Chrestomanci

[raven]

Apparently over the next two months there is a new Culture novel (Surface Detail), a new Discworld novel (I Shall Wear Midnight - new Tiffany Aching, yay!), a new Vorkosigan installment (Cryoburn), and a new Oxford-time-travel book (All Clear, the second half of Blackout). I keep telling myself, self, you need money for food and remember books in the US are extortionate, ALSO SALES TAX. But..... booooks.

Actually, over the last couple of weeks I've been reading the Chronicles of Chrestomanci, which somehow completely passed me by when I was a small person. Well, I say passed me by - I read, and disliked, both Witch Week and Charmed Life, and reading them now, I both understand why I disliked them and why they are, actually, rather good.

(Briefly: the Chrestomanci books are a series by Diana Wynne Jones, also known for the rather excellent Tough Guide to Fantasyland; they're set in a magical world, that is itself one of many - there are many worlds, splitting off at important points in history, the traditional Trousers of Time idea - and mostly about Christopher Chant, who grows up to be Chrestomanci, who has nine lives and makes sure magic isn't misused, and has magnificent dressing-gowns for every day of the week. Also, it's a government position. I was charmed. They sound derivative but really aren't; they're deft and clever and lots of fun. )

The thing is, the tone is surprisingly adult for children's books. Witch Week is set in a boarding school for the orphaned children of burned witches, and if that wasn't macabre enough, the novel mostly revolves around how cruel children are, especially in extremis. And it's realistic and occasionally very funny, but rather unpleasant to read. And in Charmed Life, the villain is the protagonist's sister, and because a whole bunch of people make stupid mistakes, Chrestomanci included, she gets to play the wicked witch for most of the book, with predictable consequences. And... I liked happy endings, when I was small. I was particularly struck, with CL, how different the arc is from what you'd expect - the wicked witch is the wicked witch. It doesn't matter that she's young, and orphaned; she doesn't have a heart of gold or any other fantasy-world redeeming feature - she's power-hungry and avaricious, and there's no redemption for her. I don't know if I'd like that in all of my kidlit, but it works surprisingly well.

I've two more of the books to read, and am considering offering/nominating for yuletide, because there's a lot less fic than I expected on the internet. After reading The Lives of Christopher Chant, I really wanted someone to have written a Chalet School/Malory Towers/that-sort-of-thing parody about the Living Ashteth's adventures at boarding school. How to buck up and play the game when you used to be the living embodiment of a goddess, that sort of thing. With midnight feasts and letters from Christopher that she hides under her pillow.

....yeah, yuletide. Unrelatedly, I like that people are already getting excited for it. It's only about a month until nominations begin, that is entirely justification for excitement, right? ....right?

Okay, I should go to bed, I should get up tomorrow. (Remember how all lectures at Exam Schools that are timetabled on the hour actually start at five past? Yeah, I really shouldn't.)

Comments

[nextian]

I could swear there's a fic I read actually called "Millie Plays The Game" or something which is all about it. I think I found it through sairobi's fanart, or something similar.

Wow, this comment is awfully helpful, isn't it.

e: I have at least narrowed down the actual fanartist I was thinking of -- halcyonjazz -- but not the fic.

[raven]

Well, regardless of whether the fic ever turns up, that was a good rec! Thank you, the art's just lovely.

[fairestcat]

Your to-buy list looks remarkably similar to mine, with the exception of the Culture series, which I have not read.

I adore the Chrestomanci books. They were my absolute favorite growing up, and I think one of the reasons I never fell completely in love with Harry Potter. Diana Wynne Jones had already stolen that piece of my heart.

Also, I have always been sad that there DWJ hasn't written a story about Millie at boarding school, because I would love to read it.

[raven]

*smiles* They're different from HP, in lots of interesting ways. I like them very much.

Millie-at-boarding-school. I have this awful urge to re-read my Malory Towers books and then write it myself.

[via_ostiense]

That's quite the list of upcoming releases! I had no idea there was a new Tiffany Aching book out!

[raven]

It's already out in the UK, to MY EPIC CHAGRIN. *grins* I really can't wait to read it.

[gavagai]

Oh man, I gave my baby [shuttup] sister The Lives of Christopher Chant a few years ago but haven't reread any DWJ for so long. I should totally do that. Nobody at the local library will judge me. No.

[raven]

No one on Ithaca public transport has judged me, yet! :P

[marymac]

Oh, now I want to read all my DWJ again. Except I might have to fight small cousins to the death to get them back.

