Product Description
Mr. Chesney operates Pilgrim Parties, a tour group that takes paying participants into an outer realm where the inhabitants play frightening and foreboding roles. The time has come to end the staged madness . . . but can it really be stopped? Master storyteller Diana Wynne Jones serves up twists and turns, introduces Querida, Derk, Blade, and Shona and a remarkable cast of wizards, soldiers, kings, dragons, and griffins, and mixes in a lively dash of humor. With all the ingredients of high fantasy, this unforgettable novel will delight fans old and new.Amazon.com Review
If, next door to our ordinary world, there existed a world full of magic,wouldn't you want to visit it? That's the situation that Diana Wynne Jonesexplores in Dark Lord of Derkholm, and she makes an effective andcomical tale of it.

Groups of tourists, called Pilgrim Parties and organized by thecold-hearted profiteer Mr. Chesney, take a portal to the magical realm,where they are shepherded about the countryside by a wizard guide.Mr.Chesney sets the rules, such as that all wizard guides must have long white beards--even14-year-old Blade--and every Party gets to "slay" the Dark Lord.No wizardwants to be chosen as the year's Dark Lord, because Mr. Chesney demandslarge battles that cause great devastation in the local villages andfarms, and he doesn't pay very well, but he does have a captive demon toenforce his will.This year, things are going especially badly for thechosen Dark Lord, Derk.He can't seem to keep his evil forces on the right track,despite help from his son Blade, his daughter Shona the bard, and hisgriffin sons and daughters.His chief aide, Barnabas, is drinking heavilyand muddling his spells.And the dwarfs are taking their baskets of goldas tribute to the one they say is the real Dark Lord--Mr. Chesney.

Jones spoofs many of the trappings of fantasy epics, while at the same timeportraying a family, with its surface squabbles and underlying love,through a rollicking and somewhat unwieldy story.Her messages aboutexploitationand responsibility come through clearly.Although not as tightly focusedas some of her earlier novels, the galloping pace makes Dark Lord ofDerkholm a quick, fun read for her numerous fans. --Blaise Selby ... Read more

Customer Reviews (63)

A very funny spoof
Dark Lord of Derkholm is a very, very funny book--providing you're familiar with the genre and tropes it's satirizing.While it's geared for the YA market, I wouldn't recommend it for the 12-and-under set--not because it's too violent or too complicated, but because it's much funnier if you're old enough to enjoy the older characters--Derk, Querida--see just how well Wynne Jones depicts sulking teenagers, be they human or griffin--and have had enough lit classes to recognize how Wynne Jones plays with various literary conventions--deus ex machina will never be quite the same.

The basic set-up is a what if.As in what if you really could visit a world like the ones in epic fantasy books with wizards, elves, dragons, griffins and an evil dark lord in need of overthrowing?Better yet, what if you could go on a quest to overthrow aforesaid dark lord?Wynne Jones takes this premise and then takes it further--what if that "quest" was a tour and the various wizards, dragons, etc. were rather normal people in their magical ways, but being forced to create these quests every year, despite the economic, environmental and social havoc they wreak on this fantasy world?

From the premise, Wynne Jones' imagination runs rampant--a hybrid human/griffin family, a lisping winged horse--even a pretty neat and politically pointed plot turn.

What the book doesn't have, by the way, is a gang rape.Yeesh, you really have to be reading into things to get that out of the scene.It's clearly an attack, but it's also clear that things were stopped.Which, of course, is a riff on the imperiled heroine trope, though in this case instead of rescuing the heroine from, the heroine's rescued by the . . .nah, you should just read it.

When they say "12+," they are NOT kidding.
Please do not get the wrong idea.When the description of this book says ages ten and up, it means that that you can enjoy this book at any age.Jones is particualrly good at putting the realism back in fantasy.Horses are HORSES, not automatons, and likely to bolt, for example.And the realism makes the magic more believable as well.

In addition, the narrative voice is always spot-on.Blade narrates like the teenager he is, while Derk sounds like a "nutty proffessor" and father at the end of his enchanted rope.

If you are a fan of TVTropes.org, you will understand what I mean when I say that there is a truely beautiful Thirty Xanatos Pileup contained herein.
Go on.Enjoy!

Not her best
I really enjoy most of DWJ's books, but this one didn't strike the right note for me.I didn't like the rape scene, which other reviewers have mentioned- it wasn't necessary to the plot, and the whole "instant cure" aftermath felt like it was inappropriately downplaying a serious matter. Also, it seemed like some other wrongs were done that were forgiven awfully quickly, like what Querida did to Derk and Mara.And, I didn't like Derk promising Pretty to the elven prince- it made Pretty (a winged horse)seem a slave or chattel which doesn't really suit Derk or the general humorous nature of the book.I don't mind DWJ's multitude of characters or twisting plotlines- in fact, I enjoy them- but this one wasn't my favorite because too many elements made me wince.I prefer Dogsbody, Archer's Goon, and the Chrestomanci books, as well as a few titles that I can't remember at the moment.

Oh - WE are the bad guys!!
This wonderfully well-told story is an outrageous spoof on several levels. Repeatedly, we see just what our own society would look like, paraded past in little touristy groups on another planet. And it is NOT admirable!! The pettiness, the spoiled and overly-indulgent expectations, the parochial righteousness, and, most of all, the GREED, are paraded in front of our noses. And yet, it is all rather gently done, and very, very funny!

Along with the incongruity of real and amazing magic being used to produce cheap tourist thrills, this book's charm lies in the dynamics and interactions of a large family, and the quirky couple at its head. As is always the way with Diana Wynne Jones' work, the heart of the book is the characters. And the Wizard Derk (a.k.a. the Dark Lord of Derkholm)is at the center of this tale. Derk is a bit silly, and his magic centers on life, and animals. His creations, Friendly Cows and Flying Pigs, and so on, are friendly, beautiful, living magic. He is a perfect foil for the evil lead, Mr. Chesney, who is a cold and demanding businessman.

I have read and enjoyed the majority of Diana Wynne Jones' books. This story, however, along with "Year of the Griffin", which is set in the same world, with many of the same characters, are favorites that I have read and re-read. They are complex enough to hold up to many re-reads, and always satisfying.

Something Very Different
How's this for a plot?There's a fantasy realm where parties of tourists arrive from our world, transported by demons, on a regular schedule each year.The tourists all wants to have the full fantasy experience, featuring attacks by bandits, major battles, and a climactic showdown with a Dark Lord in his fortress of doom.Sounds good, but how does it feel if you're a native who has to put up with this stuff?Would you want to turn you farmhouse into a fortress of doom or send your wife to become the seductive sorceress?

Such are the questions posed in "Dark Lord of Derkholm".What really makes this book special, however, is the amazing amount of material that gets piled on without overbalancing the book.To the contrary, in fact, everything works together to make this novel quite an experience.Wizard Derk, who gets chosen by an oracle to play the role of Dark Lord, is more than your ordinary wizard.He has seven children, of whom five are griffins, not to mention a talking winged horse, intelligent geese, and a great deal more.Each of the children gets a distinct and convincing personality, as does the vast number of minor characters.

On top of that, however, there's a plot, and it's a doozy.In the process of turning his valley into a desolate realm, Derk gets injured by a rogue dragon and his children have to take over.The sidekick wizard is a drunkard who disappears whenever he's needed.Dwarves are hauling around loads of treasure for some unknown purpose.The pretend dark elf has something up his sleeve.The population of ten supposedly sacked cities has gone missing.The world's magic is mysteriously eroding.And more.And Jones juggles all of this with aplomb, making it seem easy.Even the ending does not disappoint.
... Read more

Product Description
"You are now a discard. We have no further use for you in play. You are free to walk the Bounds, but it will be against the rules for you to enter play in any world. If you succeed in returning Home, then you may enter play again in the normal manner."When Jamie unwittingly discovers the scary, dark-cloaked Them playing games with human's lives, he is cast out to the boundaries of the worlds. Only then does he discover that there are a vast number of parallel worlds, all linked by the bounds, and these sinister creatures are using them all as a massive gamesboard.Clinging to Their promise that if he can get Home he is free, he becomes the unwilling Random Factor in an endless game of chance.Irresistible Diana Wynne Jones fantasy adventure, featuring an insect-loving shapeshifter, an apprentice demon hunter and a whole host of exotic characters clinging to the hope that one day they will return Home. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

from [...]
I have a very high opinion of Diana Wynne Jones because of her self-evident awesomeness as a writer. Most of the books I have read by her also feature awesome heroines in the role of protagonist and/or narrator. The Homeward Bounders does not. However, in the spirit of promoting well-rounded reading and since Jones is already a perennial CLW favorite, I present my first Chick Lit Wednesday review with a hero instead of a heroine as the main character.

"Have you ever heard of the Flying Dutchman? No? Nor of the Wandering
Jew? Well, it doesn't matter. I'll tell you about them in the right
place; and about Helen and Joris, Adam and Konstam, and Vanessa, the
sister Adam wanted to sell as a slave. They were all Homeward Bounders
like me. And I'll tell you about Them too, who made us that way."

The Homeward Bounders is the rare type of book where the first paragraph shown above tells readers everything they can expect from it. For those who would like further elaboration, though, I offer my own summary.

The first twelve years of Jamie's life were pretty great. Unfortunately it goes downhill after some badly timed exploring when Jamie finds himself in a mysterious garden that seems to have passed notice by his entire city. Inside the garden, in a building hidden from prying eyes, mysterious hooded figures lurk playing a strange game with the entire world as their game board.

Seeing Them at play, Jamie is discarded as a random factor left to wander the Bounds lest he corrupt the games' integrity. His only hope is to find his own world at which time Jamie can "reenter play" and get back to the life and family he left behind.

Unfortunately, getting Home isn't quite as easy as Jamie as thought. Drifting from world to world, it seems impossible to find the right one. (If this premise sounds at all like the 1990s TV show Sliders that's because it is. Written in 1981, I have a strong suspicion that the show's creators were familiar with this title.) Eventually, despite his literal detachment from any world he lands on, Jamie does find some allies. Along with Helen and Joris, children lost like him yet at the same time, nothing like children from Jamie's Home, Jamie sets out to stop Them once and for all so that perhaps, he and the rest of the Homeward Bounders can finally rest.

The premise of The Homeward Bounders was interesting to read. It was impressive when I realized the the opening so neatly outlined the ensuing plot. That said, the book never grabbed my full attention the way other books so often do. While Jamie is extremely likable and clever, his first-person narration always felt like it was at a distance, which in a way is fair since the entire story is set up as a dictation. Toward the halfway point, my interest began to lag in direct proportion to the diminished action.

It's a strange comparison, but this novel reads very similarly to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, like that Old English classics The Homeward Bounders is fundamentally an exercise in story telling. Jamie is telling readers his story, when he meets new allies he shares his story, they in turn explain their own path to becoming Homeward Bounders. While the story is dramatic, it is not action packed. The ending is also not all rosy greetings and victory parades.

On the other hand, Jones presents here a strong, literary fantasy novel with a great boy as the main character. An excellent choice for any students looking for suitable independent reading books in school.

