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.
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