A Magicians Magician

Hola Readers!  Ready for some rambling?  Awesome!  Let's see, I'm starting to amass a stack of books to ramble about...Um...Let's go with The Magicians of Caprona by my lovely and much missed Diana Wynne Jones.  This is one of the entery's into the Chronicles of Chrestomanci and this time we get away from England and his castle.  This book was a great expansion into the world of Chrestomanci and gives a bigger glimpse into this wonderful and varied universe.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

This is a tale of two households, both alike in dignity...wait...wrong book...still...  Anyways in the Italianish city of Caprona, magic is part of everyday reality.  It is used to keep pests away, bridges intact and any number of other conveniences.  Most of the magic and spells are created by two families, the Montana's and the Petrocchi's.  At some forgotten point in history these two houses had a falling out and now they have a deep seated dislike of each other.  In Casa Montana we meet Paolo and Tonio two children who are trying to learn the family magic.  Paolo does a respectable job, but Tonio has problems remembering even the simplest of spells.  Tonio however is one of the very few in the house who can converse with the cat Benvenuto.  While we meet the family, we also learn that a mysterious enchanter is running around Caprona causing problems and both Casa Montana and Casa Petrocchi have been admonished by the child like Duke to figure out just what in the heck is going on.  Eventually the idea that they need to find the original protection spell/song of the Angel who came so long ago and is now revered as an almost religious icon of Caprona.  All of this chaos is just added two when Tonio and Angelica (a young Petrocchi girl) are kidnapped and the blame put on the opposing family's, a huge fight breaks and the fighting threatens to end the city until Chrestomanci the great enchanter shows up and reveals that there is in fact a malevolent enchanter running around.  Back with Tonio and Angelica we find them trapped in a box and turned into Punch and Judy puppets for the amusement of the Duke and his friends.  Turns out his wife, the Duchess is the evil magician, hell bent on destroying Caprona. Tonio and Angelica find a way to combine both of their unique magics to all sorts of interesting results.  They are still in miniature form when they are rescued by the Duke, who is not as child like as he seems.  The Duchess has been keeping him in a sort of cloud.  The Duke uses everybody's assumption of his dimwittedness to sneak the kids out of the castle.   All kinds of confusion and fighting and angst occur and we find many of the Montana and Petrocchi kids teaming up to save Caprona.  Eventually six of them end up on top of the huge angel statue, able to read the words of the long forgotten song and save Caprona.  The story ends with a wedding between a Montana girl and a Petrocchi boy who start a new era of family ties and much magic between the two houses.

World Building - I always love reading Diana Wynne Jones in particular for her world building skills.  This book is no exception.  Caprona is a fully realized placed with it's own asthetic, layout, customs, politics and people. After reading this book I feel like I could actually go to Caprona (even though it doesn't exist) and live their comfortably.  She does a great job of blending places you may already be familiar with (Italy, Venice, Europe) and adding her own fantastical twist to make a world that is complete and amazing.

Story - In this book the story intertwines with the world building in a sublime way.  We definitely get a story with a beginning middle and end, but we also get a sense of history and a glimpse of the future of the families and city with which the story is told.  The story moves along at a great pace, with plenty of unexpected moments, humor, morals and magic.  The story is so clear and so entertaining...everything a great story should be.

Character - Again this author shows her chops when it comes to characters.  I feel her books are known for having a huge cast of characters, and yet I am never confused about who is who.  Every character has their own sort of story and their own contributions to furthering the book.  In this book in particular I liked the pairing of the Montana family with their counterparts in the Petrocchi family and how they were similar in some ways and complimentary in others...once they put aside their differences anyways.  I love how she makes you give a damn about the characters and you can actually cheer them on, or root for their downfall, or sympathize or whatever it is you are supposed to do.

Editing - This book fits in nicely with the series as a whole, with no errors or continuity issues.  The book was eminently readable to the point I did not realize how many pages I had read without realizing it.  A complicated book like this can be tricky to edit as you have to make sure that everything is explained while not boring the reader with to much exposition.  This book has the perfect balance of complexity and readability that I have to give the editor props for.

