Reading: The Pinhoe Egg

[white_hart]

After a run of books I didn't enjoy very much, I wanted to read something I knew I would love, and I knew I couldn't go wrong with an old favourite like Diana Wynne Jones. (I haven't exactly been rationing the books I hadn't read at the time of her death, or indeed the ones I hadn't read for 30 years, but I have been trying to space them out, and they're often the ones I reach for when I want something I'm guaranteed to find enjoyable and cheering.)

The Pinhoe Egg is the last of the Chrestomanci books, and unlike most of the others (with the exception of one of the stories in Mixed Magics) it's a direct sequel to the first one, Charmed Life. As this was definitely my favourite of the three I read as a child, I was pleased by this, although as is often the way with DWJ's sequels it spent as much time developing new characters (in this case Marianne Pinhoe and her family of witches, one of three families who control all magic in the area around Chrestomanci Castle, so far without any Chrestomanci becoming aware of them) as it does revisiting old ones. Like all the Chrestomanci books, it's a magical romp with some fairly dark undertones. I really enjoyed the interaction between Marianne and Cat and the way each of them learns important truths about themself as a result of knowing the other one, as well as seeing more of Chrestomanci and the world that he lives in. It's funny and charming and more serious than it looks at first glance, and I loved it; I'm only a little sad that this means that I have read all of the Chrestomanci books there ever will be, and have further reduced my stock of new-to-me DWJ novels.

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

I really love this addition to the Chrestomanci books. So much good stuff in it.

[cybik]

Every now and then I remember I don't have any more Diana Wynne Jones books to read for the first time and it makes me sad. She was a huge part of my childhood, as my mother adores her books and used to buy them as soon as they came out. When I'm not feeling well I have a tendency to reach for her books as a sort of comfort blanket.

[sam_t]

I read all the Diana Wynne Jones in the library when I was about eight or so, which amounted to Charmed Life, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Witch Week (which was my number one scariest book for quite some time, until I unwisely looked at the cover of my parents' Lord of the Rings with glowing-nostrilled Nazgul while feeling a bit feverish) and Fire and Hemlock (which I didn't understand at all). I then forgot about them for some years and discovered the rest as an adult, so although I know intellectually that there won't be any more, I still have the feeling that there are many more than I expect and I may discover a few more hiding somewhere in the future.

I think the Pinhoe Egg may be just what I want to read right now. I wonder whether I bought the e-book...