The Chessmen of Doom [Hardcover]

John Bellairs (Author), Edward Gorey (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 1989

Johnny Dixon, Fergie and Professor Childermass comply with a strange will left by the Professor's brother, which requires them to spend the summer at a desolate estate where they encounter a madman bent on destroying the world.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-- Professor Childermass and his young friends Johnny and Fergie are swept up in a madman's plot to rule the Earth in this latest addition to the series. Childermass stands to inherit his brother Peregrine's multimillion dollar estate, but only if he can stay on the estate all summer, plus interpret a cryptic rhyme. As usual, Bellairs salts the story with apparitions, vague warnings, deep forebodings, magic effects, tombs, corpses, and the like. The Bad Guy, Edmund Stallybrass, outwits Childermass and the boys at every turn, and finally locks them up in a burial vault and leaves them to die. Enter Crazy Annie, a local witch, who opens the vault, then in the climactic scene, confronts and kills Stallybrass in a wild play of spells and counterspells. Johnny, Fergie, and the professor don't have much to do here except rush about and explain to readers what's happening. The elements of plot and character are slapped together in an arbitrary, disjointed way that leaves plenty of unanswered questions and gaps in logic. A perfunctory outing from an author who has done much better in the past. --John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 155 pages
• Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers; 1st edition (November 30, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803707509
• ISBN-13: 978-0803707504
• Product Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 20 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,123,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great! Read it., June 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Chessmen of Doom (Johnny Dixon) (Mass Market Paperback)

Great Book. John Bellairs has definatly out done himself. The book centers around the young Johnny Dixon and his friend Proffessor Childermass. When the Proffesor's brother, Perry, dies, the Prof. is set to inherit his fortune. The only catch is that he has to spend the summer at Perry's eccentric home in north Maine. Johnny and his friend Fergie decide to go with to keep the Proffessor company. Little do they know that danger is lurking at the house...... The suspense is huge and the storytelling is captivating. Just don't read it late at night, or you're liable to get nightmares!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scary, witty, memorable characters and great plot!!, September 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Chessmen of Doom (Hardcover)

Professor Childermas, John Dixon, and Fergie take a trip to Maine. They are visiting the Professor's dead brother's mansion when they stumble onto a plot involving a strange poem, a crazed wizard and a set of grotesque little ivory chessmen. It's a must read!! With a scary tone and witty comic relief. The characters are fantastic and the plot is superb!!!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An Incoherent Effort Near the End of the Author's Life, March 21, 2007

By 

J. Whelan (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chessmen of Doom (Johnny Dixon) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have yet to read everything by Bellairs, so I do not know if this is his worst effort, but I rather hope it is.

Bellairs died in March, 1991 at the age of 53 of cardiovascular disease, and was in poor health towards the end of his life. I have heard (but have been unable to confirm) that toward the end he obtained the assistance of a ghost-writer to help him complete some of his manuscripts.

However, this volume does not read like it was written by a ghostwriter. At least part of it reads like genuine Bellairs, except it seems like poor Mr. Bellairs is losing it. His imagination remains intact, but he seems unable to put his ideas to the service of a coherent story. There are a number of bizarre and colorful happenings, but they never really come together. Even the characters' behavior seems inconsistent, incoherent, and contrived -- for instance, Johnny is foolhardy one minute and blubbering with fear the next. One would think that, by now, he would have learned from past mistakes, as well as developed stronger nerves.

The story features a highly implausible artifact: a statue perched on top a 300 foot column, with no adequate explanation as to why even an eccentric millionaire would create such an item. The heroes (who include an elderly man) enter the column and climb the stairs to the top, without ever breaking a sweat. We assume this bizarre feature is part of the mystery, but the story ends with no explanation as to why it was included in the tale. Still, it is one of the more memorable features of the story.

There is virtually no effort to develop the idea of the titular "Chessmen." They turn out to be nothing more than an arbitrary ingredient in a magic ritual, with no explanation as to how chessmen, specifically, are relevant to the magic. This could have been called "The Chamberpot of Doom" and it would have made no difference to the story. You would merely have to go through it and replace all references to chessmen with references to a chamberpot.

If you must own this book, make sure you get an edition with cover art by Edward Gorey.

Bellairs' best work seems to be his early work, particularly The House With a Clock in its Walls and its first two sequels.