The Dalemark Quartet, Volume 1: Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet

I could not put this book down. It kept my attention as no book has been able to do for a long time. I impatiently await receiving volume 2 in the mail so I can thoroughly enjoy reading the continuing story. As an adult, I prefer reading youth fantasy for it is clean and light-hearted and more relaxing.

This set of four stories (two in each book) are out of chronological order, just like the four original Chrestomanci stories. This is the only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. When these things are out of order they don't make sense and I have to spend time wrestling with the timelines before I can go on and enjoy the stories. Buy both books in the Dalemark Quartet at the same time and read the stories in this order: The Spellcoats Drowned Ammet then Cart and Cwidder then The Crown of Dalemark. This will make a lot more sense to you. The stories were all very engaging and I kept reading and reading. "The Spellcoats" dragged a bit - in fact it dragged a lot, because DWJ is throwing lots of fantasy-mythology stuff at the reader very quickly - but after I finished all four stories (in the publisher's order) I went back and reread "The Spellcoats" and it made more sense. The other three stories are pretty easy to figure out from the get-go. Great stuff. ** Edited after a rereading...I've read a lot of Ms. Jones' work, and I feel the Dalemark Quartet is probably the best of the ones I've read. Instead of people "casting spells" as they do in her other stories (an act that is often just tossed out there as easily as "he scratched his ear"), the people in this world are plain old people, with the Undying (like gods) appearing to lend magical hands when needed. The character development is better in this quartet and the stories feel richer than, say, the Chrestomanci stories, where people just conjure up what they need, or wave a hand to mend broken items, and whatnot. Dalemark seems like a believable world structure.

Diana Wynne-Jones is best known for her wizards and humorous magic, but in the Dalemark Quartet she takes a trip into more serious fantasy, complete with warring earldoms and strange gods. "The Dalemark Quartet Volume 1" includes the first two books of this series, "Cart And Cwidder" and "Drowned Ammet." In "Cart and Cwidder," Moril is the dreamy son of a family of wandering minstrels, performing and offering news to various towns. But a mysterious traveller joins them on their journey -- and soon Moril's father is murdered, his brother is jailed, and his sister is enmeshed in a conspiracy involving the Duke's son. Now Moril must find a way to save his family, using a magical cwidder. "In "Drowned Ammet," the impoverished Alhammitt (called "Mitt") has become a radical of sorts, after his father and mother are tossed out because of an evil duke. Later, the Free Holanders also take his father. Mitt is determined to get revenge, but his years of planning go awry, and he ends up desperately fleeing to the North with two captives... only to encounter storms, gods, and much more. Jones is best known for a sort of wry, homey fantasy with a British flavor -- not to mention that they often have dapper wizards. That sort of stuff is mostly missing in "The Dalemark Quartet Volume 1." Instead, we get a darker, much more epic story -- there are godlike figures, earldoms, peasants, nobles, and plenty more. Jones' writing is quite detailed in this book, since she not only describes the clothing, woods and people, but also the alternative world of Dalemark. Both stories are connected, but independent, and Jones carefully crafts the politics and conflicts that run under all the magic and the godlike Undying. Certainly not many authors can make an invented world that is simple, yet realistic. Her heroes are also very realistic -- Moril is the kid who makes origami cranes instead of doing his math test. Smart, but daydreamy, and only murder and conspiracies wake him up. Mitt is entirely different, focused on revenge and getting more desperate every day, but learning about himself after he ends up adrift. The first two books of the Dalemark Quartet are included in this two-pack, a pair of solid fantasies that will leave readers wanting to check out the third and fourth books. Definitely recommended.