Not Free SF Reader
Strange, supernatural game playing beings are at the heart of this book.They like to play games on a very large scale, as in planet to planet, and are not particularly nice.

A young boy gets involved, and is made into one of the participants.He meets others, and they decide to do something about it, as well as running into the Flying Dutchman, the Wandering Jew and Prometheus.

Great other-worldly story...
I discovered this book a few years ago after my mom took me to a book store, and told me to get some books. It follows a twelve year old boy as he travels through other worlds in hopes of someday making it back home. The characters are great, and the plot is even better. I love how Diana Wynne Jones describes the other worlds/dimensions. It is a thought provoking book. the only problemi have with it is that at some points it's hard to follow, and it starts out a bit slow. Other than that, this book is fantastic and has become one of my favorites.

A great read, lots of mythology
This is probably my favorite of Diana Wynne Jones' books, since her humor in the others can grate on me. The main character seems (to me)to be a fairly normal kid one or two centuries ago. (Of course, I'm an expert on neither normal kids nor that time period, so maybe I'm wrong.) That never gets too jarring; he adapts pretty well to almsot everything.

Concept

They (the villains of the book are refered to as Them, always in italics and capitals) are ancient and thouroghly weird demons playing continual games with entire worlds for their boards. People are their playing peices. However, if one of the "pieces" sees Them (not everyone can)They banish that person to another world. HTe person must switch worlds every time the Them playing that world make a move, so that they cannot make any changes to "play". If they get Home, to their own world, they can stop, but no one ever gets Home. Besides, time flows differently for Homward Bounders (world travlers)than for their worlds. A year passes for Jamie, but a century passes for his world. I was strongly reminded of Rip Van Winkle, and I wondered if Jones was thinking of that story, too.

The main characters (Jamie, Helen, and Joris, mostly Jamie) are all new Homeward Bounders. They haven't been away from Home long, and are still both fiercely angry at Them and hopeful to get home. Older Homeward Bounders have given up.
Jamie is fairly ordinary for his time period in England, but Helen and Joris are both really weird. Other Homeward Bounders are taken from mythology: Ahasuarus (the Wandering Jew) and the Flying Dutchman.

Other Characters:

Helen (proper name: Haras-uquara) is wacky. She comes from a world which is really nasty. Everyone there steals from everyone else, except the House of Uquar, where she grows up. (Uquar is their name for Prometheus, who taught them about Them before he was chained.) She has an odd ability to change one of her arms into anything she can think of- an elephant's trunk, or a Living Blade to fight Them with. (The living blade was the idea of Konstam, who will be mentioned with Joris. It is a weapon against demons.) Helen loves creepy things, like bones and rats and bugs. WHich is fun and wacky, espessially in a girl. She isn't the sort of nice and pretty girl in most stories- in fact she never shows her face unless to look at a rat or bug, prefering for some reason to keep it covered with her hair. She isn't a quantifiable character. I like her.

Joris is also significantly weird, but nto as fun. He is a slave and an apprentice demon hunter (until his eighteenth birthday, when his master will free him but he will stay a demon hunter). He is obsesssed with said master, Konstam Khan, one of a huge family of demon hunters led by a woman named Elsa Khan, who don't hold with slavery adn were somewhat ticked off at Konstam for having a slave. It can get to be a bit annoying (to Jamie and Helen more than to the reader) the way Joris keeps talking about Konstam, but it's not too big a thing. And both Joris and Konstam turn out to be useful in getting rid of THem.

Okay. The story is darker than most of Diana Jones' books; the characters are pretty ambivilent and flawed. The ending isn't really happily ever after for Jamie, because (in order to keep Them, once expelled from teh worlds, from coming back) Jamie must travel between worlds forever. He'll be able to visit his friends, but each time he'll be the same age, and they'll be older.He comes up with it himself, but it's not an easy ending. It's necessery, but I wish there was another way. Endings like that are good; they are realer somehow.

But it doesn't end badly. Prometheus is freed and can go home; the other Homeward Bounders can go home, if only to die. Which, for soem of them, would probably be a relief. Helen goes back to fix her world, which was so nasty in part because of Their games. It'll be hard work for her, but you get the impression she'll have fun. She claims she will, anyway.

I like this book a lot, and i appologize if my review was scattery.

Mythic collage and literary merit
A well-crafted book like this has literary merit long before most YA fiction was considered to be of much merit at all. The mythic background of this book is tremendously evocative to me. A former reviewer mentioned the Christ symbolism of one of the characters - this is simply false - the chained up nameless character is Prometheus, the bringer of fire to humanity.

Reflecting in the mood of the multiverse an odd and endearing British Empire view of the universe, the tropes of the "bounds", the conspiratorial THEM, the mythic depths, and the presence of a cosmic game, combined with the sombre mood of the plot - all of these give this book great merit as one of DWJ's strongest works.

You could say it's a collage of myths - that can be a good or a bad thing depending on whether like myself you have fallen in love with the mythic elements. I have read this book countless times since I was very small and still enjoy it, so this is my cheerful recommendation. ... Read more

Product Description
In a world of magic,
one man takes charge.

Dapper, debonair, and wise, the great enchanter Chrestomanci keeps his world's magic from getting out of control. In these dazzling Stories, no matter what the magical problem, Chrestomanci is in the thick of things.

Customer Reviews (9)

Three of the four stories are good
This book contains four stories about Chrestomanci. The first one is a bit disapointing as it doesn't contain Chrestomanci at all.
The seccond conatins Cat.
The third has Christopher as Chrestomanci
The fourth is the best in my opion.
I really enjoyed these stories. I would have liked them more if it was about Christopher Chant.

Very good, but i expected better.
This book, though one of the best I have ever read, was a huge disappointment to me. The plots were not a gripping as other books Diana Wynne Jones has written. The wonderful unexpected endings, and plot twists in most of her other books simply are not there. I also think that the characters are much harder to relate to. All of the stories would have been better if they were developed more. I would recommend not spending money on this book and buying "The Chronicles of Chrestomanci- Volume 1," or "The Chronicles of Chrestomanci- Volume 2." Unlike this one, these books are better the second, third, or forth time. If your library has this book, don't spend the money. If not, it is good enough to buy just to read once.

Mixed Magics
These four tales are in the exact same style as Diana Wynne Jones' earlier Chrestomanci novels. They are light, funny, and have interesting plot twists. Like The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 1 and 2, this book contains stories about the castle in which the mighty sorcerer Chrestomanci lives. This books contains four short stories; Warlock at the Wheel, Stealer of Souls, Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream, and The Sage of Theare. If you haven't already read the Chronicles of Chrestomanci I would suggest that you do that before reading this book because the stories go in chronological order.

Warlock at the Wheel is a story about a warlock. This is the shortest story in the book. For a reason not disclosed on the book, Chrestomanci has taken away his magic and he is "forced" to take to a life of crime. Unfortunately he is not very good at this and ends up getting the police after him. To escape the police he turns to a French wizard and sends him into an alternate world where he still has magic. This is the story of how he makes his life in this world. Chrestomanci himself doesn't actually show up in this story, but his man does and Chrestomanci is mentioned many a time.

Stealer of Souls is the longest, and in my opinion, the best of the four. It brings back Cat whom we met in Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 2. This story is about an evil magician called Master Spiderman. Master Spiderman is trying to steal the lives from all past and future Chrestomanci so that he can become more powerful than the current Chrestomanci. Chrestomanci himself plays a role in this story, but it is a small role.

Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream is about a girl named Carol Oneir. Carol is a girl who can control what she dreams about, and those dreams can them be saved for others to dream. This is a big business, and has made Carol and her family quite rich. Because of this Carol is quite snooty and looks down on other children. In this story Carol lays down to have her hundredth dream, and nothing happens. Her mom instantly rushes her off to see all kinds of specialists. No one can figure out the problem until her dad asks Chrestomanci to take a look. Chrestomanci is, of course, able to find out what is wrong. This is the story of what went wrong with Carol's dream and of how she learns (in a small way) to be a better person.

The last story in this book is called The Sage of Theare. This story is about the city of Theare with all of its neat orderly gods, and the prophecy that states, "It is written that a Sage shall be born who shall question everything. His questions shall bring down the exquisite order of Heaven and cast all the gods into disorder." This is the story of how the gods try to prevent the prophecy from happening and the resulting conflict.

All in all I gave this book four stars because of its wonderful style of writing and original plots.In my mind it doesn't deserve five stars because in most of the book it lacks a certain something that may or may not be charm.

Loggie-log-log-log

Mixed Magics
This is the best book on earth!I have really enjoyed the four different stories, especially the one about Chrestomaci and Cat.I would heartily recommend this book!

After Reading the Chrestomanci books...
This is rather a let down.The stories aren't nearly as detailed, and I didn't find myself caring what happened to the characters at all.Compared to the other books in the series, this is terrible. ... Read more

Product Description
Both a hilarious send-up of the clich s of the genre and an indispensable guide for writers, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland has been impossible to find for years.This is Diana Wynne Jones at her very best: incisive, funny, and wildly imaginative.

This is the definitive edition of The Tough Guide, featuring a new map, an entirely new design, and additional material written for it by Diana Wynne Jones.Amazon.com Review
Suffering from a bit of deja vu after reading your umpteenth fantasytrilogy?Seen too many magic swords, musical elves and warring wizards? Then you're ready for the funniest and most complete "tourist's" guide toFantasyland's standard character types, plot elements, and settings everdevised.

Diana Wynne Jones describes (starting, of course, with a map) everysword-and-sorcery cliché in wickedly accurate detail, arrangedalphabetically. Elves sing in beautiful, unearthly voices about how muchbetter things used to be.Swords with Runes may kill dragons or demons,or have powers like storm-raising, but they are not much use when you're attackedby bandits. You can only have an Axe if you're a Northern Barbarian, aDwarf, or a Blacksmith.Jones also tackles hard-hitting questions: how doesFantasyland's ecology work when there are few or no bacteria and insectsand vast tracts of magically irradiated wastelands? Why doesn't the economycollapse when pirates and bandits are so active and there is no perceptibleindustry?

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland(U.K. Edition) was a 1997 Hugo andWorld Fantasy Award nominee.It's a good companion to Jones's Dark Lord of Derkholm,afantasy about what happens when your land is turned into a theme park forquesting tourist parties. Fans of Terry Pratchett'sDiscworld books will enjoy both. --Nona Vero ... Read more

Customer Reviews (48)

Too much cliché, not enough funny
I like well written fantasy, and I loves me some biting comedy.I had very high hopes for 'The Tough Guide' as I figured it would scratch both itches, giving me a chance to cleanse the ol' literary palate before I moved on to a different genre.

Sadly, I discovered that the wit was alltogether few and far between.Yes, the book does go on about various clichés that show up in a goodly portion of fantasy literature; the only problem with this is it was like having someone point to the screen during a showing of an Indiana Jones movie and tell you about the various pulp clichés - you either already know about them and thus just want the person to shut up so you can watch the movie, or you don't care in which case you just want the person to shut up so you can watch the movie.

There were a couple of caustic bits that did have me giggle; three of them, now that I think about it.

Funny books really need to be funnier than that.

