Author: cherylmahoney

I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).

Chrestomanci as Deus Ex Machina–sort of

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews1 Comment

I’ve continued my chronological reread of Diana Wynne Jones’ Chrestomanci series with Witch Week, where the enchanter Chrestomanci plays a supporting (and somewhat deus ex machina) role.  But on the other hand, can his convenient arrival really be considered out of place if he’s the main character of the series?

Witch Week is the most independent book of the series.  Set in an alternate England where witches (with real magic) are hunted, arrested and burned, several children at a rather awful boarding school each come to realize that they have magic.  Their experiments and mishaps create escalating chaos until they’re in real danger of their lives…but fortunately they find a spell to summon Chrestomanci to their aid to unravel a problem of alternate worlds and mistakes in history.

I think this may be the first Diana Wynne Jones book I ever read, long ago before I ever knew it was part of a series.  I also think it was my first encounter with a reference to Guy Fawkes–and incidentally, when you don’t know who he is, you lose some of the impact of finding out that he successfully blew up Parliament in this world!

Witch Week is essentially a boarding school story with a bullying thread and a magical twist.  We get into the heads of several of the children, and Jones paints wonderful portraits of believable, complex individuals.  Charles and Nan stood out the most for me.  Charles is generally disliked in school, but mostly left alone because of the power of his evil eye glare.  Jones successfully makes him sympathetic, even though he really does mean that evil eye glare.  When he finds out he has magic, he’s perfectly willing to turn it on his enemies (with disastrous and often hilarious consequences).  I think I enjoy Charles because, much as I also like Jones’ typical earnest, well-meaning boy-hero, it’s fun to get one who isn’t well-meaning!

Nan is also a victim of the bullies, who are all too willing to accuse her of being a witch.  When she finds out she really does have magic, she’s completely surprised by the jolt of confidence it gives her–not because she does anything with it, but just by knowing that about herself.

Chrestomanci’s arrival towards the end of the book should have deus ex machina written all over it, but Jones manages more skillfully than that.  Chrestomanci does organize things towards their conclusion, but the children still play such an integral role that he doesn’t take over the narrative too badly.  And besides, if he’s really the main character of the series, perhaps he’s just asserting his proper place in things?

A note on the ending in white text to avoid spoilers…  If you’ve read the book, you know that the final conclusion completely alters the children’s lives, pasts and memories.  As far as I can recall, I always accepted the ending on previous reads; this time it struck me as rather an unaddressed tragedy.  Even if their lives are made objectively better, they still had to lose the people they had been through their previous experiences.  It’s like dying to allow another version of yourself to live, which seems like a major existential question that is ignored.  But I suppose we have Doctor Who for that discussion…

I think you could do worse than to start the series here, because it’s so independent of the others.  Although knowing who Guy Fawkes (and Chrestomanci!) are would probably add to the book.  🙂  In any order, this is another fun read, with a more bleak setting but a lot of humor and excitement to set against the gray background.

Author’s Site: http://www.dianawynnejones.com/

Other reviews:
Reading the End
Readers By Night
Just Book Reading
Anyone else?

Buy it here: Witch Week

Favorites Friday: Movies from Books

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday3 Comments

In certain circles, movie adaptations of beloved books are a highly controversial subject!  My expectations are usually low for movie versions of books, because I’ve been disappointed too many times.  But…sometimes the movies do justice to their books–or, dare I say it, even do better!

I visited this topic once before, but I must have been watching (and reading) some good things in the last few years, because I find myself with a few more to add to my own list of great movie adaptations.  In no particular order, and with links to reviews…

sherlock1BBC’s Sherlock

Well, no particular order except for this one!  Something amazing happens here because it’s a huge departure from Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes (like being in a different century) and yet it’s so true to the original too.  I think the key is that the window-dressing (gas lamps and horse-drawn carriages) has changed, but the characters still feel the same…just told through modern story-telling.  Besides, I went on a Sherlock Holmes Walking Tour in London, and the guide pointed out that at the time of writing, Holmes was set in the present-day–and it was actually several decades before retellers stopped modernizing, and started placing him in his original decade.

Catching FireThe Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I liked the first movie in this trilogy too, but it was the second that really impressed me.  With some very careful character tweaks, the movie stayed true to the book but made me like Katniss so much better.  What had felt like a girl flailing helplessly became a girl trying her best, and that’s a character I can enjoy much more.

Return of the KingThe Lord of the Rings

I made a conscious decision when I finally read the books to rewatch the movies at the same time (each movie just before the book, in fact).  I enjoyed every book and movie, but I have to give the edge to the movies.  Sorry, Tolkien.  Actually, he might not mind–the movies brought the characters to life for me much more, but since Tolkien’s focus seems to have been on the lore and the history anyway, he might not see that as an issue.

