This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Mary Poppins in the Park Series: Mary Poppins #4 Author: Pamela Travers Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fiction Pages: 272 Words: 49K
Exactly more of the same. The same plot points, the same beats, the same style. Once each story opened, I knew exactly where it was going. That’s just fine for a childrens story. But since this is the fourth Mary Poppins book I read, it was a bit tiresome for Adult Me.
I have no regrets whatsoever about reading this omnibus of Mary Poppins books, but I am glad I am done with these stories. I wouldn’t recommend them on their own but only to those of you who might have children or want to be reminded of what a child’s mind can handle.
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – Click to Open
This fourth book contains six adventures of the Banks children with Mary Poppins during their outings in the park along Cherry Tree Lane. Chronologically the events in this book occurred during the second or third book (Mary Poppins Comes Back and Mary Poppins Opens the Door respectively). Among the adventures they experience are a tea party with the people who live under the dandelions, a visit to cats on a different planet, and a Halloween dance party with their shadows.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Kestrel Series: Westmark #2 Author: Lloyd Alexander Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: MG Fantasy Pages: 145 Words: 64K
While I vaguely remembered reading Westmark back in the 90’s, after reading this, I am pretty sure I never read this back then. I suspect I would have disliked this very much back then. Now, I can see it for the coming of age, things aren’t that simple, kind of story and I was impressed. Alexander deals with some heavy topics of civil authority, politics and the reality of international intrigue.
Theo, from the previous book, is the aforementioned Kestrel. He starts out as the naive young man who thinks everyone is basically good and descends into the blood thirsty revolutionary the Kestrel and ends up back as Theo, the Prince Consort, a much wiser, sadder and deeper man. As an adult, it hurt to watch Theo get the brutal education he did, but sadly, that’s what most of the world gets when they grow up. It made me realize just how blessed I am, with the upbringing I’ve had.
There is no magic here, no fantasy beyond taking place in another world. I suspect this would work better for a kid who is interested in history but maybe doesn’t know it yet? The style is the same as the Chronicles of Prydain but without having any fantastic elements makes it feel so different. It is a really weird feeling. I can see why this hasn’t been as popular over the years as the Prydain Chronicles.
I don’t ever see myself reading this again. Or recommending it either.
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – click to open
Theo is traveling through Westmark, learning about the country of which he will soon be Prince Consort. He is not surprised to find great poverty: Mickle – now known as Princess Augusta – could have told him that from her years on the street. His friend Florian could have told him about the aristocracy’s graft and corruption. But neither could have foreseen a loaded pistol in the practiced hand of the assassin Skeit. The echoes of that shot ring from the muskets and cannons of a Westmark suddenly at war – a war that turns simple, honest men into cold-blooded killers, Mickle into a military commander, and Theo himself into a stranger.
As set up in Westmark, Theo and Mickle are in love. A corrupt general is in a cabal with a rival country, and plans to surrender after a token resistance, allowing a country with a more aristocratic government to replace the more populist Mickle who is seen as too close to revolutionaries like Florian. However, although the general surrenders, his soldiers refuse to, and the nominal resistance becomes a full-blown war as the people fight to determine their own destiny.
Similar to how the aristocratic powers of the time invaded France to restore the aristocracy, here a foreign country is meddling in the internal affairs of Westmark. And just as France repelled the great powers with an army led by the people and of the people, the Westmark forces run by Florian, and his lieutenants, Theo — now the eponymous Kestrel — and Justin, fight to preserve the country. But becoming a general, a tradesman in blood and death, costs the artistic and conscientious Theo a great deal. He has to cut off pieces of himself in the service of a more pressing need.
Meanwhile, Mickle must run her government in exile. Musket and his master, Count Las Bombas, are dragged in to serve as her advisors. She says she wants his advice, as he used to serve with the Salamanca lancers, one of his blustery claims from Westmark. The character Las Bombas is, like the bard Fflewddur Fflam in The Chronicles of Prydain, bombastic, yet of a true heart, and a solid friend.
There are sub-plots involving some gamine children, and difficulties in the cabal involving Cabbarus, the villain of the first book. In the end, good triumphs not by force, but by compromise. Constantine, the young king, was set up to be killed by his guardian, but ends up being captured. He and Mickle come to terms, and they draw up a peace treaty to benefit both countries. Mickle sets up a representative government to reign along with her, but that forces her and Theo to postpone their wedding.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Mary Poppins Opens the Door Series: Mary Poppins #3 Author: Pamela Travers Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fiction Pages: 256 Words: 55K
Same old, same old. Mary Poppins comes back, has adventures with the Banks family and then leaves, only for good this time around.
It is very formulaic, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the age group this is aimed at. Mary Poppins takes the children to meet an eccentric family member of hers. Mary Poppins takes the children out and they have an adventure. The children go to a dream party of sorts where they find out Mary Poppins is the guest of honor. Thankfully this time around none of the children felt naughty and acted out, thus bringing the wrath of Mary Poppins down on their heads.
It really was the same as the previous two books, so if you liked those, you’ll like this and conversely, if you didn’t like the previous books, you won’t like this either. It’s also a natural ending place if you are on the fence and don’t want to continue reading any more in the series. I’ve got an omnibus of the first four stories, so I’ve got one more and I have enjoyed my time enough that I think I’ll go ahead and read it. But I won’t be seeking out the next four books.
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – Click to Open
On Guy Fawkes Night, Mary Poppins arrives in the wake of the last fireworks display by the Banks family. The Banks children, Michael, Jane, the twins, and Annabel plead with her to stay. She reluctantly agrees to do so “till the door opens.” When an anxious Jane points out that the nursery door is always opening, she clarifies “the other door.”
Mrs. Banks has Mary and the children find a piano tuner, who happens to be Mary’s cousin, Mr. Twigley. When Mary and the children visit, Mr. Twigley tries to unburden himself from seven wishes given to him when he was born. Besides pianos, Mr. Twigley also specialises in songbirds such as nightingales, one of which he releases when he’s finished. He also provides music boxes for Mary and the Banks children to dance to. When they return home later, the drawing room piano is playing perfectly, and when the Banks children ask Mary what happened, she sharply rebukes them.
Other adventures in the book include Mary telling the story of a king (implied to be Old King Cole) who was outsmarted by a cat (known as “The Cat That Looked at a King”), the park statue of Neleus that comes to life for a time during one of their outings, their visit to confectioner Miss Calico and her flying peppermint sticks, an undersea (High-Tide) party where Mary Poppins is the guest of honour, and a party between fairy tale rivals in the Crack between the Old Year and the New. When the children ask why Mary Poppins, a real person, is there, they are told that she can be considered as a fairy tale that has come true. The next morning, Jane and Michael find definite proof of the last night’s adventure, and this time she does not deny it, simply telling them that they too may end up living happily ever after.
Finally, after Mary and the children have a non-magical (but nonetheless wondrous) afternoon playing on the swings at the Park, the citizens of the town as well as many other characters from the previous two books turn out in front of the house to have a farewell party. Before going inside, Mary urges the children to be good and remember everything she told them, and they realise that it is Mary, not the other characters, who is departing. They rush to the nursery to see her open and the nursery door’s reflection in the window. Mary Poppins then opens her parrot headed umbrella, and it soars up into the sky, taking her with it. The Banks Children are happy she kept her promise by staying till the “door” opened. Mrs Banks arrives afterwards, and sees the children alone. Mrs Brill tells her that Mary Poppins has left again, and she is distraught about what she is going to do without a nanny for the children. Mr Banks is distracted by the music playing outside, and encourages his wife to just forget about it and dance with him.
