Customer Reviews

A Sudden Wild Magic

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Global warming, world wars, nuclear fission: Did you ever stop to think that any of these were not exactly natural? That perhaps someone else, some outsider was manipulating Earth for reasons unknown? That's part of the premise of "A Sudden Wild Magic," a hilarious sci-fi/fantasy novel set on Earth, a parllel universe, and a small orbiting dimension known as Arth.

When the Ring--a society of benevolent witches and wizards, and quite sophisticated ones I might add, who guard Earth without the knowledge of ordinary humans--discovers the existence of a "pirate" universe, one manipulating Earth's climate and politics in order to gain answers for problems in their own world, they decide that these pirates must be stopped. This is to be accomplished by sending a small commando crew into the citadel of Arth, an offshoot of the pirate universe, where they will learn the otherworlders' plans and stop them. Of course, nothing goes as scheduled, and the invading crack force is diminished into a scant handful of women who, their original plans gone awry, decide to wreak as much havoc as possible. And how do they plan to succeed with no weapons, no sorcery, no nothing? Well, in a citadel devoted to (enforced) celibacy and where food is your basic nutritive...substance...a pretty face and a good cook can do a *lot* of damage. Wait: There's more coming. Add several centaurs, a young ruler who's fed up to the eyeballs with training at Arth (the food is bad enough, but it's the celibacy that's really getting to him), and a megalomaniac witch who sorcerously cloned her son several years ago, and you begin to get a general idea of the time you're in for. And it only gets better...

Fascinating and comedic characters abound in this book: Gladys, a quirky old woman who talks to cats and gods with equal nonchalance; Jimbo, her other-dimensional pet; the rigid High Head of Arth and his perennially put-upon aide, Edward; Mark, a Ring mage with what you could definitely call a split personality; and Zillah, a young mother with a wild, strange power of her own. Even minor characters appear fully drawn, such as Sim the crooked mechanic, or the king of the Pentarchy who looks something like a clerk and likes to shop while invisible. Philo the gualdian (a race very similar to humans, but the eyes are different) and Josh the centaur are charming.

The variation in this book is incredible--there are terrifying moments, serious ones, humorous episodes, and literally laugh-out-loud moments. (Picture a citadel of formerly sober and sedate monks doing the conga, and you'll see what I mean.) This is a book to be read once through for the story, once for the language, once to savor it, and several more times, merely because it deserves it. Enjoy, enjoy! And don't annoy any ether monkeys...

I love Diana Wynne Jones' work, but I actually avoided reading this book for YEARS because of <shame!> the cover. The pastel color scheme and curly pink title script just seemed to repel my hand every time I encountered it on the shelf. I finally got around to reading it, though, and I loved it. It is set in the same universe as *Deep Secret* but I'm pretty sure it was written before that book, so the universe is not as well-articulated. I would have liked to know more about some of the characters, but otherwise it was a rollicking good read. It follows, among other things, a handful of witches out to sabotage a pocket universe full of celibate men (hilarity ensues), in order to save the earth from global warming (among other things).

If you already like D.W. Jones' books, don't miss this one. If you've never read any of her books, you might do better to start with *Deep Secret* or the Chrestomanci books. And if you pick up a copy with the pink title and pale aqua-colored book jacket, don't be misled-- it's still a good book.

It starts out on Earth with a magician named Mark Lister and he finds proof for his theory that there is a "pirate universe" that started World War II, caused Chernobyl and Global Warming, and other major problems on Earth in order to find solutions to similar problems on their worlds. He goes to another wizard in the Inner Ring (a society of magicians who make sure that nothing too bad happens on Earth), Gladys, and convinces her that he is right. Then after much planning, they launch a capsule full of people armed with virus magic to try to stop the pirate universe. There, the people run into problems because half of the people die in crossing and so does the virus magic, so they have no way of stopping their enemies. In Arth (the pirate universe) there are other people who are also out of place. They become friends with Zillah (one of the people from the capsule) and her baby son Marcus. Very complicated with many sets of characters because the action goes back and forth from Earth (Mark's point of view)to the pirate universe (point of view of the people living there). Very good!

Diana Wynne Jones remains one of my favorite authors, even though I think I'm about 20 years older than her usual target demographic. However, this book struck me as geared to an older audience (more romance and complicated relationships & emotions than some of her other books, in addition to at least one graphically grotesque bit), and while I'd congratulate her for trying to push her artistic boundaries, A Sudden Wild Magic ended up not one being of her best books.

The plotline is pretty reasonably decent, though overly complex at points. The extra complexity kept me from being absorbed into the environment of the book, which is one of her true talents (readers of the Chrestomanci quartet or the Howl's line will know what I mean).

All in all, ASWM is not a bad read (it really finds its footing 2/3 of the way into the book), but I'd say there are other books out there that better highlight her true storytelling genius.

Read this book. It's great. A little long, and not for readers who enjoy low grade, easy to read vocabulary. Lots of fun. Her second best book. Her best is Deep Secret.

