Tag: Books

Mixed Magics

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews2 Comments

Being a completist, I had to include the four Chrestomanci short stories in my reread of the series by Diana Wynne Jones.  Fortunately, they’re conveniently gathered together in one book, Mixed Magics.  All four stories are excellent fun and well-worth the read!

“Warlock at the Wheel” – This story follows directly on Charmed Life, focusing on a very minor character from that novel.  The Willing Warlock comes off very badly in a confrontation with Chrestomanci, and decides that the answer is to travel to another world.  All seems to go according to plan–until the car he steals in this new world turns out to have an enormous dog and a very demanding child in the backseat.  Soon, the hapless Warlock is being bullied by the dog, the child, and even the car.

This is a funny little story that is definitely best read immediately after Charmed Life.  Personally, I would have had trouble making the connections otherwise!  The Warlock is a great character who intends to be villainous, but is rather too woebegone and put-upon to be very successful…

“The Sage of Theare” – In the very well-ordered world of Theare, the gods are horrified by a prophecy regarding the Sage of Dissolution.  They try to get rid of the recently-born Sage by sending him to another world, but Chrestomanci and company return him to his proper place.  When the Sage grows up, unaware of his destiny, Dissolution (and serious timeline muddling) are in store.

I can’t think too hard about this one, because it makes my head hurt.  There’s a lot of “wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey” business going on, with events happening in reverse and the Sage on the hunt for himself…yeah, don’t ask, just read it!  Chrestomanci only has a small role, but all the same, his arrival at the Court of the Gods in his dressing gown is one of his best moments ever!

In terms of the larger timeline, I haven’t the slightest idea where this fits in among the others, as there isn’t much to place it in time!

“Stealer of Souls” – This story, on the other hand, belongs directly after Magicians of Caprona.  It’s the most Chrestomanci and Co. focused.  Cat (of Charmed Life) is deeply displeased by the arrival at Chrestomanci Castle of Tonino (of Magicians of Caprona), but they have to work together when they run afoul of a nasty magician intent on stealing souls.

I enjoyed seeing Cat again, and seeing Tonino from an outside perspective, after mostly being in his point of view in his book.  There are also some nice ties to The Lives of Christopher Chant, with a few of those characters returning.  And besides that, there’s a wonderfully sinister plot afoot, and some excellent mayhem and humor.

“Carol Oneir’s Hundredth Dream” – Carol possesses the wonderful ability to not only control her dreams, but to bottle, syndicate and sell them.  When she finds herself unable to dream her one-hundredth dream, her parents take her off to meet with Chrestomanci, who packed up his family after the previous short story for a vacation.  We follow Carol into her dream world, where we learn she has several principle characters, and they’ve gone on strike.

I love the whole concept of this one.  The idea of bottling dreams just fascinates me.  As a writer, I’m also intrigued by Carol’s struggles.  Essentially, she has writer’s block!  Even if most writers don’t have characters who literally mutiny, I think we all know what that feels like…

This is a quick little read with only the four short stories, but it has all the charm of Jones’ novels, and offers some nice extra pieces about the characters.  It feels sort of like a bonus to the rest of the series!

Don’t forget, you can win a signed copy of my fairy tale retelling, The Wanderers! Just put #WanderersGiveAway in your comment to enter.

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

Other reviews:
Calmgrove
Aelia Reads
I am sad I couldn’t find many reviews…anyone else?

Buy it here: Mixed Magics

Blog Hop: Objectively Good–or Bad

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop, Ruminations11 Comments

book blogger hopThis week’s Book Blogger Hop question is a very BIG one: To you, what qualifies a book as good or bad? Are some books objectively better than others, or is it purely a matter of opinion?

I don’t think this one can really be treated as an either/or question.  There are some qualities of a book that, generally speaking, will make a book good or bad–but there will be exceptions to every rule, and there will be dissenting opinions on every book.

Trying to be as broad as possible, I would say that, for me, a good book requires characters who are complex and believable according to human nature; an avoidance of overt stereotypes, including (perhaps especially) gender stereotypes (although archetypes are completely acceptable); a plot that is both interesting and plausible; and writing that demonstrates a command of language and grammar and (at least a smidge) of the beauty of words.

So it follows that a bad book would have flat or implausible characters who may be stereotypes, a dull or impossible plot, and poor command of words.

But I already have a problem right there, because Edgar Rice Burroughs is one of my favorite authors, and he has completely flat, stereotyped characters more often than not (but he has thrilling plots and landscapes, and a beautiful way with words).  Like I said–exceptions to the rule.

