Customer Reviews

Unexpected Magic: Collected Stories

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This collection brings together fifteen stories and a novella, "Everard's Ride". Spanning genres from science fiction to fantasy and even a touch of horror (in "The Master"), all of the stories show off Jones' wit and wild imagination, qualities which make her one of the best young adult fantasy writers of today (perhaps one of the best fantasy writers of today, period). I was disappointed, though, that so many of the stories had been in previous collections - surely there were more to choose from?

Among the stories, the standouts are: "Enna Hittims", in which a girl who has the mumps draws stories about a fictional hero, who becomes frighteningly real; "Dragon Reserve, Home Eight", set on a world in which dragons are real and telepathy is illegal; "The Girl Who Loved the Sun", the myth-like tale of a girl who longs to become a tree; "Nad and Dan adn Quaffy", a witty story of a typo-prone science fiction writer whose computer suddenly starts talking to her; and "What the Cat Told Me" and "Little Dot", both tales of magic narrated by cats.

Since I already own and had read most of the stories, I was most looking forward to reading "Everard's Ride" and wasn't disappointed. Alex and Cecilia live in Victorian England, the children of a wealthy farmer; there is a mysterious island near their home, said to be the site of a ghostly kingdom called Falleyfell. When an enigmatic stranger comes to the farmhouse one night, Alex and Cecilia begin an adventure which leads them into Falleyfell and the dangerous intrigues of its court. Not as inventive as Jones' best novels, (...)

Prolific fantasy writer Diana Wynne-Jones is one of the few authors who can write short stories and novels equally well. And in "Unexpected Magic," Jones shows her flair for shorter works, with several previously published stories paired with a wonderful new novella.

Jones presents us with plenty of stories, mostly fantasy but some that border on SF or horror. A kindly wizard falls for a sniping, obnoxious woman -- and his cats discover her horrible identity. Mum's obsession with her latest whims and fads leads to a plague of fuzzy pink mushrooms -- not to mention a minor family rebellion. A girl falls in love with the sun, and turns into a tree so that it will love her back.

Elizabeth develops a friendship with her father's living walking stick, Carruthers. A robot called No One has difficulties following orders, especially with a house full of finicky appliances. Siglin is pursued by a witch-hunt for telepaths, on an alternative world where women rule. And a Boy and an undying cat set out to destroy an evil wizard.

And finishing it up is the solid novella "Everard's Ride." Cecilia and Alex are a pair of Victorian kids, who have an unexpected visitor when a richly-dressed outlaw arrives on their doorstep in the rain. But as they venture into another world that borders on ours, they find that not everyone is as benevolent as Lord Robert.

Those who have collected Jones' short story collections will probably already have several stories from this book. but "Unexpected Magic" is made worth the while by "Everard's Ride," a sprawling 200-page novella that could easily have been published on its own. It's not Jones' best work, but it is an entrancing and original fantasy tale.

Jones' style is all over the map in this collection, since they come from different parts of her career. But it's always detailed and deftly written. She retains a sense of humor in many of the stories like "The Fluffy Pink Toadstool," with its skewering of the all-natural-all-the-time lifestyle. At other times, she dips into an almost melancholy mood, such as "The Girl Who Loved the Sun." One of the few duds is "The Fat Wizard," which is just hard to decipher.

Even if you already have the stories elsewhere, "Unexpected Magic" is worth getting just for the wonderful "Everard's Ride." Full of humor, sweetness and plenty of cats, this is a good collection of Jones's writing.

I was very pleased when Unexpected Magic finally came out into paperbook. Diana Wynne Jones, most have to admit, is quite an inventive author and I was looking forward to her short stories. It's not that I was disappointed with the novel itself, but rather, nothing that was in this book was new. All these short stories have been published at one time or another, but then, perhaps some of them are difficult to find in circulation today, I don't know.

I thought I would give a brief summary of each of the short stories just in case you wanted to know what they were about. Next to the titles of the stories I will but the other books they can be found in.

The Girl Jones (found in Sisters)
When a girl is stuck with over ten little children to take care of she is only at a momentary loss at what to do. She takes them down a street that leads to a river where they all splash around naked. A well-written story of an early girl's awakening into foreshadowed adolescence, nothing graphic.

Nad and Dan adn Quaffy (Believing is Seeing)
When a mother acquires a word processor to replace the typewriter her son breaks she finds herself a successful writer of Science Fiction. As she works on her latest novel, she finds herself tlaking to a man who lives in the sort of world that can be found in her books. The man is tryingto overthrow a matriarchy and needs her help. An interesting perspective into the pschological aspects of a mother/son relationship, gender issues, and a writer's process.

The Plague of Peacocks (Warlock at the Wheel and Other Stories)
Residents of the town of Chipping Hanbury wish the interfering Platts would get out of town. The residents know there is only one boy to do it-Daniel. Daniel can make inexplicable things happen. The residents hope such things happen soon. Interesting enough story but nothing stellar.

The Master (Believing is Seeing)
A vet-on-call recieves a strange telephone call asking for her to come out to the woods-it's urgent. Thus unfolds a bizarre series of events endangering the vet's safety. She stumbles onto a dead body, starving wolves, and a fool that seems to know more than his name lets on. Definately a creepy tale with a fantastic ending!

Enna Hittims (Believing is Seeing)
A strange story involving three made up characters running amok. Poor anne is stuck at home with the mumps. To keep herself entertained she draws pictures of made-up characters. Together the three characters have adventures all on the blanket on Anne's bed. The more Anne draws them, the more real they become until they end up targeting her as the enemy!

