| Reviewer: Abigail
K. ‘09 Eric (or Cat) Chant has just lost both of his parents
in a boat accident and now is holding on to his amazingly gifted witch sister, Gwendolen,
who cares basically nothing about him. Gwendolen and Cat are given a home by the community
with Mrs. Sharp, a kind but extremely greedy witch. She hopes that if Gwendolen becomes
famous she will get some of the money. So she will not pleased when she finds that
Gwendolen and Cat are to go to Chrestomanci Castle.
Chrestomanci is an enchanter, which means that he
has nine lives; however, he has only two left. Chrestomanci is just a title; his
real name is Christopher Chant. (If you read The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones you could
learn more about him.) Being a Chrestomanci is a big responsibility. They have to make
sure that all the wizards, witches, warlocks, and other magical people do not get out of
hand.
Once Gwendolen and Cat are in Chrestomanci Castle
they meet their new teacher Mr. Saunders. When Gwendolen finds that she won’t be
taught magic she is furious. Gwendolen starts playing many different mean magical tricks
on Chrestomanci. One of her tricks is making all of the trees from the garden come
alongside of the house, making it look like night.
After one of Gwendolen’s unpleasant acts
Chrestomanci and Mr. Saunders come and “stomp” the magic out of her. The next
morning when Cat comes into Gwendolen’s room Gwendolen
is acting differently. She appears to have no idea where she is. She is calling herself
Janet. It turns out that somehow Gwendolen has gotten herself away from the castle and has
gotten a person that looks exactly like her to come in her place.
I recommend this book to people that like the Harry Potter series.
It is full of magical characters and magical places.
I really enjoyed this book as well as this series. I think that Diana Wynne Jones really
did a good job coming up with ideas for this story. I was always interested and never
wanted to put the book down.
Fall 2001 |