Very silly and not very funny.Don't waste your time.
Everything this book tries to do has been done better in the Shrek movies.This book tries to be cute by poking fun at the common clichés encountered in fantasy stories.It ends up sounding tedious and is not very comical.Save yourself some time and rent Shrek.The movie succeeds in poking fun at every fantasy genre there is, where this book fails to come through for the reader.

A great and fun book
A great read for would be fantasy writers.Some parts are little... short and seem to be lacking.Overall, its afun read but I wouldn't read all of it, just what applies to you.

wryly funny, not laugh-out-loud funny
I found this in the bargain bin for just two dollars.At first I passed over it, thinking it was a guide to some video game or novel sequence I had never heard of.[Note to publisher:you should take note of that.I can't be the only one whose eyes flew right past it for that reason.Perhaps re-market it as "Jones's Guide to Fantasy"?]

It's a tongue-in-cheek glossary of all the ridiculous cliches, stereotypes, and well-worn tropes one meets with again and again in fantasy novels.As it says in the beginning, "Imagine that every single fantasy novel featuring kings, dragons, questa, and magic takes place in the same country.That country is called Fantasyland."Many of the ideas here, though, are also met with in video games, graphic novels, and movies, of course.

The whole thing is a dictionary.I think you're just supposed to dip into it, but I read it straight through.I know it was meant to be a send-up of well-trodden fantasy devices, but danged if after reading it I didn't have a hankering to read a few.

I will forget about most of this book soon enough, I think (except a few points, such as how fantasy characters never seem to wear socks).But if you're a writer of fantasy, you'll definitely want this on your shelf, a vital reference tool for ensuring your work is not hackneyed and corny.

If reissued, I wish the writer would undo all that stuff about OMT and all the cross-referencing.It sure interfered with the book's readability.

First published 1996.

Hilariously Addictive
I love Diana Wynne Jones, and dabble in writing fantasy stories. When I heard about this book, I immediately had to have it, and as soon as the opportunity presented itself, bought it.

It is great. I haven't finished it yet, but I am going through it cover to cover, reading every entry. I often find myself chuckling over passages and my roommate probably thinks I am crazy because of it.

This book is a great compilation of many different issues apparent in most fantasy books. So far my favorite entries have to be on the ecology and animal life ect. of Fantasyland. They are all well thought out, and presented in a funny way.

One thing I feel it is necessary to point out just in case people don't realize it, just because a book you are reading/writing has a few, or several, of these in it, does not mean it is a horrible book. Cliches can be useful, and there is nothing wrong with including a few in a book. However, if you find that most everything is used in the book, that's where you might need to rethink it.

Yet Diana Wynne Jones used most in her book Dark Lord of Derkholm, but that's more for comedy purposes and satire, so it fits.

I highly recommend this book to any fan or writer of fantasy. It is great, and anyone with a sense of humor and the ability to laugh at their fandoms will love it. ... Read more

Product Description

Young merchant Abdullah leads a humble life. Or he did until a stranger sold him a threadbare—and disagreeable—magic carpet. Now Abdullah is caught in the middle of his grand daydreams. Waking one night in a luxurious garden, he meets and falls instantly in love with the beautiful and clever Flower-in-the-Night. But a wicked djinn sweeps the princess away right before Abdullah's eyes, leaving the young man no choice but to follow. This is no ordinary quest, however, for Flower-in-the-Night isn't all the djinn has stolen. Abdullah will have the so-called help of the cantankerous carpet, a cranky genie in a bottle, a dishonest soldier, and a very opinionated black cat. Will this motley crew be able to find the djinn's mysterious dwelling and rescue a castle full of princesses?

Customer Reviews (57)

If only she hadn't tried to shoehorn the Howl's characters in...(Minor Spoilers)
This is a great book, right up until the Big Reveal, at which time several characters of this story are revealed to be various characters from "Howl's Moving Castle" in disguise.Now, I've read this book many times, and it always jars me.This most recent reading, I read it, then read it again immediately while the big reveal info was still fresh in my head.It really makes no sense in the early story to have these characters turn out to be Howl, Calcifer, etc.Justification is given during the big scene, but while it provides enough of a suspension-of-disbelief to get to the end of the book (and I surmise many readers will be happy to find these characters recurring), it really is no justification at all.It feels like perhaps the publisher said "wow, HMC is doing so well at the box office, you should write a sequel" and DWJ took this cheap tactic to do so.(But of course this book was published before the movie.So I know that can't be why she did it.)That's why I took off a star.Without this scramble at the end, "Castle in the Air" would have been a really high-class book!

Which brings me to another point."Howl's Moving Castle" was (obviously) FULL of Howl himself.Both of the so-called sequels are full of Howl, but in twee and weak ways where he is not really himself.I wonder whether DWJ was annoyed at Howl's meteoric rise to anime hottie, and decided to downplay him in the sequels.Beats me, but I feel like she continues to give Chrestomanci good treatment in his books, but has downgraded Howl to a goofy supporting character when he appears.

Very enjoyable but NOT a sequel
In this book Diana Wynne Jones does Aladdin with a twist. (Young carpet merchant comes across a flying carpet and gets embroiled in an adventure involving genies, villains and princesses.) However, if you go into it expecting it to be a sequel for Howl's Moving Castle (which the book claims to be) you will be greatly disappointed. Do yourself a favor and just read the book on it's own and be surprised by the small cameos from Sophie and Howl.

I listened to this as an audiobook. The reader, Jenny Sterlin does an amazing job! She manages to make Abdullah's flowery language sound amusing rather than annoying and keeps the listener engaged and excited. Out of all of Jones's books, I found his on to be the easiest to sink into.

Restored my faith in Diana Wynne Jones
This is the "sequel" to Howl's Moving Castle, though the characters from the first book don't appear until pretty close to the end (there is a third book that's apparently a sequel in the more traditional sense).

I'd heard from a lot of people that Castle in the Air wasn't as good as Howl's Moving Castle, but I actually enjoyed it more. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this book renewed my faith in Diana Wynne Jones. She was one of my favourite authors as a child, but recent attempts to read her books had left me a bit disappointed. Conrad's Fate, The Game, and even the popular Howl's Moving Castle left me feeling that something was somehow missing, and even a reread of my old favourite The Lives of Christopher Chant couldn't recapture the magic. I'm not sure what changed here--possibly just the fact that I read it in pieces on the subway rather than going straight through--but I came away very satisfied.

Castle in the Air is reminiscent of Aladdin, which is a good thing in my eyes. Abdullah starts out as a carpet merchant in a crowded bazaar and goes through plenty of adventures with a wish-granting genie in a bottle and a magic carpet, all in pursuit of the Sultan's daughter. There are bandits in the desert and evil djinns and all that good Arabian Nights stuff. The best part, though, is that the author doesn't take these themes (or herself) too seriously; she sometimes plays up the familiar concepts to the point of the ridiculous, and I found myself laughing on more than one occasion. If you like the Arabian Nights or DWJ's other work, I would definitely recommend this one.

Need Tea Reviews
Castle in the Air is the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. That being said I picked this up with trepidation because I was rather disappointed the book wasn't going to be from the main characters in the first, nor would it have a direct focus on it. But they do occur later on.

That being said, I loved this book! I loved how she managed to turn this into another one of her witty, light-hearted, but not lacking in depth, fantasy tales. It was unique, original, and if I hadn't read spoilers beforehand I would have been quite shocked at the twist at the end. It was quite ingenious how she managed to trick us throughout the whole book. Her descriptions and writing were fabulous as always, and she never manages to fall into the cliché.

Definitely a wonderful book. Even if the summary doesn't sound as engaging as the first novel, give it a chance because it's an excellent read that will more than satisfy you at the end.

Enjoyable
I read Howls' Moving Castle because I loved the movie.I enjoyed the book so much I wanted to continue with Castle in the Air.I did have a hard time getting through the first chapter or two.I kept asking myself, "Where's Howl, Sophie, Calcifer?"But, once I let go I really enjoyed the story.I thought it was creative and pulled together really well in the end.It brought a smile to my face.If you are looking for a story that continues with Howl, you'll be dissapointed.But, if you want to read a good story that has a little bit of your favorite characters from Howl's Moving Castle, this is a winner. ... Read more

Product Description

In the multiple parallel universes of the Twelve Related Worlds, only an enchanter with nine lives is powerful enough to control the rampant misuse of magic—and to hold the title Chrestomanci. . . .

Customer Reviews (9)

The best of English Fantasy
Diana Wynne Jones is a marvel.Over and over again she produces truly creative stories - not rehashed themes or over wordy sensationalism, but imaginative, delightful tales.She writes mostly for young adults, but the quality of her writing is such that any age can enjoy the books.
The Chrestomanci books are among her best. Weaving around a central theme and character, she gives us a series of stories about an England that might have been, and people you wish you could meet.
She has many equally marvelous (pun intended) books for older teens, and one for adults.
Once you have met the talent of Ms. Jones, you will not stop until you have read all her books, and will eagerly await her next!

Very enjoyable for kids and adults.
I enjoyed this third book quite a bit.I found it very entertaining, and at the same time it has some very meaninful life learnings.Both stories were easy to read and kept you wanting to read more.Recommended for everyone.

Good buy
Overall this book, containing two seperate Chrestomanci titles, is a great buy. I enjoyed the Pinhoe Egg very much - it had all of the Diana Wynne Jones traits that I like. She has such great character development and build-up, if anything, her endings seem a little rushed and just slightly anticlimatic. She just does such a wonderful job building up to the end, that it's hard to top it.

Conrad's Fate was interesting and I really liked being able to see that time in the Chrestomanci world from another character's perspective, but it was slightly lacking. What, I'm not sure, but her books I've noticed seem to do that from time to time. She will have absolutely amazing stories and then other ones that don't quite draw me in the way some of them do. It could just be my personal taste, but I don't know.

Overall, I'd buy it again. For 6.99 (or even 7.99 as I've seen it some places) that's a great price for 2 complete books, especially when Conrad's Fate first came out I think that cost $11 or so by itself.

Great fantasy reading for kids
This is among her best.I liked it better than the first two volumes - less dark in some way and the action moves along better.The second, tho, the Pinhoe Egg story, takes about six and a half chapters to start to get interesting.It starts out pretty dull and you have to hang in there because then it gets really good and carries you along with some fast, fun action, making the kids be heroes, of course!

A very good book
Reviewed by Casey Holt (age 14) for Reader Views (7/08)

"The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume III" is a very good book. It is actually two books in one! They are set in a magical world, where there is only one person who can control all of that magic -- and that is the Chrestomanci.

In "Conrad's Fate," Christopher Chant (who is to become the next Chrestomanci) goes to find his enchantress friend "Millie" who has run away from boarding school because it was such an awful school, but by doing so, got herself caught up in all the different possibilities and is getting pulled around different worlds! He takes a job as an improver at Stallery, an old and mysterious mansion, to try and find her. He makes friends with a boy who thinks he has terrible karma, only to find out that it was all an evil plan because of greed.

"The Pinhoe Egg" was also a very good story, about witches and 9-lived enchanters, and many other of the sort. It also involves an old woman who has lost her mind growing herself to her bed, because she doesn't want to move.

