2009/03: House of Many Ways -- Diana Wynne Jones
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthHouse of Many Ways -- Diana Wynne Jones
It's not that I'm lazy or stupid. I just haven't bothered to look round the edges of Mother's way of doing things. (p. 176)
Read when I was ill and couldn't deal with the sheer weight of Anathem!
This is a sequel to How's Moving Castle (still one of my favourite Jones books) and Castle in the Air. Charmain is deputed to look after Great-Uncle William's house while he's away being healed by the Elves: her task is somewhat complicated by the fact that 'Great-Uncle William' is the powerful Wizard Norland, and Charmain knows nothing about magic. It's further complicated by the arrival of Peter, Wizard Norland's new apprentice; by Waif, a stray dog that the wizard seems to have adopted; by a sulky and rebellious set of kobolds; by the fearsome lubbock she meets on the cliff; and by the fascinatingly non-Euclidian topography of the wizard's house.
Luckily Charmain ("she never has her nose out of a book, never does a hand's turn in the house and is treated like a sacred object by both her parents") is a resourceful type, and Peter is eminently practical. Charmain ends up helping the King and his elderly daughter to catalogue the royal library -- discovering in the process that High Norland is being systematically robbed -- and encounters some very strange people, including a fire demon, a colourless gentleman, and Sophie Pendragon with not one but two small boys in tow. Also, there are a lot of rocking horses.
The book takes a while to get going, but the first half is entertaining (albeit slightly repetitious with the Sorcerer's Apprentice-style catalogue of mishaps and magical accidents) and there are plenty of questions, hints and clues that are all neatly wrapped up in the finale. Charmain is a likeable heroine: bookish, clever, gawky and not prone to romance. (I've a feeling she's meant to be rather younger than she seems at times, but it's hard to tell if she and Peter are supposed to be the same age.)
It's not that I'm lazy or stupid. I just haven't bothered to look round the edges of Mother's way of doing things. (p. 176)
Read when I was ill and couldn't deal with the sheer weight of Anathem!
This is a sequel to How's Moving Castle (still one of my favourite Jones books) and Castle in the Air. Charmain is deputed to look after Great-Uncle William's house while he's away being healed by the Elves: her task is somewhat complicated by the fact that 'Great-Uncle William' is the powerful Wizard Norland, and Charmain knows nothing about magic. It's further complicated by the arrival of Peter, Wizard Norland's new apprentice; by Waif, a stray dog that the wizard seems to have adopted; by a sulky and rebellious set of kobolds; by the fearsome lubbock she meets on the cliff; and by the fascinatingly non-Euclidian topography of the wizard's house.
Luckily Charmain ("she never has her nose out of a book, never does a hand's turn in the house and is treated like a sacred object by both her parents") is a resourceful type, and Peter is eminently practical. Charmain ends up helping the King and his elderly daughter to catalogue the royal library -- discovering in the process that High Norland is being systematically robbed -- and encounters some very strange people, including a fire demon, a colourless gentleman, and Sophie Pendragon with not one but two small boys in tow. Also, there are a lot of rocking horses.
The book takes a while to get going, but the first half is entertaining (albeit slightly repetitious with the Sorcerer's Apprentice-style catalogue of mishaps and magical accidents) and there are plenty of questions, hints and clues that are all neatly wrapped up in the finale. Charmain is a likeable heroine: bookish, clever, gawky and not prone to romance. (I've a feeling she's meant to be rather younger than she seems at times, but it's hard to tell if she and Peter are supposed to be the same age.)