[raven]

Do! Then I have someone to squee at! Because it is ALL ABOUT ME. :P

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

That is why I adore Diana. Families are genuinely dysfunctional and damaging, people actually die, adolescence is horribly difficult, amid a real froth of humour. Also, Witch Week is one of the best books about being queer as a teenager that I know.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I was sure I replied to this, and then LJ ate it. Bah. Anyway, I am trying to decide whether I want to wait for lgbtfest to roll around, or just go ahead and write a story where someone summons Chrestomanci because they're being queer-bashed in some way.

[purplerainbow.livejournal.com]

I read one of her novels, I think it was The Lives of Christopher Chant, many years ago, and really enjoyed it. I've always meant to go back and read the rest of her books but have never got around to it. However, now I'm tempted to look them all up and try again!

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Manchester library has quite a lot, and so do we, if you want to borrow them! I've been madly re-reading Diana Wynne Jones for the last couple of years, since I discovered how many Glitz's family have at her house. I finished The Merlin Conspiracy yesterday.

[purplerainbow.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks for the offer! I would very much like to take you up on that actually. Not checked out the re-located central library yet but as they lack an updated computer system it's quite hard to find books sometimes.

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'm about to start reading one of the Chrestomanci books; Rob bought me one in Amsterdam as consolation for coaxing me into leaving behind half of my massive armload of books in the American Book Center (and if those prices are anything to go by, I completely get what you mean about US book prices being extortionate). And I really want the new Tiffany Aching books, and the Connie Willis one (the Vorkosigan one will have to wait until I've read more than one of the other books); I shouldn't, because I've been buying ridiculous amounts of books lately, but still.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

The Vorkosigan one is lowest on my priority list, too, but still. Excitement! Which Chrestomanci book are you reading?

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

The book that Rob bought for me is "The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume II", containing The Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week (after he assured me that I didn't need to read the first volume to understand it, and that there were lots of cats in it so I would be happy), but I haven't actually started it yet; I'm already midway through Fire Watch, Sense and Sensibility and Foundation and Empire, so I'm waiting for a bit. My room is currently piled high with unread books (plus all of the books that I'm supposed to be reading, damn you Oxford) because for the past few months I've been buying far more than sense, space and my bank balance allow; I'm thinking longingly of the magical post-Finals time when I can actually read them (and watch all of the TV series I've been meaning to for years. It'll be wonderful).

[tieleen.livejournal.com]

You know, I didn't know any of those books were due out until I saw this, so -- my wallet thanks you? Or possibly my nose, which is about to be smooshed against book store windows a lot.

CL has some wonderful plot bits in it. I read (or, well, listened to) it for the first time a few months back, and didn't understand exactly what Christopher's sister had done to him until it was spelled out. The fact that I remember exactly where I was standing at the time probably means it was a pretty effective chill. And it was more clever than I'd expected - not a double cross (because I understood some of what was going on), just a reveal of 'hey, there's MORE here!' which isn't easy to do effectively.

Now I'm wondering if I'd have liked it as a kid - they always say kids like morbid and gory things, which was never very true for me iirc, but I'm not sure I'd have completely taken in what it all meant. Which would make it less effective, but also less difficult to handle back then.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I get how kids like gory things - I think I did, too! - but in some ways the horror aspect to CL is adult horror: I mean, it's psychologically horrifying, what Gwendolen does to Cat. But it seems to be part of the overweening theme of the books that Your Family Will Betray You, which is I suppose the classic theme of fairy-tales in general!

[fyrdrakken]

I've already read Cryoburn (was willing to spring for the e-ARC), and have I Shall Wear Midnight marked on my calendar. Have All Clear on my Amazon wishlist but don't think I marked the calendar (didn't read the preceding book yet because I heard it was a two-parter and figured I'd wait for the sequel). Unfamiliar with the Culture books and I think I've read maybe one book by Diana Wynne Jones in my life. (Can't remember which one, it didn't send me eagerly hunting for any other of her titles.)

[soupytwist]

I have been having so much fun reading Diana Wynne Jones for the first time! I think I maybe read one as a kid, maybe 9 or 10, but forgot all about it and never saw any more, and they are so totally delightful I am almost glad I get to have that fun for the first time as an adult. And there DEFINITELY needs to be Living Ashteth at Malory Towers fic. (...I feel like I should offer it because dear GOD the amount of Malory Towers and Chalet School and St Clare's I managed to read and re-read and re-read should be good for something.)

[raven]

Oh, yay, someone to squee with! It's so much fun. And if you wrote it I would be totally in your debt forever. Forever, I tell you. *grins* The fic idea I cannot get out of my head is the thought of someone summoning Chrestomanci because they're being queer-bashed in some way. Hmmm.