I highly recommend "The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume III" by Diana Wynne Jones.
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Product Description
Strange and awful things keep happening in Cranbury. The men appear to be zombies. The children are like clones of one another. Mig's brother, Chris, has disappeared. Could civilized Aunt Maria have anything to do with this? A brilliant, gripping--and funny--story from the author of The Ogre Downstairs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Aunt Maria - Very different from later works by Diana
This story was very well written and engaging, however, I didn't care for the story line, or for most of the characters.If Diana Wynne Jones name hadn't been on the cover, I never would've picked her as the author.Not like the Chrestomanci books, or Time city, or Dogsbody, or Hexwood at all.I found the story scary and foreboding for most of the book.It seemed impossible for the female protagonist to suceed with the whole town against her.I disliked the fact that the town was matriarchal to the extreme.The opression was overwhelming - the protagonist felt so helpless all the time. I took exception to the negative way men were portrayed. The only character I really liked was the female protagonist's brother.The female protagonist really didn't do anything to actively make things better until the end, she just went along with things and complained about it in her journal.She tried, but was ineffective until the very end.The ending was good (it was a "happy ending"), and was somewhat redemptive, but overall I found this to be a depressing book.If you like mysteries, you might like this book.Every single character seemed to have some odd personality quirk.The characters were very well fleshed and seemed like real people to me.Perhaps the book reminded me too much of how people can be in real life, and how helpless children really are when no one listens to them, and that's why I didn't like it much.

Auntie dearest
Everyone has one -- an older relative who disapproves of you unless you do what she wishes, and isn't nearly as nice as she pretends to be.

But "Aunt Maria" turns out to be even worse than your average relative, in this engaging, humourous and chilling fantasy novel. Diana Wynne-Jones spins a fantastical story of witchcraft and revenge, all centering on the elderly lady who sweetly lords it over Cranbury-on-Sea.

After her father is apparently killed in a car accident, Mig and her family go to stay with Aunt Maria, mainly because her mother feels guilty. Aunt Maria is very prim and very sweet, and makes a point of guilting people into doing what she wants. Life revolves around Aunt Maria's tea parties, and the men and children act like automatons.

Mig and her brother Chris hate it there, despite the sad ghost who appears in Chris's room. But they start to suspect that magic may be at work, and that Aunt Maria may be at the center of it. When Chris annoys her, she transforms him into a wolf. Now Mig must uncover a magical plot that stretches back over the decades -- and is the key to dethroning Aunt Maria.

It's hard enough to deal with such elderly, sickly-sweet relatives if they are normal. Imagine if they are cold-hearted witches, who turn their own daughters into wolves. And if Diana Wynne-Jones was trying to make people feel lucky for not having an Aunt Maria, then she succeeds beautifully.

Jones paints a chilling picture of Cranbury -- sort of a "Stepford Wives" situation, except it's Stepford Husbands and Kids, all slaves to the stifling sweetness of Aunt Maria. The one weak spot is the ending -- it's not a terribly bad ending, but it is kind of weak, especially compared to the quiet menace of the past several chapters.

Mig is a likable character, although her rebellious brother Chris comes across as the more engaging of the main characters, and readers might want to kick her meek, submissive mother. Aunt Maria is the most frighteningly real, from her outdated opinions to her pushy sweetness; she's horrified at girls wearing pants, eating fish'n'chips for dinner, and favors boys over girls. Even worse, she genuinely believes that she is a wonderful person.

Take the most irritating old lady imaginable... and give her evil magic powers. That's the chilling picture painted in "Aunt Maria," which will make readers intensely grateful that they aren't Chris and Mig.

Wrestled it away from my kid...
This is my first Wynne Jones book.I'm addicted!I have to say, it was scary - Aunt Maria and her cronies have power and use it to control others - manipulating lives, turning children into wolves, burying people alive.It's the stuff my childhood nightmares were made of.

Still, I couldn't put it down.I love her writing style, the symbolism involved (keeping adults entertained), and her blending of right and wrong - leaving us questioning.(I love gray areas!)Many of us are aware of our society being unbalanced now, and this book portrays a community that is tipped in the other direction.

From a parental point of view, Mig (the heroine) is a strong female character, the sibling relationship is honestly portrayed and healthy, and I like a book that makes kids question the world around them.(even the adults)I'm off to find more of Wynne Jones' books!

a little scary for the younger set
Mig and Chris are 2 of the main characters in the story.Their father has disappeared and they go to live with their Aunt Maria in rabury on Sea.Their mother keeps the house for her and takes care of Aunt Maria.Mig and Chris start to see lots of strange things going on around them.What children they see seem like zombies and they see a ghost too.Could Aunt Maria be at the bottom of all these happenings?

"I Do Apologise! This is *Brought Cake*!"
Diana Wynne Jones once again combines eccentric characters, moral ambiguity, magic, time travelling, shapeshifting and an uncanny ability to portray human behaviour in one of her best books: "Aunt Maria". With all the twists and turns that we expect from Wynne Jones, "Aunt Maria" is one of the most re-readable and enjoyable books in her vast collection.

After the accidental death of their father, Naomi "Mig" and Chris Laker are reluctantly taken to Cranbury-on-Sea by their mother to visit Aunt Maria. Maria appears to be a cuddly old lady (though is constantly ringing up and meddling in their lives), but once they get to their house the siblings find that she is much worse. Behind her compliments and manners is an old lady determined to get her own way - for instance, when she says "I won't bother with breakfast, now Lavinia's not here to bring it to me in bed," she means: "I demand breakfast in bed."

Cranbury itself is just as bad: the women flock around Maria in daily tea-parties like she's their Queen-bee, whilst the men work like zombies and the clone-like children spend their days in an orphanage. Enigmas pile up on all sides: who is the ghost haunting Chris's room? What happened to the previous maid Lavinia? Why does Maria despise the elderly Phelp neighbours? What is contained within the beautiful green box Mig finds? And could it be possible that the children's father actually reached Cranbury on the day he supposedly died?

All the answers to these mysteries are brought together beautifully as the book progresses - but not before Mig must deal with the battle of the sexes in the town, the fact that her brother has been turned into a wolf, the mind-manipulation being dealt upon her mother, and Maria's own sinister designs for her! For such a slim volume it is jam-packed full of interesting ideas, plot revelations and clever ideas.

Diana Wynne Jones usually prefers males as her protagonists, but after reading Mig I hope that in the future she creates more female ones, as she's one of the funniest, sympathetic, self-aware and utterly helpless heroines I've ever read - and despite her complete lack of doing hardly anything proactive or helpful throughout the book, she's an utter delight. Also on hand is her brother Chris who is far more outspoken than she, and doesn't hesitate to insult anyone he pleases. Throughout the story the bond between the siblings is strong, realistic and immensely touching - as when the transformed Chris seeks out comfort from his sister.

Mrs Laker is also nicely created, as is the sinister Elaine, but of course the centrepiece of the story is Maria herself. Self-righteous, self-pitying, hypocritical, intensely annoying, and yet a pleasure to read about, this is one character that's impossible to describe: you'll have to read in order to really appreciate what Wynne Jones has created. The family's way of handling Maria is the author at her hilarious best, and the closest another author has come to capturing the sheer loathsomeness of Maria is J.K. Rowling (who by the way, has almost certainly read this book) and her own villainess Dolorous Umbridge.

As well as this is the intricate and well-paced plot, which includes a huge number of characters, events, magical implements and ideas. The time-travel sequence in particular is marvellously created, and I'm certain it was the inspiration for Harry Potter's similar experience in "The Prisoner of Azkaban." Most wonderful of all is her ability to take human relationships and explore them in depth - in this case it is the way some use guilt and the rules of manners in order to get their way.

I would say that "Aunt Maria" is my favourite Diana Wynne Jones book out there, but so many great titles are out there that I wouldn't want to limit myself to just one. In any case "Aunt Maria" an immensely enjoyable book - and if there are any film-makers out there, it would also make a brilliant movie: hint, hint.
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Product Description

The Dog Star, Sirius, is tried for murder by his heavenly peers and found guilty. His sentence: to be reborn on Earth as a dog until such time as he carries out the seemingly impossible mission imposed on him.

In his Earth guise, Sirius, renamed Leo, truly lives a dog's life. Although he is the pet of a girl who loves him, both child and dog are mistreated by the family with whom they live. But the worldly obstacles Leo faces are minor when compared with his chilling encounters with the Dark Powers that are set against him. His quest seems hopeless until at lost Sol, Moon, and Earth itself come to his aid.

Dogsbody is a tense, exciting, sciencefiction fantasy, a thriller, and a touching dog story all in one.

Customer Reviews (50)

A wonderful, mythic sort of tale... just terrific!
Oh, I REALLY enjoyed this book! Though this is targeted toward the young adult market, I think it is a story for all ages! The premise of a celestial being trapped in the body of a dog on Earth is definitely unique, but the way it is written, though it is a fantasy novel at heart, there are a lot of realistic details about a dog's life. Anyone looking for a unique spin on a dog book would definitely enjoy this! The dog/star's perspective was wonderful and just completely unlike anything else I have ever read.

delightful tale of a celestial being in the body of a dog
Sirius, the dog star, is wrongly accused of a crime due to his hot temper and sentenced to roam the Earth in the body of a dog. With the help of the Earth, Sol (the Sun), the Moon, and his owner, the downtrodden orphan Kathleen, Sirius must over come his doggy-instincts, find the Zio, a celestial weapon, and solve the mystery of who framed him. If he can pick up some table scraps along the way, all the better. Jones' characteristically charming and magical story elements and multi-layered characters weave an engaging and enchanting tale contrasting pets/animals with celestial bodies, though this one is much weaker than her other offerings (the Howl and Chrestomanci books, for instance). A fun read for young readers and dog lovers. (Side note: I must guiltily admit that I was motivated to read this due to the lead character sharing his name with another beloved wrongly accused character from the fantasy genre.) Grade: B+

Wish I'd have read this as a young adult!
Dogsbody is a Young Adult book, written in 1975 and now out of print. I would never have known about it, except that Jeri Smith-Ready, an author whose work I really enjoy, recalled loving this book herself. I found a copy in the library (there are also lots of used copies for sale all over the place).

Sirius, the Dog Star, has a fiery temper and has been convicted of a crime of passion that resulted in the death of a luminary, and the loss of the mysterious zoi -- a powerful and dangerous artifact. Sirius is sentenced to living out his years as a dog on Earth, only to be returned to his original form if he finds and recovers the zoi.

Born as a puppy on earth, helpless and confused, his adventures begin with a scrappy struggle for survival and take him to a rather dysfunctional family, where he becomes the pet and companion of Kathleen, a young, lonely girl. Although they cannot speak to each other, perhaps they can somehow help each other.

I had fun with this one and know that I'd have enjoyed it even more in my tween/early teen years. Sirius makes an engaging protagonist and his character is well-developed despite being, uh, a star and a dog. The humans around him tend to be broadly drawn, which actually works out fine in this tale: subtleties of personality emerge when appropriate, mostly with Kathleen.

