Cat Chant is entirely unremarkable. Especially when compared to his big sister Gwendolen, the darling of Coven Street, who performs magic well beyond her own abilities and, as any ambitious young girl might, dreams of being queen of the whole world.
Orphaned in a riverboat accident - aboard the delightfully-named Saucy Nancy - Gwendolen's machinations lead them to be taken in under the guardianship of the enigmatic Chrestomanci. As Gwendolen grows ever more frustrated at not being able to perform magic and lashes out in increasingly creative ways, Cat finds himself questioning his loyalties.
I adore how wonderfully visual this book is. From terrible ghostly apparitions to stained glass figures running amok in church, it's a visual feast in words. If there's one book I would love to see adapted for the screen, it's this one. There's something almost steampunk about Chrestomanci's world, though that's not quite the right word. Magicpunk? This is a world that uses magic as easily as if it were mathematics and never quite had the Industrial Revolution.
As a reader, Cat's loyalty to his sister is both admirable and annoying. I found it easy to forget how young he is and, for most of the book, she's the only family that he really has. Gwendolen is probably one of my favourite villains. Behind her blonde curls and sweet smile, she is utterly beastly and some of the things she does are horrific, even if the full extent of just what she's done - and how long it's been happening - isn't clear until the end.
One of my favourite details of the book is the tendency of items to yell, "I belong to Chrestomanci Castle!" when removed from the grounds. That, and the pathetic gingerbread men who can only wave limply. For me a sign of a good book is wanting to live in the world it creates. That's most definitely the case for Charmed Life.
Sunday, 24 April 2011
The Magicians of Caprona (1980)
I re-read this book last month after the sad news that Diana had died. It seemed appropriate, being the first of her books that had I ever got my grubby little paws on. (Is it odd to refer to her as Diana? Somehow, it simply doesn't feel right to use her last name.)
From the perspective of a newcomer to this multiverse and the Chrestomanci series, I suppose I must have been quite perplexed by this world that I was suddenly plunged into. Set in Chrestomanci's world where Italy never united as one country, and more specifically in the state of Caprona, we meet two feuding magical families who might just be up against something bigger than their own petty grudges as war closes in on Caprona from all sides.
Caprona was once threatened by an evil power. The Angel of Caprona came down and protected the citizens, leaving behind the words to a song. Importantly, music is the common way of casting spells in the spellhouses of Caprona. With the evil once again encroaching (and yet few people believing it is), the only way to stop Caprona being taken over is to find the true words to the hymn, which have been lost over time.
Our protagonist is Tonino Montana, one of the younger members of the Montana family. Like so many of Diana's main characters, he is thoroughly unremarkable and feels the pressure of being so when surrounded by those who have a great talent. I don't think the story would work so well without the inquisitive mind of a child leading the way. Similarly, many of the older characters are fixed in their prejudices, but here we see Tonino gradually realising that the Petrocchi family are not so different from his own. Indeed, there are a great deal of parallells between them.
Chrestomanci plays only a small part in this book. As he is an employee of the British government, he is bound from interfering in Italian politics. Re-reading the book, I remember just how perplexed I was by his character when I first read it. I simply didn't understand him one jot. (I'm pretty sure I followed it up with Witch Week, which didn't help either.) In fact, I seem to recall thinking that perhaps this mysterious English enchanter was secretly the bad guy all along and playing everyone else for fools. But, no. Of course not.
Italy? Feuding houses? Are there shades of Romeo and Juliet? you might ask. The answer would be yes. Sort of. But not in the foreground. And most certainly without any of that nasty death business. Though, like in the play and in many of DWJ's other books, falling in love is the easy part. It's everything that comes after that's tricky.
Without a doubt, The Magicians of Caprona holds a special, nostalgic place in my heart.
From the perspective of a newcomer to this multiverse and the Chrestomanci series, I suppose I must have been quite perplexed by this world that I was suddenly plunged into. Set in Chrestomanci's world where Italy never united as one country, and more specifically in the state of Caprona, we meet two feuding magical families who might just be up against something bigger than their own petty grudges as war closes in on Caprona from all sides.
Caprona was once threatened by an evil power. The Angel of Caprona came down and protected the citizens, leaving behind the words to a song. Importantly, music is the common way of casting spells in the spellhouses of Caprona. With the evil once again encroaching (and yet few people believing it is), the only way to stop Caprona being taken over is to find the true words to the hymn, which have been lost over time.
Our protagonist is Tonino Montana, one of the younger members of the Montana family. Like so many of Diana's main characters, he is thoroughly unremarkable and feels the pressure of being so when surrounded by those who have a great talent. I don't think the story would work so well without the inquisitive mind of a child leading the way. Similarly, many of the older characters are fixed in their prejudices, but here we see Tonino gradually realising that the Petrocchi family are not so different from his own. Indeed, there are a great deal of parallells between them.
Chrestomanci plays only a small part in this book. As he is an employee of the British government, he is bound from interfering in Italian politics. Re-reading the book, I remember just how perplexed I was by his character when I first read it. I simply didn't understand him one jot. (I'm pretty sure I followed it up with Witch Week, which didn't help either.) In fact, I seem to recall thinking that perhaps this mysterious English enchanter was secretly the bad guy all along and playing everyone else for fools. But, no. Of course not.
Italy? Feuding houses? Are there shades of Romeo and Juliet? you might ask. The answer would be yes. Sort of. But not in the foreground. And most certainly without any of that nasty death business. Though, like in the play and in many of DWJ's other books, falling in love is the easy part. It's everything that comes after that's tricky.
Without a doubt, The Magicians of Caprona holds a special, nostalgic place in my heart.
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