Rating: 
Summary: Another children's book for Halloween
Review: An alternate world where history is not quite the same, and wizards and witches are common occupations. A young boy, Cat, and his older sister, Gwendolen, are left orphans at an early age, and become wards of the town. Gwendolen becomes a student of an unscrupulous hedge wizard with his own agenda, before she and Cat are adopted by the mysterious Chrestomanci and taken to live in an even more mysterious castle where the staff have hidden talents.Rivalries between the children and their new found cousins, and a tendency to play magical pranks, keep the story interesting. To say more would reveal the secrets, but power is not always where you think it is, and some people don't know their own talents. In spite of evil intentions of the villains, or maybe because of them, some people end up better off then when they started. Overall, this is a good novel for pre-teen to teenage readers, but adults may also enjoy the story. I thought it was very good. It is an earlier novel by the author, introducing characters in later novels, and should probably be read before many of the other novels.
Rating:
Summary: An emtertaining story
Review: Cat looks up to his sister Gwendolyn more than anyone else. It's prefectly obvious why, she's a very powerful witch. And ever since the two sibling's parents died Cat has clung to her every day. And when he's sent to llive with Mrs. Sharp, all she wants to do is nourish Gwendolyn's gift. But when there sent to live with the fabled Chrestomanci Gwendolyn is more or less put in her place. SHe is not allowed to pratice witchcraft. SO she sets up into proving the Chrestomanci wrong and porving that she is the most powerful one of them all. But Cat know's what his sister is capable of and when she dose something so powerful, he's the one who has to fix it. Like many people I found the title of this book on a online list called "what to read after Harry Potter." When I read this I was very entertained. Cat's story is thrilling and suspenceful. I reccomend this book to fans of fantasy books such as Harry Potter and/or Tamora Pierce. Though it's not as good as JK Rowling's creations it's definatly a novel any fantasy lover should put in their collection. I'm planning on reading the other four novels in the series too. Read it you won't be dissapointed.
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Summary: Charmed Life is Charming
Review: Charmed Life is a great book. It has action,adventure,and most of all MAGIC! This book is about 2 kids, Cat and Gwendolyn,who have to go through numerous adventures. Thier parents died in a freak accident. They llive in a world where magic is common, so it's no surprise when everyone finds out that Gwendolyn is a witch. However, she uses her powers for bad, not good. She and Cat are sent to live with Chrestomanci, an exremely powerful wizard. He tries to teach Gwendolyn some obediance, but she sends herself to another world, and becomes queen. Meanwhile, another Gwendolyn comes and takes her place,a war starts between Chrestomanci and some other wizards, and Cat saves the day because they find out that the powers that Gwyndolyn has been using are Cats! All in all, this is a great book, and anyone who likes Harry Potter wil love this!
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing and exciting
Review: Charmed Life is one of Diana Wynne Jone's best books. It's funny, exciting, intriguing and filled with those characters that are so easy to fall in love with. This was the first Diana Wynne Jones book that I ever read at the age of 12 and at 25 I'm re-reading them all and finding them as refreshingly imaginative as the first read. I recently read the Harry Potter books and while they are good it just made me want more from Diana Wynne Jones.
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Summary: Charmed Life : A hilariously charming novel.
Review: CHARMED LIFE is the first of Dianna Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci Quartet, and is delightfully charming itself, especially because it's such a magical and hilarious work that has an extremely involving plot. Cat and his sister, Gwendolyn, are now living in a vast and immense Castle, Chrestomanci Castle. Gwendolyn herself is a witch, and though she's quite a good one, she gets angry quite easily -- a darkness brews inside her that she can't control, and her spells are powerfully dangerous. When she is angry over the rules she has to put up with in Chrestomanci's Castle, she begins to conjure up many schemes to get rid of Chrestomanci himself once after all. Cat doesn't know how to stop his devious , stronger sister -- already she's gaining to much power, and goodness knows what she can do with her witchcraft ! Cat needs to somehow be brave , but he doesn't have magic in his own blood. That's why it would take more then human powers to stop Gwendolyn's evil ! From magical schemes to destroy everything Gwendolyn despises to a talking upset Dragon who's blood is wanted to a charmed pair of diamond earings that can never get lost by constantly screaming, 'I belong to Caroline Chant!' , Charmed Life is a hilarious and delightfully enjoyable novel that sparks an excellent written expression and humor, never failing to amuse but offer a good scare just as well. Dianna Wynne Jones has written a very charming novel.
