waiting on wednesday (67)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Fantasy novelist Diana Wynne Jones (author of The House of Many Ways, Eight Days of Luke, Enchanted Glass and more) passed away in 2011, but she apparently had one manuscript almost finished.  Her sister Ursula Jones has completed it, so all of DWJ's fans will get to experience one more fantastic and whimsical adventure from one of the best.  The Islands of Chaldea will be released by Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins) on April 22, 2014.

Aileen comes from a long line of magic makers, and her Aunt Beck is the most powerful magician on Skarr. But Aileen's magic has yet to reveal itself, even though she is old enough and it should have, by now. When Aileen is sent over the sea on a mission for the King, she worries that she'll be useless and in the way. A powerful (but mostly invisible) cat changes all of that-and with every obstacle Aileen faces, she becomes stronger and more confident, until her magic blooms. This stand-alone novel, by the beloved and acclaimed author of such classic fantasy novels as Howl's Moving Castle and the Chrestomanci books, will be welcomed by fans old and new.

What books are you waiting on?

the dark lord of derkholm

In the dark ages (aka life before blogging), I was still an inveterate bookworm, still a book collector, and I was less afraid of Friends of the Library book sales.  What was that I just said?!  Yes, I’m afraid of used book sales.  It’s a cheap opportunity to add to my TBR (to be read) stack, and therefore too much temptation to handle.  But in the days before that TBR pile grew out of control, I loved going to sales.  My justification?  I’d send my sister boxes of young adult and classic titles for her classroom library. 

One of the used paperbacks I remember sending was Diana Wynne Jones' The Dark Lord of Derkholm.  I didn’t know if it would work.  I didn’t know Diana Wynne Jones then like I do now.  BUT.  When I visited Ginny’s classroom one summer to help set up for the school year, she remarked that The Dark Lord was one of the best-loved books of her collection.  I kept that filed away in the back of my mind, and when I saw it (with a pretty cover!) on sale in a book shop on my Irish vacation, I purchased it and read it on the flight home.

Everyone—wizards, soldiers, farmers, elves, dragons, kings and queens alike—is fed up with Mr. Chesney's Pilgrim Parties: groups of tourists from the world next door who descend en masse every year to take the Grand Tour. What they expect are all the trappings of a grand fantasy adventure, including the Evil Enchantress, Wizard Guides, the Dark Lord, Winged Minions, and all. And every year different people are chosen to play these parts. But now they've had enough: Mr. Chesney may be backed by a very powerful demon, but the Oracles have spoken.

It's up to the Wizard Derk and his son Blade, this year's Dark Lord and Wizard Guide, not to mention Blade's griffin brothers and sisters, to save the world from Mr. Chesney's depredations.

Tour groups organized by a certain Mr. Chesney pop through demon-controlled portals each year  to experience fantasy tourism and wreak havoc on Derk's world.  So far his unusual interests and magic have kept him (and his family) somewhat safe from the whole mess, but this year he's been dragooned by the Wizard Council into acting as the Dark Lord, and all tour groups must 'defeat' him as their last act before being shuttled safely back home.  The trouble is that nothing seems to want to go right, and as trouble multiplies and true meltdown approaches, it becomes clear that something must be done about Mr. Chesney's tour group.  If only all of the players had coordinated their efforts...

I thought this book had a very clever concept: What would happen to a fantasy world exploited by tourism? Of course the immediate thought that comes to any fan is, 'How can I book this vacation?!'  But The Dark Lord also tackles side issues of letting children find their place in life and the economics and ethics of fantasy worlds (yes, there are such things!).  This is no Disneyland vacation, and people die (and do not regenerate).  In that respect, it feels like a more grown-up book than some of Diana Wynne Jones' other works, and it lacks the laugh-out-loud ridiculousness that lightens the mood of Enchanted Glass or Howl's Moving Castle, for instance.  It's still her signature, inventive fantasy, with exceptional world-building and the added bonus of a complex, nuanced commentary on imperialism and tourism-forced cultural change.