Northanger AbbeyNorthanger Abbey (Masterpiece Theatre)

This is my favorite Austen novel, and the movie is delightfully frothy and fun.  Colin Firth makes us wait six hours for a smile, but Mr. Tilney grins throughout this whole movie.  It also features the wonderful Carey Mulligan as Isabella Thorpe, not to mention one of moviedom’s most adorable first kisses.

Princess BridePrincess Bride

I’m not sure I can think of any other book/movie combination where they feel so completely like they’re exactly the same thing.  It may help that William Goldman wrote the book and the screenplay.  There are some extra details in the book–but the movie has the adorable frame story–and really, everything that’s most important is in both!

Stardust

Neil Gaiman was being complex and innovative and subverting expectations with some aspects of this story.  The movie decided to be funny and romantic and, yes, more traditional in its pay-offs.  I respect Gaiman, but the movie makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and happy!

Your turn!  What movies do justice to their books?

If History Was Different…

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Reviews, Young Adult4 Comments

I read The Explosionist by Jenny Davidson so long ago that pretty much all I remembered was that it was set in an alternate history, and there was a sequel I always meant to read.  Clearly a reread was in order before going to that sequel!

The Explosionist is set in Scotland in 1938–but this is an alternate history, where Napoleon won at Waterloo.  The Northern countries of Scotland, Scandinavia and Russia have united in the New Hanseatic League, in uneasy peace with a united but oppressive Europe.  Sophie Hunter is 15, an orphan raised by her Great-Aunt Tabitha after her parents died in an explosion at a dynamite factory.  Her world begins to unravel with terrorist bombs near her school, an unsettling encounter with a ghost through a medium who is later murdered, and hints of something sinister about IRLYNs (pronounced “Irons”), a patriotic training program for young women.

Sophie is a wonderful portrait of a very intelligent, slightly naive girl who is well-meaning yet often conflicted about what’s best.  She felt very fifteen somehow, just old enough to grasp the magnitude of the conspiracy she begins to uncover, but young enough to still think she can somehow handle it herself–with her best friend, Mikael.  There’s an intriguing thread through the book about the benefit or harm of strong emotions.  Sophie herself is a committed rationalist, who believes that doing away with extreme emotions would be all to the best…though she can’t quite manage it!

This book is part boarding school story, part murder mystery, part conspiracy theory, and part ghost story as Sophie discovers an ability to speak with the recently-dead.  All those pieces somehow balance together, creating an intriguing mystery with a series of surprises and turns.

The alternate history of it all creates some fascinating touches.  The overarching changes to history and government are intriguing, though the small details may be even more fun (if a little silly!)  Many people famous in our own history are famous in Sophie’s world–but for very different reasons, like Freud the radio host, or Einstein the poet…

By the way, I hate this cover–it has none of the character of the first one!

The Explosionist ends with a big shift and a lot of questions still wide open, which is how it stuck in my mind that I needed to read the sequel, Invisible Things.  (Some minor spoilers for the first book to follow.)  The sequel sees Sophie in Denmark with her friend Mikael’s family, volunteering at a scientific facility headed by Niels Bohr where nuclear fission is a hot new topic.  Europe and the New Hanseatic League are rushing ever closer towards open war, while Sophie begins to uncover new truths about her family’s past.  Halfway through the book, we see an abrupt shift with a terrorist attack (using a gas that alters Mikael’s personality), a new villain, and a quest for Sophie.

I enjoyed The Explosionist a lot, but I’m not sure how to feel about Invisible Things.  Sophie, Mikael and all the rest are still likable and compelling characters.  The premise and the alternate history are still fascinating.  But while the first book had a busy and carefully balanced plot, this book feels like it lost its balance somehow.

Sophie has a very passive role for the first half of the book; there are revelations a-plenty, but Sophie herself doesn’t actually do much.  The stakes get higher and so does the interest level in the second half of the book…but that part also seems like a big departure from everything that came before, and begins to strain credulity a bit in certain ways.  The last portion of the book is a “Snow Queen” retelling, which is a cool idea–yet feels forced in places.

It’s unfortunate, because there are a lot of great pieces in here…they just fit together a little awkwardly.  Still, it was worth the read to find out the answers to some of the mysteries left by the first book, and to see the continuing development of Sophie’s story.  If you like historical fiction with a little fantasy thrown in, or enjoy slightly spooky conspiracies, these books are a fun read!

Other reviews:
Bib-Laura-graphy
Bookshelves of Doom
Frenetic Reader
Anyone else?