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Summary: Diana Wynne Jones is the best!
Review: Charmed Life is the greatest book by the greatest of all children's fantasy authors. Head and shoulders above Harry Potter. Eric (also known as "Cat") is someone with whom you sympathize from the very first page. His sister Gwendolyn is also sympathetic, but.... well, you'll find out. There's a standard rule of drama that a new major character can't be introduced past the midpoint of a book. Whenever I hear that rule, I think of this book.... I don't think the author of that rule had this in mind! One word of warning: This book is marketed as "the first book of the Chrestomanci series." But this isn't really a "series" at all -- these books really are independent of each other.
Rating:
Summary: Diana Wynne Jones is the best!
Review: Charmed Life is the greatest book by the greatest of all children's fantasy authors. Head and shoulders above Harry Potter. Eric (also known as "Cat") is someone with whom you sympathize from the very first page. His sister Gwendolyn is also sympathetic, but.... well, you'll find out. There's a standard rule of drama that a new major character can't be introduced past the midpoint of a book. Whenever I hear that rule, I think of this book.... I don't think the author of that rule had this in mind! One word of warning: This book is marketed as "the first book of the Chrestomanci series." But this isn't really a "series" at all -- these books really are independent of each other.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Charmed Life, by: Diana Wynne Jones is about two siblings, Gwendolen and Eric(nicknamed Cat)Chant. When these two children were quite young, their parents died while cruising on a boat. Gwendolen cannot drown because she's a witch. With Cat knowing this, he grabbed on to her. They were one of the few people who survived the disaster. Funds were started for the people who survived. The other people that survived took the money in their funds and went to go live somewhere else. Only Gwendolen and Cat stayed. They both decided to live with Mrs. Sharp, an old witch that lived nearby. Before they moved in with her, they went back home to collect their belongings. At Mrs. Sharp's, they all started looking for any belongings that were valuable to trade in for witch lessons for Gwendolen from Mr. Nostrum, a necromancer. They found Gwendolen and Cat's mother's diamond earrings, but Gwendolen snatched them out of Mrs. Sharp's hands. Besides that, they found three letters all with the same signature. The letters were all signed by Chrestomanci. Not knowing who this person was, they traded in the three letters for witch lessons from Mr. Nostrum. As Gwendolen became a proud student by Mr. Nostrum, Cat didn't. Cat was not a witch nor a warlock or any sort of magic-doer of any sort, at least that's what everyone thought. Mrs. Sharp decided to have him take violin lessons. One day while Cat was practicing, Gwendolen came storming in from next door and turned Cat's violin into a cat. The cat yowled and hissed just like a bad-playing violin would sound. They named the cat Fiddle. A couple days later, Gwendolen came in very happy. She said they were going to live with Chrestomanci. When they got to Chrestomanci Castle, they unpacked and got their rooms assigned to them. The next day, Gwendolen and Cat started their first lessons from Mr. Saunders, their magic teacher. Gwendolen soon found that not only was witchcraft about magic, it was also about the history of it. Since she was not allowed to do magic without an adult's supervision, she thought she would try and show Chrestomanci how great her magical abilities were. After having gone too far, Gwendolen got her witchcraft taken away by Mr. Saunders. The next day, they found that she was gone and instead another girl was in her place. Her name was Janet. She looked extremely similar to Gwendolen. Cat soon also found that he was an enchanter, just like Chrestomanci. He also had 9 lives to spare like Chrestomanci as well. These kinds of people were extremely rare. Janet decided to stay at Chrestomanci Castle, while Gwendolen was off being queen in another world.
