Rating: 
Summary: The Merlin Conspiracy
Review: I've read the majority of Diana Wynne Jones' books, and this would have to be one of my favourites. In my opinion it is in the middle range of what I see as her two writing styles, she has a lighter style (eg. Howl's moving castle, Castle in the Air, The Chrestomanci series)and a darker style (eg. The Crown of Dalemark Series, The Time of the Ghost) also in the middle I would put her similarly themed book Deep Secrets.I thought the book was well thought out and although it was detailed the descriptive part didn't get in the way of the storyline. The characters were fairly interesting and you could enter into their feelings most of the time. The worlds were very well developed and interesting, I think if you lose interest in any part of the story it detracts from the experience. The plot revolves around the threat to the position of Melin in one world and the help that can be offered from another world in the form of a normal teenage boy. I'm not very good at revealing plots so I'll leav that up to the better reviewers. :)
Rating:
Summary: Yet another English boy magician book!
Review: It seems that a lot of authors have sprung on the "English boy who doesn't know he's got magic powers" bandwagon after the success of you-know-who (er, I don't mean Voldemort!). However, Diana Wynne Jones has been writing this sort of thing for a long time and "The Merlin Conspiracy" is one of the better books she's written. Dealing as her books usually do with the many-worlds theory, it begins with one young girl who travels with the King's court in the England of her world (called Blest rather than England), and continues later with Nick, a boy in a different version of England who knows about magic powers but doesn't believe he has any. The story is written in alternating chapters, first one by Roddy (the girl), then one by Nick, and so on. Where this book differs from some of the more "heavy magic" books is in its humor. A circus elephant gets lost in the paths between worlds and ends up playing a supporting role - the fact that her name is "Mini" seems like forced humor, but it's the only example of forced humor I can remember in the book. (An interesting question: when Mini speaks her name, why does Nick understand it to be "Mini" and not "Minnie"? I'd argue that anyone hearing that word pronounced as a name would visualize the name "Minnie" and not the other word. But this is a minor point [pun intended].) Anyway, this is an enjoyable a read as I've had in some time. Fans of HP, Artemis Fowl, and the Bartimaeus Trilogy will probably enjoy this, as well as most of Ms. Jones' other works.
Rating:
Summary: Another DWJ knockout!
Review: Original review follows, under the asterisks, but I had to amend this after reading another DWJ book called "Deep Secret." The Nick of "The Merlin Conspiracy" is the same Nick from "Deep Secret." The storyline in "Deep Secret" predates "The Merlin Conspiracy," but not by much - you could surmise that maybe six months of Nick's life have passed between the two books. Given Nick's very large role in the first book, you might expect, in the second book, some references to the happenings in "Deep Secret." At the beginning of "The Merlin Conspiracy," Nick gives us his full (Korfyonic) name, and mentions in an internal monologue that he has abdicated the throne in favor of his brother Rob - but that's about all the history of the previous book that is given.
Now, "The Merlin Conspiracy" is in no way a sequel to the other book. But after reading "Deep Secret" I'm more than a little amazed, and somewhat disappointed, that Nick's internal monologues don't include such topics as how his sister/cousin Maree is doing in her new Magid lifestyle or what it's like to have a centaur/Emperor as a brother. In fact, the character of Nick in "The Merlin Conspiracy" could have been written as an entirely new DWJ character. Maybe it should have been.
In any case, I'd read "Deep Secret" first if you're interested in both of them; that way, the few cryptic comments referring back to it will make some sense to you when reading "The Merlin Conspiracy," instead of just seeming like typical fantasy book backstory/filler).
**
It seems that a lot of authors have sprung on the "English boy who doesn't know he's got magic powers" bandwagon after the success of you-know-who (er, I don't mean Voldemort!). However, Diana Wynne Jones has been writing this sort of thing for a long time and "The Merlin Conspiracy" is one of the better books she's written. Dealing as her books usually do with the many-worlds theory, it begins with one young girl who travels with the King's court in the England of her world (called Blest rather than England), and continues later with Nick, a boy in a different version of England who knows about magic powers but doesn't believe he has any. The story is written in alternating chapters, first one by Roddy (the girl), then one by Nick, and so on.