It all gets much more wobbly though, because one person’s complex character will read flat to another; one reader will find a plot gripping while another finds it dull, while a third will say it’s full of implausibilities anyway; and gorgeous prose to one person will seem incredibly dense to another.  And this doesn’t even address the subject of whether a book has something profound to say, and whether it can say it alongside good plot and characters, or at the expense of those, and whether that choice matters (I say yes, many would say no).

Whew, it makes me wonder how I dare state public opinions on any books!  I think implicit in writing a book review is the understanding shared by reviewer and reader that this is my opinion, one I hope would be shared by the majority of the people who self-identify as interested in the same kind of stories I like.

And there, I think, I stop!  Would you like to take on this question? 🙂

Feuding Magical Families in Caprona

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews, Ruminations5 Comments

The next book in Diana Wynne Jones’ splendid Chrestomanci series is The Magicians of Caprona. This is another one focused mostly not on Chrestomanci and his Castle, taking the action instead to Italian-influenced Caprona.

In Caprona, there are two great spell houses, the Casa Montana and the Casa Petrocchi, and the two families have been bitterly feuding for two centuries (although they both get on well with Chrestomanci). The story begins with family problems within the close-knit Casa Montana, like young Tonino’s apparent lack of magical aptitude, or the question of finding an appropriate suitor for Cousin Rosa. The situation escalates, with threats from neighboring city-states, and only hope to save Caprona—finding the true words to “The Angel of Caprona,” said to be given by an angel centuries before. Soon both families are on an increasingly urgent search for the song, while forces are massing for war and something sinister is going on at the Duke’s palace…

Here we see again one of Jones’ best types of protagonists, the earnest boy hero, seemingly unlikely to succeed, who discovers hidden abilities. I don’t mean to be dismissive by classifying—it’s a type of story that works very well! Tonino is a particularly appealing boy hero, considering his love of reading, and his talent of talking to cats.  Boss cat Benvenuto is also a delightful addition of the story–I do have this fondness for cats in books, you know! 🙂

I particularly enjoy the spell houses, with their huge clan of aunts and uncles and cousins all living companionably together, making magic and cheerfully getting into one another’s business. It’s warm and friendly and vivid. I also love their magic, which centers around sung spells. Singing off-key or muddling words can (and does) have disastrous consequences.

Chrestomanci has a relatively small role here, though he does make a flying appearance early in the crisis, so his arrival near the end isn’t quite a deus ex machina. Besides, he performs his usual role of not actually solving the crisis, just helping the lead characters to solve the crisis themselves.

I wouldn’t read this one first, because it could make Chrestomanci a somewhat confusing presence, but it’s stand-alone enough to read anywhere after Charmed Life.  I have just one more Chrestomanci novel left, plus a few short stories, which I plan to review soon too!

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

Other reviews:
Masha du Toit
The Aroma of Books
Readers By Night
Anyone else?

Buy it here: The Magicians of Caprona

Following a Hero to the Top of the World

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Young Adult3 Comments

I launched my reading for Once Upon a Time with Hero by Alethea Kontis.  This also goes to my goal of reading more sequels, as it’s the follow-up to Enchanted.

Enchanted introduced us to the Woodcutter family, with their seven daughters, three sons, and penchant for stumbling into fairy tale situations.  Hero focuses on Saturday, the sixth daughter.  She’s spent her life out in the woods, felling trees with her father and brother, and dreaming of journeying in pursuit of a great destiny.  A series of mishaps leads to Saturday’s arrival at the mountain at the Top of the World, where she meets Peregrine and Betwixt.  Peregrine is an Earl’s son who was cursed by a witch’s daughter to assume her place on the mountain, and has been running around in masquerade (and a skirt) for uncounted years.  Betwixt is a magical creature who frequently shifts shape, but always to something combining animals (like a chimaera or a gryphon).  The three join forces to fight the witch, and the sleeping dragon under the mountain.

There’s quite a lot going on here…and I reduced half of it down to “a series of mishaps.”  I had trouble with the first several chapters of this book.  So much happens so quickly that I was beginning to get whiplash.  But then Saturday arrives at the Top of the World, where time moves much more slowly than the rest of the world…and the book slows down too. Rarely do I talk about a book slowing down as a good thing, but this was exactly what Hero needed.  The focus on only five characters on the mountain also helped…

In a way I had opposite problems to my experience with Enchanted–there, I rolled with the plot shifts but the romance felt insanely fast.  Here, the plot shifts were more dizzying, but the romance felt better.  The good news is that I still enjoyed both of these books!