While not as character-driven as some of her other works, The Dark Lord excels at describing Derk and his family: his wife, an extremely talented magic-user herself, and a mix of human and griffin children, animals, neighbors, and work associates (wizards, naturally).  It's a good choice for lovers of magical beasts (think dragons, griffins, and so on), and it's the sort of story where the narrative arc may be obvious, but the setting, characters and journey are worth the ride.

Recommended for: fans of fantasy (the longer-standing the better, I think), those who enjoyed Garth Nix's Abhorsen series, Robin McKinley's Pegasus, or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and adventurous adults and children alike (ages ten and up).

eight days of luke

I love visiting bookstores when I’m on vacation.  First of all: books!  And second, I’ve already given myself permission to relax, eat, drink and be merry, and reading for fun and on a whim is certainly part of the process.  So when I went to Ireland for ten days with my friends last month, I did a little advance research and found some bookshops in my path.  The Gutter Bookshop in Dublin is a delightful, airy place, and while I was perusing the children’s and YA section there I came across a staff recommendation slip for Diana Wynne Jones' Eight Days of Luke.  I bought it immediately and read it the same evening.  It added such fun to one of the last days of my trip!

"Just kindle a flame and I'll be with you."

It's summer vacation, but David's miserably stuck with his unpleasant relatives. Then a strange boy named Luke turns up, charming and fun, joking that David has released him from a prison. Or is he joking? He certainly seems to have strange powers, and control over fire...

Luke has family problems of his own, and some very dark secrets. And when David agrees to a bargain with the mysterious Mr. Wedding, he finds himself in a dangerous hunt for a lost treasure, one that will determine Luke's fate!

David is a young man with a horrid family.  His parents are dead, and most of the time he’s at school, which is alright because he’s rather good at cricket.  It’s the breaks from school, when he’s shunted off somewhere away from his relations, Great Uncle Bernard and Great Aunt Dot (and Cousin Ronald and his whiny wife Astrid), that are a reminder of his orphan status.  On this occasion, they haven’t arranged anything at all and are very put out by that fact.  David can’t help thinking that it’s bound to be the worst school vacation ever.   But then an odd, charming young man named Luke appears, and interesting things start to happen.  David is in for an adventure and a half!

The setting is a house in some undetermined part of England.  David is sports-mad, grubby, hungry and, his older relatives think, ungrateful.  The thing is that he IS grateful, but living with a passel of adults is quite a lot to put up with for a boy, especially as he’s growing out of all of his clothes and would just like to be off with some other kids his age.  Just when things seem as if they’re about to spiral out of control into unmitigated boredom and misery, a likeable, clever sort of boy named Luke joins the scene.  It all gets even more complicated when a Mr. Wedding begins asking pointed questions about Luke.  David is in for an unforgettable and life-changing vacation.

I’ve begun to think that the best way to start a Diana Wynne Jones book is with no pre-conceived ideas or introduction at all.  Her writing always moves you – to laughter, or tears, or some other profound feeling – but part of the fun is the mystery of ‘what will it be this time?’  With Eight Days of Luke Diana has written middle grade fantasy with an inspired and Puck-ish character in Luke, and gobs of mischief and mayhem.  It’s funny and brief, with just the right amount of depth to round out the adventures.  I’d recommend it to anyone.

In all, Eight Days of Luke is full of both overt and subtle fun, literary allusions that fit seamlessly in with the narrative, and a mix of characters that transform in various ways throughout the tale.

Recommended for: readers of all shapes and sizes, fans of light fantasy, those who liked Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, and anyone who enjoys humor, mischief and myth.

retro friday – house of many ways

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Angieville that focuses on reviewing books from the past. These can be old favorites, under-the-radar treasures that deserve more attention, woefully out-of-print books, and so on. Everyone is welcome to participate!