When he has finished dancing with his wife, he sees what he thinks is a shooting star, (though it is really Mary Poppins flying away on her umbrella) and they all wish upon it. The children wish to remember Mary Poppins for the rest of their lives, and they faintly make her out in the star. They wave and she waves back to them. The narrator remarks, “Mary Poppins herself had flown away, but the gifts she had brought would remain for always.”
They promise to never forget her, and she hears this and smiles and waves to them, before the darkness hides her, and they see her and her umbrella for the last time ever.
The Banks Family sigh that Mary Poppins has gone, but happily decide to sit by the fire together. (This presumably meaning that the parents have decided to spend more time with their children thanks to Mary’s lessons).
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Westmark Series: Westmark #1 Author: Lloyd Alexander Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: MG Fantasy Pages: 102 Words: 44K
This is the first in the Westmark Trilogy by Lloyd Alexander, the author of the Prydain Chronicles. I classified it as Fantasy, not because there are magic spells, or talking animals, or even enchanted artifacts but because the world of Westmark is NOT our own. This goes back to the roots of Fantasy, which have been corrupted over the years to mean something quite different than how it started out. I’m quite ok with fantasy incorporating the magical, but the magical shouldn’t BE the defining aspect of Fantasy. So go into this with no expectations of prophecies and curses and you’ll be just fine.
I did not enjoy this as much as the Prydain Chronicles. While both are middle grade, this FELT more middle grade. Problems are solved with the greatest of ease (said the man on the flying trapeze!), which is fine in MG fiction, but sometimes things were just solved a little too easily. The Evil Prime Minister is overthrown with one word from the King, even though the PM has spent years consolidating his power, over the King, over the Nobles, over the entire land. Poof, he’s gone. That’s not a problem for a twelve year old reader and if this were my introduction to Lloyd Alexander, it probably wouldn’t be a problem for me either. But things weren’t quite this simple and simplistic in the Prydain Chronicles, so I as an adult reader KNOW that Alexander can write a more complex situation while still keeping it on the twelve year old’s level.
At its heart, this was a coming of age story mixed with love and adventure. I read it in my tweens and teens and I remember enjoying it quite a bit. Now that I’m re-reading this as an adult, I’m still enjoying it, but I don’t ever see myself reading it again in the future.
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – click to open
It is a complicated and politically dangerous period in Westmark. The country’s ruler, King Augustine IV, has slipped into dementia, depression and illness since the supposed death of his only child, Princess Augusta, over six years ago. Despite the efforts of the queen, Caroline, and the court physician, Dr. Torrens, the King is increasingly manipulated by his chief minister, Cabbarus, who has designs on the throne. While the ill king is kept distracted by a series of mystics and charlatans who claim to be able to speak to his dead child, Cabbarus increases his control over Westmark, restricting freedoms and abusing the king’s powers.
Young Theo, an orphan, has been raised in a small town, Dorning, by a printer named Anton. After the pair accepts a job from a travelling salesman they are investigated by Cabbarus’ men, who declare their job illegal and proceed to destroy their press. In the ensuing scuffle and chase, Theo attacks a soldier and Anton is shot and killed.
With no one else to turn to, Theo takes to the countryside, eventually meeting up with the men who hired him and Anton for the printing job: Count Las Bombas, a con artist, and his dwarf driver/partner Musket. Theo joins up with them, rather reluctantly, and ends up participating in their money-making schemes. They eventually discover a girl named Mickle, a poor street urchin, who has a talent for throwing her voice and mimicry. The count builds a charade around Mickle, dressing her up as the Oracle Priestess and putting her on display, claiming that she can speak to the spirits of the dead.
Theo, despite his growing affection for the bright but vulnerable Mickle, begins to find his new life too dishonest for his tastes and abandons the group, eventually falling in with Florian, an anti-monarchist and rebel who plans revolution with his band of loyal followers whom he calls his “children”. Meanwhile, Mickle, Las Bombas, and Musket have been arrested for fraud, Cabbarus has attempted to have Dr. Torrens assassinated and a politically minded journalist, Keller, goes into hiding to save himself from Cabbarus’ wrath.
Events come to a head when Theo plots to break his old companions out of prison, with help from Florian and his friends. Their reunion, however, does not last long; Cabbarus has tracked them down and has them all arrested. He brings the group to the Old Juliana, the palace of King Augustine IV and Queen Caroline, where reveals his plans to the group and of how the “Oracle Priestess” will be his pawn to his uprising to the throne. While in Old Juliana, Mickle comes across a trapdoor leading to a water canal, and her memories race in her mind as she remembers her childhood. This leads to her high fever and Theo’s worry of her having to act. Cabbarus presents the group to the King and Queen and the courtiers as the Oracle Priestess, and suddenly Mickle’s long-repressed childhood memories come to the surface, revealing treason, attempted murder and corruption in the heart of the Westmark government. It is later revealed that Mickle is the long-lost Princess Augusta and that chief minister Cabbarus was responsible for her disappearance.
Eventually, on the subject of Cabbarus’s punishment, Theo, on behalf of his conscience, sends him into exile, instead of killing him.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Mary Poppins Comes Back Series: Mary Poppins #2 Author: Pamela Travers Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fiction Pages: 304 Words: 59K
A couple of teens in our church had done the play/musical Mary Poppins Jr and had to read the original book so they had the full story. I was talking to them and when they mentioned it, that was how I got the idea to read at least the first couple of books. I thoroughly enjoyed Mary Poppins and after their play was done, hunted them down and asked them what they thought of the book. They had a VERY different take on the original and one that I suspect was more about age and experience difference than actual literary evaluation difference. But their comments stayed in my head as I went into the next book and yeah, I see what they meant. I shall expound in a later paragraph.
When I did the Currently Reading & Quote post earlier this month, I said I was looking forward to Mr Banks’ old nanny, Miss Andrew, striking sparks with Mary Poppins. Well, there was a confrontation but there weren’t many sparks, mainly because Mary Poppins so overpowered Miss Andrew that it would have been like asking a log of wood to strike sparks from an axe. Mary Poppins eventually got so fed up with Miss Andrew, that when she found out Miss Andrew kept a singing lark prisoner in a cage, she put Miss Andrew in the cage and had the lark fly all over the sky with it, thus scaring the stuffing out of Miss Andrew.
