Customer Reviews

Pinhoe Egg, The (Chrestomanci S.)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Diana Wynne-Jones has been writing for decades, but her most enduring creation is still Chrestomanci, the nine-lifed enchanter who regulates magic all over the worlds.

And she's still in fine form in "The Pinhoe Egg," the sixth entry in the series, which has her strange magic, wacky humor, and an England radically different from the one we know. And Cat -- the timid hero of her first Chrestomanci book -- finally gets to take center stage.

Marianne Pinhoe is there when her grandmother, the manipulative Gammer, goes completely insane. When Gammer's house is put on the market, young Cat Chant accompanies a friend to look at it -- and he and Marianne find a strange egglike thing in the attic. She lets Cat takes it home, and a shadowy creature visits him, asking him to take care of her child.

But strange things are happening around Chrestomanci Castle -- the "Big Man" is kidnapped briefly, and there are plagues of frogs, illness, and general bad luck among the Pinhoes. A silent feud is going on between two secret witch clans -- and Cat finds himself in the middle of a magical conspiracy that goes back centuries.

Diana Wynne Jones has always been great at creating magic conspiracies that never quite go the way you expect. "The Pinhoe Egg" dangles mysteries and hints in front of the reader, about why the witches stay secretive, and what their "sacred trust" is, and you won't guess until the final pages.

Jones spins up this elaborate fantasy with her usual attention to detail, solid dialogue, and insights into what make kids tick -- from adolescent crushes to frustration that nobody will listen. Shealso brings a new kind of magic -- dwimmer -- into the storyline, along with flying machinery and a baby griffin called Klartch, who provides a lot of the humor ("Weep! Weep! Weep!").

Technically Cat was the hero of Jones' first Chrestomanci book, but he really didn't do much. In "The Pinhoe Egg," he gets in on the magical action -- gunfights, spells, horseback riding, rescues and feeding milk to Klartch. Marianne is a solid counterpart, and Chrestomanci is dapper, funny, and far more intelligent than the Pinhoes give him credit for.

"The Pinhoe Egg" is as enchanting as the main characters. Another highly enjoyable novel in a series that came long, long before Harry Potter... and still hasn't got a weak link.

However, a deal of that is probably due to my liking for the characters of Chrestomanci (Christopher) and Cat. The story is entertaining, if a bit gruesome at the end, and the new characters are pretty well fleshed-out (except I kept getting all those Aunts and Great-Aunts jumbled in my mind!). The one thing that puzzled me is that in earlier Chrestomanci stories (The Lives of Christopher Chant and Charmed Life), people are always coming and going from towns near Chrestomanci Castle, with no problems, but in this book [where the background of the story has been going on for many hundreds of years] people have trouble getting to some of the towns without an escort from the Pinhoe family. I'm not familiar with the geopolitical setup of English towns; perhaps there really are this many different small towns within eyeshot of the Castle. Otherwise, a great read, worth staying up late to finish.

I'm only writing this to warn you that the review right below mine (if it hasn't been removed) has MAJOR SPOILERS. It reads like a book report and gives away the entire book. I guess that's great if you want to know what your kid is reading, but terrible if you wanted to read the book yourself.

There's another review a bit further down that has one fairly solid spoiler in it as well.

So, be careful, tread lightly, read at your own risk, etc., etc.

This book takes up the story of Eric "Cat" Chant, who will be the next Chrestomanci, about a year after Charmed Life.

It is indeed a page turner, with a far more complex story to tell than Charmed Life, a tale of dark and secretive magics in the villages around Chrestomanci Castle, somehow hidden from the incumbent. In addition to Chant, now aged perhaps 12 or 13, we have two young Pinhoe children to root for. There is very little doubt what the outcome will be--all will end happily for the kids, and they will be able to find their own ways--the real question is how we will get there.