Chrestomanci - I always look forward to our great enchanters entrance into any of his stories.  This time his role is less prominent then in earlier books, but no less important.  I like how the author used him this time as more of a catalyst or helper then as a savior.  His compassion, limitations and ability to get people to help themselves while not over simplifying the situation is great to read.  His character is always one of my favorites, quietly powerful while still able to assess and adjust to a situation and retain his sense of humor.

New Places - I very much enjoyed taking a trip away from Chrestomanci's estate.  The first two books I read in the series took place on his home turf and were awesome, but getting a look at another place in the same world just adds even more flavor.  I liked seeing how this paticular world related to each other in the sense of how Caprona associated with England, how Caprona had issues with their fellow city states, how some things were similar to Chrestomanci's area vs their own regional flavor.  It was like a little travelouge into World 12 (Chrestomanci's world) and added even more dimension to this awesome universe.

Caprona Magic - Much of the magic done in Caprona is manifested in some sort of physical form.  We have songs, which I feel is the perfect medium for magic.  We see it written into special ribbons and papers (YEAH FOR THE POWER OF THE WRITTEN WORD).  The description of a long cherry colored strip stamped with a black leopard or a leaf green envelope bearing a silver winged horse evoke awesome images of corporal magic.  One of my favorite things about magic is how different authors have their characters use it in a myriad of ways and this book is no exception.

Overall Impression - Obviously I really enjoyed this book.  I feel like I haven't been able to successfully impart the complexity, yet readability of this book...I have that problem every time I try and ramble about this authors books.  These are the kind of books I like best, ones that get you completely immersed into the world, the story and the character, a book that sticks with you after you put it down, but does not require you to puzzle anything out.  Reading this book was a wonderful literary experience and I can't wait to read the next one.  I give it 9 out of 10 Punch and Judy dolls and recommend it to pretty much everybody!  Happy Reading Everybody!

Nine Lives Plus A Horrid Sister

Hello All!  Did you miss me and my long rambley rambles?  Well you are in luck, 'cause to make up for all my short skimpy posts that last week you are gonna get a double header!  Yep that's right. two ramblings in a row.  They are two books that have been combined into one volume and I liked them both so much that I didn't take a breather in between stories, so two ramblings it is.  Today's rambling is Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones and is the first story in the Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume 1.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Eric "Cat" Chant and his older sister Gwendolyn are left orphans after their parents drown in an unfortunate steamboat accident.  Gwendolyn survives because she is a witch and everybody know's witches can't drown, Cat survived by hanging on to Gwendolyn.  After some discussion, the children are placed in the care of a Mrs Sharp, a hedge witch who does the most minor of magics, but is well connected and gets Gwendolyn and her astounding talent some teaching by a man of not so good intentions.  Gwendolyn appears to have a vast amount of power, especially for one so young while Cat appears to have none.  Eventually both children are brought to Chrestomanci Castle, to live with the Chrestomanci and his family.  In case you have never heard the term before Chrestomanci is the term of office and title of the most powerful enchanter in World 12B (where magic is as common as music) and has the responsibility of keeping all the other magic users in line.  What is World 12A?  It is a world in a series of worlds that are all connected in some way, shape, or form and World 12A is where the Chrestomanci is in charge...at least of the magic.  Anyways our young friends are brought to Chrestomanci Castle to live with the Chrestomanci (also known as Christopher Chant), his wife Millie, his children Julia and Robert and other various magical staff members.  Cat is torn between excitement (he gets his own room with a shower) and wishing he was back with Old Mrs. Sharp.  Gwendolyn does not make things any better when she finds she is to be a mere student along with Cat and the other two children.  Gwendolyn feels that her immense talent sets her above everybody else and goes into rages when Chrestomanci won't even so much as look in her direction.  To attempt to get Chrestomanci's attention, Gwendolyn uses her magic to pull all kind of grotesque and trouble causing pranks.  This culminates in Chrestomanci taking her magic and forbidding the use of witchcraft.  Meanwhile, Gwendolyn has been in communication with her former teacher and with him and his dastardly group forming some kind of insidious plan.  After her magic is supposedly taken away Cat awakens to find that Gwendolyn has gone and in her place is Janet, another

