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Title: Lives of Christopher Chant
Series: Chrestomanci #4
Author: Diana Jones
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy
Pages: 241
Words: 88K
Now why can’t DWJ have written the rest of the Chrestomanci books like this one? This was fun, engaging, lively, with just the right amount of drama and even the badguys weren’t unpleasant jerks. They were just bad. Here’s a longer quote from the book that encapsulates the “feel” of the book.
“The trouble was, school had also taught him that girls were a Complete Mystery and quite different from boys. He had no idea what books girls liked. He was forced to consult Oneir, who had an older sister.
“All sorts of slush,” Oneir said, shrugging. “I can’t remember what.”
“Then could you come down to the bookshop with me and see if you can see some of them?” Christopher asked.
“I might,” Oneir agreed. “What’s in it for me?”
“I’ll do your geometry tonight as well as your algebra,” Christopher said.
On this understanding, Oneir went down to the bookshop with Christopher in the space between lessons and tea. There he almost immediately picked out The Arabian Nights (Unexpurgated). “This one’s good,” he said. He followed it with something called Little Tanya and the Fairies, which Christopher took one look at and put hastily back on the shelf. “I know my sister’s read that one,” Oneir said, rather injured. “Who’s the girl you want it for?”
“She’s about the same age as us,” Christopher said and, since Oneir was looking at him for a further explanation and he was fairly sure Oneir was not going to believe in someone called the Goddess, he added, “I’ve got this cousin called Caroline.” This was quite true. Mama had once shown him a studio photo of his cousin, all lace and curls. Oneir was not to know that this had nothing whatsoever to do with the sentence that had gone before.
“Wait a sec then,” Oneir said, “and I’ll see if I can spot some of the real slush.” He wandered on along the shelf, leaving Christopher to flip through The Arabian Nights. It did look good, Christopher thought. Unfortunately he could see from the pictures that it was all about somewhere very like the Goddess’s own Anywhere. He suspected the Goddess would call it educational. “Ah, here we are! This is sure-fire slush!” Oneir called, pointing to a whole row of books. “These Millie books. Our house is full of the things.”
Millie Goes to School, Christopher read, Millie of Lowood House, Millie Plays the Game. He picked up one called Millie’s Finest Hour. It had some very brightly colored schoolgirls on the front and in small print: “Another moral and uplifting story about your favorite schoolgirl. You will weep with Millie, rejoice with Millie, and meet all your friends from Lowood House School again . . .”
“Does your sister really like these?” he asked incredulously.
“Wallows in them,” said Oneir. “She reads them over and over again and cries every time.”
Though this seemed a funny way to enjoy a book, Christopher was sure Oneir knew best. The books were two and sixpence each. Christopher chose out the first five, up to Millie in the Upper Fourth, and bought The Arabian Nights for himself with the rest of the money. After all, it was his gold sovereign.”
~page 65
I laughed my head off at that. And rest of the book had that fun tone as well. Yes, there was some really dangerous things going on and Christopher wasn’t in the best of circumstances and he doesn’t always act like a good boy, but the thrust of the novel was all that was good instead of focusing on the unpleasant and nasty, as was done in Witch Week. This is what I want from a middle grade story.
I think it helped that Christopher is going to be the next Chrestomanci and how it turns his world upside down and inside out. Chrestomanci, as a position, is front and center and you can see how the responsibility of it weighs down on both the young and the old. But nonetheless, each bearer takes it up at the proper time and does their duty. Ahhhh, that’s good stuff! Responsibility, putting others above your own self, protecting the weak and helpless, facing down evil, people NEED that in their fiction, especially nowadays. And kids? It’s essential, sigh.
Anyway, this was the best Chrestomanci book so far and it showed just what a splendid writer DWJ could be when she wanted. Highly recommended.
