Stealer of Souls [short story]
by Diana Wynne Jones
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci: Publication (Short Stories — 8 short story), The Chronicles of Chrestomanci: Chronological (Short Stories — 08)
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The long-awaited, completely new story, first published by HarperCollins in Mixed Magics (2000), is now available as a short story in its own right at a special World Book Day price. Cat Chant has nine lives and is destined to be the next Chrestomanci. He is not best pleased when young Tonino Montana, a magically-gifted Italian, is invited to live at Chrestomanci Castle. What is so special about Tonino's powers? When Cat and Tonino return to Chrestomanci Castle after visiting Gabriel de Wit, show more Cat is forced to put aside his animosity towards Tonino when they are abducted by a particularly evil enchanter, Master Spiderman. Master Spiderman is a 'collector' and it will take all the magic power Cat and Tonino can muster to overcome his plan to become the most powerful enchanter in the world. Related titles: Cat Chant first appears in Charmed Life. Antonio (known as Tonino) Montana first appears in The Magicians of Caprona. Christopher Chant, Gabriel de Wit, Mordecai Roberts and Miss Rosalie first appear in The Lives of Christopher Chant. Christopher Chant as Chrestomanci also appears in Witch Week and Mixed Magics. show lessTags
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ed.pendragon The youngster Tonino appears in both these tales.
Member Reviews
Stealer of Souls was first published in 2000 in a short story collection called Mixed Magics. Part of Diana Wynne Jones' popular series about Chrestomanci, a sort of magical ombudsman, this fits into a complicated chronology but is also designed to be read as a standalone, as its republication for World Book Day 2002 proves.
A young Italian, Tonino Montana, makes a brief appearance at the end of ‘Carol Oneir’s Hundredth Dream’ (republished in Mixed Magics). We first met him in The Magicians of Caprona, and the last we heard of him he was coming to be a pupil at Chrestomanci Castle somewhere in southern England. We now hear what happened when he was first introduced to Chrestomanci’s extended family after the events in Caprona, show more just before Carol Oneir comes into the picture.
Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances Chrestomanci’s nephew Cat is put in charge of looking after Tonino, and it’s clear he’s unhappy about no longer being the youngest in the entourage. Cat’s despatched with Tonino to the aged Gabriel de Witt, previous holder of the Chrestomanci office. Gabriel is also a nine-lifed enchanter, but his lives are leaving him one by one, and he’s fearful of one Neville Spiderman. (I’m sure Jones conjured this name from Neville Spearman, publishers of books on reincarnation and spiritualism as well as flying saucers and the occult in general.) He is right to be fearful of Spiderman because when Tonino and Cat set off on their return journey they are kidnapped and locked in a cellar full of junk and cobwebs.
What has happened to Gabriel’s ‘lives’ or souls and what have they to do with Neville Spiderman? Will it involve reincarnation and the occult? We soon find out as horror and humour succeed one another. I liked the way those lost souls were depicted — very dreamlike in a way — and I was amused to find that Jones ended the story with the promise of a villa holiday in the South of France, which is just where ‘Carol Oneir’s Hundredth Dream’ ends and which itself ends the Mixed Magics collection.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-magics show less
A young Italian, Tonino Montana, makes a brief appearance at the end of ‘Carol Oneir’s Hundredth Dream’ (republished in Mixed Magics). We first met him in The Magicians of Caprona, and the last we heard of him he was coming to be a pupil at Chrestomanci Castle somewhere in southern England. We now hear what happened when he was first introduced to Chrestomanci’s extended family after the events in Caprona, show more just before Carol Oneir comes into the picture.
Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances Chrestomanci’s nephew Cat is put in charge of looking after Tonino, and it’s clear he’s unhappy about no longer being the youngest in the entourage. Cat’s despatched with Tonino to the aged Gabriel de Witt, previous holder of the Chrestomanci office. Gabriel is also a nine-lifed enchanter, but his lives are leaving him one by one, and he’s fearful of one Neville Spiderman. (I’m sure Jones conjured this name from Neville Spearman, publishers of books on reincarnation and spiritualism as well as flying saucers and the occult in general.) He is right to be fearful of Spiderman because when Tonino and Cat set off on their return journey they are kidnapped and locked in a cellar full of junk and cobwebs.
What has happened to Gabriel’s ‘lives’ or souls and what have they to do with Neville Spiderman? Will it involve reincarnation and the occult? We soon find out as horror and humour succeed one another. I liked the way those lost souls were depicted — very dreamlike in a way — and I was amused to find that Jones ended the story with the promise of a villa holiday in the South of France, which is just where ‘Carol Oneir’s Hundredth Dream’ ends and which itself ends the Mixed Magics collection.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-magics show less
Fun companion story to Charmed Life and Magicians of Caprona. I enjoyed the characterization and general wackiness.
Has a couple of my least favorite tropes, but *shrugs* well executed for all that.
Prev. publ. in Mixed magics
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112+ Works 80,289 Members
Diana Wynne Jones was born in London on August 16, 1934. In 1953, she began school at St. Anne's College Oxford and attended lectures by J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. After graduation, she created plays for children that were performed at the London Arts Theatre. Her first book was published in 1973. She wrote over 40 books during her lifetime show more including Dark Lord of Derkholm, Earwig and the Witch, and the Chrestomanci series. She won numerous awards including the Guardian Award for Children's Books in 1977 for Charmed Life, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in 1984 for Archer's Goon, the Mythopeic Award in 1999, the Karl Edward Wagner Award in 1999, and the Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Organization in 2007. Her book Howl's Moving Castle was adapted into an animated film by director Hayao Miyazaki, and the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. She died from lung cancer on March 26, 2011 at the age of 76. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Stealer of Souls [short story]
- Original publication date
- 2002
- People/Characters
- Chrestomanci; Eric Chant (Cat Chant); Tonino Montana; Neville Spiderman; Gabriel de Witt
- Disambiguation notice
- First published in 'Mixed Magics' in 2000.
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- Popularity
- 192,264
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.74)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