Occasionally, the nature of the zoi and of some of the beings that Sirius encounters were a little too abstract for me, and I wasn't sure quite what was at stake. Perhaps Sirius's world and its rules were a little bit underdeveloped. Still, I'm glad I read Dogsbody, and wish I'd discovered it when I was younger.

Made a big impression on me!
It's strange, the things that we can remember so well, and in what detail, even some 30 years later.I read "Dogsbody" when I was a youngster.When I finally moved away from home, I didn't have room for all of my books-most of which ended up in my parent's attic.Alas, I fear my copy of "Dogsbody" was most likely discarded during a parental cleaning of the attic.However, I loved this book so much, I find that I actually memorized many of even the smaller details to my memory, and was just now going over them in my mind.I feared that "Dogsbody" might be out of print, and am delighted to find this is not so.Here I am, in my 40's and I am about to go and order a copy of this delightful tale from Amazon!

Absolute perfection
Read this when I was twelve? Loved it ever since. It is perfection. It puts the reader in the mind and soul of a young girl and also into the mind and soul of a dog who is really the star, Sirius... and does it with such conviction and tenderness that you can't help but believe. Superb. ... Read more

Product Description

Aidan Cain has had the worst week of his life. His gran died, he was sent to a foster home, and now malicious beings are stalking him. There is one person Gran told Aidan to go to if he ever got into trouble—a powerful sorcerer who lives at Melstone House.

Product Description
All over the Multiverse (the universe that is in the shape of Infinity, like a figure eight laid on its side), the Magids, powerful magicians, are at work to maintain the balance between positive and negative magic for the good of all.They use their magical talents to push people into doing the right thing at the right time.

Rupert Venables is the junior Magid assigned to Earth and to the troublesome planets of the Koyrfonic Empire as well.The Empire is situated right at the twist of the center of the Multiverse.There is a problem of succession when the Emperor dies without a known heir, paralleled by a more personal problem on Earth when Rupert's senior dies and appoints him senior.Now Rupert must search the Earth for an appropriate new Magid, while helping part-time to prevent the descent of the Empire into chaos.

And then the problems become intertwined when Rupert finds that he can meet all five of the potential Magids on Earth by attending one SF convention in England.And that other forces, some of them completely out of control, will be there too. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (39)

one of my favorites
i've read this book so many times and its still good, the merlin conspiracy is a great sequel too.

my new favorite book. enchanting!
Rupert Venables, a young and arrogant and overworked Magid, is looking for his next apprentice Magid, but finds his fate caught up with the annoying and frumpy Maree Mallory. At a science fiction/fantasy convention, Rupert seeks to interview other candidates, but finds himself engaged in an inter-world, imperial war over the heir to the Emperor. He's also finding himself falling in love with Maree. Once again, Jones writes a fascinating, exciting magical story with an imaginative and refreshing twist on reality, twined perfectly with mystery and comedy, which also happens to comment on the genre and human psychology. The characters, particularly Rupert (very similar to Howl), are wonderful and real, selfish and dramatic, beautiful and wonderful. This book, which is more adult than some of her others, is my new favorite of Jones', second only to the perfect Howl series. Utter magic. Jones is a master of the genre. Grade: A+

Secrets Revealed
Rupert Venables is the Junior Magid assigned to Earth and also to the planets of the Koyrfonic Empire. When the Emperor dies without a known heir, Rupert begins his investigation and attempts to find the heir, whom Rupert knows must be there somewhere... Then, to complicate matters, Rupert's senior dies and appoints Rupert the senior, which, of course means that Rupert needs to leave the Koyrfonic empire and search Earth for a suitable magid to fill his old position.

The intense and sometimes humorous tale of Rupert's adventures - and mis-adventures - appeals to fantasy lovers, both young and old. The setting of the story in an alternate England adds a layer of charm to the story, even though the envelope of suspension of disbelief is pushed a bit far in some places. Readers deeply engrossed in the story likely won't notice the unbelievability too much.

Recommended for readers age 10 and up who are looking for a page-turning, fun to read adventure.

This review was simultaneously published on Amazon.com, Dragonviews, LibraryThing and YABooksCentral

A++
One of the best books ive read in a long time. Its does start off slow but it get good so keep reading

A great romp in true Diana Wynne Jones style!
Really enjoyed this book - delightful characters and lots of crazy things going on. I can't understand why it's sometimes billed as "her only novel for adults", though. It has a more modern setting and tone than the others of hers that I've read, but I found nothing in the style or content that would make it unsuitable for anyone over about age 8-10. And you certainly don't have to be under 21 to enjoy her other books!

UPDATE: After posting this review, I found out that this is not the original text; it has been altered by the editors especially for tender young adults who apparently mustn't be exposed to an occasional bad word or so much as the concept of sex. If I had realized this was a censored edition, I would never have bought it. I won't change my rating, because it's still a great story, but the editors responsible should be ashamed of themselves.
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Customer Reviews (21)

Romeo and Juliet through Jones' magical pen
The city of Caprona is run by two houses of powerful spell casters: the Montanas and the Petrocchis who absolutely hate each other. Tonino Montana is no good at spells. He prefers to read and talk to the family cat. Soon, though, Tonino is caught up in his city-state's battle against the White Devil and find the words to the long lost song of the Angel that protects the city. He also finds he must work with a dreaded Petrocchi who's spells always go wrong. Though the story is predictable and comes to a predictable condition, Jones' magical pen creates a thoroughly engaging and wondrous tale of fantastical images and enchanting characters. Grade: A-

Pretty Good
The Magicians of Caproni is an intriguing book with an interesting plot.The book is set in Caprona, Italy (obvious from the title) and puts you in a world full of magic and family rivalries that threaten to leave Caprona defenseless in war.The main charcters are the Montana and Petrocchis families.The two clans are sworn to hate each other and are competing magic socerers.Diana Wynne Jones sticks true to the Italian nature and emphasizes the extended families of the Italy and their close ties.In this book, magic is worked by singing and the most powerful song is the Angel of Caprona.Unfortunetly, the magic of Caprona is fading and the only way they can save Caprona in the coming war is to find the true words to Angel of Caprona, which were taken by the angel to heaven.This is where the unlikely heros come in.Tonio Montana and Angelica Petrocchis both hate each other but are forced to overcome their differences when they are kidnapped by a rival enchantess.They both are the weakest spell caster in their families and were kidnapped to prevent their families in making war spells that would help Caprona in the coming war.With the help of Benvenuto, a cat, the Duke of Caprona, and the children of the Montana and Petrocchis clans they help save Caprona.I love Diana Wynne Jones's way of writing and she describes the scenery in a lot of detail.Although this book was intriguing in the beginning the plot started to drag in the middle chapters.Don't bother trying to understand the the plot in the middle of the book but the ending ties things up nicely.I would recommend this book for anybody for a rainy day, or nothing else to do.

"Stop All Spells or Your Child Suffers"
"The Magicians of Caprona" is part of the Chrestomanci quartet, a series of books with no particular chronological order and which are related only in regard to the presence of the magician known as the Chrestomanci. This wizard is no grey-bearded aged old man, but a young handsome character whose responsibility it is to keep in balance all magic in all the worlds.

All of the books except this one are set in a parallel version of Britain, and in a foreword to this story Diana Wynne Jones explains that here Italy never became a united country, and is still split up into states - one of which is Caprona. Caprona is a beautiful city, watched from above by the great Angel of Caprona atop the Cathedral, who long ago drove out the White Devil. The only blight upon the city is the ongoing feud between its two major families: the Montanas and the Petrocchis.

In case you haven't guessed by now, there are indeed hints of "Romeo and Juliet" at work. But in typical Wynne Jones style, the story is not told from the lovers' point of view, but rather from younger members of both families - predominantly Tonino and Paolo Montana. Like all the children of their family, they've been raised to hate the Petrocchis, and the rumours of a coming war against Caprona raises ill-will even higher.

But a visit from Chrestomanci reveals that he believes an evil enchanter is at work, though their identity is a mystery unknown even to him. The only way that they can save the city is to find the missing words to the Angel of Caprona song, and to do that it seems that the families will have to work together.

But then Tonino and Angelica Petrocchi disappear, the two most notoriously bad spell-casters of the families. While kept hostage, the two simultaneously discover the identity of the enchanter and the words to the song. But how can they get this information to their families, especially when the fighting has escalated?

"The Magician of Caprona" is probably the easiest to read of all the Chrestomanci books, and combines all of Wynne Jones's trademark features - zany magic, talking cats, clever twists and vivid characters who still act like normal people despite the magic happenings occurring around them. It moves between funny and somewhat scary, with a range of likeable characters throughout.

Magical
I first borrowed and read this book from a friend in 1996 and found it really good and interesting. The characters were spunky and memorable. I remember going about for weeks imagining how fun it would be to have their kind of magic in our world.
I found myself thinking about it again recently and fortunately found it in my local bookstore in Malaysia. The book was as good as I remembered it....probably even more so now.

Chrestomanci -- Italian style
Though "Magicians of Caprona" is the weakest of the Chrestomanci books so far, it remains an excellent fantasy with a strong storyline and extremely sympathetic characters. Jones introduces her parallel Italy with depth and skill, with some winks at "Romeo and Juliet."

The spell-making Montanas and Petrocchis have been feuding for two hundred years, over a fight between two of their ancestors. Now they repeat hideous rumors about each other, cast disgusting spells at each other, and remain stubborn about the matter, even though they are now threatened by outside forces. The city-states are in conflict with each other, and the famed song "Angel of Caprona" is mostly forgotten, despite being the thing that can help protect them from harm.

Tonina Montana is apparently the only member of his household who is unable to cast spells. His talents lie in communicating with cats -- but he finds himself an unwilling ally to a Petrocchi girl, Angelina, when they are both captured by the Duchess of Caprona. He, Angelina, and a cat must find the words to the "Angel" song and ally their families before it's too late.

As Jones explains in the foreword, this is an alternate Italy, still divided into city-states with their own Dukes, laws, and conflicts with one another, as they had in the Middle-Ages of our world. Anyone with knowledge of Italian history knows that the city-states offer a great deal of potential conflict, and Jones doesn't waste that potential.

Though the conflict of feuding rival families is a mild cliche by now, Jones handles it with a comic twist that keeps it from becoming stale. The twist of lovers from those feuding families is highly enjoyable, even though it is quite obvious from the beginning of the book. Her dialogue and narrative are as witty and entertaining as ever. The only flaw with the book is that the plotline becomes slightly fragmented toward the middle, and I found it slightly difficult to keep up with. However, the climax is outstandingly written.

Tonino is the hero that Jones does best: a Charlie-Brown type, mild-mannered but courageous when called upon to be brave, and his counterpart Angelica is similarly realistic. They don't like each other, but becomes friends out of necessity, overcoming their pride and preconceptions. Of course, Chrestomanci is in it -- less than in other Chrestomanci books, but he is his usual dapper, delightful self, doing all that he can to alleviate the problems plaguing Caprona.

Except for a period of mild confusion in the middle of this book, Caprona is an enjoyable jaunt into the magic-saturated world of Chrestomanci. A must-read for fans of magic and wizardry. ... Read more

Product Description
There's been an accident!
Something's wrong!