I suppose that from now on, all of Diana Wynne Jones’ books will be ‘retro.’ It makes me sad (nothing new from her ever again!), but it also, oddly, comforts me.  There’s a finite backlist to work my way through.  I imagine that her books will become something like family furniture: easy, well-worn pieces that have chicken soup-like healing abilities upon a reread.  It’s been a rather rough week in Cecelia Bedelia land, so I borrowed an ebook copy of House of Many Ways from my library and sat down to read my way into DWJ-induced happiness.

When Charmain Baker agreed to look after her great-uncle's house, she thought she was getting blissful, parent-free time to read. She didn't realize that the house bent space and time, and she did not expect to become responsible for a stray dog and a muddled young apprentice wizard. Now, somehow, she's been targeted by a terrifying creature called a lubbock, too, and become central to the king's urgent search for the fabled Elfgift that will save the country.

The king is so desperate to find the Elfgift, he's called in an intimidating sorceress named Sophie to help. And where Sophie is, the great Wizard Howl and fire demon Calcifer won't be far behind. How did respectable Charmain end up in such a mess, and how will she get herself out of it?

House of Many Ways was one of my ‘Best Books of 2009,’ in my first year with a blog.  I don’t remember much about that reading, except that I was happy to be among friends (Sophie! Howl! from Howl’s Moving Castle), and thinking that the house itself was the best thing about the book.  After this week’s reread, I can confirm that the story is a good one, but sometime in the intervening years my perception and tastes have changed. 

One of the interesting things about House of Many Ways is that despite being called a sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle, it is more like a companion book.  It will be understandable even if you haven’t read Howl; it is not a continuation of that story. 

Instead, it is Charmain Baker’s story, and as a heroine she is younger, more naïve, and more passive than Sophie (and Sophie herself didn't start out as a very adventurous sort of person, you'll remember).  This isn’t to say that she’s colorless and drab – oh no!  But Charmain Baker seems to have an immense inertia, pulling her always toward a book and away from action. It feels at points as if the adventure is happening to Charmain, rather than the other way ‘round.  For all that, she is easily identifiable to a lifelong reader: as a mirror of self.  Is there anything more fabulous than a book?  Possibly, but it’s always a great comfort to go back to one eventually, no matter how fantastic your doings.

Another intriguing feature of this story is the manner in which characters are introduced.  They trickle one by one into the narrative, and then toward the middle-to-end, there’s a large spurt, including my new favorite, the Witch of Montalbino.  The book reads as if it were a puzzle being put together very carefully, with a minimum of fuss.  This reader was a bit disconcerted to see the edges of certain pieces – it was a bit like a peek backstage when you have nothing to do with the play.

While not a sequel in a strict sense of the word, House of Many Ways is a satisfying companion book for those who loved Sophie and Howl and Calcifer and wanted a little more time with them.  There’s nothing objectionable, or sad, or really brilliant about it, but it is a comfortable, well-written story.  As such, it is worth the read.

Recommended for: fans of Howl’s Moving Castle, those who enjoy classic middle grade fantasy, and anyone with a soft spot for magic, dogs, and bookworms.

enchanted glass

I should know by now not to mind the terrible covers on Diana Wynne Jones books.  That said, if there’s one thing I know about my bookish self, it’s that I’m incredibly snobby about cover art.  So, even though I trust her storytelling implicitly (and explicitly, for that matter), I was put off by this ugly cover and didn't read Enchanted Glass right away.  I now wish I had, because in this middle grade fantasy Diana has created a marvelous story, characters and place, and I can see that I’ll be returning to visit its magic again and again.

Something is rotten in the village of Melstone.

Aidan Cain has had the worst week of his life. Creepy, sinister beings want him dead. What's a boy to do? With danger nipping at his heels, Aidan flees to Melstone, a village teeming with magic of its own. There he is taken in by Andrew Hope, the new master of Melstone House, who has some supernatural troubles too. Someone is stealing power from the area—mingling magics—and chaos is swiftly rising. Are Aidan's and Andrew's magical dilemmas connected somehow? And will they be able to unite their powers and unlock the secrets of Melstone before the countryside comes apart at the seams?

