Diana Wynn Jones

I searched and didn't find anything on her, but if there is delete this.

Diana Wynn Jones has to be one of my favorite authors. She's written The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, the Dalemark Quartet, and Howl's Moving Castle (which was made into a movie a couple of years ago) and others. I've found that no matter what book you pick up by her, you know it'll be good. However, I've noticed that she's not particularly well known and I was just wondering if anyone else has read any of her books or seen "Howl's Moving Castle" and if you liked them.

I read the first book of Chrestomanci... and I thought it was really good, but it had an eerie quality to it. I really liked the use of other worlds, and the manipulation of the main character by his own sister. Good stuff... but I kind of stopped reading it before I got to the second book. Are there more than two books in the Chronicles series?

I think it's technically four books, but they're in two books (volumes). At least, that's how it is here...

Actually, in the Chronicles of Chrestomanci, there are six books and one collection of short stories.

The first book in the series is Charmed Life, which is the one about Cat and Gwendolen.

The second (in the order that Ms. Jones herself suggests) is The Lives of Christopher Chant, which is about Cat's Chrestomanci. Christopher learns that he has nine lives and moves to Chrestomanci Castle against his wishes while working for his uncle, who is manipulating him.

The third is The Pinhoe Egg, which is also starring Cat. Gwendolen is gone and there is trouble in the nearby village, caused by two feuding family clans. Marrianne Pinhoe befriends Cat, not knowing that he is the "Big Man's" trainee, and gives him a very odd, old egg. Cat also learns about his specialty, a type of magic called "Dwimmer" that Chrestomanci has never heard of.

The next is Conrad's Fate, which stars a boy named Conrad in series seven, but has Christopher Chant as a major character. Conrad's uncle swears Conrad has an evil fate because he refused to kill someone in an earlier life and sends him to finish the job at Stallery, otherwise he will be killed by the Lords of Karma. He gets a job as a valet and meets Christopher, who also has a job as a valet. Christopher has, at last, run away from Chrestomanci Castle in pursuit of Millie, who also ran away to escape from a bad Swiss boarding school.

The last two are Witch Week and The Magicians of Caprona. I recommend you read them in before The Pinhoe Egg. Neither has Cat in them, but both take place while he is at the Castle. Witch Week is about a boarding school on another world in which magic is just as common as it is in Chrestomanci's, but is illegal. A teacher receives a note that says Someone in 6B is a witch, and it leads to a ton of mishaps and the idea that there is more than likely more than one witch in 6B. The Magicians of Caprona is about two feuding Italian families (kind of like Romeo and Juliet without the love) and an angel's famous lost song. When one child from each family is kidnapped by the same person, the two children begin to realize that the only way to save their country is to find the song...and work together.

The short stories include Warlock at the Wheel, Carol Oneir's 100th Dream, The Sage of Dissolution, and Stealer of Souls. The main characters are a mix of everyone, and two of them have Tonino and Cat in them together. Tonino is the main character in Caprona. The collection of them is called Mixed Magics.

I'm sorry to be so long-winded, (:grumble:) but these were the first fantasy books I fell in love with after HP and they were the ones that opened my eyes to the amazing genre of :love::love::love:Fantasy.:love::love::love:

I read Howl's Moving Castle but I could never really get into it, I think her style of writing just doesn't suit me. I don't feel like I can connect that well to her characters, although the plot is original.

I couldn't get into Howl's Moving Castle either, but her other stuff was fine.

i cant belive that The Pinhoe Egg is the third, and Conrad's Fate is the next, i read the others and I think this two are the last.

I will looking for this two and Mixed Magics, thank for help.

i love Howl's moving castle, it's the first book of DWJones i read.

Actually, I love Howls Moving Castle, and I hated all her other books. Funny how stuff like that happens, eh?
Her writing style is a bit weird, but once you get used to it, it's fine.

Has anyone ever tried her Homeward Bounders? Aunt Maria? Deep Magic? The Ogre Downstairs? TheDark Lord of Derkholm? Fire and Hemlock? Dogsbody?

I've always thought it was the mark of a good author when you're in your sixties or seventies and you've got at least fifty books in the market and, even though you're not world-famous or blowing charts, you're still churning out about a book a year.

I loved watching the movie of Howl's Moving Castle. Just one of those movies that I never seem to get tired of! Decided to give the book a try and enjoyed it a great deal. Although I didn't much care for the sequel Castle in the Air.

I haven't read any of her other books though.

I love Howl's Moving Castle and Fire and Hemlock.
I don't care for the Crestomanci series at all though.

I ordered the new Howl's sequal "House of Many Ways" from amazon. I look forward to reading it.

The only one of her books I've yet read is The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, and it's one of the funniest things I've ever read. It's a sendup of the whole fantasy genre and its clichés, written in the format of a travel guide. Highly recommended to anyone who has ever aspired to try their hand at a fantasy novel - mainly so you know what to avoid! For example, she points out how stupid it is that people on heroic quests are forever eating stew - which is not something that you'd be likely to prepare while out on bivouac in the wilderness and trying to make good time to your next destination, seeing as how it takes hours to cook. I kept breaking out into fits of uncontrollable giggling while I read this book. Guess I should try some of her others!

The only one of her books I've yet read is The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, and it's one of the funniest things I've ever read. It's a sendup of the whole fantasy genre and its clichés, written in the format of a travel guide. Highly recommended to anyone who has ever aspired to try their hand at a fantasy novel - mainly so you know what to avoid! For example, she points out how stupid it is that people on heroic quests are forever eating stew - which is not something that you'd be likely to prepare while out on bivouac in the wilderness and trying to make good time to your next destination, seeing as how it takes hours to cook. I kept breaking out into fits of uncontrollable giggling while I read this book. Guess I should try some of her others!

I want that book so bad! It was on my wish list when it first came out but I was broke then and had no way of getting it. I'm not broke anymore...but still have no way of getting it. :grumble::grumble::grumble::grumble::grumble:

I got these books recommended to me by my ex housemate and best friend who loved them at school. I never read at school, but funnily enough one book I picked up but never finished was 'Archer's Goon' which my friend has and I'm in the middle of now. (It's funny re-reading a book at 31 that you started to read 21 years ago!!! )

I loved 'Howl's moving castle'.. but wasn't so keen on the film just because it was sooo weird! I loved 'Fire and hemlock' and also 'Time of the ghost'. I think I read another one too... hang on... no think that's it!!

I love Howl's Moving Castle. I first saw the animated film and greatly enjoyed it. Later I bought the book and loved it even more. I can enjoy the film as it is, but some of the cuts and changes were disappointing. I strongly believe the awesome battle between Howl and the Witch of the Waste would have been an intense and beautiful scene in Miyazaki's style of animation. I would have liked more emphasis on Sophie's abilities, too.

Castle in the Air was a fun read, but I was expecting more of a focus on Howl and Sophie. It got better toward the end, especially with the "revelations". ;)

I had no idea there was another sequel! House of Many Ways, hm? I'll definitely be getting that when it hits the paperback shelf!

I just read Charmed Life yesterday. I thought it was really good, but too much of a children's book for my liking (that's not a bad thing - it's just that I'm not a child anymore!)

One draw back I think is that you don't really get into the characters minds much. It would have been nicer if we could get to know the characters better and read about their emotional reactions, especially Cat.

I loved Chrestomanci though! He's so cool.