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Posted:
Sep 1, 2010
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Enchanted Glass

Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Published: April 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books
332 pages (hardcover)

If it isn’t obvious by now, I am a huge, huge Diana Wynne Jones fan. I mean, she brought us Howl. And Chrestomanci.  So I was extremely happy to have been able to find myself a copy of her latest work, Enchanted Glass.

The story begins with Andrew, a thirty year old scholar with a doctorate (that causes everyone to mistake him for a university professor) who inherits his magician grandfather’s house and lands after his death, with the expectation that Andrew will watch over the ‘field-of-care’. As Andrew settles into his new home and becomes accustomed to the house’s two bossy, fussy servants (Mr Stock the gardener and Mrs Stock the housekeeper, both of no relation to each other), a mysterious boy pops up at the house one day in need for a place to stay. His name is Aidan, and he had run away from his foster family because he was being pursued by some shadowy Stalkers. Andrew decides to let him stay because he feels a strong connection with him. When Andrew and Aidan take a walk around the ‘field-of-care’ Andrew has inherited, they discover that Andrew’s neighbour Mr Brown is slowly trying to take over his lands!

I am extremely sad to say that this book kind of disappointed me. It did not seem as magical or humorous as her past works have been. Maybe I’ve come to expect too much amazing-ness from Jones, I don’t know. I feel kind of let down. While the characters are likeable enough, the story is none too engaging. In fact, it was confusing. “Field-of-care” was a term tossed around a lot without any explanation as to what it was (I am still on the assumption it’s a plot of land). The whole situation with “counterparts” or dopplegangers of characters was not explained; I didn’t know why there were dopplegangers of characters and what purpose they served. I didn’t understand where Shakespeares’ Midsummer’s Night’s Dream characters figured in this. King Oberon is the one hunting down Aidan and that is why he is constantly sending the Puck around to find Aidan but I just didn’t … understand. I was expecting some sort of parallel to the Shakespearean play perhaps, but it seems like they were chosen at random to cameo in this unrelated story or something.

As for the “enchanted glass” of the title, it seems to play a big and small part at the exact same time. It is often mentioned as mysterious glass that no one knows anything about throughout the story, and only at the very end does Andrew realize the bigger role the glass plays. Yet after that realization, it goes back to being rarely mentioned. The ending of the novel also felt unimportant and glanced over. I am not particularly fond of endings where it all ends with, “Oops, made a mistake. Guess all that was for nothing!”

It’s not a bad book, but if you’ve read previous works by Diana Wynne Jones, this one may be a let down. It certainly felt that way for me. She has a way of being mysterious in her writing and not plainly explaining everything, leaving it up to the reader to decipher the story themselves, which is actually normally okay and works great with her other books, but with this particular story, it just didn’t work out that way. The magical element in this story was minute and it was just altogether unimpressive. Her stories like Howl’s Moving Castle or The Lives of Christopher Chant remain strong in my memory after reading them; this one, I can see myself forgetting all about it in a few days.

Side note: While most sites ’round the web still classify this novel as a children’s book, my local library has this shelved in the Young Adults section. I imagine it’s because there’s an inappropriate word in there (“bitch”), which I was kind of surprised to see.

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Posted:
May 22, 2010
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The Pinhoe Egg

Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Published: October 2006
Publisher: Greenwillow
Series: Chrestomanci series #6
515 pages (hardcover)

Summary: Marianne Pinhoe’s family are all witches who frequently misuse magic and as a result, try to keep their magic a secret in order to prevent the Chrestomanci from meddling in their affairs. This proves to be difficult lately as the Pinhoe Gammer — head of their family — has spontaneously gone crazy and started a magic war with the Farleighs, another clan of witches that misuse magic and are trying to avoid the Chrestomanci. With this magic war going on, it will be hard to keep their magic misuse under wraps for long, especially when Cat finds an egg in the Pinhoe’s attic that may prove to be their biggest secret of all.

My Thoughts: I’m so happy to finally read another Chrestomanci book where Chrestomanci and Cat are prominent characters in it! Chrestomanci! Chrestomanci!

This is, overall, a very fun book to read. Looking back at the ratings I gave to the last two Chrestomanci-related books I read, I was very relieved to finally encounter the kind of Chrestomanci book I expect from the series. I have my issues with the book (I always have issues with every book, haha) and in this book, my problem was that it took a very long time until I had an idea of what the conflict in the novel is supposed to revolve around. I mean, the object of the title — the egg — didn’t even show up until halfway through the book! But despite the slow-moving plot, the story isn’t sluggish. It is very entertaining and humorous throughout, for me, one of her most funny works, and, personally, just being able to read about my favourite characters again kept me entranced. Of course, there are also lots of new characters, and Chrestomanci characters always have a way of being very memorable, and I have a suspicion that Marianne and Joe will be in future Chrestomanci novels to come; I have a strong hunch that Marianne will be Cat’s wife someday too, heh. They have that same sort of friendship that Chrestomanci/Christopher and Millie had in The Lives of Christopher Chant, and lo and behold, they ended up getting married.

