The Doomspell Trilogy is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Cliff McNish.
Novels
The books in this trilogy (in reading order) are:
The Doomspell
In The Doomspell, Rachel and Eric are sucked into a snow-covered world called Ithrea, by a witch called Dragwena. They meet a nice old man named Morpeth, who is over 500 years old and, like Rachel and Eric, was removed from Earth by Dragwena. Rachel is fooled into believing that she is becoming a witch by Dragwena, and her magic, trying to be helpful, tries to make her a witch. During the transformation, Dragwena lets Rachel inside her mind, giving Rachel access to the spells there. As Rachel's skills develop, she finds that she is more than a match for Dragwena. With the help of the Wizard Larpskendya, she kills Dragwena, and Larpskendya removes the spells making it snow. Morpeth then returns to Earth with Rachel and Eric.
The Scent of Magic
In The Scent of Magic, Dragwena's spirit arrives on the Witches' home world, Ool, and from it Dragwena's mother, Heebra, learns of the children Rachel and Eric. Rachel can do powerful spells and Eric can destroy spells, so Heebra sets out to destroy them and enslave all the other children on Earth. After the witches arrive, they use the children to tease and frustrate Rachel and Eric, who were previously unaware of the presence of other magical children on their home world. Calen, Dragwena's younger sister and Heebra's daughter, trains up another human girl, Heiki, to fight Rachel. Rachel meets a human baby boy named Yemi who is also very powerful. Yemi also awakens the children of earth's magic which leads to Heebra being killed.
The Wizard's Promise
In The Wizard's Promise, the previously released Gridda Witches have taken over Ool. They try to find Rachel and Eric, and use them to find the Wizards. Larpskendya's brother Serpantha unsuccessfully tries to negotiate with the Griddas, and is imprisoned and tortured to tell the Griddas where the Wizards' home world is. The spectrums, children with large ears, devoted to the protection of the children, try to work out the best strategy to save all the children. In the end, the Griddas (with the help of Eric) find the Wizards' home world, and are welcomed on to it by the original, peaceful witches.
Characters
The main characters in this trilogy are:
Rachel
Rachel is a very magically gifted child who takes it upon herself to protect the world. After being abducted by the witch Dragwena, she learns how to cast magic. Later, after returning to earth, she serves an important role in novels protecting earth from witch assaults. She decides in The Wizard's Promise to go to Ool, instead of letting the Griddas invade their planet.
Eric
Eric is extremely gifted and he is the only living person who can destroy spells. Once he has destroyed a spell, the caster of that spell has lost it for ever, and can never cast that spell again. Eric can also sense magic from far away. The Griddas find out about this power and uses him to find Orin Fen (the wizards home world). He can also take away the magic from magical beings even if they are not using it.
Morpeth
Morpeth is a man who was taken from Earth to Ithrea by Dragwena at an early age (as is everyone on Ithrea except for Dragwena). He is described as a small man (under five foot) with a flat square nose. While practicing her spells, Rachel transforms into a particle of dust and enters Morpeth's body to change him, making him taller, rejuvenating his features and giving him back the bright blue eyes and sandy hair he had as a youth. At the end of The Doomspell, he is returned to his child-form, as are the rest of the people of Ithrea. When the inhabitants of Ithrea are given the choice to return to Earth, or stay on the newly reformed Ithrea, only Morpeth chooses to return. Morpeth chooses to give up his magic, but, finding he needs it for his comfort, later asks Larpskendya to return it.