In this book, it is Jane, the eldest, who has a “bad” day and is naughty, naughty, naughty (in the previous book it was Michael). She ends up inside a magic vase, trapped by an evil “grandfather” who wants new grandchildren and for them to never change. Mary Poppins rescues her but Janes’ takeaway is that it wasn’t really her who was being so naughty, but some other “Jane”. I have noticed this author doesn’t believe in the fallen nature of humanity. Everyone is basically good. Which is so much complete balderdash that you have to be deliberately ignoring the evidence in front of your eyes. Children ARE naughty and bad. They need to be corrected. They need to come to the realization that they are bad in and of themselves and that they will never be “perfect’ on their own. Until a person realizes that, they can never admit that they need Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Ok, so back to my reading. When I was talking with the teens from church, one of their complaints about Mary Poppins was how she gaslit the children and that really annoyed them, hence their dislike of the first book. I had to laugh, because it happens just as much this time, if not more. Jane and Michael will see something, like Mary Poppins coming down at the end of Michael’s kite (how she came back) and when they mention it to her, Mary Poppins acts outraged and like it couldn’t possibly have happened. Being children, they are not so sure of themselves, but the author always has them see some bit of evidence at the end of the chapter so they KNOW they did see what they thought they saw. I found it extremely amusing but I guess from a teenager’s view point I could understand why they wouldn’t like that. Getting older has brought me so many benefits that sometimes I forget and it takes talking to someone who hasn’t gotten to my place yet to remember just how blessed I am.
I also found out there are EIGHT Mary Poppins books. I just have the omnibus collecting the first four. Depending on how the next two go will determine if I try to track down the other four.
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – Click to Open
Nothing has been right since Mary Poppins left Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane. One day, when Mrs. Banks sends the children out to the park, Michael flies his kite up into the clouds. Everyone is surprised, when Michael reels his kite in, to find that Mary Poppins is at the end of the string. She takes charge of the children once again (though she’ll only stay “’til the chain of her locket breaks”). This time, Jane and Michael meet the fearsome Miss Andrew, experience an upside-down tea party, and visit a circus in the sky. In the chapter “The New One” a girl, Annabel, is born into the Banks family, and concludes the family of now five children: three daughters and two sons. As in Mary Poppins, Mary leaves at the end (via an enchanted merry-go-round, throwing her locket towards the children as she disappears), but this time with a “return ticket, just in case” she needs to return.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Pinhoe Egg Series: Chrestomanci #6 Author: Diana Jones Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy Pages: 231 Words: 88K
This is the final Chrestomanci novel, as far as I know. I believe there are some collected short stories, but I will be passing on those. Jones’ story telling ability really goes up and down over this series and it mirrors my experience with the rest of her writings. It’s easy to see why she never became a famous “Go on tv and do interviews for years on end” kind of author. She’s decent and when she hits her stride, she really tells a good story. But there is something that keeps that from consistently happening. So I think I’m done with her as an author now. Ok, on to this particular book.
Once again, I found this quite an enjoyable story. Cat is a great main character and I enjoyed watching him and Marianne (a local witch) begin the growing up process and the self-assuredness that goes with that. My only issue is, and this pretty much applies to the whole series, is that not one adult can be trusted by the children. Chrestomanci is completely trustworthy, but the kids simply don’t trust him because he’s an adult. Even Roald Dahl always had one sympathetic and understanding adult in his stories, even if the children ended up taking care of everything. I really don’t like the message that anyone in authority is to be automatically distrusted. That is a terrible thing to tell children.
Because this was short and Jones really packs things in, it felt like a whirlwind, in a good way. If it wasn’t Cat learning about his own magic, it was Marianne chasing down Nutcase the cat who can walk through walls or Chrestomanci getting trapped by the combined magic of the Pinhoe’s and Farleigh’s or Joe (Marianne’s brother) and Roger Chant working on combining magic and mechanical engineering to create a flying machine. It was fun, crazy and enchanting.
Speaking of Nutcase the cat. All of the Chrestomanci books have showcased a cat, usually ones that are psychically linked to one character or another. That isn’t the case here. Nutcase is just a big tom who goes where he wants, when he wants and eats the same way. He’s a great way to get Marianne running all over the place trying to catch him and he definitely had attitude for the whole book.
I mention this because Mallika is running #ReadingtheMeow2024 this week and this book slips right into that, nice as pie. If you happen to like cats, please check out her Introductory Post from this past Sunday and see all the posts people are including. Apparently, people like cats. Who knew?
★★★★☆
From Fandom.com
Synopsis – Click to Open
The plot revolves around Marianne Pinhoe and Eric “Cat” Chant.
Marianne’s family are witches who mostly live in Ulverscote, 10 miles from Chrestomanci Castle and do not want Chrestomanci finding out about them and preventing them using magic. The book begins with Gammer Pinhoe, Marianne’s grandmother, having a terrific row with the heads of a rival witch family. Afterwards she is unable to speak coherently and the family believes her mind has gone due to old age, though Marianne believes that Gaffer Farleigh cast a spell on her. The family decides to move Gammer into the home of one of her sons and sell Woods House, the family home.
Meanwhile at Chrestomanci Castle Janet and Julia Chant have persuaded Chrestomanci that they must have a horse, whilst Roger Chant gets a new bicycle. Cat isn’t interested in either of these things until he meets the horse, named Syracuse, and discovers that he has a sort of psychic connection with him. As Cat explores the countryside with his new friend he discovers that the roads are bespelled to send him back to the castle, and meets the terrifying Gaffer Farleigh who warns him off.
When Marianne returns to Woods House to look for Gammer’s cat Nutcase she meets Cat as well as Jason and Irene Yeldham who are looking to buy the house. Cat notices that Marianne is easily put down by her relatives so he tells her that she has strong magic. They search for Nutcase in the attics and find a mysterious object to which Cat is strongly drawn. Marianne agrees to let him keep it. Meanwhile, Marianne’s brother Joe, who has been working as a boot boy in the Castle, has made fast friends with Roger and they are trying to invent a flying machine together.
There is trouble at the Castle when Chrestomanci disappears. No one will listen to Cat when he tries to help so he goes off to find Chrestomanci by himself. On the way he meets a mysterious man with a unicorn in the woods. Chrestomanci has been trapped behind a magical barrier and it takes all of Cat’s strength as well as Chrestomanci’s to get free. There is trouble in Ulverscote as well, and it appears that someone has put an ill-chancing on the Pinhoes. Marianne becomes convinced that the Farleighs have done it, but only because Gammer Pinhoe has been setting terrible spells on them. She tries to tell her family but no one will believe her, and she gets into a fight with some righteously angry Farleigh girls. Then her father finds out that she gave Cat the mysterious object, which was a griffin egg, and is very angry.
Marianne flies to Chrestomanci Castle by broomstick at night to ask for Joe’s help, but finds Cat instead. She tells Cat everything, and asks him to help. She also meets the griffin Klartch who hatched from the egg. Cat promises to find a way to help, but struggles to think of anything. They agree to meet at Woods House the next day. On his way Cat meets Gaffer Farleigh who is very angry about Cat getting through the misdirection spells and threatens to shoot Klartch. Cat stops him, but then Roger and Joe’s flying machine appears in the sky and Gaffer Farleigh shoots at that. Cat turns Gaffer Farleigh into a stone tree and sends him away.
Cat takes Marianne to the mysterious man in the woods, who turns out to be her grandfather, Gaffer Pinhoe, who she had believed was dead. He tells them that there is a barrier keeping all the magical creatures trapped, and Cat and Marianne pull it down together.
