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It's been awhile since I've read this book and I really want to read it again. All I can remember of this book is as follows.

The kid doesn't want to be a mage/wizard.

Kids are tested to see if they have magic by being brought into a room with a bunch of mages/wizards. They turn off the lights and make a bunch of fake magic happen, like flying crystal balls and such, but off to the side, they rip a leaf off of a plant and use magic to heal it and the kid sees it, which was the real test, because only mages/wizards can see magic.

He's apprenticed to and old man who gives him a cocoon to study, to start learning magic as they travel.

He's able to conceal himself from detection, using the magic he learned from study of the cocoon.

And he heals someone important at the end while everyone around him argues. I don't know if the argument is about trusting a mage to heal them or something else, and after he heals them, he walks away.

And that's about all I can remember from it. It's been awhile.

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    Hi, welcome to the site. In roughly which year did you read this and when do you think it might've been published? Also, do you recall anything about the cover? Jan 23 at 9:08
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    I'm sorry I don't really recall any of those, I got it from the local library and when I asked about the details of my checkout list so I could reread it, after a year or so, they said I couldn't. My estimation is 6-8 years ago Jan 23 at 9:11
  • @DanteGenso I have never heard of a library not letting you see a list of books you have read. Not letting you see someone else's list, Right, not allowed. But your own list? Should be no problem. Now if you have read 400-500 books, I can see them being lazy and not wanting to print it out, or not letting you look at the screen cause its an official Librarian's Only machine. But I would ask another Librarian. If its only 1 year ago you read it, It would probably still be on the list. BUT if its been 6-8 years since you read it, they may not have saved the records going back that far.
    – NJohnny
    Jan 23 at 11:44
  • Is it possible that you're looking for en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wizard_of_Earthsea?
    – Al.G.
    Jan 23 at 12:09
  • @Al.G. Sorry its not, the boy wants to be something other than a wizard however in this book wizards are rare so all children must be tested for magic before they can choose another job he doesn't want to be one Jan 23 at 14:06

1 Answer 1

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I've found the book. It's called The Wizard Test by Hilari Bell. Thank you all for the help.

Front cover of The Wizard Test

Dayven is a watcherlad who wants to become a Guardian. He definitely does not want to become a wizard, regarding them as deceitful and disloyal. When he is sent to the wizards to take the wizard test, he hopes to fail. Instead, he finds he has a gift for magic. Dayven refuses to acknowledge his power and later his cousin Soren tells him that the Lordowner, Lord Enar, wants to see him. Lord Enar asks what he thinks about wizards and Dayven says how much he hates them. Lord Enar agrees about Dayven's opinion of wizards and asks if he wants to spy on the wizards and Dayven agrees.

....

As he becomes entrenched in the war, Dayven comes to a discomforting realization that there is no just two sides to a battle, just as there is not just black or white. He befriends a boy on the other side of the war, and during the war, he works as a healer in the surgeon's tent. In the end, when he sees his friend hurt, he heals him, at the cost of losing everything he had dreamed to be. Dayven realizes the flaws of his people. The Cenzar used to only farm three fields out of four at a time. This way the land had a full year to regain its minerals and nutrients. When the Cenzar lost their land this rule was viewed as laziness and ignored. If Dayven's people continue to have their way, they will make the land infertile and then move to somewhere new as they have done countless times before. Dayven uses spells to make sure that the Cenzar win the battle. He stays behind when his people are forced to move on.

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    Please elaborate on your answer, and why it fits. Also, you can self-accept your answer by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons, as per the tour.
    – FuzzyBoots
    Jun 26 at 14:53

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