A wonderful addition to the continuing Heir series by Chima, The Wizard Heir follows Seph McCauley as he tries to discover who he is. At sixteen, Seph's spent most of his life being bounced from private school to private school as his untrained magic flares out and creates disasters. Things seem to be looking up when he is sent to The Havens in Maine and it seems as if he might learn more of the wizard world. Instead his trouble is only beginning. This book can stand alone though a reader will understand the setting more if they read The Warrior Heir and find the world more comfortable.

A realistic fantasy that does not stint on showing what people will do for power and the struggles of trying to figure out who you are when your entire life has been bound up with lies. Readers who grew up on Harry Potter or enjoy him will find this series an intelligent next step as it considers what does it really mean when some people have more power than others including the power to control others. All of the characters ring true in their troubles from trying to find the courage to talk to a girl to simply trying to fit into a new school. ( )

I am perhaps prejudiced against the "misunderstood kid gets sent to a remote boarding school where it turns out there is more going on than meets the eye" genre, due to a particularly bad experience with a previous book, but the first third to half of this book while we waited for a connection with the previous book in the series, The Warrior Heir, was much less interesting to me than the second half.

Once the beloved Jack, Mr. Hastings and Aunt Linda joined the scene, I was quite pleased. This work tells of the after-effects of a modification to the magical/wizarding world governance and structure through a central character, Joseph (Seph) McCauley, who is himself a powerful, though untrained, wizard. ( )

Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com

Sixteen-year-old Seph (Joseph) McCauley is a double orphan. His parents died in a tragic accident so long ago that he doesn't remember them. (At least that's what the paperwork says; Seph's pretty sure it's fake.) Not too long ago he lost Genevieve, the woman who raised him and cared for him. Since then he's been shipped from town to town, from school to school. The only thing that stays the same is the reason he keeps having to leave. Weird things happen around Seph--birds attacking, explosions, fires--and the last time, somebody died. Seph knows that if he could find someone to train him, he could control, or harness, or even use his magic. If it doesn't happen soon, he might just self-destruct. Literally.

His latest prison is an all-boys school in the middle of nowhere on the coast of Maine. Seph expected that the other students might be a bit different from what he's used to, but these kids are beyond weird. And the teachers, well, that's a whole other thing. Wonder of all wonders, the headmaster, Gregory Leicester, is a wizard, and wants to train Seph! It seems his prayers have been answered. But something still feels - off. The way the students behave towards the headmaster, the way the other teachers treat him, the "research students" in the special dorm... Leicester seems to want more than Seph is willing to give. A battle of wills, of frightening proportion, begins. The more Leicester wants him to do something, the less Seph is willing to give in. The only answer is escape or death. But what if escape is just the beginning?

Fun, exciting, non-stop reading. I didn't let it out of my sight until I found the time to finish it. I think I may have a crush on Seph. What can I say; I like the dark, edgy guys.

There is another book written by the author that fits in the timeline before this, called THE WARRIOR HEIR. That book is not at all necessary to read first. I haven't read it yet, and I really liked this book. Although you can bet I plan on devouring that one shortly! For readers of THE WARRIOR HEIR, I believe the main character is Jack, and rest assured he plays a big part in the second half of this book. Which gives me hope that Seph might turn up again. ( )

Excellent book especially if you are into wizards and magic. ( )

Seph, short for Joseph, is used to being sent from school to school. Ever since his first guardian died, he has been having a hard time settling in. And he can't get any straight answers about his family either.

So after another tragedy, Seph is sent to a new boys' school in rural Maine. At first, he's hoping this will be the help he's been looking for, someone to train him in magic and teach him how to be a wizard. But it becomes clear very early that this school is more like a prison, and he's going to have to be very lucky to escape with his life.

This was a great followup to the exciting first book, The Warrior Heir. I liked Seph, even though he was a bit cocky, and loved his courage and resourcefulness. This is a darker type of magic, in some ways, and certainly violent. There's no question that these are some nasty folks Seph is facing. I still can't decide whether to trust some of the folks in here. Unlike most teen fantasies, I really can't tell what to expect next or how this will all turn out. I can't wait to read the next one in this series. ( )