★★★★★
From Wikipedia:
Click to Open Summary
The novel tells the story of Christopher Chant’s childhood in a magic filled Victorian style era. Although both of his parents are powerful practitioners of magic, the two are constantly at loggerheads; his father (an enchanter, the strongest type of magic-user) is entirely devoted to his work, to such a degree that the young Christopher is afraid that he would not recognise him should the two meet in public. On the other hand, his mother (a sorceress, the second-strongest type of magic-user) is a social climber, and is apparently only married to his father for his social connections. Christopher finds solace in his uncle Ralph, but due to his travelling job they rarely see each other.
The only escape that Christopher has is through his dreams, in which he is able to escape to other worlds. While he is not the only person with this ability, seemingly no one is able to do it so easily as he. Christopher is able to bring items with him into the real world, and after one of his many nannies discovers his hoard of items and accuses him of stealing, he tells Uncle Ralph of his power. Uncle Ralph is intrigued by this and has Christopher go on a ‘test’ to see what he can bring back. In the place between worlds, which takes the form of a valley, Christopher meets Tacroy who is supposed to guide him on his uncle’s orders, however the two discover that whilst Tacroy is projecting his mind there Christopher is physically going into the other worlds; something which is impossible.
Christopher and Tacroy go on several of these trips, and on one to World 10 they get separated. Christopher meets ‘The Living Asheth’ a girl his age who is a vessel for Asheth, the Goddess of her world. He makes a deal with her for one of her magic temple cats, Throgmorten, but as she helps him escape he is speared by one of her many guards. After waking up in his bed with Throgmorten, Christopher accidentally causes a curtain rod to fall down and spear him through the heart, although he survives. This experience prompts his parents to send him to a boarding school where Christopher forgets to travel in his dreams because he enjoys it so much. Several ordinary months go by and Christopher decides to become a professional cricketer whilst his parents divorce. His friend accidentally hits him in the head with a cricket back, killing him. He wakes up confused in the morgue, where he then falls asleep in the hospital. The current Chrestomanci named Gabriel De Witt visits him, but disbelieves claims of him being an enchanter. Christopher’s father takes Christopher to several witches and discovers that a silver coin Ralph insisted he always carry on him was stopping him from doing magic.
Chrestomanci realises Christopher is a nine-lived enchanter and brings him to his castle to train to be the next Chrestomanci. He absolutely hates living there and disobeys all of the rules even actively going against them. He returns to travelling with Tacroy for his uncle and returns the deal with The Living Asheth; giving her a series of books about a girl named Millie at boarding school. The two become close friends and she insists he call her Millie instead. Christopher dies multiple times during these trips and always wakes up in his own world only to die in freak accidents similar to the prior ones. Millie discovers that when she grows to old for Asheth to use her she is going to be sacrificed to her. Christopher sacrifices one of his lives so that Millie can travel to his own world to hide.
Christopher discovers that Chrestomanci is investigating a smuggler named ‘The Wraith’ who somehow manages to bring illegal items from other worlds. Chrestomanci reveals to every person in the castle that their close friend Mordecai Roberts was working for the Wraith, and Christopher is shocked to find Mordecai is actually Tacroy. Tacroy pretends not to know Christopher and reveals to him that his uncle is the Wraith. Ralph manages to kill Chrestomanci by taking his lives and scattering them across worlds so nobody could find him. Christopher uses Throgmorten to trap Ralph before Millie is able to subdue him. Millie discovers that Asheth is too vain to actually give a mortal girl magic and she is in reality one of the most powerful enchantresses in existence.
Learning that Mordecai is enchanted to work for Ralph, Christopher and Millie travel to world 11 which is a mysterious place that only has one timeline. Christopher and Millie are both able to outwit the ruler of World 11 and free Mordecai, who willingly becomes a servant of Chrestomanci. However, Christopher sacrifices another one of his lives. Christopher’s parents reveal to him they are getting back together, but this time for love, and Christopher decides to continue living at the castle with the newly revived Chrestomanci and Millie. However, as Christopher attempts to travel he discovers he no longer can, as he only has two lives remaining.
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