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sophia_sol) wrote2013-12-29 07:02 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2013-12-29 07:02 pm
Chrestomanci reread!
Today's book post has a THEME, because I started rereading Chrestomanci and then couldn't stop. Enjoy!
The Lives of Christopher Chant, by Diana Wynne Jones
Ahhhhhh nostalgia. DWJ's Chrestomanci series is my childhood you guys, and this book was my introduction to it.
...WAIT NO I think actually the first Chrestomanci I ever read was Witch Week? Which is kind of an odd way to be introduced! But it worked for me. ANYWAYS The Lives of Christopher Chant was the one I read right after Witch Week and made me go "OHHHH SO THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON IN THIS UNIVERSE." And it's the one I reread a millionty times as a kid.
And it's such a good book you guys! I just love everything about it. I just. I can't. I keep trying to figure out how to talk about this book, my thoughts/reactions/feelings, and I just kind of can't? Because it just is, the way the staples of one's childhood exist in a league of their own with this weight of reality and inevitability about them. And it's every bit as good as it ever was, and it just makes me happy. Idek! Sorry, this is all you're getting.
Charmed Life, by Diana Wynne Jones
This one is a little more stressful than The Lives of Christopher Chant! Cat is so very clueless and under the thumb of his sister and it makes me wibble. I mean, Christopher is clueless and under the thumb of his uncle, but Christopher is so confident that it doesn't get to me. Whereas Cat has no confidence at all and so I get all worried on his behalf, and it makes the book as a whole less of a delight to read. I mean, I love it! But it's harder reading.
The best part of the book for me is definitely watching Chrestomanci being so gloriously himself. He's very clearly the sort of adult that young Christopher would have grown into and he's just such fun as a character. I love him and his family and his household to bits.
Mixed Magics, by Diana Wynne Jones
This collection has some very good stories in it but it always felt disappointing to me as a child because the first one is a story I found so very uninteresting, and that's such a disheartening way to begin reading a story collection. But you know what? The rest of the collection is great and I love it.
I think my favourite is The Sage of Theare, because I just love the concepts behind it and the execution of them - plus I love Chrestomanci's resignation towards dealing with the issue while ill with the flu.
But The Stealer of Souls is also great, because Cat is so believably resentful towards Tonino and feeling bad about it but unable to stop, and all of his worries about growing up to be an evil enchanter because he's secretly a terribly selfish person, and all that - awww, CAT, I FEEL YOU, IT'LL BE OKAY. And then he and Tonino have to work together and Cat comes around to liking him and then FRIENDSHIP!
And also Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream, aww, MELVILLE, I love Melville a lot. He's so nice while still being understandably frustrated! And Carol, though she's unable to articulate this herself, is feeling rather pressured into the whole situation because of the merchandising empire grown up around her and because of her mother's expectations! And CHRESTOMANCI IS GREAT as always. I love Chrestomanci a lot, okay?
Witch Week, by Diana Wynne Jones
Oh dear, this one's even more stressful than Charmed Life. It's a very good book and all, but it's a little too good at capturing all the various nastiness of middle school - only besides all the usual worries there's the additional one of being found out as a witch and put to death. And all one's middle-school worries DO feel rather end-of-the-world so it actually just adds to the verisimilitude?
The Magicians of Caprona, by Diana Wynne Jones
WHOOPS THIS TAKES ON NEW ENJOYMENT FOR ME what with my recent descent into Hungarian musical theatre - relevant for this is Romeo es Julia, as The Magicians of Caprona is very much a Romeo and Juliet story. Only with a happy ending! And also magic! AWESOME.
The main characters here are not the star-crossed lovers but younger siblings/cousins. And in fact there are three pairs of younger-generation Petrocchis and Montanas in this book who find themselves in alliance. There's the star-crossed lovers, Marco and Rosa; there's the main characters, Tonino and Angelica; and there's Paolo and Renata. Interestingly for all three pairs the girl is a Petrocchi and the boy is a Montana. I'm not sure if that's on purpose or not, and if it is what the purpose is. But it's a bit odd.
