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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
Well developed characters: Christopher as a poor little rich boy grows into his destiny. He goes from neglected, receiving his Uncle's attention, going to school, being whisked away by his father, to apprentice unwillingly to the Chrestomanci, to saving the day. I enjoyed how he outwits the Dright twice.
A very slow start, I really only got through the book because I like the world. Hen last 100 pages were nicely paced and fun though.
If you read Charmed Life and don’t love Chrestomanci, you have to feel the love after The Lives of Christopher Chant. Just like in Charmed Life you feel at home in the magic. Yes, of course magic exists and you can access it in dreams. That ease of access feels so real and has that childlike sense of reality and what could be.
Again. I don’t understand how more people aren’t obsessed with this series. Just as good as it was when I was young.
Again. I don’t understand how more people aren’t obsessed with this series. Just as good as it was when I was young.
Chrestomanci before he was Chrestomanci, and lots of background for Millie as well.
A child with unusual dreams discovers the source and consequences of his magic. This is, finally, a worthy sequel to Charmed Life--which isn't to say that the intervening books were bad, but rather that that one and this one are very good. It has a phenomenal beginning, a dreamscape of multiple worlds, creative and playful and entrancing, and it doesn't lose its magic even when events become more mundane--thanks in part to DWJ's humor, which is critical without becoming cruel and sits on just the right side of absurd; thanks in larger part to her aptitude for characterization. To see an internal view Christopher Chant in his childhood, having been familiar with an external view of his adult persona, creates a full and complicated character. DWJ also excels at endings; this is less climactic and numinous that some of her others, and the twists are obvious and young reader-accessible, but it's satisfying clever in a way that aligns well with Christopher's character arc: it feels good. I loved this, especially on audio, which has benefited this entire series but particularly makes the best books soar.
I'm slowly getting round to reading all the Chrestomanci series, though probably not in the right sequence.
As usual, the story is whimsically fun and charming.
As usual, the story is whimsically fun and charming.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have read only one other book in this series. This one is apparently the fourth. I thought it was the second, so I must have gone wrong somewhere. Regardless, it was perfectly understandable and Diana Wynes Jones’s series tend to be readable in disorder anyways.
Like always, she has an excellent grasp on the psychology of her characters.
The way Christopher changes as he grows was fascinating.
We could always, technically, guess what a character is actually doing or thinking from the information we have. But every single piece of information we have is strongly coloured by Christopher’s perspective on it:
Similarly, we can feel that Christopher doesn’t have a very nice temper, but we don’t realise how mean he’s been until that same scene, at least in part because WE know he thinks nice things a lot more often than he says them.
I found the sequence where Christopher realises his parents actually like each other, and arranges for them to find each other again, to be very funny.
I'm sure there is some mirroiring going on between how Gabriel de Wit and Uncle Raph interact with Christopher, but I forgot to pay attention to it while reading and now I don't know. Something to keep an eye out for whenever I inevitably reread this.
I was very glad Proudfoot ended up helping Millie: for one thing it was nice to know the adult who had as much as raised her wasn’t actually going to kill her (and hadn’t killed many other young girls). And for another, badass old ladies are cool.
The elves appeared very late in the story for a group that ended up being the final antagonist. This is an issue because it meant we had very little fear and expectations built up toward them, and they ended up significantly less scary than they could otherwise have been.
We knew something was up with the eleventh world since the beginning, but we had absolutely no way to guess elves with only the informations we had.
But as I have apparently been reading this serie in disorder, I am assuming they appear in an earlier book and that the readers of THAT book had enough informations to guess what was up.
I like Diana Wynes Jones’ writing. It’s clever, it gives us plenty of things to analyse while we read, and while she doesn’t hide a pun every sentence like, say, Terry Pratchett, she still clearly has a sense of humour.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
What a wonderfully funny, touching, enlightening book. Better and better with each read