Well, I read book one of the Chrestomanci Chronicles: Charmed Life, written by Diana Wynne Jones. I was excited for this book as I’m excited to read the other books that she has on this list (Howl’s Moving Castle), and after reading this one I can say that I still am. This book is written well and I found myself getting lost in the writing and the story. With that being said I didn’t really like it. I didn’t like the characters. They are whiny and cruel, mostly all of them. Except, the main character whom doesn’t stand up for himself or say anything out of turn. Another thing that bothered me, and this is one of those plot devices that always bug me, is that a large majority of the plot, I’d say 95% of the plot and tension, is due to characters not telling each other things. This is rarely done well. I always feel as though there is no reason to keep the secrets that are being kept. In this book, for instance, Cat, the main character, is kept in the dark the whole book and he in turn keeps his handlers in the dark about what he is doing, and the whole time I’m thinking “why don’t they just tell each other?!” And my curiosity is never quite satiated until the end when everyone explains their motives. It was wrapped up nicely and I did get the answers I wanted, but it was too little too late. I just prefer a different type of tension in my narrative. Also, other complaints have to do with the hokey magic system, but some people like fanciful magic with no rules or real consistency, just not me. One other problem, and I know you want to read another problem, is the cover, the blurb on the cover, and the synopsis on the back of the book. They are all terrible. Number one, the cover is terrible. It makes me think it is a book about a cat, which it is not. The main characters name is Cat, but he is not a cat. If I had to pick a book based on its cover, I would never have chosen this book. Now for the blurb…”Mad about Harry? Try Diana.” What does it mean? At first I wasn’t sure what it could mean because the original novel was written in 1977, but this is a reprint from 2001. So then that made me think that it was talking about Harry Potter, and maybe there hadn’t been a Harry Potter in a couple of years? Or were people upset with how the last Harry Potter book ended? It’s a fantasy having to do with wizards so it makes sense. I guess. But, why would the blurb reference a fictional character and then say to replace that fictional character with a very real author? So that makes me think that Harry is an author…but I know zero authors named Harry. No real footing there. Then I thought of Princess Diana and Prince Harry, because the author is British, but that doesn’t make since. What do they have to do with a fantasy novel? So, not the best blurb…it’s confusing and doesn’t really sell me the book. So, just to cover what I’ve said, terrible cover art and confusing blurb. So far, I wouldn’t go anywhere near this book. OK…maybe it is about Harry Potter http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/...Now for the synopsis on the back of the book. It gives away the plot of the story, “schemes that could destroy all the worlds of Chrestomanci.” You don’t even know that there is a scheme for anything until about ¾ of the way through the book. And you don’t know about the alternate worlds until at least halfway through it. Also, Christopher is never mentioned in the first book. So, this is just another case of me waiting through the book for it to get started and when I look up the book is already done and it finally fulfilled what the synopsis read. I imagine a good synopsis covers the feel or theme of the book, but pretty much just tells the reader the hook of the story. But, maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Well, it’s make or break time. I think that this was a good book. I enjoyed the writing and despite everything I disliked about it, the story went along smoothly. The author allows the reader to get comfortable within the narrative. But, when it comes down to it, I just didn’t like it much. I hate to say that, since this is a readable book and those don’t come around too often on this list, but I really didn’t not like it; though, perhaps there is a place for it on this list. My blog: http://brickvsthelist.wordpress.com
I had to read this book for a children’s literature class that I am taking for University. Although I’m glad that I read it and I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a children’s novel...although I guess it still is.This is a charming other dimensional novel about growth and going from innocence to understanding. This novel has influence for Harry Potter written all over it. There is ‘He who must not be named’, an orphaned child, and so many other little things that make you see where J.K. Rowling got some of the little detail for her bestselling novels.The adventures and mishaps that occur in the novel are ones that sometimes make you laugh, and sometimes make you angry. The novel takes place in another dimension of our world where everything to do with magic is simply natural to them, which can sometimes be a bit confusing, but nevertheless provides constant entertainment as we learn along with the Cat Chant. And just when you thought that the world of Chrestomanci couldn’t get any weirder they introduce a character that comes from our world and I found myself shaking my head and saying, “Don’t worry Janet...I completely understand. It can be confusing sometimes.”And like when I read Harry Potter I found myself yelling out “What? Where did she go? What is his weakness? Does he always come when you call him?” I feverishly got wrapped into another world and wanted to know everything about it. Don’t get me wrong, this novel is not on the same level as the Harry Potter series—there has a considerable less amount of adventures, but a considerable more amount of mysterious characters and is a promising beginning to a series. Especially taken into consideration that it was written in the 70s and I can’t wait to read the remainder of the series.Good:A Completely other dimension that still mentions our own making it seem like it is really a place that could exist.Chrestomanci: I want to know so much more about him.Cat: I want to know about his futureGwendolyn: The kind of character you really love to hate.Bad: Because it’s based in another dimension and the author does not take the time to explain this (until the added extra features at the back of the book) some things tend to be complicated, even if you take the time to re-read it.Overall (Writing style, story line, and general):Overall this is a book I would read again, and it’s definitely a series I will read in the future. Taking into considering the era that it was written in it was a lot easier to follow than I would have originally thought, and I only had Google some things to find out what they really were.View more of my review and others at my blog; www.mynotsovacantshelf.blogspot.com
What do You think about Charmed Life (2015)?