The story ends with a battle between the Farleigh and Pinhoe families which is stopped by Chrestomanci, who was injured when Gaffer Farleigh shot at the flying machine. Chrestomanci takes away the Farleigh family magic and makes a deal with the Pinhoes that they can keep their magic if they allow his staff to study dwimmer. Marianne and Joe agree to go to Chrestomanci Castle to be educated and teach Chrestomanci about dwimmer.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Mary Poppins Series: Mary Poppins #1 Author: Pamela Travers Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fiction Pages: 159 Words: 43K
An absolutely delightful book. Absolutely delightful! I had seen the Disney movie/musical way back when and enjoyed it as a child but even then I felt that Julie Andrews was simply too saccharine sweet and thus had no desire to ever explore the books, as I figured they would be more of the same, if not even sweeter. But as the years have gone by and I have learned just what “Disneyfied” means, I wondered if perhaps the books weren’t quite what the movie portrayed. Then some people I know were doing an amateur play production and I decided that now was the time to check things out.
I am very glad I did. Mary Poppins was not the saccharine character in the movie. She was extremely competent and yet, she was sharp as glass and boy, could she cut. She was vain, always looking at herself in mirrors or windows. She was sulky, refusing to talk to the children if they had done something she didn’t like. She was vindictive, giving the children “exactly” what they wanted when she didn’t want to. It was wonderful seeing an adult treat the kids like kids instead of acting like they were helpless snowflakes who would melt at one hot word.
Each chapter was one adventure. It was perfectly paced and when the story was done, it was done. I like that kind of finality. Also, Mary Poppins literally blew in on the wind and then the book ends with her blowing away. Perfect book ends.
It was just plain invigorating to read this and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – Click to Open
The first book introduces the Banks family from Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane, London,[a] consisting of Mr and Mrs Banks, their children Jane and Michael, and baby twins John and Barbara. When the children’s nanny, Katie Nanna, storms out in a huff, Mary Poppins arrives at their home, complete with her travelling carpet bag, blown in by a very strong east wind. She accepts the job (agreeing to stay “till the wind changes”), and the children soon learn that their nanny, though stern, vain and usually cross, has a magical touch that makes her wonderful. Among the things Jane and Michael experience are a tea party on a ceiling with Mr Wigg, a trip around the world with a compass, the purchase of gingerbread stars from the extremely old Mrs Corry, a meeting with the Bird Woman, a birthday party at the zoo among the animals, and a Christmas shopping trip with a star named Maia from the Pleiades cluster in the constellation Taurus. In the end, in what is perhaps the most iconic image associated with Mary Poppins, she opens her umbrella and the west wind carries her away. She leaves behind a note letting the children know that they will meet her again someday.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Conrad’s Fate Series: Chrestomanci #5 Author: Diana Jones Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy Pages: 209 Words: 78K
Another fantastic entry in the Chrestomanci series. When she wants to, Jones can write these dynamic, wonderful, life filled characters that make you want to cheer them on. Conrad was such a character. He’s a plucky young lad who runs into Christopher Chant, the Chrestromanci we all know in this series. And Conrad holds his own against Christopher. Not in an antagonistic way, but in a friendly way, the way two young men should as they are growing up in a world where they don’t hold all the cards.
If all the Chrestomanci had been as good as this and “The Lives of Christopher Chant” then maybe this series would be known today. Sadly, Jones can’t seem to be consistently upbeat and happy in her stories and that inconsistency is what has kept me from whole heartedly recommending this middle grade series. When it is good, it is good but when it’s bad, it’s really unpleasant.
★★★★★
From Wikipedia:
Synopsis – click to open
Conrad Tesdinic lives in Stallchester, a small town in the English Alps, a mountain range present in Series Seven worlds where the British Isles are still connected to the European mainland. Conrad’s father is dead; his sister Anthea has left home to go to university; and his mother, Franconia, is an eccentric feminist author whose books are sold exclusively in her brother’s bookshop. She and Conrad live with her brother, Uncle Alfred, over the bookshop.
In the mountains high above Stallchester lies Stallery Mansion, home to the Count and his family. Uncle Alfred tells Conrad that someone up at Stallery Mansion is “pulling the possibilities” – that is, shifting the parameters of the world just a little, in order to benefit themselves to the detriment of the rest of the world. This is later referred to as a “probability shift.” From the affluence of Stallery, it is obvious that this person is making a great deal of money by doing so. In the town, only small details change – the colour of the postboxes, the titles of books – but Uncle Alfred is certain that someone at Stallery is reaping far greater benefits from the shifts. Uncle Alfred and his Magician’s Circle tell Conrad that he is going to die within the year unless he kills the person pulling the possibilities. This person (unnamed by any) is apparently someone Conrad should have eliminated in a past life. To kill this person and set things right, Conrad will need to infiltrate Stallery Mansion in the guise of a domestic servant, and then summon a Walker. The Walkers are magical beings who come on command and give the caller what they need for their particular situation. Conrad is told that the Walker will give him an item he needs to defeat the nameless foe.
Upon being hired, Conrad soon finds that he is not the only one snooping around the mansion. He befriends his fellow servant-in-training, Christopher “Smith” (really Christopher Chant), who is searching for his friend Millie. Together, they discover that Millie is trapped in a Stallery of an alternate universe, caused by the shifts in probability. Conrad and Christopher must discover who is causing the probability shifts, rescue Millie, and figure out what to do about Conrad’s so-called “black Fate,” all while dealing with the imperious Mr. Amos, the mansion’s butler, and his exacting tasks for trainees.
Millie is eventually freed and brought back to the real Stallery. She and Conrad try to work out what to do next. Gabriel De Witt, the current Chrestomanci and guardian of Millie and Christopher, arrives at the castle at the request of this England’s king, hoping to figure out what is causing all the probability shifts. He reveals that Mr. Amos is actually the Count of Stallery and the person responsible for pulling the possibilities. Mr. Amos is also Conrad’s uncle; he bought off his younger brother Hubert (Conrad and Anthea’s father) by buying the bookshop for him to run. It is also revealed that the count, countess and others are actually frauds, posing as the aristocracy so that Amos can run Stallery without interference. Uncle Alfred is also exposed as a greedy fraud who had manipulated Conrad merely to get his hands on Stallery’s millions. After this is all sorted out, Gabriel takes Millie and Christopher back to their world. Conrad joins them for seven years of magical training.
In the final part of the book, Conrad reveals that he became Christopher’s best man at his wedding to Millie and continued living at Chrestomanci Castle for several years. However, he could no longer stay away from his homeworld and returned to be the agent of the Chrestomanci.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
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.
“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.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Witch Week Series: Chrestomanci #3 Author: Diana Jones Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy Pages: 185 Words: 73K
I have heard the question “Why isn’t DWJ as famous as JK Rowlings” punted about over the years. It might seem like a legitimate question, but I think this book answers it quite aptly.
Namely, this was a scary book for kids about bullies, meanness and very unlikeable people. None of the beautiful people are nice, none of the adults (except Chrestomanci, when he shows up for the last 10%) are decent and even the main characters are some really nasty pieces of work. Some of this might be VERY true to life and some kids might be able to identify with it all, but that’s not the goal. It’s not enough to just identify with a character, but to have characters that your readers want to emulate to be better people. This is DWJ’s failure in this book.
Until Chrestomanci shows up and begins setting things aright, I was questioning why DWJ even bothered to write this and why I was continuing to read this. While I know intellectually this so called “Chrestomanci Series” really isn’t, I do wish that that DWJ had made more of an effort to weave him into the overall story instead of making him such a small part. It’s as lame as calling Jubilee from the X-Men a real superhero (she can throw sparkles or something from her hands, whooooo).