I was surprised on this reread to discover just how much of the day-saving at the end is actually thanks to the Duke. I'd forgotten that, as I had also forgotten the efforts of Paolo and Renata to accomplish the same thing Tonino and Angelica were trying to accomplish. I guess this is the thing about main characters: you're so used to everything being about them that it's easy to forget when books DON'T have everything be about the main characters. Anyways I really like Paolo and Renata! I like how all three cross-house pairs have very different relationships and ways of relating. And I like how what you see of the two houses shows how very similar they are to each other.
I also really like the protagonists, of course, and Rosa and Marco are great. And Benvenuto! And the way that Tonino loves reading fantasy novels - aka novels where there is no magic whatsoever.
My main issue with this book, I guess, is that it's one that's about a Completely Evil Antagonist who people have to work together to defeat. I prefer antagonists who have actual motivation and characterization beyond Being Evil. DWJ does a really good job at avoiding the one-note Evil antagonist in the other Chrestomanci books so it's disappointing to find it in this one.
But other than that it's a great book!
And then I'm not bothering to reread Conrad's Fate or The Pinhoe Egg because they came out a little too late for them to be part of My Childhood, and so to me they read as noncanonical to the series and I can't quite get into them in the same way.
The Lives of Christopher Chant, by Diana Wynne Jones
Ahhhhhh nostalgia. DWJ's Chrestomanci series is my childhood you guys, and this book was my introduction to it.
...WAIT NO I think actually the first Chrestomanci I ever read was Witch Week? Which is kind of an odd way to be introduced! But it worked for me. ANYWAYS The Lives of Christopher Chant was the one I read right after Witch Week and made me go "OHHHH SO THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON IN THIS UNIVERSE." And it's the one I reread a millionty times as a kid.
And it's such a good book you guys! I just love everything about it. I just. I can't. I keep trying to figure out how to talk about this book, my thoughts/reactions/feelings, and I just kind of can't? Because it just is, the way the staples of one's childhood exist in a league of their own with this weight of reality and inevitability about them. And it's every bit as good as it ever was, and it just makes me happy. Idek! Sorry, this is all you're getting.
Charmed Life, by Diana Wynne Jones
This one is a little more stressful than The Lives of Christopher Chant! Cat is so very clueless and under the thumb of his sister and it makes me wibble. I mean, Christopher is clueless and under the thumb of his uncle, but Christopher is so confident that it doesn't get to me. Whereas Cat has no confidence at all and so I get all worried on his behalf, and it makes the book as a whole less of a delight to read. I mean, I love it! But it's harder reading.
The best part of the book for me is definitely watching Chrestomanci being so gloriously himself. He's very clearly the sort of adult that young Christopher would have grown into and he's just such fun as a character. I love him and his family and his household to bits.
Mixed Magics, by Diana Wynne Jones
This collection has some very good stories in it but it always felt disappointing to me as a child because the first one is a story I found so very uninteresting, and that's such a disheartening way to begin reading a story collection. But you know what? The rest of the collection is great and I love it.
I think my favourite is The Sage of Theare, because I just love the concepts behind it and the execution of them - plus I love Chrestomanci's resignation towards dealing with the issue while ill with the flu.
But The Stealer of Souls is also great, because Cat is so believably resentful towards Tonino and feeling bad about it but unable to stop, and all of his worries about growing up to be an evil enchanter because he's secretly a terribly selfish person, and all that - awww, CAT, I FEEL YOU, IT'LL BE OKAY. And then he and Tonino have to work together and Cat comes around to liking him and then FRIENDSHIP!
And also Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream, aww, MELVILLE, I love Melville a lot. He's so nice while still being understandably frustrated! And Carol, though she's unable to articulate this herself, is feeling rather pressured into the whole situation because of the merchandising empire grown up around her and because of her mother's expectations! And CHRESTOMANCI IS GREAT as always. I love Chrestomanci a lot, okay?