She doesn't know who she is, and doesn't know why she's invisibly floating through the buildings and grounds of a half-remembered boarding school. Then, to her horror, she encounters the ancient evil that four peculiar sisters have unwittingly woken -- and learns she is their only hope against a deadly danger.

Customer Reviews (23)

Not very enjoyable
I really did not enjoy this book very much. While I love Diana Wynne Jones' work, the book is not her best at all. Almost none of the characters were likable and the ending was strange. However, there is one reason to read this book. This book is something of an autobiography. I read an auto biography of DWJ on her website, and the descriptions of Cart, Imogen and Fernella (or whatever her name is) in this book matched those of young DWJ and her sisters in the autobiography.

Love DWJ, But this is far from her best
The four sisters, Imogen, Sally, Cart and Fenella, are all unpleasant and unlikeable.They are immature and uncared for in much of the novel, and perhaps that is the reason for their often bizarre behavior.Their parents, in their callous behaviour to their own offspring, are also very unlikeable.

Unfortunately, it takes at least half of the novel to make sense of what is happening in the plot.By that time, I was out of patience with it, although I did finish the book.

Diana Wynne Jones has written many better books.Try Archer's Goon, The Dark Lord of Derkholm, The Year of the Griffin, Howl's Moving Castle, Power of Three, the Merlin Conspiracy or Deep Secret.Give this one a miss.

Fun Story
I have so far enjoyed all of Diana Wynne Jones' books, and this one was no exception.It's a good story as well as an adventure.Besides just that, having a favorite author consistently providing good stories of varying subjects is refreshing.

A Deep, Difficult, and Absolutely Wonderful Read
This book is a difficult read. It is not easy sailing, though the writing is superb. This book is unconventional to the extreme. There are two confusing points in the book, one of which is the ghost's identity (which sister is it?), and the other is that fact that the ghost is NOT a ghost of a dead person. But you can figure out the ghost's identity fairly quickly if you pick up several obvious clues that many seem to miss, and this book is one of my favorites.
I won't go into the plot--other's, such as the publishers, have done it already--save to say that it is not gory or freakshly disturbing. If you are zealosuly religions, then you may not like this book, as it does have a "dark, old, female something" (a goddess-like presence) and severe neglect from the parents regarding the four sister-protagonists. One of the sisters goes missing, and the parents doen't even notice after several days, even though the mother comes in to say good-night and the father throws a rage at them later, even going through all four names without noticing before leaving.
This book is more like a window into a at-once familiar and fantastical world than a science-fiction/fantasy novel, a world where things that most people go through in childhood (such as a play-sceance using scrabble-letters or a belief that there is a ghost in the house) do not collapse into disbelief with time but are confirmed in a subtle, definite way. THAT is the whole of the 'horror and occult' in this book.
The characters are exactly drawn. Perhaps others do not know people as unusual or interesting as the four Melford sisters, but they are the sort of people who are at the edge of the population, who turn into famous artists, writers, musicians--the sort of people who go into history books (the sort of people who are very unusual). They are disinctly portrayed, and you can feel that you would recognize them on the street after reading the book. The personalities are very vibrant, and the entire book is a pleasurable read. You may want to reread this book later, because it is one of those books that can be reread many times; not open and direct, but secretive, mysterious, and very well-woven. Five stars on this one. Diana Wynne Jones has done an excellent job and has not been afraid to step out of the borders of conventional fiction writing to turn out a novel of striking originality.

One of her "experimental" books
Although I usually LOVE this author, I thought that this book was sort of weak.The plot could be confusing, and required me to go back and read previous bits all the time.In addition, I found the characters to be a little strange.The sisters act like nasty old adults at the beginning, and I was pretty far into the book before I realized that they were supposed to be kids.By the time I figured it out, I had to go back and re-read the whole thing in order to understand what was going on.Then, suddenly, they WERE adults.The sudden appearance of the occult stuff was a little jarring, too.

If you want a challenging book and like stories that mess with the space-time continuum, then maybe this book is worth a read.Unlike her Chrestomanci series, this is NOT a kids book.It contains domestic violence and occult practices, as well as a few other things that might be questionable.However, they are appropriately done, so the book is fine for YA. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the story of Ayna and Ceri, who both had Gifts, and of Gair, who thought he was ordinary.Gair spent his time gazing out onto the Moor and brooding. Ayna could answer questions about the future, Ceri could find things which were lost. Gair seems to have no Gift and knew he was a disappointment to his jovial, heroic father -- who is Chief. Perhaps his feelings of not fitting in was what made him so curious about these other different sorts of beings who lived on the Moor -- the Giants and the Dorig. Certainly it was because he believed he was ordinary that he did his best to become wise, and to learn as much as he could abou the three great Powers of Sun, Moon and Earth. And when the crisis came, Gair found the knowledge he had gained was to help save not only his own life but those of all his people. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Well Done
A really well-crafted book - one of my favorites by Diana Wynne Jones.This is an adventure story starring three siblings, with suspense and surprises, and it also deals with kids bullying, feeling like no one understands you, and parent-child relationships with a light touch that doesn't get in the way of the story.A really great read.

For all Diana Wynne Jones Fans
This is by far one of my favorite books by Jones. It was far less confusing than most of her books, and the characters were her typically memorable cast. I don't want to write any spoilers, so I'll just stick with: adamantly recommended for all ages!!

Not Free SF Reader
A pretty good kids book.The three children of a clan leader have psionic powers, or, at least, all come to discover that they do.

They also have to deal with the feuds between their clans and others, as well as with the different non-human races that inhabit the same area.

Power of Three is great; to the power of 5!
I have to admit, I'm one of those people who just can't sit and look at words hour after hour because it's just a bunch of...WORDS ON A PIECE OF PAPER, but Power of Three really kept me stimulated to read more.Don't let the 9-12 age group scare you, because I underestimated the book a bit.It is a great book.

It starts with Gair, an unsure boy who's the middle child of Gest, whose other children (Ayna, Ceri) both have gifts.Gair thinks he's a nothing among his two siblings, but one fateful day when the Dorig attack their village and his loved ones are captured, he encounters the giants with his siblings and they end up in the middle of a deal that could put their family in danger.The fate of Gair's village is in his hands, but he supposedly has no gift...

The writing is very descriptive, hands down.The emotions in the mind of Gair really symbolize the troubles a child goes through in adolescence.The story really comes together in the end, and a fourth of the time it is told through flashbacks.It starts out as an unfinshed puzzle that you put together as you read on and on.The main character's not corny, like in books like Harry Potter, "OH MY GOD!IT'S THE BOY WHO LIVED!!LET'S GO ON FOR ANOTHER SEVEN BOOKS ABOUT HIM AND WRITE IN THE MOST UNORIGINAL MANNER POSSIBLE!", Gair is just a brilliant, antisocial lone wolf whose world is literally falling apart.Nobody understands him, that's why he's such a good character and he doesn't whine (like a similar character from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji).The great thing is that Power of Three isn't as stereotypical for a fantasy as you'd expect, it's a bit darker and somewhat more complex.

You seriously need to read this if you think that reading sucks, no matter how old you are.Don't base this on the cover art, this is a brilliant piece of original work, not a fake Harry potter takeoff because this was before Harry-mania!It's an epic.

"May it Never Loose Until the Three are Placated..."
Combining the atmosphere of Celtic folklore with a plot reminiscent of Shakespeare's "Hamlet", as well as an intricate plot (including a huge twist halfway through that will completely turn your perception of the story on its head) and likeable characters, "Power of Three" is one of Diana Wynne Jones's best novels - and so inevitably it is one of her least known.

Set on moorlands inhabited by Giants, reptilian Dorig and tribes of warrior-like clans, the first two chapters introduces the rest of the story to come. First, Adara and her bullish brother Orban come across a young Dorig princeling, and Orban demands the beautiful collar around its neck. Refusing, the Dorig places a deep curse upon the collar that will bestow bad luck upon the holder and the surroundings.

Chapter two takes place several years later when Adara elopes with the chief of a neighbouring Mound. This reads like a Celtic legend as the hero Gest must perform three impossible tasks concerning riddles, collars, standing stones, Dorig and Giants, and exactly how he manages to accomplish these feats is a mystery that (like the influence of the curse) is explored more deeply in the rest of the book that skips onto the next generation.

Gest and Adara's three children are Ayna, Gair and Ceri. Ayna the eldest can answer any question posed toward her, whilst Ceri can not only find anything that is lost but manipulate matter with his mind. Gair however is devastatingly normal, and so considers himself a disappointment to his entire community. But with the evil of the curse winding its way into all aspects of life (including food supply, war with the Dorig, and an unwelcome invasion of relatives into their Mound), Gair finally reaches breaking point and heads for the countryside. Tailed by Ayna and Ceri, the three siblings find adventures with both Dorig and Giants waiting for them, and realisation that the Moor itself is in danger of destruction.

In terms of theme and plot, "Power of Three" may very well be the deepest and most complicated novel for young readers that DWJ has written. Exploring the definition of humanity, the worth of the individual and the necessity for peace at its core, the book also has plenty of humour, quirky characters and intricate subplots - far too many to properly explain in a simple review. But it is worth saying that this book in particular has a range of interesting and vivid characters - from saintly Adara, woebegone Gerald, bossy Brenda, spoilt Ceri, sage-like Ayna and the odious Ondo. But the spotlight mostly falls on Gair, and he is a protagonist that most will find very easy to relate to - melancholy and serious, but determined and intelligent, and altogether a likeable guy.

The author also makes some wonderful connections between characters - the siblings in particular are warm and affectionate (most of the time) and the friendships that Gair forges within the story are also realistic and enjoyable to read. But then again, DWJ is an expert at portraying human behaviour and it should come as no surprise to any familiar readers that such things are handled just as well here.

"Power of Three" definitely has my recommendation, though I should warn you about reading other reviews on the story, as some of them give away the big twist - something that shouldn't be revealed if you want to truly revel in DWJ's genius.
... Read more

Product Description
Drowned Ammet is the story of Mitt, a boy who joins a band of Freedom Fighters in a bid to try and crush the tyrranical ruler of Holand, and at the same time, to get revenge on the people who killed his father. BLDiana Wynne Jones is recognized as being one of the most outstanding writers of fantasy in recent times. BLThe Dalemark Quartet books are for good readers who have enjoyed the Christopher Chant books by the same author.The books contain the same ability to immerse the reader with real child characters having magical adventures in an imaginary world. BLThis genre of fantasy writing is currently very popular due to the success of the recent 'Lord of the Rings' film. BLDiana Wynne Jones has won the Guardian award for fiction and has written over twenty novels in less than twenty years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

2nd in Dalemark Series
This book, the second in the Dalemark Quartet, seemed a little weaker than the other three. It was much better than many books I have read, though, and I recommend it.

Mitt lives in Southern Dalemark, in an earldom run by a mean guy. His father is betrayed, and Mitt dedicates his time and talents to get his revenge. Very good, as all Diana Wynne Jones' books are!

