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A review by orielwen
Cart and Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones
4.0
This is one of Diana Wynne Jones’s early books and is a more traditional fantasy tale than the sort of fusion worlds she writes later. I don’t know if she’s deliberately writing in a more serious style or if she just hasn’t found her humorous voice yet, but there’s no great laugh-out-loud moments. It is, however, a very gripping read, with a well-thought-through magic system. I like the way music is incorporated into the world and the plot. I also like the way we learn about the characters through the eyes of someone who doesn’t know all the details, and learn with him that some of his assumptions and beliefs are false.
I kept thinking that the book was structured oddly, because things kept happening too soon (the world-changing realisation about yourself that Diana Wynne Jones’s characters often have, a grand set-piece climax), but it all made sense when I turned the page to find that the final quarter of the book is an extensive glossary. I’m not going to read the glossary (yet) because I suspect it will reference things that occur in the following books, and it doesn’t seem to have been necessary to understanding the story.
I kept thinking that the book was structured oddly, because things kept happening too soon (the world-changing realisation about yourself that Diana Wynne Jones’s characters often have, a grand set-piece climax), but it all made sense when I turned the page to find that the final quarter of the book is an extensive glossary. I’m not going to read the glossary (yet) because I suspect it will reference things that occur in the following books, and it doesn’t seem to have been necessary to understanding the story.