The Chrestomanci Quartet (Charmed Life, Witch Week, The Magicians of Caprona, The Lives of Christopher Chant)

Ever since the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," people have imagined wizards as tall, elderly men with long gray beards, loose robes and pointed hats. Diana Wynne-Jones shatters the cliched image with Chrestomanci, a dapper Englishman who happens to be the nine-lived magician in charge of all the magic -- in all the parallel worlds. "Charmed Life" is the story of Cat and Gwendolen, siblings who are orphaned in a tragic steamboat accident. While Cat is shy, Gwendolen is the opposite: She is an unnaturally powerful witch, and intends to rise high enough to rule the world. She thinks that she's got it made when the powerful mage Chrestomanci brings her and her brother to his castle. But Gwendolen has met her match in Chrestomanci -- and a magical war of wills has begun! "The Lives of Christopher Chant" is the backstory of Chrestomanci. Once he was an ordinary boy, whose ambition was to become a cricket player. But when he is tested by a powerful magician, Christopher Chant is found to be Chrestomanci: An amazingly powerful magician with not one, but NINE lives. The problem is, Christopher doesn't want to be Chrestomanci -- and he's already enmeshed in a wizards' smuggling ring that may spell doom for his new friends... "Witch Week" takes place in England, at a school called Larwood House that is reminiscent of English boarding schools in such books as Harry Potter -- but suspicion seethes in this one. In this world, witches are burned at the stake. And someone is a witch -- but who is it? Unpopular, chubby Nan, who is descended from a legendary witch? Silent Indian boy Nirupam? The identity of the witch (or witches) may change the world... "The Magicians of Caprona" takes place in Italy, in the city of Caprona. Casa Montana and Casa Petrocchi are two Italian families of spellmakers, who have been feuding for a long time over an insult that neither family can really remember. Their feud is almost all they think about. But unknown to them, war and an evil enchanter are endangering Caprona. It falls to magically inept Tonini Montana and Angelina Petrocchi to save the day... Diana Wynne-Jones is at her best here: the books are funny, dramatic, well-characterized, well-written and well-plotted. The parallel worlds are well-thought out, such as Chrestomanci's world, where magic exists rather than science as we know it. As in many of her books, she shows unusual insights into the thought processes of both young and adolescent children. While readers may sometimes want to smack the lead characters, it's hard not to like the heroes and despise the villains. Young Chrestomanci himself is something of a preteen anti-hero, but is backed (both in childhood and adulthood) by intriguing characters like a bored young deity, lovestruck teachers, duplicitous teens and the occasional girl out to rule the world. Long before there was Harry Potter, Diana Wynne-Jones was penning the funny, imaginative tales about Chrestomanci. "Magicians of Caprona

This is the kind of book I'd have fallen in love with as a child, but am just as delighted to discover as an adult! Something more substantial than Edward Eager's tales of children playing with magic, yet delightfully not quite so involved as Rowling's Harry Potter, The Chrestomanci Quartet, while full of magical and mythological cliches, comes across as refreshing and fun. Decent enough for younger readers, clever enough for adults, the four stories contained within were a great delight to explore. My only complaint is that the title character will not show up for me when I chant his name, but perhaps I must concentrate a little harder and steal a pinch of my wife's dragon's blood ink to make the darn thing work. Does it merely sound like I'm trying to be a cheeky writer when I emphatically insist this book is enchanting? Too bad, 'cause it is. Discover the magic yourself in The Chrestomanci Quartet!