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Summary: Chrestomanci lives!!
Review: I finally got my own copy of "The Lives of Christopher Chant" and my collection is complete. Even if you have never heard of Chrestomanci in your life you will think he is the greatest after you have completed this book. Jones makes young Christopher interesting and convincing as he is swept through this adventure. It is great to see Christopher's powers forming and a delight when he finally comes into his own. His friend The Goddess is also wonderful. Like many of Jones' young heroines The Goddess is more intelligent and real than many young girls you read about in inferior books. Those who are familiar with the character of Christopher will be enchanted to see the beginnings of the little quirks that make our favorite enchanter so interesting. One of my favorite books.
Rating:
Summary: Chrestomanci lives!!
Review: I finally got my own copy of "The Lives of Christopher Chant" and my collection is complete. Even if you have never heard of Chrestomanci in your life you will think he is the greatest after you have completed this book. Jones makes young Christopher interesting and convincing as he is swept through this adventure. It is great to see Christopher's powers forming and a delight when he finally comes into his own. His friend The Goddess is also wonderful. Like many of Jones' young heroines The Goddess is more intelligent and real than many young girls you read about in inferior books. Those who are familiar with the character of Christopher will be enchanted to see the beginnings of the little quirks that make our favorite enchanter so interesting. One of my favorite books.
Rating: 
Summary: Cool!
Review: I found out about this fantastic book on amazon.com and requested it at the library in our disrict. The book was so popular that I had to wait for twenty-nine people before I could read it! When I finally had the book I picked it up and started reading . It was one of those books where you just can't put it down. The Lives of Christopher Chant is about a young boy named Christopher Chant who lives in a very elegant place with his mother and father. Christopher has the life of a normal boy until he realizes that he can spirit travel! Spirit travelling is an art where you can travel to worlds that are real but can only be reached while dreaming. Every night he goes spirit travelling, sometimes he even managed to bring back stuff from the Anywheres( that's what Christopher called the dream worlds). One day, his governess discovered presents that he had brought back from the Anywheres and accused him of stealing. The governess said she wanted an explanation. Christopher said he would only confess to his Uncle Ralph, a corrupt and dishonest man. When Uncle Ralph discovers that Christopher can spirit travel, he sends him on special missions in the Anywheres, and Christopher gets into loads of mischief...
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Summary: This Book Rules
Review: If you are into fantasy, adventure, humor, or all of the above, you have to read The Lives of Christopher Chant. I own a copy of it and would highly reccomend it to everyone. If you have read this book and enjoyed it, you should also read Witch Week, Charmed Life, The Magicians of Caprona, and everything else written by Diana Wynne Jones.
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Summary: Original, engaging and absorbing...
Review: If youre already a fan of Diana Wynne Jones, you know that any book written by this amazing author is worth reading. The lives of Christopher Chant is no exception. Quite possibly it is one of her best works, but I'll let you decide on that one. This particular book actually takes place before any of the others, but for some reason it is the fourth in the series. It stars a young chrestomanci - Christopher Chant - a boy who can traverse through the multiple worlds at will, who unknowingly posesses nine lives and is one of the strongest magic -users in his own world. He is taken to Chrestomanci castle, where he is trained to become the next Chrestomanci, a sort of overseer for all the magic that goes on in the many worlds. However, he is also secretly recruited by his uncle Ralph to make a series of dreamlike trips into the other worlds to retrieve and deliver mysterious packages, one of which is incidently revealed to be dragon's blood, a highly powerful and illegal magical ingredient prohibited by the law. Christopher is exposed to countless dangers on these forays and each time he dies in his spirit trips, he is killed in the real world by a parallel accident. As time passes and Christopher continues to lose his lives, the reigning Chrestomanci is killed and the worlds are pushed into chaos. Christopher, young as he is, must take charge and save the entire related worlds, though he is only just beginning to discover the scope of his powers... enjoy!