The only ridiculous thing is that unicorns and griffins can talk. Like, English. That’s too weird, even for me.

But regardless, great book! It has me hungering for more Chrestomanci!

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Posted:
May 15, 2010
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Mixed Magics

Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Published: 2000
Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s Books
Series: Chrestomanci (companion book)
171 pages (paperback)

Summary: Mixed Magics is a collection of four short stories that happen in the worlds of Chrestomanci. Warlock At The Wheel is about a warlock who commits crime as his way of life, but ends up with more than he bargained for when he steals a car that has a little girl and a dog in the backseat. Stealer of Souls involves an evil enchanter trying to become the Chrestomanci himself by going through time and taking the lives of previous nine-life enchanters. Carol Oneir’s Hundredth Dream is about a little girl who bottles her dreams and sells them for a living (as if they are movies) but recently cannot dream anymore; and The Sage of Theare is about a world of gods that try to alter a prophecy, and it is up to Chrestomanci to set things right in their world.

My Thoughts: I was browsing through the bookstore and saw this book in the bargain section; of course I had to buy it because it’s a Chrestomanci book! The four short stories have little to do with one another as they all take place in different worlds, but they all involve the Chrestomanci (as in Christopher Chant, although Cat does make a few appearances, and so does Tonino from Magicians of Caprona).

None of the stories particularly stood out for me, but they were all enjoyable to read. If I was to pick a favourite out of them all, I think it would be Stealer of Souls because Cat, Tonino and Chrestomanci (and his family) have the largest roles in that one; in the other stories, Chrestomanci is often an extremely minor character. It’s nice to read about familiar characters and that story, in a way, is like telling me what they are up to lately, so that is why that one is my favourite. The rest of the stories are full of Jones’ signature humour, and enjoyable, but personally, I don’t feel there’s anything special about any of the stories. I wouldn’t say they lack heart, but they seem to lack that Chrestomanci story charm. The last one in particular, The Sage of Theare, was my least favourite. It took place in a world that was never introduced before, and Chrestomanci and Cat pretty much only had one sentence devoted to them, so I didn’t feel like I was reading a Chrestomanci story really.

I’m sure every reader will have different opinions on the different stories, as some of the stories are better than others, but which ones depend on your own taste. This is a fun little book that you can finish in two or three hours (or more, depending on your speed of reading, but hey, it’s barely 200 pages and it’s big font). It’s really something you’d only read if you’re a fan of the Chrestomanci series; I can’t imagine a person who doesn’t know anything about the series picking this up randomly, because the only reason this book interested ME was because I knew it was part of the series. Anyway, it was an enjoyable book, not the best thing ever, but it was certainly alright.

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Posted:
Mar 10, 2010
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The Magicians of Caprona

The Magicians of CapronaAuthor: Diana Wynne Jones
Published: 1980
Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s Books
Series: Chrestomanci #2
268 pages (paperback)

Summary: In an alternate world, Italy was never united as one country and cities such as Florence, Venice and Caprona still exist as city-states. The Montanas and Petrocchis are well-respected families in the city-state of Caprona, for their spell-making abilities. Unfortunately, due to the Montanas and Petrocchis bitter rivalry (which is not unlike Romeo and Juliet) and their refusal to work together, the city of Caprona is slowly losing their virtue and power, which it desperately needs at this time because Venice, Pisa and Florence are planning to wage war against Caprona.

My Thoughts: I love the Chrestomanci series, but unfortunately, I had a rather difficult time engrossing myself with this book. The story and plot is straightforward enough, but I still found it confusing because of the enormous cast of characters, which made it difficult to remember who’s who, and I had trouble understanding the concept of singing-magic in this book. Also, Chrestomanci was more of a cameo in this story than a central figure as he is in the other books in the series, which is another reason why this book did not captivate me as much as it could have, especially since I read it with the expectation of seeing more of Chrestomanci/Christopher. While it’s by no means terrible, this is a book I could easily put down. Some parts of it were fun, but there was an equal number of parts that were rather boring to me. All in all, The Magicians of Caprona did not live up to the rest of the Chrestomanci series, and was a bit of a disappointment.