Where this book differs from some of the more "heavy magic" books is in its humor. A circus elephant gets lost in the paths between worlds and ends up playing a supporting role - the fact that her name is "Mini" seems like forced humor, but it's the only example of forced humor I can remember in the book. (An interesting question: when Mini speaks her name, why does Nick understand it to be "Mini" and not "Minnie"? I'd argue that anyone hearing that word pronounced as a name would visualize the name "Minnie" and not the other word. But this is a minor point [pun intended].)
Anyway, this is an enjoyable a read as I've had in some time. Fans of HP, Artemis Fowl, and the Bartimaeus Trilogy will probably enjoy this, as well as most of Ms. Jones' other works.
Rating:
Summary: A cross world adventure in magic
Review: Roddy and Grundo live in Blest and are the children of court wizards who are in perpetual progress around the country with their king. They are also the only people to escape being caught in plot by some evil court wizards to gather all the magic in Blest to themselves. Nick lives on earth with his step-dad, though his real home is in another universe entirely. Nick desperately wants to travel between the worlds but has been unable to summon the magic to do it himself till one day he finds himself suddenly somehow shoved into the dark paths between worlds where he must help 3 people to escape. One of those people who asks for his help is Roddy. This is an enjoyable novel for both younger and older readers, that follows the adventures of Nick, Roddy and Grundo as they try and get the adults of their worlds to believe in the conspiracy that only they seem to know about. It's told from the point of view of both Nick and Roddy and the narrative is split between them and it holds you easily until the end of the book and leaves you wishing there was sequel where you could get to know more about these characters.
Rating:
Summary: A cross world adventure in magic
Review: Roddy and Grundo live in Blest and are the children of court wizards who are in perpetual progress around the country with their king. They are also the only people to escape being caught in plot by some evil court wizards to gather all the magic in Blest to themselves. Nick lives on earth with his step-dad, though his real home is in another universe entirely. Nick desperately wants to travel between the worlds but has been unable to summon the magic to do it himself till one day he finds himself suddenly somehow shoved into the dark paths between worlds where he must help 3 people to escape. One of those people who asks for his help is Roddy. This is an enjoyable novel for both younger and older readers, that follows the adventures of Nick, Roddy and Grundo as they try and get the adults of their worlds to believe in the conspiracy that only they seem to know about. It's told from the point of view of both Nick and Roddy and the narrative is split between them and it holds you easily until the end of the book and leaves you wishing there was sequel where you could get to know more about these characters.
Rating: 
Summary: A Tale of Magids and Dragons
Review: The Merlin Conspiracy is a fantasy novel about the Islands of Blest, an equivalent of the British Isles in another timeline. Roddy and Grundo are two children of the Court who travel in the King's Progress. They live in buses and move frequently. They hardly ever get to stay in real buildings and sometimes they have to use the drafty bathtent for their showers. Worse yet, Roddy and Grundo are the only mages in their age group at Court. Roddy's father is the Court Weather Wizard and her mother works in the exchequer keeping track of the King's money. Grundo's mother is the Court Earthmistress and she favors her daughter, Alicia, over Grundo; only Sybil knows who is the father of Grundo and Alicia. Roddy and Grundo began to notice something unusual going on after the death of the current Merlin. Then Roddy's maternal grandfather sends a car around to bring the two for a visit and the Court has moved on elsewhere they return. Nick is the foster son of Ted Mallory, a writer of horror stories, and the former heir of the Koryfonic empire... He is a typically self-centered teenaged boy who is convinced to accompany his foster father to a convention of mystery writers. There he is bumped across the timelines to one where the English Empire covers most of Europe. He appears within a group of people near a flier and is assumed to be an apprentice who is late for an assignment with an Imperial security mage unit. At first he thinks he is dreaming and then he is afraid that he is not. Roddy and Grundo meet Nick on a dark path between timelines and Nick sort of agrees to come to Blest to help them solve their problem. However, he has a few problems of his own to solve and several unexpected encounters to survive. This novel is one of the author's Magid stories. The Magid in this tale turns out to be one of the unexpected encounters during Nick's path through the timelines. However, the Magid does add a touch of stability as well as bringing Nick together with Roddy and Grundo. Of course, there are also the panther, the elephant, the goat, and the white and red dragons. Recommended for Jones fans and anyone else who enjoys zany, action-filled tales of magic and intrigue.