Buy them here: The Explosionist and Invisible Things

The Last Battle for Narnia

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews4 Comments

Last BattleI recently finished my voyage through Narnia on audiobook by listening to The Last Battle.  I began with an exciting narrator, Kenneth Branagh reading The Magician’s Nephew, and finished with another exciting one–Patrick Stewart!  And he was excellent, especially in some of the more exciting moments.

The Last Battle is a decidedly odd installment in the series.  It opens many generations after Caspian and Rillian of the previous book, with King Tirian, “the last king of Narnia.”  In the North, a crafty ape and misguided donkey set up a false Aslan to control the Narnians.  They form an alliance with the foreign Calormens, fell the trees and make plans to enslave Narnia’s people and talking animals.  Tirian tries to stand against them, and is soon joined by Eustace and Jill, sent from our world to help.

The book is much grimmer than the previous ones.  That’s not immediately apparent, but as the book goes on it becomes an increasingly desperate struggle against lengthening odds.  There is ultimately a victory, of a sort, but only on a cosmic level.

And that’s why I’m not sure how to feel about this one.  The end ultimately has a very positive feel to it…but it also renders the struggles of the first half of the book somewhat pointless.  The whole world of Narnia is highly symbolic, of course; I think this may be the one installment where Lewis’ symbolism overwhelmed the adventure aspect of the book.  I didn’t dislike the symbolic, cosmic-level side of the book, and Lewis actually did quite nicely with making eternity seem rather homey–and grand and immense at the same time.  All the same, it sits a little awkwardly next to the adventure side.

I am not entirely sure I’m making sense here, so on to other aspects!

The portrayal of the Calormen is a bit complicated here.  They weren’t exactly nice in The Horse and His Boy, but they somehow become worse here, maybe because there’s a new sense that they’re inherently villainous in some way.  Which is all well and good if Lewis wants inherently villainous Calormen; it becomes more troubling when you figure that, symbolically, Calormen are not really Calormen.  However–Lewis does something to redeem that aspect by giving us one Calormen soldier, who is a devoted servant of wicked Tash but still a good person and still comes into Aslan’s Country.  Aslan ends up telling him, essentially, that good is still good and evil is still evil, no matter whose name you’re doing it in.  It’s a simple message on a complex subject, but as a simple message it’s a nice, open-minded touch.

The question of Susan is another troubling one.  Even if she is a bit of a wet blanket, I’ve always felt bad for her in this book!  Here’s a case where Lewis’ symbolism is probably too vague; I find it hard to know exactly what barred Susan in the end (is it really a love of make-up, or is that symbolic?) so I don’t know quite how bothered to be.  I like to think, though, that the tragedy she experiences (rather off-stage) inspires some new depths of character, and that she eventually comes to Aslan’s Country too.

Enough deep and grim discussion, so I’ll wind up with three more amusing notes.

All the discussion of places within places in this book, many of them bigger on the inside, led me to wonder if Lewis’ wardrobe (a wooden box, you know) with an entire world inside of it might have been an inspiration for a police box that is also bigger on the inside.

I recently rewatched the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and that juxtaposition has made me want to mix things together a bit…and after all, who’s to say that the Undying Lands aren’t an offshoot of Aslan’s Country?  (Well, Tolkien and Lewis could say they aren’t, but I rather like the idea!)

And finally, my favorite moment from the very end of The Last Battle (a bit of a spoiler), is when all the long-dead characters of the series reunite (including my favorite, Mr. Tumnus!) and laugh over old jokes together.  Because really–what good is a heaven if you can’t enjoy old jokes there?

Having now finished the entire Narnia series, I can definitely say that The Magician’s Nephew and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are my particular favorites, probably because they have the most appealing characters and visit the most interesting places.  All the books are good and the entire series is well-worth exploring.  Even if The Last Battle is more grim, it does serve to put a nice punctuation on the series.

Author’s Site: https://www.cslewis.com

Other reviews:
The Bookworm Chronicles
Life with Books & Movies
Stray Thoughts
My Head Is Full of Books
Anyone else?

Buy it here: The Last Battle

Saturday Snapshot: Finishing the Doctor’s Scarf

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot5 Comments

My last big knitting project was to attempt the Doctor’s Scarf–that ridiculously long scarf that Tom Baker wears in old episodes of Doctor Who.  I got a pattern off of wittylittleknitter.com, chose some pastel variations on the Doctor’s colors, and happily knitted away from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day.  And the result is…

Doctor's ScarfOddly enough, I think the lighting made the colors look less pastel, and more like Tom Baker’s!  Believe it or not, I can actually wear this scarf…I just have to loop it several times!  I’ll have to get someone to take a picture of that for a future post. 🙂

Visit West Metro Mommy for more Saturday Snapshots–and have a great weekend!