I guess I will have to change my expectations for the rest of the series but if I come across any more that are as unlikeable as this, I’ll just stop this series and start in on my next middle grade read, the Westmark trilogy by Lloyd Alexander.
★★✬☆☆
From Wikipedia:
Click to View Synopsis
Witch Week is set in an alternative modern-day Great Britain, identical to our world except for the presence of witchcraft. Despite witches being common, witchcraft is illegal and punishable by death by burning, policed by a modern-day Inquisition.
At Larwood House, a boarding school where many of the children of executed witches are sent, a note claiming “Someone in this class is a witch” is found by a teacher. This launches an internal investigation of the more unpopular students at the school (Nan Pilgrim and Charles Morgan), who are gradually coming to terms with the fact that they are witches. Mayhem gradually ensues as magic is used to make birds appear in the classroom, to rain shoes, to curse a classmate into having his words always be true, and other pranks. When the magic gets totally out of control, one of the students runs away, leaving notes that blame the witch for controlling him. The headmistress of the school calls in an Inquisitor to find the missing student and locate the source of the trouble.
Four more of the students flee the school and two seek help from an “underground railroad” system that is known to save witches by sending them to a world where they are not persecuted. Instead they are given a spell to summon unknown help and all five students converge where they are able to use it, summoning the enchanter Chrestomanci. He and the children conclude that their world diverged from 12B (ours) by a particular historical accident. They work to outwit the local inquisition and to merge their history, thus their world, with ours. It turns out that most of the schoolchildren are witches and all must lose any such powers by revising history in that way.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Magicians of Caprona Series: Chrestomanci #2 Author: Diana Jones Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy Pages: 167 Words: 63K
I enjoyed this as much as the first book even though Chrestomanci is not a main character and barely appears at all. Jones tells an engaging story of two rival magical families whose problems are solved by the children in the family. Yet Jones in no way denigrates the adult members of the family. That is an easy “out” for an author to elevate her children characters by tearing down the adults and Jones has no place for that kind of thing in her story, for which I am very thankful.
Most of this story is told through the eyes of Tonino and Paulo, brothers. The issue for me was that Jones would switch viewpoints from paragraph to paragraph and it became very confusing for me to keep track of whose eyes I was looking out of. I felt like it could have been written for easier comprehension, especially as this is aimed at the tween and early teen crowd. Other than that, I don’t have any complaints.
Family, food, magic, love and adventure, with a wicked enchantress making life tough for everyone. What more do you really need in a story?
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia.org
Click to Open
Caprona is a city-state in the Italy of Chrestomanci’s world (World Twelve A), which never united as a nation-state. The houses of Casa Montana and Casa Petrocchi, both renowned for being powerful magician families, have been feuding with each other for generations. The city has begun to lose its “virtue,” and the states of Florence, Siena, and Pisa intend to take advantage of this by uniting to conquer Caprona. The only way to save the city is if the true words to the Angel of Caprona, both a hymn and a powerful spell, can be found and read aloud.
The story is told through the eyes of the young Tonino Montana and his brother Paolo. They are both members of Casa Montana, one of two spell-houses in Caprona, the other being Casa Petrocchi. The two spell-houses are deadly rivals; the two families are both convinced that the decline of Caprona is all the fault of the other spell-house, and refuse to work together under any circumstances.
Tonino is, unknown to himself or the rest of Casa Montana, a talented enchanter; however, he is unaware of his ability, and prefers to spend his time reading. Paolo is more outgoing and friendly, and does better at school. When representatives of both houses are called to the Duke of Caprona’s palace, they both go. Whilst there, they meet members of the Petrocchi family for the first time, and they also encounter the Duchess, a powerful woman who appears to be the true ruler of Caprona.
During the book, Tonino is kidnapped and finds himself held hostage with Angelica Petrocci and whilst the two houses blame each other, Tonino and Angelica have to put their differences aside to escape. Meanwhile, Paolo teams with Renata Petrocci in order to save their lost siblings.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Charmed Life Series: Chrestomanci #1 Author: Diana Jones Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy Pages: 195 Words: 70K
While I thoroughly enjoyed this, I can see why it didn’t take off like a certain young wizard with a scar on his forehead. Cat doesn’t start off as the main character and even when he’s pushed to the forefront by circumstances, he is a very passive guy and just lets things happen to him. I thought his older sister was going to be the main character, but she turns out to be a main villain and is so bad that she’s willing to sacrifice her brother for her own ends. That’s some bad family dynamics right there.
Chrestomanci is a magician of great power with a wonderful wife and two children Cat’s age and he’s the obligatory powerful good adult in the stories. While The World of Howl books are still middle grade, they are ostensibly about the adults. Here, the children are the main characters. That changes the dynamics of the story. Part of that is that Jones allows her children characters to BE children, to think and act like children, which means they do some really stupid things even when they are trying to do the right thing. At times it was very frustrating for me, as an adult, to watch Cat do exactly the wrong thing but it fit so I just gritted my teeth and held on. And it all turned out ok in the end, as good middlegrade fantasy should.
When I posted the Currently Reading & Quote post last month, the humor hit me just right. The Howl books were semi-humorous and I enjoyed them, but I wasn’t sure if it would work in another series. While not exactly a laughathon, the humor displayed in the CR&Q post was indicative of what the story contained as a whole and it really worked for me. I didn’t give this the “humor” tag because everything wasn’t funny (like say, the Discworld books were meant to be) but there was humor interwoven so nothing was too drear and dark.
On a final note, the synopsis behind the details code is almost 1600 words. Read at your own risk. I know I wouldn’t!
★★★✬☆
From Dianawynnejones.fandom.com/wiki
While on a summer outing with their parents, Cat and Gwendolen Chant are orphaned when the ferry their family is riding crashes. The two siblings are among the few survivors; Cat believes this is because Gwendolen is a witch, so she can’t drown, and Cat himself clung to Gwendolen. The town sets up a trust fund for them, and they are taken in by Mrs. Sharp, a kindly older woman who lived downstairs from them. Mrs. Sharp is an Certified Witch, and she senses Gwendolen’s innate talent. They go through the siblings’ parents’ belongings and find three letters from Chrestomanci, which Mrs. Sharp barters to Mr. Nostrum, the necromancer next door, for magic lessons for Gwendolen.
Gwendolen excels in her studies and becomes the darling of the neighborhood, who dote on her and give her presents. Cat takes violin lessons to balance Gwendolen’s magic lessons, but his playing is horrible and Gwendolen turns his violin into a cat the neighborhood adopts and calls Fiddle. A Fortune-Teller reads Gwendolen her fortune and predicts she’ll rule the world someday if she goes about it the right way. Miss Larkins, the neighborhood favorite before Gwendolen, tries to predict Cat’s fortune out of jealousy. She goes into a trance, and a man’s voice tells Cat how glad he is to have found him, but that he must be more careful: four are gone already, and he’s in danger from at least two directions. That evening, Gwendolen writes to Chrestomanci.