Witch Week, by Diana Wynne Jones
Oh dear, this one's even more stressful than Charmed Life. It's a very good book and all, but it's a little too good at capturing all the various nastiness of middle school - only besides all the usual worries there's the additional one of being found out as a witch and put to death. And all one's middle-school worries DO feel rather end-of-the-world so it actually just adds to the verisimilitude?
The Magicians of Caprona, by Diana Wynne Jones
WHOOPS THIS TAKES ON NEW ENJOYMENT FOR ME what with my recent descent into Hungarian musical theatre - relevant for this is Romeo es Julia, as The Magicians of Caprona is very much a Romeo and Juliet story. Only with a happy ending! And also magic! AWESOME.
The main characters here are not the star-crossed lovers but younger siblings/cousins. And in fact there are three pairs of younger-generation Petrocchis and Montanas in this book who find themselves in alliance. There's the star-crossed lovers, Marco and Rosa; there's the main characters, Tonino and Angelica; and there's Paolo and Renata. Interestingly for all three pairs the girl is a Petrocchi and the boy is a Montana. I'm not sure if that's on purpose or not, and if it is what the purpose is. But it's a bit odd.
I was surprised on this reread to discover just how much of the day-saving at the end is actually thanks to the Duke. I'd forgotten that, as I had also forgotten the efforts of Paolo and Renata to accomplish the same thing Tonino and Angelica were trying to accomplish. I guess this is the thing about main characters: you're so used to everything being about them that it's easy to forget when books DON'T have everything be about the main characters. Anyways I really like Paolo and Renata! I like how all three cross-house pairs have very different relationships and ways of relating. And I like how what you see of the two houses shows how very similar they are to each other.
I also really like the protagonists, of course, and Rosa and Marco are great. And Benvenuto! And the way that Tonino loves reading fantasy novels - aka novels where there is no magic whatsoever.
My main issue with this book, I guess, is that it's one that's about a Completely Evil Antagonist who people have to work together to defeat. I prefer antagonists who have actual motivation and characterization beyond Being Evil. DWJ does a really good job at avoiding the one-note Evil antagonist in the other Chrestomanci books so it's disappointing to find it in this one.
But other than that it's a great book!
And then I'm not bothering to reread Conrad's Fate or The Pinhoe Egg because they came out a little too late for them to be part of My Childhood, and so to me they read as noncanonical to the series and I can't quite get into them in the same way.
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You're making me want to do a reread! I probably will do Conrad's Fate and Pinhoe Egg in there too, but only because it's been so long since I read any of them that I think my mind will just accept them all.
...And now I want to do a Complete Works of DWJ reread, oh nooooo.
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I do kinda wonder, actually, what I would think about Conrad's Fate and Pinhoe Egg if I were to reread them now? It's possible I might like them and think them decent after all? But I was just so unreasonably bitter at them at the time that I don't think I can bring myself to.
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Anyways, you are correct about which one features teen Christopher and Millie! Pinhoe Egg is about a family that lives near Chrestomanci Castle, and iirc takes place when Christopher is Chrestomanci.
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1. I always forget how good the Chrestomanci books are. They're so good!
2. Unrelatedly, EVERY UNCLE IN A CHRESTOMANCI BOOK IS EVIL. (This may relate more to Conrad's Fate and The Pinhoe Egg, both of which also feature Evil Uncles. Also it's not quite true because I think the Montoyas do have some quite reasonable uncles.)
Witch Week is quite clearly the most stressful but it's also my favorite; all the emotions of all the kids are just so raw and real. And Nirupam and Estelle! <333
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(Also because Conrad's going on and on about his "evil fate" put me in a bad headspace -- I was living with my birth family at the time, and it was imperative that I not start drawing parallels between them and Conrad's uncle, so I got quite cranky at Conrad for... essentially being who I'd been a few months/years before. ;P I mean, he's still no substitute for Millie, and he is whiny and annoying, but it wasn't as fail an addition to the series as I originally thought.)
(Also? Slashiest kids' book I have EVER read. I ship Christopher/Millie pretty exclusively, but after reading Conrad's Fate I can definitely see where the Christopher/Conrad shippers are coming from. Oh my yes. ;S)