Have you read Diana Wynne Jones?  She’s famous (and rightfully so) for writing fantastical stories about worlds tilted just enough off the reality axis to make strange happenings normal, and to make off-kilter responses to those happenings absolutely necessary.  Did that make sense?  Let me try again.  DWJ is a genius, and she’ll show you magic in a way that is completely new, and sideways, and just-as-it-should-be, all at the same time.  Stumbling into one of her worlds only becomes, as Alice said of Wonderland, ‘curioser and curiouser.’

Is it quite clear that I loved this book?  I’ll tell you why, then.  Enchanted Glass is a double story: it follows thirty year-old professor Andrew Hope and a quite young (12? 13?) Aidan Cain.  Andrew has been given a task, but isn’t quite sure what it entails.  Aidan is being chased by dangerous not-humans.  They each have magic, and they are each drawn to Melstone House… But what are they to do about Aidan’s predicament, and what is Andrew’s inheritance that he can’t find or remember?  Unraveling these mysteries will take all of the courage, concentration and luck that both Andrew and Aidan can muster.  It is a challenge that will change Melstone, and their lives, forever.

What that summary doesn’t convey is the charm and wit and rightness of Jones’ writing.  While there’s always a ‘something large and potentially world threatening’ going on in the background, the characters live very much in the moment, and their actions feel real and justified.  Those characters are also authentic: if they’re smart, they’re often blind to a particular problem.  If they seem simple, there is something hiding beneath the surface.  And even the side characters are never, ever extraneous to the story.  That is why a story about a small, magical village feels important and true and beautiful, and why I love Diana Wynne Jones’ writing.

If I must find something to pick over, it’s that there aren’t any female main characters in this story.  But there is generational diversity (old, young, in-between!) and species diversity, and most importantly, the end result is a magical tale masterfully told.

Recommended for: all ages, fans of fantasy, fans of Diana Wynne Jones, and anyone who liked J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

fire and hemlock

Diana Wynne Jones had a gift for writing books that you can’t put down, that show you the truth about humans (they aren’t always noble, for instance!), and that manage to make you believe in magic for whole blocks of time altogether.  I count some of her novels (The Merlin Conspiracy and Howl’s Moving Castle, in particular) among my most favorite of books.  They’re ones I’ll read again and again, and pick up purely for comfort.

All that said, I haven’t read every book in her backlist.  And one of the books I hadn’t read until just last week was Fire and Hemlock.  I was prompted to order this title by Kristen M. of We Be Reading.  She assured me that it was good (not like I need much pushing with DWJ!), and so I placed the reprint on pre-order and got ready for what was sure to be something wonderful and strange.

Polly has two sets of memories...

One is normal: school, home, friends. The other, stranger memories begin nine years ago, when she was ten and gate-crashed an odd funeral in the mansion near her grandmother's house. Polly's just beginning to recall the sometimes marvelous, sometimes frightening adventures she embarked on with Tom Lynn after that. And then she did something terrible, and everything changed.

But what did she do? Why can't she remember? Polly must uncover the secret, or her true love – and perhaps Polly herself – will be lost.

Fire and Hemlock is the story of a girl named Polly, who while home from college one break realizes that she has two sets of parallel memories, and one set has been completely laid over top of the other.  The book is about Polly’s teasing out of this mystery, and finding herself, her family and her place in life in the bargain.  It is vague in parts, and the reader must puzzle through it with Polly, as if assembling lost pieces of history.  What results is a somewhat baffling dénouement that will (I am certain) be different each time I reread it.

Fire and Hemlock is not as overtly magical as most of Diana Wynne Jones’ books (though when is the ‘magic’ in her books ever really overt?).  Instead, its fantasy is in its framework, as a reinvention of the fairy tales of Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer.  I am not extremely familiar with either – that’s one part of my fairy tale education that is missing, and which I intend to fix posthaste.