A certain suspension of disbelief is required to believe that Chrestomanci Castle could sit in the middle of a group of villages, for hundreds of years, and the castle folk unable to visit the villages without a local escort--and no one noticed? And there were extensive records of the highly magical local folk held by the librarian--and no one at the Castle knew? Not Jones' strongest points.

While Cat shows more of an ability to stand up for himself (always a character flaw), much of the action seems to happen almost of itself. The denouement seems to happen almost in spite of Marianne Pinhoe, the main protagonist, who goes from hating her family for immature reasons to hating her family for very good reasons.

Perhaps the most disappointing near absence is that of Janet Chant, remembered from Charmed Life as the girl drawn in from (most likely) our world in place of Cat's sister Gwendolyn. Her common sense guided Cat through that book. Here, she is barely present except as a (briefly) horse- and (starting to be) boy-crazy teenager subject to enthusiasms. The book is the poorer for her loss.

Good, interesting story, nonetheless.

Nearly a year after the events of "Charmed Life," Cat Chant has settled into Chrestomanci Castle and learned some mastery over his own powerful magic. During the summer holidays, the young enchanter faces new challenges that range from learning how to ride his capricious horse, Syracuse, to caring for a mysterious egg that has been given to him by his new friend, Marianne Pinhoe. And then there's that magical barrier in the woods . . . a barrier that seems designed less to keep strangers out than to keep even stranger things in.

Meanwhile, Marianne struggles with problems of her own. Gammer Pinhoe, Marianne's grandmother and the recognized head of the magic-using Pinhoe clan (who have practiced their craft in secret for generations), has apparently gone mad. Marianne's brother Joe has been forced into spying on the inhabitants of Chrestomanci Castle. And a series of malicious, mischief-making spells have caused hostilities to erupt between the Pinhoes and their neighbors, the Farleighs. Marianne suspects she knows the source of those spells; unfortunately, nobody seems to believe her. Events seem to be escalating towards an ugly witch-war, which only Marianne and Cat may be able to stop -- but only if they can first solve the riddles wrapped up in the Pinhoe Egg.

Written with trademark humor and invention, Diana Wynne Jones's latest novel also manages to convey an important message about the dangers of fear, ignorance, and the inability to accept change. Longtime readers will relish a return to the setting and characters from "Charmed Life," the first in Jones's popular Chrestomanci series. Amazingly, after a lapse of almost 30 years, Jones has resumed Cat's story without missing a beat. Here's hoping eager readers won't have to wait 30 more years for another tale of Cat, Chrestomanci, and the rest of the engaging Chant family.

Diana Wynne Jones has written so many books and what is remarkable is that I've never been disappointed. She writes about such intricately remarkable worlds in such a delicately simple way, that she is always a pleasure to read. What's more there is always something new to find in each novel -- she never repeats herself even in the Chrestomanci series where there is much that is familiar and many of the characters from the old novels and stories are here but they never lose the ability to surprise. The Pinhoe Egg may be my favorite in the Chrestomanci series -- and that is saying a lot. There is new and darker magic, and a novel and intricate story about the dark secrets that can bind a family together, and the novel explores the ways that religious superstition and fanaticism and fear of the unknown can lead peoples to collude in evil -- and yet the story remains enchanting and not overly burdened by the darkness it examines given its focus on the power of friendship and curiosity to overcome superstition and secrecy. Jones continues to be one of our very best fantasy novelists, both for young adults and children of all ages.

Diana Wynne Jones has always been one of my favorite authors. Charmed Life was the first book I read more than once as a youngster and then returned to again and again. I love the use of character development that Ms. Jones uses in her novels, rather than relying solely on magic and plot line. I find myself completely immersed in the universe created through the characters, rather than visa versa. I was a bit disappointed by Conrad's Fate (especially after loving the others so much), but this book pulled me right back in to the characters and the plight of their magical families. Before Harry Potter, there was Christopher Chant; he will always be my favorite! Thank you Diana Wynne Jones for this latest installment : )

For centuries Chrestomanchi castle has been surrounded by clans of powerful witches who have gone to great trouble not to attract the attention of the "Big Man" at the castle. When Marianne's Gramma goes crazy nobody in the village she lives in will believe her when she can see her sending curses to rival villages.