A Sudden Wild Magic is an independent fantasy novel. In a universe like ours, but in which magic is potent, the Ring oversees the mages and witches of Great Britain. The head of the Inner Ring begins to suspect covert external influence in recent history. He tests his suspicions with great care to avoid detection and then takes his evidence to another member of the Inner Ring for advice.

In this novel, Mark Lister travels to Hereford to consult with Gladys, the old women in the Inner Ring. After a bit of confusion over his purpose, they visit a dreadfully injured young women in the local hospital and hear an incoherent story. The evidence brought by Mark and the young woman's story lead them to believe that the external influence is coming from another universe. After dreaming of the intruders, Mark and Gladys gather Amanda and Maureen, the other two members of the Inner Ring, and determine a plan to invade the hostile base and eliminate the interference.

Zillah is Amanda's sister. Some time before, she had an affair with Mark and had a young son, Marcus, by him, but now the two are estranged. However, Zillah still loves Mark and decides to stow away on the assault vehicle to separate Marcus and herself from Mark. She soon finds herself in an unexpectedly strange environment.

The High Head of All Horns and King's Vicar on Arth is the head honcho of the observation base watching our universe. The Arth garrison is out of favor back in the Pentarchy. When the High Head inspects the latest batch of servicemen, he finds them to be a lot of odds and sods, with only the spoiled son of the Pentarch of Frinjen, a throwback of a gualdian, and a knock-kneed centaur standing out in the rabble.

When the converted bus used as an intercontinual assault vehicle arrives in the target universe, many of the inhabitants have been unexpectedly killed, leaving six women and Marcus, and their weapons have been short-circuited and made useless. They are rescued by the Arth garrison, who don't really know what to do with them. Despite their disastrous start, the remaining commandos decide to carry on and soon begin to disrupt the routine of the male garrison. Zillah inadvertently gets Tod, the Pentarch's son, banished to Earth and she is forced to flee from capture with Philo the gualdian and Josh the Centaur. Then strange things begin to happen to the Arth fortress itself.

This story describes the defense of our universe against a subtle and powerful interference from the outside The lady commandos strike back directly against Arth, the forward base, and Gladys finds another way to influence the outsiders. Meanwhile, infiltrators from Arth are trying to pierce the veil of secrecy placed around the Ring's operations.

Highly recommended for Jones fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of daring and magic with more than a touch of intrigue.

-Arthur W. Jordin

This book both suffers and blossoms in what readers have come to expect from Diana. I'm an avid reader of her work and, like most of her books, I found it distressingly hard to get into the story at first. Many characters are introduced all at once, with a bunch of ideas and storylines all getting thrown together. It takes almost a hundred pages before you can get comfortable with what you're reading, and by the time you ARE comfortable, you can't put it down. This book was no different - a crazy idea, that every major disaster to ever happen to Earth was done on purpose by a group of mages in another universe studying us to see what we'll do.

Diana's best strong point, in my opinion, is her ability to make a character instantly charming, and allow the reader to enthusiastically follow their line throughout the story. I think this book might have suffered a bit in that she couldn't decide WHICH character she liked the most, although it was clear to my mind which one I preferred. (Zillah, for anyone that's interested)

So, a hundred or so pages of painstaking reading to get into it, then 250 more pages or so of fluid story that fits well together, then the characteristic Jones ending of flushing everything together really quickly, adding some points, and making everything much more complicated then it really needs to be. But that's ok right - any previous reader of her work has come to expect an ending like that by now! I'd almost feel disappointed if it changed. With Diana, it's the JOURNEY that's the most important part, and then a general feel-good ending where the bad guy gets it and the good guy gets the girl and everyone's happy. Something was just...missing for this story though. For me, it was because my favorite character ended up with a guy that was not appealing at all, that Diana spent the entire book practically talking DOWN. And then the heroine ends up with him? Yuck!

Very interesting story once you get into it, I couldn't put it down all day. Too many characters to keep track of in my opinion, I was only able to really understand about 10 of them before I was too muddled to care, which is unfortunate. I wouldn't recommend it to a first time Diana reader, but someone who is familiar with her work will definately be able to appreciate it! I give it 3 stars instead of 4 because the love story didn't work out how I wanted it to. ;)

A great read full of twist and turns that I highly recommend. It mixes two things that DWJ is known for; Magic and Alternate realities, though unlike some other DWJ novels this is a more adult themed read. But I think that is what makes it a better read, your not living in the Disney reality of no death and no sexual tension, it hits on a more intellectual level than I think any other book I have read by her.

So far, Diana Wynne Jones has not failed to disappoint!!! The characters and plot are engaging from beginning to end. A thourghly pleasant summer read! Yes, the plot is not wholly unpredicatable but what plot isn't? A light and interesting story of witches (and a magician) up against monastic magicians (and a witch) and an explanation of our planets the excessive troubles from WWII to Global Warming...

Great Book. Not her all the top best, but among her top three. Should try Deep Secret. Best book of all time.