Charmed Life (original 1977; edition 2007)

It's often very difficult for Harry Potter lovers to find an equally satisfying read once they finish the series--but listen up my fellow muggles: I have found it. After years of walking right past Diana Wynne Jones' books at work, I finally picked up the first of her Chrestomanci series and it was really, really wonderful. In fact, i think it's quite clear that Ms. Rowling is more than a little indebted to Jones.
Clever, humorous, and delightfully chock full of magic, Charmed Life introduces the magically gifted Chant family and the details of their particular world. Chrestomanci (which is the name of the many-volumed series) refers to the title given to a kind of magical master who's job is to control the magic done by witches and wizards so that ordinary, non-magical people are not taken advantage of. Interesting, eh?
I highly recommend if you are looking for a light, funny, and thoroughly engaging read. Also, if this matters to you, it's worth nothing that his book is intended for young adults. ( )

I read this book as a kid, I know, but I'm not sure how much of the series I read -- my library had an awful tendency to have incomplete series. So I'm revisiting them now, in the reading order suggested on wikipedia (that fount of all inaccurate knowledge, I know). I do love Diana Wynne Jones books for just being fun and easy to read, though I did kind of notice reading this that Chrestomanci reminds me of Howl in some ways. In fact, in some ways, a lot of it did. There's something about the narration that never quite seems to change. Still, definitely fun.

I'd probably rate it higher if it weren't for two things:

a) How slow Cat is to understand how awful his sister is. The answers are all right there in front of him.

b) I don't like when people don't seem to get what's right in front of their eyes. This is a personal peeve, since in this book there's a reason for it, but it's still something I really don't like very much. Probably the same reason I dislike romantic comedies -- I don't find the sequence of misunderstandings that fun to watch/read about/whatever.

There is a lot I do like about this book, though. The pet dragon is sweet, and the idea of a cat turned into a violin, and Janet Chant is such a practical, nice character...

Looking forward to re/reading the rest of the books. ( )

An ok book but not a great one, definitely not as good as [b:Howl's Moving Castle|6294|Howl's Moving Castle (Castle, #1)|Diana Wynne Jones|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165560187s/6294.jpg|2001]. The main character is of the type I really can't stand: weak and unwilling to stand up for what's right in the face of obvious wrong. I take Janet's POV that he really needs to stand up a bit more.

The ending was ok but a bit obvious, though to be fair it is a children's book, and the book wasn't overly long. A quick read but nothing spectacular and not a must read. ( )

I read this as part of a reading challenge.
I think I'm too old. ( )

I really really like Diana Wynne Jones and this was the first one of hers I read so I'm sure some of the love for this particular book is from the excitement I felt at the time, when I realised a) this is really good! and b) there are a lot more!! But its still a really good book with a strong flavor of that elusive quality of dreams and tales, where it all makes emotional sense though clearly not working within the logic of the everyday world. ( )