12th May, 2007

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

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I’ve had many people telling me what a funny book this is but I’m afraid that I don’t find it that funny. Still, it was entertaining to read about the vain and dandy Wizard Howl who supposedly consumes the hearts of young girls!

Anyway, the story starts with Sophie Hatter. She has two younger sisters, Lettie and Martha. Her parents owned a ladies’ hat shop in Market Chipping. Her mother died when she was only two years old and her father married one of his shop assistants, Fanny, who then gave birth to Martha. So, Martha is considered Sophie and Lettie’s half sister. Well, the sisters do get along well with one another.

When Mr. Hatter died one day, the shop is left in Fanny’s hands. With not much money to spare for Lettie and Martha’s schooling, she sent Lettie to Cesari’s, the pastry cook, to be an apprentice and Martha to Annabel Fairfax, a witch, as an apprentice, too. Sophie is left to help out at the hat shop.

Sophie did not realize that she could talk things to life. Because of her, the hats in the hat shop have been selling like hot cakes. She gave character to the hats that she talked to while trimming them. One fine day, the evil Witch of the Waste paid a visit to the hat shop and without warning, turned Sophie into an old, old lady. It’s obvious that the witch does not approve of Sophie’s magic.

However, Sophie is calm and cool about it. She doesn’t mind being an old lady. Hence, she set off and somehow arrived at Wizard Howl’s castle. Since she’s an old lady now, she’s not worried that the wizard might eat her heart. She then became the wizard’s cleaning lady.

While she was there, she got to know Howl’s young apprentice, Michael and even made a deal with Calcifer, the fire demon. She promised to break Calcifer’s contract with Howl and in return, Calcifer would turn her back into a young girl again.

Diana Wynne Jones is a very descriptive writer and it’s clear in her books. Almost everything is described thoroughly and well and you get a clearer picture of things. She makes Howl a self-centred wizard but quite a kind-hearted one, too since he allows old Sophie to stay in his castle. I really like the ending, though! And yeah, don’t worry, there are indeed some funny parts that would make you chuckle.

Howl’s Moving Castle is now an animated movie from the director of Spirited Away. It would be nice to watch it to enjoy the story even more!

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Posted in Authors J, Fantasy, Humour, Titles H, Young Adult Fiction at 1:44 pm | Comments (4)



11th March, 2007

Archer’s Goon by Diana Wynne Jones

Howard and his little sister, Awful, came home one day after school to find a gigantic guy with long arms and legs sitting in the kitchen. Fifi, a student who lived with Howard’s family, called him the Goon.

The Goon said he’s there to collect two thousand words from Quentin Sykes, Howard’s writer father. He also claimed that Archer sent him to collect the words. And nobody knew who Archer was.

The Goon seemed stupid and naive but he still insists that he would not leave the house without the words for Archer. Later, the family found out that Quentin had been writing a story with two thousand words every 3 months and had been sending them to Mr. Mountjoy. It’s like a way for him to overcome writer’s block, which he suffered terribly 13 years ago.

The Sykes family also learns that the town they live in is really run by bizarre people. The bizarre people are siblings and there are 7 of them. Each sibling is in charge of different areas such as law, music, education, technology, etc. Unfortunately, all of them seemed to be feuding with one another and some of them are also planning to farm the world! They are also wondering who really gets Quentin’s two thousand words all those 13 years.

Well, this was an entertaining book. I find the Goon idiotic and funny. He’s also in love with Fifi who does not love him back. Awful, the screaming little sister of Howard’s, got her name simply because she’s so awful. I feel it’s kind of mean to nickname a kid Awful but this is just a story, so it makes things fun and light!

All in all, Archer’s Goon is a perfectly enjoyable read. There are also lots of surprises in store for the reader! And I guessed one of it correctly. =D

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Posted in Authors J, Fantasy, Humour, Titles A at 2:55 pm | Comments (2)



7th March, 2007

The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones

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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Posted in Authors J, Fantasy, Titles L at 3:21 am | Comment (0)



22nd February, 2007

Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

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.

Eric and Gwendolen Chant were most unfortunate when their parents died during their family day trip. Then, they were sent to live with their neighbour, Mrs. Sharp. Mrs. Sharp was a certified witch and she was glad to have the children to stay with her. She was also interested in Gwendolen because she was a witch too. Eric, or Cat, as Gwendolen calls him, seems like a normal boy with no magical powers.

Gwendolen was then sent for magic lessons at Mr. Henry Nostrum’s place. He was very proud of her because she’s a very gifted witch and has the potential to rule the world. Well, that was what he told her.

One day, Chrestomanci paid the Chants a visit and invited them to live with him at Chrestomanci Castle. Gwendolen was ecstatic to be going there and it was her who wrote to him in the first place, telling him about her parents’ death. It seemed that Chrestomanci was somehow related to the Chants. Cat was not that excited to go there at all. He would miss Mrs. Sharp terribly.

The young Chants arrive at Chrestomanci Castle to find its surroundings were filled with magic. I like the way Jones described that you could smell magic or feel the magic in the air. I wonder how it’s like to smell magic!

Anyway, Gwendolen expected to be treated like a queen and waited on hand and foot. However, she was thoroughly disappointed when they did not fuss over her like how Mrs. Sharp and Mr. Nostrum did. Furthermore, she was not allowed to have magic lessons with Chrestomanci’s children, Roger and Julia.

I found that things got very interesting when nearing the end of the book. I also believe that this book is the first part of the Chrestomanci series. In other words, this book should be the first book in the Chrestomanci series to be read. The next one to read would be The Lives of Christopher Chant.

Buy Charmed Life

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Posted in Authors J, Fantasy, Modern Classics, Titles C at 9:35 am | Comments (7)



14th February, 2007

Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones

Finally, I finished reading Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones! Honestly, it was a difficult book to read, as it was utterly complicated. Even after I’ve finished the book, I still don’t understand some parts and I think I’ll have to read 4 or 5 more times to fully comprehend the whole story. I don’t think I can bear to read it again anyway. I’m considering selling the book off on eBay!

The story starts with a letter from Hexwood Farm to the Sector Controller Borasus, complaining about an ancient machine called the Bannus, which had been intentionally activated one of the clerks.

Then, there are 5 Reigners who control everything in the universe. Well, the present 5 Reigners are bad ones because they had cheated the Bannus many years ago. The Bannus’ job is to pick up 5 Reigners, each from different Houses, every 10 years, if I’m not mistaken.

One day, Ann, a 12-year-old girl who lives near Hexwood farm wanders into the wood. In the wood, in a weird and bizarre incident, she meets Mordion, the Reigners’ Servant. A Reigner Servant is responsible for killing people on the Reigners’ orders. However, Mordion hates the Reigners very much and wished to take revenge on them.

He creates Hume out of his and Ann’s blood. Mordion plans to train Hume so that Hume can finish off the Reigners for him. But later on, he realized how cruel it was to train Hume to do such a thing and did not want Hume to do the dirty job for him anymore.

There are more characters and even more complex events after that. This is the first book that I don’t particularly like from Diana Wynne Jones. I hope her other books would not be like this, too! I like this book’s cover though.

Buy Hexwood

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Posted in Authors J, Fantasy, Titles H at 8:00 am | Comments (4)


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