In this book Cat Chant finds where his magic strength lies and Chrestomanchi finds that not all his problems are in other universes or exotic places. This is an easy and enjoyable read and is a good sequel to 'Charmed Life' though it will probably never reach the classic status of the first book.

Gammar Pinhoe has lost it - really, really lost it. The Pinhoes aren't really sure what to do about it either. Gammar has been their matriarch for years and years. Marianne was in training to become the next Gammar, but the family agrees that she is too young to fill the shoes of the mentally unstable Gammar at this point. And, if that isn't bad enough, Marianne's brother Joe has been sent away to spy on the residents of Chrestomanci Castle, so Marianne doesn't even have him to talk to about the whole mess.

While Marianne tries to deal with Gammar's recalcitrant cat Nutcase, unravel the mysteries of the troubles with their neighboring clan, and find a way to make Gammar stop being so obstinate, Joe is busy with plans of his own to build a magical mechanical marvel at Chrestomanci Castle. There, he meets his soon-to-be cohort, Roger, and Cat, and even Chrestomanci himself.

Cat has discovered that he has quite a magical affinity with plants and animals, and one horse in particular, Syracuse. Soon, riding Syracuse becomes his greatest pleasure, but while out on his horseback jaunts, Cat discovers that something is amiss in the nearby countryside. Some creatures of the forest seem to be missing, and Cat can hear them calling for his help.

On his mission to get to the bottom of the magical mystery, Cat chances to meet Marianne, and she entrusts him with an even more mysterious egg. The hatchling from the egg is like nothing Cat has ever seen, and he falls instantly in love with the frail creature. But, the mystery of the forest grows larger and larger, and soon Cat realizes that he, and Marianne, must do something about it, or risk everything they both hold dear.

THE PINHOE EGG is a wonderful magical mystery, the characters are very well written, the plot is unique, and the twists and turns of the story will keep readers guessing until the very end. Author Diana Wynne Jones adds hilarity and humor to the already extraordinary story, making it a delight to read. Readers who enjoy a magical story won't want to miss reading THE PINHOE EGG, author Diana Wynne Jones' latest book in the Chrestomanci series.

I snatched The Pinhoe Egg off my cart of incoming library books and stayed up till midnight to finish it. Why? Pinhoe was a bit slow getting started and became a bit jumbled in the middle. The characters were compelling, but several of them went off by themselves and had private adventures which seemed to have nothing at all to do with what occupied the rest of the personae. For a children's book, there were a great many people going about their business, and characters kept popping up from earlier books and then going to their rooms for the remainder of this one with little explanation. Even the Pinhoe Egg doesn't turn up until half way through the book.
None of that matters in the slightest, however, because this book delivers what I love best. Susannah Clarke defined it in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell as "English magic." In the United States, we have environmentalism and patriotism, admirable and important sentiments, essential to a nation, but not exactly nourishing to the spirit. In England, they have magic. The young magicians in Pinhoe Egg learn to see and smell the earth. Their craft, dwimmering, is a power they have to discover in themselves as they're confronted with plagues, tricky relatives, and an enchanted wood with a cruel spell laid on it.There's some very frightening stuff in this book which scared me much more than it would a child because I'm old enough to know how close Jones came to the truth. The grandmother who grew herself into her bed to avoid the nursing home while faking Alzheimers reminded me all too clearly of my own sorceress grandmother.
English magic is a celebration of the love the English enjoy for their country. Wry humor is an essential element, and a good story, but at the essence is the English joy in living in a country with old forests, cats who can walk through walls, and the obvious truth that if you can't find your way, someone's put a misdirection spell on your road. Michael Chabon is the only American writer I can think of who comes close, his Summerland being a celebration of the United States culture in the same way that Pinhoe Egg, Jonathan Strange, and Disc World all celebrate England.