"Gwendolyn" from one of the Related Worlds.  Turns out that Gwendolyn, using illicit dragon's blood and some sort of magic had gotten into a world where she is queen, the result is that all the other "Gwendolyns" from the other worlds all slid up one to fill the void, leaving Janet trapped in World 12A.  Cat is terrified that his sister will get in trouble (never mind that she abandoned him) and he and Janet get themselves into even more trouble trying to keep it a secret.   Eventually Janet and Cat discover a book of matches among Gwendolyns things and when Cat lights one, goes up in flames himself.  Chrestomanci finally tells Cat that it is he, not his sister that has the power, being one of the rare people who do not have counterparts in the Related Worlds, but instead have all the lives concentrated into one person.  This also makes a person one of the most powerful enchanters and next in line for the title of Chrestomanci.  Gwendolyn figured this out when Cat was a baby and leaned heavily on his power to augment her own.  Still leery of Chrestomanci and unable to fully believe his sister meant him harm, Cat and Janet get into Chrestomanci's secret garden and let in Gwendolyns old teacher and his cronies.  The nefarious group informs Cat that they must kill him to fully break the special garden of Chrestomanci's and take his power.  Cat is frightened but knows that he has a couple lives left so no biggie.  The group capture Chrestomanci with silver (which is his weakness) and go about tying Cat up.  Gwendolyn reappears to tell the group that Cat has multiple lives so that they will have to kill him several times.  Cat finally realizes what a heinous person his sister is and helps Chrestomanci (along with the rest of the household) vanqauish the bad guys.  Gwendolyn flees to another world causing Janet to reappear when she begs to be allowed to stay as the other Janet/Gwendolyn appears to be happy at her world.  Chrestomanci agrees at it appears that all the Gwendolyns are happiest in their new worlds.  Cat is to be taught magic and groomed as the next Chrestomanci and they all appear to be in good shape.

Soooo...that was much longer then intended, but so much stuff needed to be explained...also it might help with understanding the next rambling as well...maybe.  Anyways what did I love about this book?  Well I love this author in general, she also wrote my beloved Howl's Moving Castle and really knows how to write a book that is both complicated, yet easy to follow.  As you can tell from my synopsis a lot goes on in this story, yet I always felt I could follow along.  Part of this is that she doesn't over detail things, a quick description, a comment, a short lesson is all it takes to build this familiar, yet magical world.  I will say, it is a bit frustrating on occasion that the Related Worlds are not fully explained...or really explained at all, but the next story does a good job of remedying that.  I loved Gwendolyn and Cat and their twisted relationship.  Cat clung to Gwendolyn no matter how horrid she was towards him, and up until the very end she would actually treat him quit well on

occasion, playing with him when he was bored, comforting him when he was scared, getting him treats and so forth.  I thing that is what made so much more horrifying at the end when she was not only willing to kill him, but came back on purpose to make sure he lost ALL of his lives.  For a kids book this gets a little dark, I mean seriously could you imagine the psychological ramifications of your beloved sister turning on you like that?  At least if she had been horrid to him the whole time it would not have come as such a blow.  That being said, Gwendolyn was one of my favorite characters if for nothing other then the flavor she added to the book.  I liked the idea of Cat's various lives and the ways you could lose them without even realizing it.  Robert and Julia, Chrestomanci's children added a great perspective and dimension to the story as they come from a house of magic, that is both normal and controlled.  These are children who are taught to control their impulses (mostly...Julia can have a bit of a temper) and use magic to it's best potential.  Really the only thing that drove me crazy about this story was the deliberate lack of communication, so much of the bad stuff could have been avoided if the adults had just let the kiddo's know even a little bit of what was going on!  This is one of my biggest pet peeves...though I'll admit the author did attempt to put in a plausible reason for it, it still irritated me.  Overall I very much enjoyed this book, the characters, and the sheer amount of magic tidbits the author stuffed in.  I recommend it to anybody who likes magic, the English countryside or had a bratty big sister growing up.  I give this book 8 out of 10 fiddles turned cats.
What would you do with nine lives?  Did you have a bratty sibling growing up?  Do you think my siblings would classify me as a bratty older sister?