Soon after, Chrestomanci himself comes in person and expresses a wish to have Gwendolen and Cat come live with him in his castle. Gwendolen is exultant, believing she’s off to rule the world; Cat, who loves his home in Wolvercote, is morose. They set off a week later by train in grand style and travel to the far countryside, where they’re greeted by a man named Michael Saunders, who introduces himself as their tutor. Michael drives them from the platform to Chrestomanci Castle, where he brings them through a side door and hands them off to the housekeeper, Miss Bessemer. That evening they dine with the Family and meet Chrestomanci’s wife, Millie, and their children, Roger and Julia.
Next morning, Cat and Gwendolen begin lessons with Roger and Julia. Gwendolen and Julia get into a small magic duel over breakfast, after which lessons commence. Cat, who is left-handed, does as usual and pretends to be right-handed when Michael isn’t looking, and Gwendolen shows she knows next to nothing about anything that isn’t magic. Michael loses his temper when he discovers Cat writing with his right hand, and dismisses them both from the schoolroom before lunch so Roger and Julia can have their magic lesson: Chrestomanci, he says, has forbidden them both from learning magic for the time being.
Gwendolen, feeling she’s not begin given the attention she deserves, grows steadily more and more furious and determines to make Chrestomanci notice her. On Wednesday, when they get their pocket money and a free afternoon to go down to the village, Gwendolen visits a seedy magic provisions supplier named Mr. Baslam to buy magic ingredients and some illegal dragon’s blood. During dinner, she summons ghouls to loom at the windows, but Chrestomanci merely asks the butler to close the curtains.
Gwendolen declares magical war on Chrestomanci and casts one problematic spell after another as the days pass, but still no one acknowledges even that. She receives a letter from Mr. Nostrum, only to find that Chrestomanci already opened and read it, to her further fury. Her feud with Julia turns into a second war when she turns Julia’s skirt to snakes during supper. On Sunday, when the go to church, Gwendolen bespells the figures and saints in the stained glass windows to run from pane to pane, causing mischief and raising a disturbance among the congregation. Chrestomanci still pays her no mind, but Millie is furious.
That Wednesday, Gwendolen’s dragon’s blood arrives in time for Chrestomanci’s dinner party. The children eat dinner separately and are told to stay in their rooms. Gwendolen obliges and returns to her room, where she uses her dragon’s blood to grow insects to monstrous sizes, summon skeletons, and conjure the same ghouls from before, and send them all to interrupt the party. Chrestomanci and Michael force their way into her room before she finishes; Chrestomanci boxes Cat’s ears for not interfering, and Michael spanks Gwendolen and strips her of her magic.
Next morning, Cat wakes up and goes to Gwendolen’s room, only to find that Gwendolen has disappeared and left an exact look-alike in her place. This strange girl, Janet, comes from a parallel world that has no magic and is much more modern. Terrified of what Chrestomanci will do or say when he discovers what Gwendolen has done, Cat and Janet agree to keep the switch a secret. Janet relies on Cat as struggles to pretend to be Gwendolen, and they both must deal with the messes Gwendolen has left behind: a spell turning the maid Euphemia into a toad, twenty pounds owed to Mr. Baslam for illegal dragon’s blood, an outstanding feud with Julia, and a secret plan of the Nostrums in which Gwendolen and Cat are both involved.
Janet and Cat resolve to run away to Janet’s world, where Janet promises Cat he can live with her and her parents as her brother. As they make their plans, Janet discovers a matchbook tucked among Cat and Gwendolen’s parents’ belongings and deduces the nine matches held inside are Cat’s nine lives. Cat, in disbelief, attempts to prove her wrong by striking one of the matches. Before Janet can stop him, Cat erupts into flames, and Janet does the only thing she can think to do: call for Chrestomanci. He arrives immediately and douses the fire, then explains to Cat that he did, in fact, have nine lives, but now he only has three. Cat realizes it was Chrestomanci’s voice he heard Miss Larkins speaking with back in Wolvercote.
The next day, Sunday–two weeks after Gwendolen and Cat arrived at the Castle–Cat and Janet stay home while the rest of the Castle Family and staff go to church. They take the opportunity to filch a bit of dragon’s blood from Michael Saunders’s workshop, then sneak into Chrestomanci’s garden, which serves as a gateway to other worlds. At the center there is an arch, and when they sprinkle a bit of dragon’s blood before it, its middle become window-like, displaying an image of Gwendolen as queen in another world. She notices them, but before Cat and Janet can escape to Janet’s world, the Nostrums appear in the garden using Cat’s signature from one of his school essays to teleport to his exact location. They are followed by more witches and warlocks, many of whom Cat recognizes from Wolvercote, and once they’re all arrived, the Nostrums summon Chrestomanci.
Chrestomanci appears instantly, and immediately the Nostrums seize upon him and bind him with silver, his weakness, preventing him from using magic. They immobilize Cat and tie him to the stone before the arch, revealing that their plan with Gwendolen is to kill an innocent child–Cat–before the arch, breaking Chrestomanci’s magic and opening the way to other worlds. But before they can kill Cat, Janet vanishes, and Gwendolen appears in her place. Gwendolen reveals to the Nostrums that Cat has nine lives and recounts what she did with some of them, explaining that they’ll have to kill him several times; this infuriates the Nostrums, because it means Cat is a powerful enchanter in his own right, and to kill him they’ll first need to discover his weakness. Before Gwendolen offers to leave so they can use her double, Chrestomanci tells them the cat, Fiddle, which Gwendolen had turned from a violin using one of Cat’s lives, is in the garden. All the witches and warlocks set off through the maze-like garden to search for the cat, leaving Chrestomanci and Cat alone at the center.
Cat is shocked and heartbroken by his sister’s betrayal and at how very little she cares for him. Chrestomanci galvanizes him to action, telling Cat how to use his magic to break them both free of their restraints. Cat manages to free Chrestomanci just as they’re discovered, and Chrestomanci holds the returning witches and warlocks off and begins to summon the Family and Castle staff. Cat realizes Gwendolen is using his magic against them, preventing Chrestomanci from summoning Millie. He takes his magic back and joins in the battle as Millie arrives.
The Family round up the members of the conspiracy, but Gwendolen escapes and seals herself off from the rest of the world, dragging Janet back into the garden in her place. The Family holds an impromptu picnic in the garden. Chrestomanci explains that they brought Cat there to train him as the next Chrestomanci, but they didn’t know if Cat knew of his magic or not, or whether he was just as amoral as his sister, which was why they’d kept him out of the loop. He offers to find a way to send Janet back to her world, but Janet says the double who replaced her was happier there than in her own world, and Chrestomanci admits that the rest are just as better off in their new worlds. He and Millie offer to adopt Janet and let her remain at Chrestomanci Castle as their legal ward.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The High King Series: The Prydain Chronicles #5 Author: Lloyd Alexander Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Genre: Fantasy Pages: 152 Words: 56K
Ahhhhh, a great ending to the series. Arawn Deathlord is defeated, the Sons of Don leave the land for the Summer Land and Prydain is now fully in the hands of regular humans. This was quite the logical conclusion to what we read in Taran, Wanderer.
Since I have read this before, and since the series is predictably middle grade, there was no surprise about Taran. That’s no slight on the book or the writing. It is just something for any adult reader to take into consideration if they were going to read this for the first time.
I don’t have a lot of words right now. I enjoyed this just like I’ve enjoyed all the previous books.