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Summary: The story of Chrestomanci
Review: Perhaps one of the most endearing magicians in fantasy is Chrestomanci. A suit-wearing, veddy-veddy English magician with style and a forceful personality, rather than the usual Gandalf-clones. But rather than focusing on a group of people or an individual that Chrestomanci helps, this book focuses on Chrestomanci's life -- more specifically, the events that molded him into the powerful magician ahead.Christopher Chant is essentially a semi-normal little boy in Victorian England — the abnormal things are discounted, such as meeting mermaids -- or dreaming of places, and coming back with souvenirs. His parents are almost nebulous figures, and his nursemaids change continuously. One day he meets his Uncle Ralph, a friendlier person than any Christopher has encountered before. It turns out that Christopher is a "spirit traveller" -- when he dreams, he actually drifts from one world into another. To add to this oddity, he also has nine lives (he uses up a few of them as the story progresses). And not only Uncle Ralph is interested in Christopher's talents — his father manages to get him to Chrestomanci Castle, to be trained as the next Chrestomanci (the person in charge of all magic). And Christopher hears something more — about smugglers getting illegal magical goods from the different worlds. And Uncle Ralph may be connected to them. Who is good and who is bad? Christopher, the Goddess, and Thogmorten the cat try to save themselves from the sinister smugglers and the guards of another world... One endearing thing about this book is the way that Diana Wynne-Jones understands a small child's way of thinking, such as Christopher assuming that if his mother wants him in a good profession, she wants him to be a missionary. We see Christopher gradually shifting into a more world-aware viewpoint as his powers grow. Wynne-Jones also acknowledges, as many books such as Harry Potter do not, that simply because a place is harder to live in and not as much fun as elsewhere, does not mean that it is a bad place. The people who expect the most from Christopher also care the most. Lessons about responsibility, using your natural-born gifts, and caring about others are also sprinkled throughout it. Christopher is a very realistic protagonist. He's not perfect, and simply because he is powerful people don't revere him as being better than anyone else. One of the best scenes in the book involves a friend of his scolding him for being self-absorbed and cold to others — and Christopher realizes with a shock that it's true. The Goddess, a very bored incarnation-of-a-deity from another world, is an excellent female lead and counterpoint to Christopher. (The scene where they debate who is a heathen is hilarious). Most of the other characters flit in and out too quickly and briefly for us to form a solid opinion of them, but Throgmorten ("Wong!") is also a priceless personality. Writing style is nearly impeccable, very evocative and only goes dead in a few areas. There is also a lot of humor in this book: the scene where Christopher runs wailing through the hospital, Throgmorten the "wong!" cat, Christopher's obsession with being a missionary, and other tidbits of hilarity. This is a wonderful fantasy book, especially if you're already a fan of the Chrestomanci books. You don't need to have read any others to enjoy this on its own.
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Summary: A great story
Review: The Chrestomanci series is a great series, this is one of the better stories of the four that are written. The two things that run consistent through all the stories is the Chrestomanci and the many worlds that exist. The title of Chrestomanci is for the person who makes sure that all magic is used properly. It is very difficult to get because one of the requirements it that the person must have nine lives rather than the usual one. The multiple worlds are an interesting concept in the Chrestomanci stories. The concept goes like this, when a big even occurs, such as a battle, one of two things can happen. Either one side of the battle wins or the other side wins. Since both of these things cannot happen at once, the world is split into two worlds where in one world, one side won and in the other world, the other side won. This concept is used by Diana Jones as a base for plots and interesting twists. "The Lives of Christoper Chant" is not about Cat but rather it is about the childhood of the Chrestomanci in "Charmed Life", so the book takes place some many years before "Charmed Life". Christopher Chant is a spirit traveler. He is able to travel to the other worlds. What is even more special is that he is able to take back things from other worlds to his world where as nobody before could do such a thing. Christoper didn't realize this was a gift but thought that these were dreams when he went to the other worlds because he could only go there once he fell asleep. Unfortunately for Christoper, his Uncle Ralph, whom he admires greatly, finds a way to exploit Christopher's gift by making him take expensive and illegal items from other worlds into his own. While Christopher lives in Chrestomanci's castle doing this, Chrestomanci at the same time is trying to find the smugglers who are bringing this stuff into their world. I love the ending where many elements of the story and other side plots merge in to one. This is a great story and I recommend it to anyone, one note is that you may want to buy the "The Chronicles of Chrestomanci : Charmed Life/the Lives of Christopher Chant" book because it has this story in it and the "Charmed Life" story which I think go together quite well.
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Summary: This was a fascinating book.
Review: The Lives of Christopher Chant is the first book I read by Diana Wynne Jones. After a few chapters, I couldn't put it down. It inspired me to read her other books.
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Summary: A fascinating second novel of the Chrestomanci Quartet.
Review: THE LIVES OF CHRISTOPHER CHANT is the second of Dianna Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci Quartet, and a fantastic work at that. Young Christopher Chant is destined to become the next Chrestomanci. As an enchanter, he has magic in his blood. But his fantastic gift to travel in his dreams and bring back things from there makes him no ordinary youth. His Uncle Ralph, excited of his nephew's extraordinary powers, begins to send Christopher on missions in his dreams. And soon, the discoveries that ensue will change Christopher's life -- or lives - forever. This was a very involving novel, though the beginning is slightly slow. But soon the story picks up with an extraordinary gripping plot that will fill the reader's mind with magic. This novel is literally a dream come true.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: The Lives of Christopher Chant, is humour at its very best! Wynne Jones is one of the best children's fantasy writers, she pioneered techniques still being used today. This is one of three books (Witch Week and Charmed Life) and gives us an understanding of the person behing the lofty and mysterious Chrestomanci. Its a very funny and tongue in cheek look at Christopher Chant's childhood, as he walks between "Anywheres" and gets caught up in illegal activities unknowingly. Wynne Jones puts plenty of laughs into it, from Christopher reading the Unabridged Arabian Nights, to the interesting Goddess who freezes Christopher in a wall until he agrees to her demands....and all the while, Christopher is losing lives.....
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