Rating:
Summary: Charmed Life
Review: Charmed Life, by: Diana Wynne Jones is about two siblings, Gwendolen and Eric(nicknamed Cat)Chant. When these two children were quite young, their parents died while cruising on a boat. Gwendolen cannot drown because she's a witch. With Cat knowing this, he grabbed on to her. They were one of the few people who survived the disaster. Funds were started for the people who survived. The other people that survived took the money in their funds and went to go live somewhere else. Only Gwendolen and Cat stayed. They both decided to live with Mrs. Sharp, an old witch that lived nearby. Before they moved in with her, they went back home to collect their belongings. At Mrs. Sharp's, they all started looking for any belongings that were valuable to trade in for witch lessons for Gwendolen from Mr. Nostrum, a necromancer. They found Gwendolen and Cat's mother's diamond earrings, but Gwendolen snatched them out of Mrs. Sharp's hands. Besides that, they found three letters all with the same signature. The letters were all signed by Chrestomanci. Not knowing who this person was, they traded in the three letters for witch lessons from Mr. Nostrum. As Gwendolen became a proud student by Mr. Nostrum, Cat didn't. Cat was not a witch nor a warlock or any sort of magic-doer of any sort, at least that's what everyone thought. Mrs. Sharp decided to have him take violin lessons. One day while Cat was practicing, Gwendolen came storming in from next door and turned Cat's violin into a cat. The cat yowled and hissed just like a bad-playing violin would sound. They named the cat Fiddle. A couple days later, Gwendolen came in very happy. She said they were going to live with Chrestomanci. When they got to Chrestomanci Castle, they unpacked and got their rooms assigned to them. The next day, Gwendolen and Cat started their first lessons from Mr. Saunders, their magic teacher. Gwendolen soon found that not only was witchcraft about magic, it was also about the history of it. Since she was not allowed to do magic without an adult's supervision, she thought she would try and show Chrestomanci how great her magical abilities were. After having gone too far, Gwendolen got her witchcraft taken away by Mr. Saunders. The next day, they found that she was gone and instead another girl was in her place. Her name was Janet. She looked extremely similar to Gwendolen. Cat soon also found that he was an enchanter, just like Chrestomanci. He also had 9 lives to spare like Chrestomanci as well. These kinds of people were extremely rare. Janet decided to stay at Chrestomanci Castle, while Gwendolen was off being queen in another world.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging
Review: Children's fantasy has enjoyed a renaissance with the rise of Harry Potter, and it was through that renaissance that I discovered the books of Diana Wynne Jones. While J.K. Rowling is still the far superior plotter, and the Harry Potter books are more interesting and more skillfully paced, the work of Diana Wynne Jones is engaging enough. Charmed Life is the story of Cat Chant, a sweet boy who lives in the shadow of his strong-willed sister Gwendolen. When their parents die in a boat accident, Gwendolen comes into her own, and as her personality and magic powers expand, Cat seems to contract to make room for her. For a time, the orphaned siblings live with a witch who arranges for Gwendolen to receive magic lessons from a necromancer, but they are later sent off to live with the great enchanter Chrestomanci, who seeks to curb Gwendolen's megalomanic tendencies. Naturally, Gwendolen does not take kindly to this, and drags the blindly loyal Cat with her through no end of trouble, leading to a showdown with Chrestomanci himself. For some reason, I never got into the books of Diana Wynne Jones as deeply as I did into J.K. Rowling's. Even after reading three of the four Chrestomanci novels, I developed none of the sense of familiarity and identification I have with the world of Harry Potter. Moreover, to borrow from Roger Ebert, the Chrestomanci novels lack "the confident forward sweep of a [book] that knows where it's going." When I try to describe the plot, the word that comes most readily to mind is "clunky." But the characters, especially Chrestomanci, are interesting and attractive--for all that I remain strangely detached from their feelings and fates, they make me want to read on and find out what happens next.
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