The End.
★★★★★
From Wikipedia.org
The story begins only days after the conclusion of Taran Wanderer. With winter approaching, Taran and his companion Gurgi return from their wanderings to Caer Dallben after getting news from Kaw the crow that Princess Eilonwy has returned from the Isle of Mona. Indeed, they find her at home, along with her escort King Rhun of Mona and the former giant Glew, who had been magically restored to human size by a potion from Dallben.
Before Taran can propose to Eilonwy, the bard-king Fflewddur Fflam and his mount Llyan arrive with a gravely injured Gwydion, Prince of Don. Servants of Arawn had assaulted them and seized the magical black sword Dyrnwyn. Fflewddur also states that Taran was involved in the ambush, baffling everyone. With Achren’s help, the truth is determined: Arawn himself has come from Annuvin to the verge of Caer Dallben in the guise of Taran, in order to lure Gwydion into the ambush.
Because Dyrnwyn may be pivotal as a threat to Arawn, Dallben consults the oracular pig Hen Wen to determine how it may be regained. During the reading, the ash rods used to communicate shatter and the two thirds of Hen Wen’s answer are discouraging and vague. When Gwydion heals sufficiently, he sets out with Taran and others to meet with King Smoit. Gwydion insists that he alone should enter Annuvin to seek the sword, but Smoit’s Cantrev Cadiffor is on the way. The small party divides, as Rhun and Eilonwy intend to visit the ships of Mona en route.
When Gwydion, Taran, and others reach Caer Cadarn, they are imprisoned by Magg, the treacherous former Chief Steward of Mona, who has entered service with Arawn and taken over the fortress. When Eilonwy approaches with the other party, she detects something amiss and they cautiously send Fflewddur Fflam to the fortress as a bard. After entertaining the soldiers for a night, he returns with the bad news. Then the companions encounter Gwystyl of the Fair Folk outside the stronghold, en route home after closing the waypost near Annuvin, personally bearing final observations to King Eiddileg about preparations for war by Arawn’s forces. With Gwystyl’s assistance and store of magical smokes, fires, and concealments, the companions break in and free the prisoners. The plan goes awry, however; King Smoit and his men are finally able to regain control only by Rhun’s intervention, which costs his life.
Learning from Gwystyl of the activities in Annuvin, Gwydion turns from the quest for Dyrnwyn to planning for battle at Caer Dathyl. Gwystyl, Fflewddur, and Taran leave to gather support, respectively from the Fair Folk, the northern realms, and the Free Commots. Kaw, sent out by Taran to reconnoiter the enemy, is attacked by Gwythaints while spying near Annuvin, but manages to reach Medwyn, who asks all the creatures of air and land to oppose the forces of Arawn. Taran, Coll, Eilonwy, and Gurgi muster the Commots, who rally to their friendship with Taran, and sends them marching in groups to Caer Dathyl while the smiths and weavers rallied by Hevydd and Dwyvach work day and night to equip them.
Soon after Taran and the last Commots reach Caer Dathyl, King Pryderi arrives from the western realms. In council he announces his new allegiance to Arawn, for the good of all, because “Arawn will do what the Sons of Don have failed to do: Make an end of endless wars among the cantrevs, and bring peace where there was none before.” He is rejected utterly but permitted to return unharmed to his army, and at the next day the battle begins. Although the Sons of Don and allies initially have the best of it, the Cauldron-Born arrive en masse before evening, overwhelming the allies and razing Caer Dathyl to the ground.
With High King Math killed, Gwydion is proclaimed the new High King. With the bulk of the Cauldron-Born deployed outside of Annuvin, Gwydion determines that the best chance is to attack while it is guarded by mortal men alone. He will lead the Sons of Don to waiting ships on the north coast and attack by sea, while Taran leads the Commots to delay the Cauldron-Born’s return march, as their power wanes with time and distance from Annuvin.
Taran and his army are able to hold the tired Cauldron-Born warriors beyond arm’s length by brute force, and turn the march from a straight and easy route into the rugged hills, although Coll dies in battle. Thanks to a company of Fair Folk, and to the animals sent by Medwyn, they destroy most of the Huntsmen who accompany and lead the undead. At last the Cauldron-Born break free of the hills and return to the lowland route. Regaining strength as they near Annuvin, it would be futile for the exhausted allies to meet them head-on again, so inevitably they take the long, easy route to Arawn’s stronghold.
Taran and the remainder of his army finally reach Annuvin by a combination of the direct route, a mountain path of Doli’s, and a secret pass over Mount Dragon shown to them by Achren. Taran sees that victory is nearly in Gwydion’s hands, but also that the Cauldron-Born are about to reach Annuvin. In his alarm, Taran nearly falls off Mount Dragon, but is saved by the now-grown Gwythaint he had rescued so many years ago (The Book of Three). In a desperate attempt to fight off a group of Cauldron-Born who have discovered him on the mountain, he rolls a rock at them, and discovers Dyrnwyn in the hollow the stone occupied. Wielding Dyrnwyn, Taran slays the undead warrior who approaches to slay him, and at that instant all of the Cauldron-Born die as one.
Taran’s group enters the fray, and the battle continues through the halls of Annuvin. Taran is almost deceived by Arawn – who has taken the guise of Gwydion – into giving up the sword. After the chaotic defeat of Arawn’s forces, the companions gather before the Great Hall. Achren identifies Arawn in the form of a nearby serpent preparing to strike Taran and grabs him. He strikes her fatally, but Taran kills him with Dyrnwyn. With the death of Arawn, the stronghold of Annuvin bursts in flame and falls in ruins, destroying all of the magical implements inside; only Gurgi manages to save several scrolls containing knowledge of farming, smithing, and other crafts. The sword Dyrnwyn begins to fade, losing its magic.
The allies travel to Caer Dallben, where Gwydion tells them that in victory the Sons of Don, with all kinsmen and kinswomen, must return to the Summer Country. Indeed, all those who still have magic will depart, and the Fair Folk and Medwyn have closed their realms to outsiders. Dallben and Eilonwy must also go, and others who have served well, Taran among them, are given the chance to accompany them. Taran proposes to Eilonwy at last, and she accepts.
The Sons of Don plan to leave the next day. However, Taran becomes uncomfortable about his decision overnight. The witches Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch appear before him and reveal that they too are departing, and leave him with an unfinished tapestry depicting his life. He realizes there is much work to be done to rebuild Prydain, and he has made many promises; so he determines to remain behind. Eilonwy is able to willingly give up her magical nature in order to remain with him, and the two are married.
Dallben reveals that with this last quest, Taran has completed a path prophesied in the Book of Three whereby an orphan of “no station in life” would succeed the Sons of Don as High King. Dallben had traveled to seek such a one and try to hasten the day of Arawn’s defeat; on this journey, he found a baby, hidden in the trees beside a battlefield and without any token of parentage, and took it in under the name Taran. Taran receives many gifts, including The Book of Three itself, although its powers, like all magic in Prydain, have also faded away with Arawn’s demise, leaving it only as a mere chronicle of Taran’s life. With Eilonwy by his side, Taran accepts his new responsibility and is hailed by his friends and battle companions as the new High King.
