Year of the Griffin

This campus novel is set in no ordinary campus although Wizard's University shares many of the problems of more familiar academic institutions: shortage of funds, lecturers who are inadequately versed in their disciplines, a head preoccupied with his own research. The opening chapter introduces the reader to six first-year students as they embark on the course which is to make them professional wizards. One is a dwarf, one a griffin and the others are human, but with superhuman powers. Despite their differences, they, like most freshers, find their lecture timetable confusing and getting to grips with the library bewildering. Most of the group have come to the University in the face of opposition from their families, and much of the plot hinges on the efforts of the families to remove the young people, employing magic of various kinds to do so. The pace of events never falters, and credibility in the magical powers of the various characters is maintained, mainly because magic is shown as something which has to be learned and controlled, and even the most powerful wizards have limitations on their magic abilities. Year of the Griffin is a wonderfully visual novel, with scenes such as the flock of griffins descending on the University courtyard almost asking to be filmed. Described as a prequel to the previously published Dark Lord of Derkholm, it is immensely readable and entertaining with some very funny passages.