. E. Rose Sabin has targeted her work for young adult fantasy fans but anyone who likes a good tale will want to read A PERILOUS POWER.
Harriet Klausner