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Title: Taran Wanderer Series: The Prydain Chronicles #4 Author: Lloyd Alexander Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Genre: Fantasy Pages: 130 Words: 57K
This was a coming of age story in the fullest sense of that idea. Taran wanders Prydain trying to find out who his parents were because he wants to marry Eilonwy and thinks he has to have royal blood to marry her. So he sets out and has many adventures and sees the variety of the people of Prydain, the good, the bad and the just plain stupid. He settles disputes, learns a lot of skills and by the end realizes that he is simply Taran and that is good enough.
This is the kind of story that I think every tween and teen boy should read. Unless they are a sports jock type of guy, in which case they won’t be reading anyway, so it doesn’t matter in their case. But even then, they should be forced to read this. Boys need examples of what a man is. A boy does not grow up and mature into a man all by himself. Without the guidance of a man, he will probably grow up to be a big boy. Seeing another boy having adventures and becoming a man is one of the best ways for a boy to realize that he can be something more than just a boy. But it is a choice on his part. Taran is put in circumstances beyond his control for almost all of the story but in each episode he chooses how to react and what to do. He’s a great example and I think that is wonderful.
Part of my enjoyment of the story was just seeing that idea written out. Part of my enjoyment was the nostalgia of re-reading a favorite story from my own teen years. And part of my enjoyment was simply the fact that I was enjoying this re-read so much.
I chose this cover because it is the one I remember getting from our public library in ‘90 or ‘91. It has that scary yet not “too” scary vibe. Perfecto!
★★★★★
From Wikipedia.org
Taran and Gurgi have returned to Caer Dallben after leaving Princess Eilonwy at the royal court of Dinas Rhydnant for education in the ways of a princess. Taran has come to realize that he loves Eilonwy; but although he has proven his worth as a man, he is restless and determined to know his parentage, partly in hopes that noble birth will support a marriage proposal. Dallben the enchanter tells him nothing about his heritage, but gives his approval for Taran and Gurgi to travel on their own in search of an answer. Taran and Gurgi travel first to the Marshes of Morva to ask the witches Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch. Taran has nothing of great value to give in exchange, so Orddu merely tells him of an alternative: that the Mirror of Llunet in the far east Llawgadarn Mountains will show him who he is.
Taran sets out to Cantrev Cadiffor to be outfitted by King Smoit. After a border patrol of Smoit’s vassal, Lord Goryon, steals his horse Melynlas and Gurgi’s pony, they spend the night with the farm couple Aeddan and Alarca who have lost their son and livestock. Taran is welcomed to remain, but he gently declines and leaves with new respect for common farmers. Taran and Gurgi recover their steeds at Goryon’s fortress because Melynlas will have no other rider, and Goryon is relieved to escape the burden of mastering him. At the neighboring stronghold of Lord Gast, they meet their old friend Fflewddur Fflam, who has returned to wandering as a bard, and together they go on to Caer Cadarn, where Smoit welcomes them.
Goryon and Gast have been feuding over their cattle stock for years, especially over Cornillo, an exceptional cow. When their dispute breaks out again the next day, Cornillo and the combined cattle herds of the two lords run off. After they recover the herd, Taran persuades King Smoit to resort to a wiser judgment to settle the continual dispute: The rival cantrev lords shall resow the fields of Aeddan, which have been ruined by their feud, and Cornillo is given to Aeddan as further compensation, although the lords shall have her next calves. The childless widower Smoit later offers to adopt Taran as his son and future King of Cadiffor. Taran declines, but says he will gladly accept if he discovers noble birth.
Continuing eastward, they cross the river Ystrad. Taran’s pet crow Kaw reveals the hiding place of a polished bone the size of a toothpick, which has been stashed high in a tree. Fflewddur’s mount Llyan, a giant cat, brings a green and yellow frog, who is really their old friend Doli the dwarf. Doli has been transformed during his investigation of a deadly threat to the Fair Folk: A human wizard named Morda has attained the power to enchant them, and to raid their underground realms. Taran, Gurgi and Fflewddur investigate Morda’s abode, but are all captured. Morda begins to boast to his captives, explaining that during a winter many years ago, he was sought out by the enchantress Angharad, who was searching for her kidnapped daughter Eilonwy, but left her to die from exhaustion. Among her possessions, Morda found an amulet, a gift to her from the Fair Folk which became the primary source of his power, and an empty book, which he gave to Glew when the latter begged him to make him a sorcerer.
Morda turns Fflewddur and Gurgi into a hare and a mouse, respectively, but fails to transform Taran. Taran deduces that the bone splinter Kaw found is Morda’s little finger, in which he has stored his own life force to attain immortality and then cut off of his hand to keep it safe, and that Morda is unable to harm Taran so long as he possesses it. As Taran and Morda struggle over the bone, Morda inadvertently snaps it, causing his own death and ending the spell which transformed the companions. After recovering Angharad’s amulet, Taran reflects that it could make him powerful, but decides to return it to Doli’s people, the Fair Folk, who made it. Just before they part ways, Doli identifies the ceremonial horn Eilonwy recovered from the ruins of Caer Colur, which Taran still carries with him, as a magical item with which Taran can issue one single call for aid from the Fair Folk.
Taran, Gurgi, and Fflewddur camp next with the ruffian Dorath and his band. Their hosts suspect a quest for treasure and offer guidance to Llunet, in exchange for a share. The guests try to slip away early next morning, but Dorath prevents it and extracts a wager on hand-to-hand combat with Taran. He cheats and takes Taran’s sword, then departs.
An old shepherd with decrepit holdings, Craddoc, welcomes the companions next. From Taran’s account of the mission, Craddoc reveals that Taran is, in fact, his son. Fflewddur departs, but Taran and Gurgi remain and labor beside Craddoc. Taran and Craddoc develop a bond, but Taran also resents the end of his dream of noble birth. During the next winter, however, Craddoc suffers a bad fall down a mountain gorge and Taran is unable to rescue him. Near death, Craddoc reveals that he merely posed as Taran’s father to gain himself a son. The gorge and the weather threaten Taran as well, and he finally summons the Fair Folk, who are able to save only Taran and Gurgi.
After burying Craddoc, Taran and Gurgi continue eastward, across Little Avren to the Free Commots, and stay for a while with lucky Llonio and his family on the banks of the river. Next, Taran assists and learns the trades of three great craftmasters: Hevydd the smith, Dwyvach the weaver, and Annlaw the potter. He learns enough that he would be welcome to remain as an assistant, and gains a new sword, a new cloak, and a new bowl, but still cannot find fulfillment. While ferrying the wares of Annlaw to Commot Isav, he leads the poor farming village in resistance of a raid by Dorath, killing half the band at no loss of life on the farmers’ side.
Upon Taran’s return, Annlaw tells him the way to the Mirror of Llunet, which he knows about, but has never visited. After a short journey, Taran and Gurgi find the Mirror: a pool of water at the mouth of a cave beyond the Lake of Llunet. Taran gazes into it, but Dorath interrupts and defiles the pool. He and Taran meet in a swordfight, in which Taran’s old sword shatters on his new one and Dorath flees. Taran does not pursue but returns to Annlaw, whom he tells that the Mirror showed his own reflection and nothing more. He does not feel cheated by Orddu, for he has seen what he has become by his own labor and all he has learned on the way. With new confidence in himself, he and Gurgi depart back to Caer Dallben.