Diana Wynne Jones has a wonderfully whimsical ability to worldbuild (of which J.K. Rowling should be jealous). Books with magic in are slowly tending to become more technological (as our technology becomes more magical, perhaps, or maybe it's just because of games in which magic has to be "balanced"); there are clear rules for what can and can't be done. This author was writing before that trend, or ignored it, and her magic is like the magic of folktales. It works because it ought to work, because having it work that way is cool.She was also writing before "head-hopping" (switching between third-person viewpoints in the middle of a scene) became so denigrated, and a couple of times it's disorientating. Her style is the simple, declarative style of books for younger readers, but there's nothing wrong with that, though if I'd been her editor I would have said "show, don't tell" a couple of times and suggested more active phrasings for a few sentences. The writing, in other words, isn't flawless, but the story, the characters and especially the world make up for it.The main viewpoint character is a boy known as Cat, for reasons that, when explained, turn out to be very important. He's afflicted with a sister named Gwendolen, who is as self-centred as a gyroscope and reacts badly to being thwarted, causing a cascade of trouble for poor Cat. By the middle of the book he's in not just one, but four or five bad situations, with no solution in sight, and all of them are Gwendolen's fault.The secondary characters are delightful. The powerful Chrestomanci, in particular, with his beautiful clothes, is like a less self-centred Howl, but each one of them has some characteristic of appearance or mannerism that makes them distinct and memorable. This is the first of a series of six books, and I'll be reading the others too, I think.
—Mike
An ok book but not a great one, definitely not as good as Howl's Moving Castle. The main character is of the type I really can't stand: weak and unwilling to stand up for what's right in the face of obvious wrong. I take Janet's POV that he really needs to stand up a bit more. The ending was ok but a bit obvious, though to be fair it is a children's book, and the book wasn't overly long. A quick read but nothing spectacular and not a must read.
—Kim
Jones's ninth novel is probably one of her best known, and is the first of several books set in the world of the nine-lived enchanter Chrestomanci. Eric (Cat) Chant's sister Gwendolen is a witch, and a promising one, while Cat is just ordinary. Gwendolen's abilities bring her to the attention of Chrestomanci, and the two go to live at Chrestomanci Castle so that Gwendolen can study magic. Cat loves his sister despite her nasty personality and occasional cruelty toward him, but even he has trouble making excuses for her when she sets out to make trouble for everyone in the castle, in a ploy to force Chrestomanci to teach her more advanced and dangerous magic. Of course, it turns out that Cat does have magic of his own, and getting out from under Gwendolen's control is just the beginning of discovering what that is.This is not my favorite book by Diana Wynne Jones, though I do like it a lot. The main conceit of the Chrestomanci novels is that many worlds exist and that they differ based on crucial historical events that turned out differently in each world--for example, in Chrestomanci's world Guy Fawkes really did blow up Parliament. While this isn't exactly a new idea, DWJ puts an interesting spin on it by having worlds that share a common history be linked in a great circle; our world is adjacent to Chrestomanci's and has developed along the same lines. In addition to history being mostly the same, every person on all the variant Earths has an analogue in every other world, with Chrestomanci being the exception; his extraordinary power results from all his analogues having died in infancy or never been born. (This is much less creepy in the book than it sounds here.) The fact that Eric's nickname is Cat should be a clue to the secret of his magic, and the fact that Gwendolen gave the name to him is a clue to the kind of person she is. What makes Charmed Life less of a favorite with me is that I have this feeling, while reading it, of DWJ working all this out with less certainty than she shows with her other experiments. Each succeeding Chrestomanci book (The Magicians of Caprona, Witch Week) is increasingly well-developed, and by the time we get to The Lives of Christopher Chant, which is actually based on travel between analogue worlds, the principles of the Chrestomanci universe are rock-solid. And while the book overall is not my favorite, some of the best moments in DWJ's novels happen here--Gwendolen's increasingly clever and unsettling pranks, for one, and I absolutely love the stained-glass windows in the church becoming animated during the sermon and starting a fight. The kids zooming around on floating tea-trays. Gwendolen's final trick that reveals a lot about how the connected worlds work. I especially recommend this book as a first DWJ novel for middle grade readers (ages 8-12).
—Melissa McShane