Yes, yes, but what did I think of it?  I am not sure.  There’s always something strange and mystical and usually lovable about DWJ’s books, but they aren’t comfortable by any stretch of the imagination.  The hero (or in this case, heroine) is truly challenged by his/her circumstances, by happenstance, by fate and outside power and things beyond control.  What I do know is that I liked Polly, and her grandmother, and even Tom Lynn (maybe not all together, though), and I hope to never be satisfied with Fire and Hemlock, but always to try to find unique stories in it.

Recommended for: fans of Diana Wynne Jones’ canon, Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, the Chris Nolan film Inception, and Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose.  It is for the reader with the time and patience to puzzle over stray bits of story, to pay attention to coincidences, and to come to a conclusion that the world is really quite fey.

the merlin conspiracy

Alyce at At Home with Books is doing a weekly feature where she highlights one of her favorite reads from the past and encourages others to do so as well.

My pick this week is Diana Wynne Jones’ The Merlin Conspiracy. The book is a fantasy featuring an alternate universe, strange magic, crazy relatives and Arthurian myths all topped off with a large dose of the hilarious and inventive.

In college I did two different study abroad experiences: one in Viña del Mar, Chile, and the other in Sevilla, Spain. I loved different aspects of both. In Chile I was impressed by the warmth of the people and was constantly learning from my host family. In Spain I appreciated the history, architecture and cuisine of an amazing region, while not personally connecting with anyone. Whilst living in Sevilla I experienced a difficult living situation, and I spent quite a bit of time on my own for a couple of months.

How did I cope? I found every bookshop within a three-mile radius of my host family’s house, and raided their meager English-language sections. Immersing myself for an hour or two in a book really cheered me up a couple of times, and made it possible for me to call home and not break down in tears while I talked to my mom. Having said that, I want to stress that the experience was positive. But on the occasional bad day, English-language books really saved the bacon. One of the books I found in a musty, empty shop along a back street in the old quarter was this novel by Diana Wynne Jones.

I DEVOURED The Merlin Conspiracy. I remember finding it and a couple of other selections, which I bought (rather greedily, as I recall) and took over to a nearby café. The other books were fine, I think, but this one was a perfect fit. I dove in and completely lived the adventure and action and fantasy of it all for a couple of hours, and then when I’d finished it, I read it all over again. I must have looked quite the picture: American girl reading English-language book and ignoring authentic Spanish culture passing by.

But oh, was it worth it! I smiled for days after thinking about plot twists and dialogue and characters. Later on I sent it to my brother as a gift, and now the same copy has somehow wormed its way back into my possessions…I pulled it out of a box shipped from Atlanta just the other day. Basically, it’s awesome, and anyone with even the slightest appreciation of fantasy should enjoy it. And if you read it and don’t/didn’t, please let me live in ignorant bliss!

Master fantasist Diana Wynne Jones authors this absorbing tale of magic and courtly intrigue told in two voices. In the world called Islands of the Blest, Roddy is a young page who has grown up traveling with her family in the King’s Progress, a constant journey around the kingdom. Just after she and her younger friend Grundo spot a growing conspiracy to overthrow the King and change the balance of magic, they are whisked away to visit Roddy’s grim and silent grandfather; when they return the Progress has moved on without them.

Meanwhile in another world, Nick Mallory, 14, blunders into a dreamlike adventure that leads him to the powerful wizard Romanov and involves him in Roddy’s mission to save the worlds from the upset planned by the conspiracy. The story moves through several precariously linked worlds in vividly imagined episodes told alternately by Roddy and Nick, as their journeys begin to mesh. Part of the fun for the reader is sorting out Roddy’s many wizardly relatives from the double perspective and clicking them into place in the plot. This complex, fast-moving fantasy features not only 34 characters, but also a panther, a goat, a dragon, and an extremely charming elephant.

In other words, you MUST love it. Go. Enjoy!