The plots thicken and the magic deepens
Unlike the standard fantasy series, in which each volume follows the continuing adventures of a single cast of characters - a series of tunes played on the same set of instruments - this one really is designed as a "quartet". Each of the first three books is all but independent of the rest, told in its own distinct voice. They interlock, but in subtle ways - through common geography, family names that link with the long history of Dalemark and its peculiar "gods". Diana Wynne Jones always provides the pleasure of well-told, formula-busting stories. In her Quartet, she also provides the pleasure of watching an intricate pattern unfold behind the stories.

In this second volume, we meet at last the main character of the series, Mitt, raised in poverty under the grinding heel of the despotic Earls of South Dalemark, grown up too soon, and recruited early to the dangers and exhilarations of a revolutionary underground in the seaport of Holand. The plots and counterplots he's embroiled in come to a head at the port's spring festival, when all the nobles must take part in a grand procession to the sea, carrying the festival effigies of Drowned Ammet and Libby Beer to be cast into the harbor. No one remembers why the ritual has to be performed, but no one dares to alter the tradition.

Well, Drowned Ammet may remember. And perhaps that's why everyone's best laid plans start going queer...

Family drama, peril on the high seas, ancient magics awakened - there's a lot of action packed into these pages. Young adults will love it, and Ms. Jones proves once again to her crossover adult audience that YA doesn't *always* stand for Yawns Assured.

Just for rousing storytelling, I give volumes 1 and 3 four and a half stars, volumes 2 and 4 four stars.But the Quartet is more than the sum of its parts, and the series as a whole merits five.

drowned ammet reveiw
I think that drowned ammet is a great book because...
Of all the excitment, suprises and mystery.
I also love the way you have a few people's lives then they meet up and it's just the one.I would love to read more books like this.

P.S I love the other books in series.

Fine continuation to the Dalemark Quartet
_Drowned Ammet_ is the second in Diana Wynne Jones' _Dalemark Quartet_. It is set roughly contemporaneously with the first book, _Cart and Cwidder_. In this book we meet Alhammitt, or Mitt, a poor boy from the far southern town of Holand, who becomes somewhat radicalized when his father and mother are thrown out of their farm for capricious reasons by the tax collector for the evil Earl Hadd. Later his father's involvement with the Free Holanders goes terribly wrong, leaving Mitt and his feckless mother alone. Mitt grows up a sailor and later a gunsmith's apprentice, and plots to gain revenge on both the Free Holanders (for betraying his father) and on Earl Hadd (for pretty much everything) by killing the Earl and implicating the Free Holanders. But this plot too goes terribly wrong, and Mitt ends up on a yacht with the two of the Earl's grandchildren, heading for the North.

I liked this book quite a bit -- Jones' puts her characters (Mitt and the two noble children) under great stress -- not just physical danger but she pushes them to see their own severe personal faults, and this works very well. The fantastical elements, involving the mysterious godlike figures of Ammet and Libby Beer, are very nicely evoked.The political situation is also well described and realistic.The plot is well resolved, albeit with a bit of convenience, maybe with a bit more magical help than I like, and with a plot twist that even though I saw it coming, I could hardly believe she had the effrontery to exercise. (And I thought it just a shade unfair.) All told, though, a very nice book, and coupled with the first clearly part of a series, but reasonably well contained too.

the drowned ammet
i was looking in the teenage section in my local library looking for the diary of anne frank after being told it was there by the computer. I was looking for a book of similar width and this book caught my eye, which when i looked, only one person had read since it had been bought so i got it not particarly thinking i'd like but you don't judge a book by it's cover.I began reading this book and after the first page i considered putting it down and taking it back-i'm glad i didn't. The fantasy story is brilliant and i thoroughly enjoyed it. The quiet mitt with the "common as muck" name starts his life in the country and is forced to move to the city as the evil and ruthless earl of holand rises the taxes and they end with no money at all. Mitt is troubled at his first years in holand by the children who picked on him. Then his father dies and he wants to get back at the people who's fault it is. he decides from there on that it was to be his lifes meaning, to back at the free hollanders. His mission finally comes when he is older approxiametly 14 (this is uncertain as the author never says how old mitt is, a downfall) it goes tragically wrong but he goes on the run and an amazing chain of events follows. the ending is very open and there is a need at the end to read the next book. ... Read more

Product Description
For centuries, Dalemark has been a land divided by the feuding earldoms of the North and South. Now, with the help of the Undying, the mysterious gods of Dalemark, four extraordinary young people-from the past, present and future-will help shape the destiny of their land. Includes Cart and Cwidder, Drowned Ammet, The Spellcoats and The Crown of Dalemark. Maps. Jacket art by Yvonne Gilbert. (785 pp.) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

To the Dalemark
Diana Wynne-Jones is best known for her wizards and humorous magic, but in the Dalemark Quartet she takes a trip into more serious fantasy, complete with warring earldoms and strange gods. "The Dalemark Quartet" compiles together the four books of this intriguing, original series.

In "Cart and Cwidder," Moril is the dreamy son of a family of wandering minstrels, performing and offering news to various towns. But a mysterious traveller joins them on their journey -- and soon Moril's father is murdered, his brother is jailed, and his sister is enmeshed in a conspiracy involving the Duke's son. Now Moril must find a way to save his family, using a magical cwidder.

"In "Drowned Ammet," the impoverished Alhammitt (called "Mitt") has become a radical of sorts, after his father and mother are tossed out because of an evil duke. Later, the Free Holanders also take his father. Mitt is determined to get revenge, but his years of planning go awry, and he ends up desperately fleeing to the North with two captives... only to encounter storms, gods, and much more.

"The Spellcoats" is the tale of Tanaqui, centuries before the first two volumes of the quartet. She lives with her family in prehistoric Dalemark, where a battle is being fought between the "Heathens" and their own folk. When her brother returns, insane, she and her family must flee their village. But Tanaqui learns of the existance of Kankredin, a malevolent wizard who is waiting for them.

In the final volume, "Crown of Dalemark," a forthright young boy named Mitt is called on to be an assassin. A countess wants him to destroy a young lady, Noreth, who may become the uniting monarch of Dalemark. But Mitt begins to like Noreth, and so joins her supporters. What he doesn't know is that she is actually Maewen, a confused young girl from 200 years in the future...

Jones is best known for a sort of wry, amusing, homey fantasy with a distinctly British flavor -- not to mention that they often have dapper wizards and strange multiverses. That sort of stuff is mostly missing in "The Dalemark Quartet." Instead, we get a darker, much more epic story -- there are godlike figures, earldoms, peasants, nobles, and plenty more.

Jones' writing is quite detailed in this book, since she not only describes the clothing, woods and people, but also the alternative world of Dalemark. Both stories are connected, but independent, and Jones carefully crafts the politics and conflicts that run under all the magic and the godlike Undying. She even travels back in time. Certainly not many authors can make an invented world that is simple, yet realistic.

Her heroes are also very realistic -- Moril is the kid who makes origami cranes instead of doing his math test. Mitt is entirely different, focused on revenge and getting more desperate every day, but learning about himself after he ends up adrift. Tanaqui is not quite as likable, since she is engulfed in a "mythic" story, but Maewen is a mysterious character, and also a likable one.

The four fantasies of the Dalemark Quartet leave some threads dangling at the end, but this is one of the most striking and original series that Jones has ever written. ... Read more

Product Description
"Just kindle a flame and I'll be with you."

It's summer vacation, but David's miserably stuck with his unpleasant relatives. Then a strange boy named Luke turns up, charming and fun, joking that David has released him from a prison. Or is he joking? He certainly seems to have strange powers, and control over fire...

Customer Reviews (9)

Eight Days of Luke
This is not, in my opinion, the best story Diana Wynne Jones has ever written, but it is still a good story, and a fun read. The one thing I think would help it out would be to put the postscript at the beginning, so readers could understand more about the characters and the meaning of the escapades. Even with a classical education, and eight years at university resulting in three degrees, I found myself not always up on what the Norse gods were up to.And it helped to know.

Charming
Aside the the fact that Loki is *not* a fire god (mistranslation by Wagner and confusion with the Norse personification of fire...LOGI) it was a great read.

I can see how Gaiman used it as his inspiration for American Gods.Read them both.

Not Free SF Reader
An orphan kid gets sent to live with some relatives, because he needs a guardian.

They don't really give a crap about him, but have ulterior motives, so it is not a fun time for him.

He tries a curse, and gets quite a bit more than he bargained for. Some up close and personal time with some Norse mythology is in store for David as his slip of the tongue.

Great book
Eight Days of Luke was definitely a fun book to read. As usual, Ms. Jones has used much of her creativity in this book. She has strongly portrayed characters: David, a true cricket fan; Luke, mischief-maker; cranky Aunt Dot; frugal Cousin Ronald; the list goes on. Each character seems to play off one another, making the book almost seem like a live play unfolding before you.

Ms. Jones has also incorporated some of her wit into this book. I was laughing out loud at some of the jokes. She also does a good job of making you feel the emotions of the characters.

The absolute best part of this book is the twists and turns of the plot. Everything about this book is unusual and unique, which made me love it all the more. The story is constantly moving - there isn't a spot where the storyline slows down and lags. The conclusion was amazing; I was glued to the book trying to read faster and faster to see what would happen to David and Luke and Astrid. By the end, all the elements of plot fit together, like an intricate and well-made puzzle.

I highly recommend this book to all age groups. There is something in here for everyone. Brava, Ms. Jones!

(If you want a synopsis of this book, look above. Amazon.com does a great job of telling you the storyline.)

"A jolly good read"
The story takes place on several levels and combinescontemporary family conflict with Norse mythology. It draws together problems of disparate members of a family which are largely resolved after the young boy finds Luke, who has a strange ability with fire.

The story does not stand still and it's great fun for both children and adults. ... Read more

Product Description
Of all her family, only Grandmother understands, or even has time for, Kay's story of catching a magical golden leaf, the kind that makes sand pies--and dreams--real, because she had caught one too when she was young. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Children's Book by a Great Author
Diana Wynne Jones writes the most fantastic young-adult fiction I've ever read, so when I heard that she'd also written one for younger children, I couldn't wait to read it.Unfortunately, since it is a book for kids, itlacks the story development that I find so fascinating in her other books. However, the book is beautifully illustrated and a worthwhile addition toyour collection. ... Read more

Product Description
Diana Wynne Jones at her finest -- family feuds and chaos, magic with hilarious results and some of the most original ideas ever to appear between the covers of a book.Casper, Johnny and Gwinny get a big shock when their mother marries the Ogre. The Ogre is large and stern and not at all interested in children, although this doesn't prevent him from adding his own two awful sons, Douglas and Malcolm, to the family mix. Now the five children and two adults are squashed under the same roof, which can lead to only one thing -- war!Then the Ogre brings home the Chemistry Sets -- one for Malcolm and one for Johnny. Not that Johnny is impressed by this very obvious bribe. At least, not until they accidentally discover the flying lotion. Then the real fun begins! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Don't waste your time

I've enjoyed Diana Wynne Jones's work for years. When I got this book, I thought it would be nice to take a peek into her earlier work. Sometimes you can get hints of how an author evolves her style over time. Sometimes it gives you hints for appreciating her other work. Sometimes it gives you a backstory to characters that you already know.

Sometimes.

Not this time.

