Sorcerers of the Nightwing: Book 1: The Ravenscliff Series

Just as it stated, this book keeps you in a zone from beginning to end. I'm not a big book fanatic. In fact I hadn't read a book in at least two years, but I loved this one. I can't wait to get my hands on part two. This book has instilled a reading bug inside of me and I don't think I want to get rid of it. It's better than TV. You get to use your imagination as to what everything looks, feels, tastes, and smells like. Out of five stars I give this book a ten. I'm gonna start reading to my son more. He's only three but I know he'll love it.

Here's a fourteen-year-old boy suddenly orphaned, beset by demons in the night and sent to live with strangers in a creaky old mansion on the New England coast. Devon March only knows loneliness and is saddled with mysterious powers he knows little about. Ravenscliff mansion, the center of gossip about supernatural happenings and Devon's new home, is set on a lofty headland on the New England coast near the town of Misery Point. There is magic about this book as the author, Geoffrey Huntington, weaves a tale of gothic suspense and mystery that hooks and holds the reader for an all too short 278 pages. This is the beginning of a series of books concerning the youthful protagonist as he searches for his identity and source of his eerie and sporadic powers. Written with an ear to youthful expression and social mores, it reads true to modern expression. Yet it captures the essence of classic gothic tales. This is a wonderful book of magic, sorcery and mystery. A start to a series that promises to be as engaging as the Harry Potter books.

A young boy with a mysterious past and strange powers, with a plucky sidekick and evil forces that want him dead. Harry Potter? Nope, it's the teenage hero of the new dark fantasy "Ravenscliff Series." Geoffrey Huntington weaves together gothic elements with an intriguingly murky plot about evil ghosts, disguised demons, and a budding sorcerer that teens will love.Devon March is not like other boys: He hears voices, can move and affect things with his mind, and the things that go bump in his closet are for real. Ever since he was little, he has been pursued by demons which his father always assured him he was stronger than them. But when his father dies, revealing that Devon is adopted, he is sent to live with the weird Muir family in their rambling seaside mansion of Ravenscliff. There is the cold Mrs. Crandall, her energetic daughter Cecily, and mischievous nephew Alexander, not to mention the creepy caretaker Simon and charming, secretive competitor Rolfe Montaigne (great name!).And Devon's problems only get worse. Demons begin to up their attacks on him and those around him, and he starts to suspect that the precocious Alexander may not be merely mischievous, or even destructive -- he may be the conduit for a vengeful presence seeking to release demons from the Hellhole. To battle the evil forces in his new home, Devon will learn his true nature as a sorcerer, and may find the keys to his past.Really good dark fantasy (or fantastic horror, or whatever) is a very rare thing because the authors usually just throw one shock after another at the readers. Huntington, on the other hand, utilizes gothic cliches (the sinister mansion with a tragic past, abandoned towers with lights, the weird caretaker) with the excellent idea of the Sorcerers of the Nightwing. Despite using a combination of stuff that could have been stupid if handled badly (demons in the closet, evil clown-face), and stuff that has been done many times before (gothic cliches), nothing Huntington does seems stale or affected. If anything, the gothic atmosphere is better because Huntington takes the old cliches and remakes them, rather than shying away from them.He also handles Devon March very well; almost all of the book is seen through Devon's eyes, and so we have a good idea of his fears and thoughts. If readers want someone deeper than Harry Potter, then Devon may be the right hero. Cecily seems like a less chattery Lloyd Alexander heroine, while Alexander reeks with innocent-faced creepiness. Readers may especially like Rolfe; at first it seems hard to tell what side he's on, but he's intriguing right from the start.His writing style is fairly descriptive, mainly when it needs to be (no intricate descriptions of pizza parlors). But when describing the grotesque and the weird, such as a maimed ghost, he doesn't try to shock us. He also has a good sense of how to build up tension and suspense with little hints of the horrific, rather than flying blood and body bits; the plot twis

Sorcerer's of the Nightwing is a captivating read, with mystery and suspense that will keep you on your toes. "The music comes from a TV set, turned to face an empty beanbag chair. It sounds like some kids show, tiny voices and the repetitive crash of the laugh track. `Alexander?' Devon repeats. `You in here?'Suddenly he feels something lunge at him, grab him around his shoulders. It's back, he thinks quickly. I was unprepared. The thing. Instinctively he summons all his power to thrust whatever's on his back clear across the room and into the far wall. It thuds hard and slides down to the floor..." Geoffrey Huntington gives us the story of Devon March. An average ordinary 14 year old, other than the fact that he can move objects with his mind and summon incredible strength. Devon March is special, continuing the three thousand year old tradition of mysticism and magic. Devon, after his father's death finds himself in the dank and dark halls of the mansion Ravenscliff, where secrets come looking for Devon. Mystery shrouds Ravenscliff when Devon meets his new family, the Muirs. The Muirs forbid Devon from discovering anything more about his past, terrified of what the knowledge might bring. Closing off the East Wing where voices beckon him toward the bolted door. Clawing and scraping can be heard, the demon's want out. Suspense builds in this masterful novel when Devon meets Alexander, the strange and precocious child. Is he but a mislead youngster or a link to the Madman? The Madman, the worst of all the demons: who now wants to open the Hellhole and release the dark creatures. Devon must fight off the demons with his pals from Misery Point High- including the charming and beautiful Cecily Crandall. He is the only one who can save Misery Point from the Madman he must plunge into the Hellhole, unaware of its true danger. "Is this the destiny he had come to find? To die in this house of secrets, to discover not his past but his fate: doomed to spend eternity as one more ghost haunting the halls of Ravenscliff..." What is Devon March's fate? Find out when you pick up Sorcerer's of the Nightwing. It's an instant classic that is sure to keep you on your toes. If you read any book this year read Sorcerers of the Nightwing.

Most caring parents tell their children that the closet contains no lurking monsters. Ted March knows they are real, demons from a hellhole demanding that six-year-old Devon to let them out. Ted tells Devon the truth that the monsters are real and that they won't get him because he's more powerful than they are. When Devon turns fourteen, his father dies and he becomes the ward of Mrs. Crandall of Ravancliff.From the time he arrives at the gothic mansion, he feels the magic there, and fights the demons that want him to open the portal that will let them roam free on Earth. Devon learns he is a Nightwing, a magical order of sorcerers who have the power to open the hellholes. He's engaged in the fight of his life with the dead master of Revancliff, who wants to reclaim his family home and the powers that lives there. If Devon doesn't prove strong enough, the demons will embark upon a reign of terror unlike any that has gone before.Fans of Harry Potter and the Narnia books are going to love SORCERERS OF THE NIGHTWING. Many of Devon's questions are resolved but there are many more that go unanswered so it seems likely that this is the start of a great new fantasy series aimed at the young adult market. The hero is very mature for his age and though he has the same problems as any adolescent boy he is further bewildered with a gift and a legacy he doesn't understand. Geoffrey Huntington is a bright new star in the fantasy genre.Harriet Klausner