The Girl Who Loved the Sun (Believing is Seeing)
A quasi-tragic tale about a girl who wants the sun to love her. She pracices turning into trees to make him happy. She studies how to turn into a tree that the sun will like the most. In the meantime, a suitor comes to marry the girl and falls in love with her. Tragedy ensues.

The Fluffy Pink Toadstool (Warlock at the Wheel)
Mother was known for going through phases such as everyone wearing "hand-made" clothing. A magical being takes pity on her family as they are going through their mother's phase of only eating "natural" food. The being gives the little boy of the family a bright pink mushroom that ends up multiplying to fill the entire house. Now what will Mother do?

Aunt Bea's Day Out (Warlock at the Wheel)
Aunt Bea insists on taking the children out to the seaside much to their displeasure. They end up on a magical island that transports them all to different sorts of islands, like a traffic island.

Carruthers (Warlock at the Wheel)
A wierd story about a talking stick that a child feeds in hopes of it beating his father.

What the Cat Told Me (Believing is Seeing)
A cat and a boy are abused by a wizard. Together they call a great spirit to help them out. The spirit inhabits the cat and through her, is able to go to a manor to get the boy things to eat. The boy ends up meeting a girl in the manor, etc., etc.

The Green Stone (Fantasy Stories)
A bard tries to desparately record the start of a quest only to have it canceled.

The Fat Wizard (Guardian Angels)
A sort of confusing story about a girl, her aunt who is a witch, a pet pig, and a bed tempered wizard. The girl changes the dynamics of the town to most everyone's benefit.

No One (Warlock at the Wheel)
Poor No One has been incorrectly programmed. His robotic memeory was not prepared to deal with all the new-fangled devices in the house, nor with the main house controller or with the invisible Some One. Add mowing down the flowers and dealing with a four burglars and No One is in a heap of trouble. The story is told from the robot's point of view, and intereresting perspective and premise.

Dragon Reserve, Home Eight (Warlock at the Wheel)
Facinating story about a girl gone heg. When someone "goes heg" it means "one with human form who is not human." They can "mind read, kindle fire or more objects at a distance, heal or kill by use of mind alone, survive shooting, drowning, or suffocation..." (page 281). Men from the Dragonate, the police force of the 10 worlds, come to take her away. But things are not as easy as they seem for the men. Enter Slavers and dragons and things that were once viewed as wrong are blatently right.

Little Dot (Firebirds)
This is really a great story, especially if you like cats. Henry the wizard seems to have a knack for attracting cats, like Little Dot, brave and foremost of the cats, or Millmant who likes water or even Mr. Williams who enjoys being cuddled. Soon Henry's farmer neighbors come to him with a problem-there is an unusual beast eating their animals. Henry sets to work on the problem and the outcome is delightful and surprising indeed!

Everard's Ride
This novella is fairly gripping with an interesting and unusual portrayal of a parallel world. Josiah Hornby, neither gentry nor farmer, decides buying a deserted castle is just the thing suited to his position in life, never mind the tales that it is haunted. And though he and his children do not live in the castle upon the island it is inevitable that the children, Alex and Cecelia, should run away to the island and enter a parallel world with plenty of problems of its own-an outlaw, a treacherous villian, a grieving prince, and a lack of knowledge of what tea is.

Britisher Diana Wynne Jones is best known as an author of fantasy novels for tweens and teens, but in this anthology she proves that she can do just as well in short forms, and even betrays some skill at science fiction. Two of the 15 stories ("What the Cat Told Me" and "Little Dot") have feline protagonists; three ("The Plague of Peacocks," "Auntie Bea's Day Out," and "The Fat Wizard") are laugh-out-loud funny; one ("Carruthers") offers a touch of the horrific; and two ("No One" and "Dragon Reserve, Home Eight") are definitely sf. Almost half the book's bulk is taken up by "Everard's Ride," a Victorian-era fantasy about a brother and sister who discover an alternate world centered on a nearby island. Like all the best examples of its genres (all three of them), it contrives to be thoroughly plausible despite its fantastic elements, and is equally enjoyable by adults.

Many of these stories are wonderfully wry and clever, a great read for anyone who enjoys Jones' writing. Unfortunately, there are a few that fall short: most of these are stories that are not particularly clever. It is not that Jones tries and falls short, just that the stories where she is not exercising her considerable wit lack the sparkle of the others. It is a shame that the novella in this collection is one of these--it is a straightforward fantasy adventure, with no brilliance at all.
However, the good stories in the collection are well worth reading.

If you love her other books, this will certainly complete your collection and, if you've never read the author, please give her a try. While this book may not be the best place to start, it does give you an overview of her style, her wit and her sheer entertainment value. This is great bed-side reading!!

I bought and read this book several months ago but recently realized I didn't remember anything about it, so I picked it up this week and started to leaf through it. The only thing I remember worth rereading was the novella "Everard's Ride," which was quite good in the usual DWJ tradition. All the rest was pretty tame stuff, especially the short story "Dan adn Nad and Quaffy," which particularly irked me. It would have been mildly interesting if Douglas Adams hadn't done the same "Quaffy" thing with "gin and tonics" several decades ago.

One thing I noticed (and after reading many of Ms. Jones' works I can't believe it took me this long to notice). English teachers and writing coaches always say "write what you know." Ms. Jones must have had a rather difficult childhood from which she wanted to escape - and possibly she spent a deal of time wishing she were a boy - because most of the central characters in her books and stories are teenaged boys living mildly-bad-to-really-annoying lifestyles, who are rescued and uplifted by magical forces to a much better lifestyle. It's a formula that works - especially since her books are very different each time, with the magic and its use in the world also being very different - but it's blatant once you come to realize it.

Still, I recommend this for "Everard's Ride" and the rest can suitably be saved for bathroom reading.