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Posted:
Feb 7, 2010
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Conrad’s Fate

Conrad's FateAuthor: Diana Wynne Jones
Published: 2005
Series: Chrestomanci #5
Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s Books
348 pages (paperback)

Summary: Conrad is a young boy living in Stallery, a small town, who is looking forward to starting high school with his friends. However, before he is able to, he receives shocking news from his uncle: Conrad is covered with Bad Karma because someone he was supposed to kill in his last life, he let go, and that person was reborn and living in Stallery Mansion. If Conrad doesn’t kill this person in this life, Conrad will die by the end of the year. Conrad’s uncle sends him on a mission to Stallery Mansion, posing as a servant-in-training, to finish the job he didn’t finish in his last life, and to get rid of his Bad Karma. At the mansion, it turns out Conrad is not the only one there on a secret mission; so is his fellow servant-in-training, Christopher …

My Thoughts: Another book dealing with the Chrestomanci world, and honestly, I can’t get enough of it! This time around, it’s a bit different because the world is not the usual one with Chrestomanci castle, it takes place in Series 7 rather than Series 12. In any case, I was very excited to be reacquainted with Christopher. I’ve met him as an adult, and I’ve met him as a child, so it was very exciting to be able to meet him as a teenager. And he never disappoints with his flourishing, extravagant manners and style.

However, this book centers around Conrad, who has a very interesting story himself. This is the first Chrestomanci book I’ve read where the narrative was in first person (Conrad’s perspective), so I was able to have access to all of Conrad’s thoughts. He kind of reminds me of Cat from Charmed Life — poor guy doesn’t have a clue about what’s happening around him, he just kind of goes with it. He’s a funny guy though, and I love his commentary on what he thinks of Christopher, hahaha.

This is a very fun book to read, and very humorous. This is definitely an adventure type book, what with both Conrad and Christopher going on their individual quests, which, to their surprise, entwines with one another. The author is so brilliant with her creativity, I really liked the idea of ‘pulling the possibilities’. When someone ‘pulls the possibilities’, changes happen to the world, great or small. For example, all the postboxes in Stallery are red. Someone pulled the possibilities and suddenly they are all blue! It was really fun to read about these changes. This is most definitely a very memorable book.

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Posted:
Jan 15, 2010
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Castle In The Air

Castle In The AirAuthor: Diana Wynne Jones
Published: 1990
Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s Books
Series: Castle series #2
285 pages (paperback)

Synopsis: Abdullah is a carpet merchant from the southern country of Zanzib, and since he has a rather dull life, being harassed by his relations to get a few wives, Abdullah spends a lot of time daydreaming about himself being a prince that was kidnapped when he was younger and falling in love with a beautiful princess. One day, a mysterious stranger sells him a magic flying carpet, and after buying it, Abdullah falls asleep on the carpet, only to wake up in the garden of the wealthy sultan. He meets the royal princess, Flower-In-The-Night and falls in love with her, and she with him. The two decide to elope, but before they can, an evil Djinn appears and kidnaps her! Worse still, the Sultan thinks Abdullah is the actual kidnapper. And to top it all off, somehow, all of Abdullah’s wildest daydreams are literally coming true!

My Thoughts: Again, this book is part of a series that can be read in any order since the books do well as stand-alone novels too, but you definitely get a better experience if you read them in order. Anyway, I personally really enjoyed this book, another funny and magical adventure! It’s reminiscent of the story of Aladdin, with the magic flying carpet and genies in a bottle. And geez, the way everyone talks in Zanzib is so ridiculously polite, it’s hilarious! I know some people may not find the romance between Flower-In-The-Night and Abdullah realistic (they just BAM! suddenly fell in love at first sight), but keep in mind this is a book aiming for a fairy tale style, targeted to children. I think it’s allowed to do things like that ;)

There were a few things that rubbed me the wrong way though. When Abdullah ends up in the castle in the sky, his role in the story was suddenly minimized too, and that kind of bothered me. He’s supposed to be the main character, but once Sophie entered the picture, she took over. Not that I wasn’t happy to see Sophie (and Howl and Calcifer, for that matter) but Abdullah is supposed to be the main character! Lastly, the ending tied up everything too neatly for my liking. I’m not fond of endings where everything just so coincidentally and conveniently falls into place, but like I mentioned before, it’s a children’s book that’s sort of fairy-tale-ish, so I can understand that.

Ah, but don’t be put off by my complaints, they are not big deals, and this really is a fun book to read if you’re into fantasy aimed for the 9-12 year olds (which, obviously, I am!) I was super happy to reunite with Sophie, Howl and Calcifer. They were in the whole novel, but you don’t see/find them until near the very end, which in turn, gives this re-reading value because now when you re-read it, you know a lot more and might pay attention more to the finer details ;)

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