The book opens with two young boys, Caspar and Johnny. They're pretty much interchangeable except that one is older than the other. It doesn't really matter who. Their mother has recently married, horror of horrors, a man with (pause for dramatic effect) two similarly interchangeable sons. Oh, the mom also has a daughter who is effectively a plot device.

Basically, the step-father (step parents are inherently evil, as you'll remember from your fairy tales) knows that the two boys (not his) don't like him, so he tries to bribe them into liking them by buying them a chemistry set. Now, this book was published in 1974, and I assume that the chemistry sets that you could get back then had all sorts of fun stuff in it. Based on the stories that I'm hearing, kids today don't even get magnesium to light on fire, get scared by the bright light, drop it on the carpet, freak out over the smoke, attempt to smother it with a pillow, eventually remember the fire extinguisher, and then solve the "how do I not tell my parents?" problem by rearranging the furniture in their room and put the pillow in the trash. . . but I digress. This chemistry set is magic.

You can, of course, tell that it's magic because the strange chemicals have italicized Latin-esque names. That's a dead giveaway.

So, when the mom and step-father are downstairs, and the step-father is shouting for quiet so he can watch TV (a certain indicator of deep, soul destroying evil, of course), the mother's boys are playing with the chemistry set in their room, and the plot device wanders in and is stereotypically annoying. Then, she spills the chemicals on herself and gains the magical power of flight.

Such powers are less than effective indoors.

It dawns on me, at this point, that the novel might be intended to teach children the importance of conserving our natural resources, because the rest of the book is primarily focused on trying to not run out of the limited quantity of magical Latinates. Conveniently, there are sufficient amounts of the various magical chemicals for both sets of interchangeable youths to experiment with their mutual chemistry sets and more or less determine what they do... yet have small enough amounts yet to place them in jeopardy when they have their trivial adventures due to them not playing together.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the step-father's boys also have a chemistry set of their own, but that's OK, Jones forgets to make that clear too. Apparently, in England in the early 70s, one gets two sets of children to play together by putting them in separate rooms with separate toys.

*shrug*

Anyway, things move forward. The parents squabble because raising five children is difficult when they don't get to meet one another until after you get married. It's also difficult when you don't bother to introduce the new parents to the children until after the wedding. Apparently causes stress. Who knew? Oh, it's also a good idea to discuss how finances might change when you go from a three person household to having to support seven people. . . I'm just saying is all.

The children have a series of tedious adventures whereby:

* They fly and almost run out of the magic chemical that keeps them in the air.
* They shrink and almost get caught by the oh-so horrendous step father... who is yelling in italics by now.
* They switch bodies and almost have a learning experience by living one another's lives for a day.
* They bring their toys to life, including their step-father's pipe, which almost gets them in trouble. (This one was actually kinda cool, except that you have to know what toffee bars and construction sets are. Toys have changed a lot since this book was published. Oh, and you can't say "Lego", so you have to say "brightly coloured plastic building brick" instead... gotta stay legal ya know.)
* They turn invisible, which is apparently the same as turning into a wrathful murderous ghost. I tell you, you learn something new every day. Oh, they almost murder their step-father, but they don't
* They create a group of angry mushroom people that only speak Greek, and fight for their lives against them... almost bonding in the process.



The step-father also tries to bribe the mother's kids by giving them footballs (which, since this story is English, I chose to interpret as soccer balls), but, given that he is the antichrist, the footballs are pink and the boys lives are ruined forever.

The mother can't take the stress and goes to stay with her sister... and doesn't bother to tell her kids that she's going. The step-father also doesn't see a need to tell them where she want, preferring to tell the kids that "she's gone away". Of course, the kids assume that their step-father murdered their mother, thereby creating an excuse for the plot device to try to poison him and for the afore-mentioned murderous ghost incident.

However, in a shocking twist, it turns out that the step-father isn't evil, but just stressed, and when the kids find a way to turn base metals into gold, the money problems are magically resolved, the mother and step-father suddenly become attentive and caring parents, and all of the children magically get along. Oh, and the magic toy store, from whence the chemistry sets originated, mysteriously vanishes for no reason at all.

By the way, this book advocates splashing chemicals on your siblings as well as eating the strange-looking ones. I have absolutely no idea why it didn't catch on.

Oh, and the coolest thing in the book - the living toffee bars which eat sweaters and carpeting - die horribly. Just a little warning.

I will leave you with the one really good exchange in the book, because it's not worth reading the book to get this part, but it's damn good. This is right after Gwinny (the plot device) decides to kill the Ogre's (the kids' name for the step-father) with a poisoned cupcake, feels guilty about it and confesses:


"I put," she sobbed, "I put Noct. Vest. out of Malcolm's chemistry set."

"Well, that's supposed to be nontoxic," said the Ogre. "Maybe there's no harm done."

"But I put six of Mummy's sleeping pills squashed-up in it," continued Gwinny, "and detergent and the bottle from the cupboard that says Poison and some firelighter and ammonia, and then I rolled it on the floor to get germs and spat on it for more germs, and instead of sugar on the outside I put the burning kind of soda. And I think it ended up awfully poisonous."

Not Free SF Reader
Three kids are not particularly happy with the new man that their mother has decided to marry, as to them, he is not very pleasant.Hence the title, which applies to this bloke.

However, all is not as it seems, and the kids get some new ties, which turn out to be basically magical chemistry sets.

Hijinks ensure.

One of our family favorites.
I first came across this book on a low shelf of my junior high school library, and checked it out three or four times that year.Twenty years and three children of my own later, when I started building our home library, this was one of the first titles I sought out.The only copy I found was an old library copy, but I was glad to see it!It has become a read-aloud favorite with both my daughter, 11, and my older son, 7.What I like most about the book is that on the surface, the story concerns itself with the magical possibilities arising from the wondrous Magicraft chemistry sets... but the foundation, and I believe the real story, is the story of how this blended family becomes a real family.The depiction of the children's personalities feels very solid to me, and stepdad "The Ogre" becomes more of a personality as the book goes on -- rather like he does for protagonist Caspar, as he gets to know the stepfather he despises for the reason that "he's allergic to noise -- and boys."One reviewer calls mom Sally "two-dimensional," and I think I'd agree with that.She doesn't have much of an impact on the storytelling.On the other hand, other characters make decisions based on their relationship with her, so I wouldn't write her off completely.Be aware, young American readers:the story is set in early 70's England and feels somewhat dated in its description of discotheques (ask your parents, or maybe your grandparents... I was in kindergarten when the book was written!) and record players.The family story, however, is what grounds the book, and it is classic: "us" and "them" somehow becomes "just us."

Other Diana Wynne Jones novels often seem to have much darker magic in them than this one.If that's what you enjoy -- if you loved, say, "Fire and Hemlock" (which I enjoyed but which I would NOT read to my kids) you may rather move on to her other books.

Okay
Although I normally love DWJ, this was not one of my favorites.I found the characters all to be fairly one dimensional: flaky mom, mean step-dad, bullying step-siblings.The protagonists were also a little whiny and self-centered.

Despite my personal qualms, I can see how this would be a good suggestion for a child who is not happy about a parent's re-marriage.It has a very good moral: that even if we don't all get along perfectly, we still all have to work together in order to accomplish anything.

Better then expected.
I thought it was great. I loved it. It had turns I never expected and a suprising ending. This book is another of Diana's great works, if your a fan, by this book. Don't be fooled by the title or by the cover, this book isn't only for children. This bok is another "can't put it down even for lunch" book. And it is pretty short, and makes for a quick read. It's also full of suspence, I was dying at points of it, because there was so much. So what I'm saying is, buy this book, you'll enjoy it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Pure Enjoyment
I could not put this book down. It kept my attention as no book has been able to do for a long time. I impatiently await receiving volume 2 in the mail so I can thoroughly enjoy reading the continuing story. As an adult, I prefer reading youth fantasy for it is clean and light-hearted and more relaxing.

Once again, out of chronological order
This set of four stories (two in each book) are out of chronological order, just like the four original Chrestomanci stories.This is the only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars.When these things are out of order they don't make sense and I have to spend time wrestling with the timelines before I can go on and enjoy the stories.Buy both books in the Dalemark Quartet at the same time and read the stories in this order:

The Spellcoats
Drowned Ammet
then Cart and Cwidder
then The Crown of Dalemark.

This will make a lot more sense to you.

The stories were all very engaging and I kept reading and reading."The Spellcoats" dragged a bit - in fact it dragged a lot, because DWJ is throwing lots of fantasy-mythology stuff at the reader very quickly - but after I finished all four stories (in the publisher's order) I went back and reread "The Spellcoats" and it made more sense.The other three stories are pretty easy to figure out from the get-go.Great stuff.


**
Edited after a rereading...I've read a lot of Ms. Jones' work, and I feel the Dalemark Quartet is probably the best of the ones I've read.Instead of people "casting spells" as they do in her other stories (an act that is often just tossed out there as easily as "he scratched his ear"), the people in this world are plain old people, with the Undying (like gods) appearing to lend magical hands when needed.The character development is better in this quartet and the stories feel richer than, say, the Chrestomanci stories, where people just conjure up what they need, or wave a hand to mend broken items, and whatnot.Dalemark seems like a believable world structure.

The quartet begins
Diana Wynne-Jones is best known for her wizards and humorous magic, but in the Dalemark Quartet she takes a trip into more serious fantasy, complete with warring earldoms and strange gods. "The Dalemark Quartet Volume 1" includes the first two books of this series, "Cart And Cwidder" and "Drowned Ammet."

In "Cart and Cwidder," Moril is the dreamy son of a family of wandering minstrels, performing and offering news to various towns. But a mysterious traveller joins them on their journey -- and soon Moril's father is murdered, his brother is jailed, and his sister is enmeshed in a conspiracy involving the Duke's son. Now Moril must find a way to save his family, using a magical cwidder.

"In "Drowned Ammet," the impoverished Alhammitt (called "Mitt") has become a radical of sorts, after his father and mother are tossed out because of an evil duke. Later, the Free Holanders also take his father. Mitt is determined to get revenge, but his years of planning go awry, and he ends up desperately fleeing to the North with two captives... only to encounter storms, gods, and much more.

Jones is best known for a sort of wry, homey fantasy with a British flavor -- not to mention that they often have dapper wizards. That sort of stuff is mostly missing in "The Dalemark Quartet Volume 1." Instead, we get a darker, much more epic story -- there are godlike figures, earldoms, peasants, nobles, and plenty more.

Jones' writing is quite detailed in this book, since she not only describes the clothing, woods and people, but also the alternative world of Dalemark. Both stories are connected, but independent, and Jones carefully crafts the politics and conflicts that run under all the magic and the godlike Undying. Certainly not many authors can make an invented world that is simple, yet realistic.

Her heroes are also very realistic -- Moril is the kid who makes origami cranes instead of doing his math test. Smart, but daydreamy, and only murder and conspiracies wake him up. Mitt is entirely different, focused on revenge and getting more desperate every day, but learning about himself after he ends up adrift.

The first two books of the Dalemark Quartet are included in this two-pack, a pair of solid fantasies that will leave readers wanting to check out the third and fourth books. Definitely recommended. ... Read more