Rating: 
Summary: Hot Air, Little Substance
Review: The Merlin Conspiracy is a good book, but I would suggest you take it with a grain of salt. Although the author, Diana Wynne Jones has a fairly unique writing style, which I must admit caught my eye, she fails to complete her characters, leaving them two dimensional and lifeless. I could criticize this book down to the binding, but that is not the purpose at hand. I'm not here to sing it's praises or bury it either. My only complaint is that the first few parts of this book, if you will call them that, are so jumbled and confusing that it makes the reader want to through the book aside and read something else. Towards the end the book begins to make some sort of sense, but that's only if you can battle your way through the beginning and stick with it. Normally I would have put it down, but matters beyond my control stated otherwise. I am sure Mrs. Jones is talented writer and I have not read her other works (not that I plan to) and I hope my small review has not closed your minds entirely to the books prospects.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding
Review: This book has a complicated, but interesting plot. The narration switches between two main characters telling the story - Roddy Hyde and Nick Mallory. Roddy is a magician in training in the mythical land of Blest (which is in a parallel universe and has many things in common with England). Nick Mallory appears to be a normal boy from our world, but in a surprise plot twist, you find out that he's actually a prince from another realm. Imagine there's a parallel universe with a multitude of worlds separate from ours. The worlds are connected and have a lot of similarities and differences. Blest resembles England, but has its own unique personality. 2 kids from different worlds get drawn into a conspiracy that has the potential to affect the entire cosmos by disrupting the balance of magic in the universe (our world has magic too, most of us are too wrapped up to notice it). One minute Nick is in London with his 'father' and the next he's in a faraway land where Roddy, with the aid of some powerful magic passed on to her by an ailing witch from another time and the guidance of her mysterious, solemn and reclusive grandfather, has summoned him to help her solve a problem she suspects is spiraling out of control. Roddy thinks that some power hungry witches and wizards (including Sybil, her best friend Grundo's scheming mother) are up to no good - and are plotting to overthrow the King of Blest. The Merlin seems to be in on it too (unlike our world, the Merlin is a title passed down to a deserving wizard when another Merlin dies), which distresses Roddy greatly - her grandfather Maxwell Hyde picks the Merlin! A lot of the little things in the writing give this book (and others by Diana Wynne Jones) their own charming character. The Izzies were hilarious, as was Romanov's goat. And Mini the Elephant was a fun addition to the cast of characters (human and animal). This book is a winner!
Rating:
Summary: The Merlin Conspiracy
Review: This book wasn't one of Diana Wynne Jones's best. It could have been much shorter, and didn't tie up some of the loose ends. It didn't tell what some of the creatures really were, although it talked about them a lot. However, it's possible that this could have not made sense to me because I didn't read the prequel, "Deep Secret". It had a very interesting plot, though, and certainly wasn't a slow mover.
Rating:
Summary: you don't want to miss this
Review: This is Diana Wynne Jone's lastest book....The book is fast moving with funny characters, especially Mini the elephant. Some may say the ending was rushed, but it just seems to me it could to have another book after it. That doesn't take anything away from this story. I hope there is another book with Roddy, Grundo, and Nick. I would get it as soon as I can if there was. Overall you don't want to miss this book.
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