Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Cart and Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones
Publication: Greenwillow Books (1995), Hardcover, 214 pages / ISBN 0688133606
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Rating: 5/5
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Challenges: Read Your Own Books 2009 (#9)

I absolutely love this book. I wasn’t really expecting to, since the first chapter had so many weird names and so many people being introduced that I couldn’t keep them straight (and I still had trouble with that even after half of them exited the main story). By the time I got to the second chapter, however, I was fully entrenched into the world of Cart and Cwidder.

Summary from Amazon:

For centuries, Dalemark has been a land divided by the warring earldoms of the North and South. Now, with the help of the Undying, the mysterious gods of Dalemark, four extraordinary young people — from the past, present, and future — nust join forces to reunify their beloved land.

When Moril inherits his father’s prized instrument — a Cwidder said to have belonged to one of the Undying — he must learn to harness its strange power in time to prevent a destructive civil war.

So, yeah, the beginning was a little tough to get past. I actually tried reading this in January but couldn’t continue because of the name-dumping, but I got over it and kept reading (obviously). I’m so glad I did! This is such an awesome book, and I can’t wait to read the next three. I love the setting, the characters, the writing, the plot! Everything! Yay!

It’s such a quiet, nearly subdued story for about, what, half of it? And then things start happening and it all picks up ’til the crescendo at the end. Then it gets a little quiet again, but the kind of quiet that’s just before a storm hits. Unfortunately that storm is put off until the next book, Drowned Ammet, but hints of it hover nonetheless.

Parts of it are a little sad, mostly because of the fighting and wars and the horrible things associated with that, but it has it’s light-hearted moments, too. I especially liked the growth of the characters, and the ending was especially good. It left enough room open to expansion into other books while still resolving nearly all the issues brought up in this book. What more could I ask for in a book?

I really only had one problem, a tiny little thing– how to pronounce “cwidder”! I think it’s like “quid-der”? Whatever, it’s a small niggle and I just made a pronunciation up, anyway.

As a side note, according to Wikipedia this is the first book written for the quartet but the third book chronologically? That has the potential to be confusing, but then maybe it’ll be like the Chrestomanci series, where the books don’t necessarily have to be read in internal chronological order to be enjoyed (plus DWJ recommends reading them in published order, anyway). Guess I’ll find out later, eh?

Anyway, Cart and Cwidder is highly recommended!

Stopping For A Spell by Diana Wynne Jones
Publication: HarperCollins (2004), Paperback, 144 pages / ISBN 0007130406
Genre: Fantasy, Children’s/YA
Rating: 3.5/5
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Challenges: Read Your Own Books 2009 (#8)

I picked this up at the same time as Witch’s Business, and though I’ve never read any of DWJ’s short stories before (she has another collection called Unexpected Magics that I have yet to pick up, and a Chrestomanci-world short story collection called Mixed Magics which I also have yet to read), I really enjoyed reading these three.

Summary from Amazon:

In three wild and wacky tales, find out what can happen when…

…An old armchair that you’ve finally decided to get rid of comes to life — and has a definite attitude. It thinks it can rule the entire household!

…Not one, but four grannies come to take care of you and your stepsister. You manage to work some magic, and are granted three wishes — but soon fear you may get what you wished for!

…The rudest uninvited house guest comes to visit — and won’t leave! He insults every person who comes his way. But when he starts in on the furniture, that’s the last straw. Even the furniture thinks so!

The first story, “Chair Person,” was very well done. It has just the right mix of normal (i.e. non-magic) and magic and all the characters had a lot of personality– especially the Chair Person, who I hated. Of course, now I’m worried my own furniture is judging me and watching…

The second story is “The Four Grannies,” and while I liked reading it I didn’t entirely understand the point (the moral, I guess). Is there even one? Maybe it’s just about how Grandmothers are terrifying when more than one is crammed into the same place. I did like Erg, the main character. He’s quite an interesting little fellow, and I wish he showed up in another story.

The third and last story is “Who Got Rid of Angus Flint?” and unfortunately I liked it the least. It has a fantastic ending, and the build-up to it is sufficiently entertaining. But I didn’t really like any of the characters, and, though Angus was a good villain I was a little shocked when it was revealed he beat his wife. I did not expect that in a DWJ story. Maybe that’s a good thing? I don’t know. I also had a problem with the very beginning, which seemed somewhat jumbled and confused me.

Overall, it’s a nice collection of short stories!