![]() ![]() Some of the best work here is in his characterisation, in how much he loves her but she tramples all over him, and you only realise more and more about it as time goes on. ![]() Poor Cat is so out of the loop - he doesn’t even realise how important or powerful Chrestomanci is, even as others hint at it in discussions around him - that he’s just carried along on the coattails of his overbearing, abusive sister. We go along with our main character, Cat Chant, and his older sister Gwendolen, as they’re tragically orphaned and then eventually taken in by Chrestomanci, the enchanter who oversees all the magic-users in the realm. Revisiting Charmed Life in particular is a delight, as it sets the stage for this world where magic is fairly humdrum and everyday, with witches and warlocks setting up shop just down the street. I’m doing a Chrestomanci full-series (re)read with my best friend, following Diana Wynne Jones’ recommended reading order, particularly since I missed I’m doing a Chrestomanci full-series (re)read with my best friend, following Diana Wynne Jones’ recommended reading order, particularly since I missed a couple of these back in the day: The Chrestomanci books remain fabulous stuff as ever - just lovely middle-grade fantasy - and I remain so excited to read/reread the rest of them.more The whole novel is so much fun, and even better than the previous one. During an instant of utter agony, he had time to think, Oh bother! Another hundred lines! A white-orange prominence spouted from the sun, one strong accurate shaft of it, straight at Christopher. It was rather as if a door had opened into the heart of a sun. Among the ruins and rafters of the farm roof, it opened its huge mouth. The dragon’s eyes met Christopher’s, almost soulfully. Learning more about Christopher’s deaths and how he burned through his lives so quickly (hinted at in Charmed Life), and his blase attitude towards it is just so funny: ![]() Christopher’s character development is nice to follow, as well as Millie! The origin story for Christopher and Millie’s first meeting, and how they eventually become friends, is a+ (and I’m hoping we see more of her in subsequent books because I want to see how it becomes a romance, okay). It’s warm and witty - the sequences with Christopher’s parents and their cold war is so hilarious that I wound up in gigglefits so often while reading. Every chapter left me desperate to keep going (“just one more chapter… just one more chapter!”), so I basically inhaled this book in a day and a half. The twists here are actually more predictable than Charmed Life, imo, but now that Diana Wynne Jones is a more experienced writer, the world feels richer and more well-developed (we learn even more about the alternate universes and how they work), the character work more detailed, and the end result is ridiculously compelling. We also get to meet the previous Chrestomanci, Gabriel de Witt, and his household. Following his bildungsroman is great, his trials and tribulations plus stumbling his way towards understanding that he actually does have magical abilities. He’s a combination of endearingly, hopelessly naive due to his distracted personality, and being homeschooled & barely socialised in the outside world, and so he often doesn’t even realise how he’s being used by the adults around him- but he’s also a somewhat entitled only child who was both neglected and doted upon, which makes for an interesting personality, his independent streak but also his spoiled streak, the way he focuses so much on himself and misses things about his treatment of the others around him. In this book, we meet the Chrestomanci from Charmed Life once again, except now we’re seeing his origin story as a child: a precocious boy who keeps accidentally wandering into other universes during his dreams. Shall I-?”Ĭhristopher decided to hate the bearded man anyway. “He won’t be needing this,” he said, rather shocked about it.Ĭhristopher thought the man was Gabriel de Witt and was all prepared to hate him, until Flavian said, “No, of course, Dr. “He won’ Before he had a chance to do more than look around, a man with a little pointed gray beard stepped up to him and took the striped scarf away. Before he had a chance to do more than look around, a man with a little pointed gray beard stepped up to him and took the striped scarf away. ![]()
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