The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 2: The Magicians of Caprona / Witch Week

Rating:
Summary: I liked it, but...
Review: Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favorite authors but I don't uniformly love everything she's written. I liked these two stories, but didn't love them. To me, that puts them at four stars.

There's a lot of fun stuff going on here. Magicians of Caprona has dueling Italian families, recalling Romeo and Juliet but with a much happier ending. It also has smart, capable kids and clever cats. Witch Week also features smart, capable kids plus nasty, real-life mean ones, too.

What I enjoy about DWJ's books (as opposed to the Harry Potter books, though I do enjoy those too) is that the kids are complex and they have good interplay with adults, if the adults deserve it (or at least appear to.)

Overall, though, these two stories were pretty light. I enjoyed them while I read them, but the characters and situations didn't stick around with me for very long, as opposed to the stories from Chrestomanci, volume one. Also, Chrestomanci hardly appeared at all! When he did he stole the scenes, but I like him more central to the story as he was in the earlier books.

Rating:
Summary: As good as the first!
Review: Dianna Wynne Jones is awesome!! The second book is as good as the first. The Magicians of Caprona is an exciting story about two spell-making houses who broke up friendships and the security of Caprona. The second story, Witch Week, is about a world where witches are burned, althought this is not right. Can they fix it by themselves? No, they must call upon Chrestomanci. You have to read this book. Both are full of suspense and it will keep you on the edge of your seat from cover to cover! If you like Harry Potter you will love the Chronicles of Chrestomanci!!!!!! It has wonderful plots and well developed characters! This is a must read!!!

Rating:
Summary: A review for both Volumes
Review: I definitely liked it as a whole. The first book of Vol.2 was witty and cute, although lacking in some ways. The second book I absolutely loved. I read Volume 1 a few weeks ago, and when I read Volume 2 I found a similiar story: the second was much better than the first. This probably has something to do with the kind of person I am, but I felt like both Cat and Tonino were simply too mild mannered. Christopher and Charles both had very strong personalities as well as being interesting people. With Magicians of Caprona there was very little connection between the reader and the characters, because they were so wrapped up in the happenings of the moment that there was very little opportunity to get to know the actual people. In Charmed Life, I felt more of a connection and saw a little more thought behind it, but unfortunately one of the few things that really bother me in books are when people won't stand up for themselves, and that is exactly what Cat was like. The Lives of Christopher Chant and Witch Week were both told much closer to the main characters, and with the matter-of-fact honesty and faintly skewed logic that only children have. Diana Wynne Jones has a suprising grasp of that concept, and I would know, because I'm 14 myself. In short, and taking all four books together, they are funny, charming, thought-provoking, and always very, very much worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: My favorite book in the whole world is Charmed Life. After discovering that book I read the rest of the series. Even though the books later in the series couldn't beat the first, they sure beat any other books that I have read in my entire life (and I've read a lot of books). If you read this review, I sure hope that you read this book, no matter how old or young you are, these books are good for all ages.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!!
Review: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Bk. 2 was great! The Magicians of Caprona, which takes place in Italy of another world, is really interesting, with a bit of mystery, a lot of magic, and a lot of adventure all mixed in. Witch Week, which takes place in England of yet another world where witches exist but are burned at the stake, is even better, because in it Chrestomanci is just a hilarious 'inquisitor'. I'd like to say more, but I don't want to give anything away. READ THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: More Magic!
Review: The first Volume of the "Chronicles of Chrestomanci" was wonderful. The second Volume is just as good!

Again, I am convinced that Diana Wynne-Jones is a much better author than J.K. Rowling, and that her books are much more original, interesting, and well-thought out. I mean, Mrs. Wynne-Jones created not just a whole new world...but Twelve of them! Chrestomanci is such a wonderful character. He's wise, but he doesn't come off as some sort of sage. I love his vague attitude and his humor...I enjoyed Chrestomanci much more than Rowling's Dumbledore.

Of course, it's hard not to compare these books to the Harry Potter series. I only wish that Chrestomanci could enjoy the same hype.

The Magicians of Caprona was my favorite, but both stories are wonderful.

Please, if you love HP, fantasy, or just plain wonderful storytelling, please pick up these stories by Diana Wynne Jones. They are amazing!

Rating:
Summary: Not really Chrestomanci at all...
Review: These two stories deal with other people and other worlds than the Chrestomancis we encountered in Volume 1. In both cases Chrestomanci steps into the story just at a crucial point when something or someone needs saving. In "The Magicians of Caprona" his input is so weak that his role could probably have been excised entire; in "Witch Week," his role is somewhat more significant, since they need someone from outside their world to figure out just what is going wrong.

However, both stories are quite entertaining on their own (although "The Magicians of Caprona" jarred me somewhat; perhaps because it takes place in Italy between two feuding families, and I'm more familiar with the idea of England being some kind of hub for magic).

Rating:
Summary: Not really Chrestomanci at all...
Review: These two stories deal with other people and other worlds than the Chrestomancis we encountered in Volume 1. In both cases Chrestomanci steps into the story just at a crucial point when something or someone needs saving. In "The Magicians of Caprona" his input is so weak that his role could probably have been excised entire; in "Witch Week," his role is somewhat more significant, since they need someone from outside their world to figure out just what is going wrong.

However, both stories are quite entertaining on their own (although "The Magicians of Caprona" jarred me somewhat; perhaps because it takes place in Italy between two feuding families, and I'm more familiar with the idea of England being some kind of hub for magic).

Rating:
Summary: Wizard!
Review: When people think of wizards, they think of gray-bearded old men with pointy hats and staffs. But nothing could be further from Diana Wynne-Jones' Chrestomanci, a dapper English mage with nine lives and the responsibility of overseeing magic in ALL the worlds. "The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 2" compiles two of the books about this unique mage, "Witch Week" and "Magicians of Caprona".

"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 Nan? 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. 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...

Long before there was Harry Potter, Diana Wynne-Jones was penning the funny, imaginative tales about Chrestomanci. "Magicians of Caprona" and "Witch Week" pretty much break the mold for fantasy wizards, choosing to be humorous and inventive instead of melodramatic and cheesy.

Don't expect fluffy fantasy. Jones's prose is amusing, dramatic, evocative and fast-paced. The intricate magical systems, where a single event can send an entire universe awry, are wonderfully portrayed and dramatically brought to our attention. And despite the Italian setting of "Caprona," the two books have a crisp, British flavor.

Her characters are likable ones. In "Caprona," there's a bit of goofiness in the generations-long feud. But the characters themselves are much like real people. And "Witch Week" captures, without a sense of cozy romance, the trials of being at a school where you're the unpopular kid -- there's a clique of popular students, and a larger number of unhappy, lonely ones.

Forget the antics of Harry Potter, and step into the magical stories of of Chrestomanci and his magical worlds. "The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 2" is a must-read for fantasy fans.