I honestly think that The Lives of Christopher Chant is an incredibly interesting book to read. This book is in the Chrestomanci series because a Chrestomanci appears in the story. If you don’t know what a Chrestomanci is, he is responsible for controlling the use of magic of all magically gifted people in his world.
Christopher Chant has 9 lives and is expected to be the next Chrestomanci. He detests the idea of it initially but soon began to show some exceptionally good leadership skills later when the present Chrestomanci was in need of help.
His parents had always left him to the care of nursery maids, who change very frequently. So, his parents don’t know much about his bizarre dreams. He has the ability to go spirit traveling while he’s asleep. At night, while sleeping, he’ll be traveling to other worlds, which he referred to as the Anywheres.
One day, his Uncle Ralph, who is his Mama’s brother, paid them a visit. He brought along a new governess for Christopher, whom he calls The Last Governess. He liked his Uncle Ralph immensely and was very willing to do anything for him to please him.
The Last Governess discovered that Christopher could spirit travel and bring back items from other worlds. She informed his Uncle Ralph immediately and his uncle got very excited. After that, Christopher was to go to the Anywheres and bring back some stuff as an experiment, like what his uncle said.
Of course Christopher was eager to go on with these experiments his uncle set up. Then, he met Tacroy, who was one of Uncle Ralph’s men, during his trips to the Anywheres. He and Tacroy became firm friends and enjoyed each other’s company. However, Tacroy kept warning Christopher not to play along with Uncle Ralph’s experiments anymore but Christopher did not understand what he meant.
You need to read Diana Wynne Jones’ books with full attention and take care to understand every word you read or you would not understand the story. I also notice she rarely mentioned the ages of her younger characters. She probably wants us to imagine whatever age we want them to be.
The story in this book took place at least 25 years before the story told in Charmed Life.
Buy The Lives of Christopher Chant (A Chrestomanci Book)
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This is the fourth Diana Wynne Jones book that I have read and it is also much better than Hexwood. Maybe because Charmed Life was a lot easier to read, as the language was simple and there were not many complicated names.
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