The romance was not what I would call slow, but it still felt more like the normal YA book or chick flick speed.  Peregrine does fall pretty quick (but there’s a magical explanation about these visions he’s been having…) and Saturday holds out for a while longer.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the gender-reversal of the two leads.  Saturday is tall and strong and tough, a warrior who’s mistaken for her brother Jack.  Peregrine is described as effeminate, and spends most of the book in a skirt.  It’s a little vague on how much is who he really is, and how much is the curse, but it’s still the prevailing situation for most of the story.  In some ways the book is somewhat heavy-handed on the subject, but hey, I’m always happy to see a fierce heroine in fairy tales!

My favorite part may be Betwixt, the shape-changing creature with a snarky wisdom.  It seems to be a truth universally acknowledged that a hero in possession of a clever animal sidekick will find himself upstaged…

After a frenetic opening, Hero has a somewhat frenetic closing too, mostly (I think) setting up plot threads for the next book (which won’t be out for almost a year!)  That seems to be the fate of second books in a trilogy, and I felt satisfied by the plot threads that did wrap up…and I guess I’ll just have to wait until February, 2015 for the rest!

Author’s Site: http://aletheakontis.com/

Other reviews:
Fyrefly’s Book Blog
Good Books, Good Wine
The Book Smugglers
Anyone else?

Buy it here: Hero

Don’t forget, you can win a signed copy of my fairy tale retelling, The Wanderers! Just put #WanderersGiveAway in your comment to enter.

Classic Review: Silver Woven in My Hair

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews5 Comments

I don’t know about you, but what with one thing and another, I find myself in a fairy tale mood!  So until I have time to finish reading something fairy tale-related and review it for you, here’s a classic review of one of my very favorite retellings of Cinderella…

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Silver Woven in My HairI originally read Silver Woven in My Hair by Shirley Rousseau Murphy from the library when I was…maybe nine?  I don’t really remember.  Young.  I read it several times, and then it somehow disappeared off the shelf.  Miraculously, I remembered the title–I usually don’t.  I usually remember something like, there was a bit in there where the girl is watching the royal family come back from the island and she sees the goatherd, and then she invites him into the kitchen at the inn to have dinner and it makes her stepfamily mad but he just laughs so it’s all right…oh and then they had a picnic later on in the book, and there was that really good part about the owner of the sword.

And that’s not going to help anyone find the story they’re looking for.  But fortunately I remembered the title, and by the time I was in high school the wonderful world of online booksellers existed and I was able to buy Silver Woven in My Hair for my very own, and I spent an entire afternoon rereading the whole book.  It was lovely.

It’s one of the best retellings of Cinderella I’ve ever read.  It’s a story about Thursey, and her terrible stepfamily.  The royal family was coming back from that island because they were there while the queen and the prince recovered from being captured in a war.  Thursey’s father went to the war and never came back, so this Cinderella actually has a reason to stay where she is–even though she knows he’s probably never coming back, she can’t bring herself to leave, just in case.

Thursey doesn’t have a sparkly fairy godmother, but she does have friends who want to help her go to the ball at the palace.  There’s Anwin the monk, and there’s Gillie the goatherd, who’s funny and charming–and very far from a sparkly fairy godmother.  🙂

I love that Thursey is a Cinderella who loves Cinderella stories.  Her family runs an inn, and she collects stories from the travelers who pass through–all the different Cinderella stories from different cultures, Cendrillon and Aschenputtel and Catkin and so on.  Even though Thursey’s life isn’t very good, she never stops dreaming.  The ball is one aspect of the story, but Thursey’s dreams have a lot more substance than dancing a single night at a ball.

The characters, from Thursey to Gillie to the nasty stepfamily, are well-drawn and life-like.  The story is very grounded in reality, in a practical world where dishes have to be washed and goats have to be fed and there’s none of the impossible and incomprehensible leaps that the original fairy tales often make.  Yet there’s also something whimsical about the tale.  For some reason the word “gossamer” keeps coming to mind, and I think it has to do with the writing style.  Murphy has kept some of the poetry of the old tales, while giving us characters and a plot that are more substantial.

Silver Woven in My Hair isn’t exactly a fantasy…or it could be.  Murphy leaves it up to the reader to decide whether some elements are really magic or not, and I’m not entirely sure what I think.

But even if you decide it’s not a fantasy, it’s definitely a magical story.  And a marvelous tale.

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

Other reviews:
Ex Libris Draconis
Mel’s Desk
Anyone else?  I am sad that this book is not better known…

Buy it here: Silver Woven in My Hair