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Summary: "Stop All Spells or Your Child Suffers"
Review: "The Magicians of Caprona" is part of the Chrestomanci quartet, a series of books with no particular chronological order and which are related only in regard to the presence of the magician known as the Chrestomanci. This wizard is no grey-bearded aged old man, but a young handsome character whose responsibility it is to keep in balance all magic in all the worlds.
All of the books except this one are set in a parallel version of Britain, and in a foreword to this story Diana Wynne Jones explains that here Italy never became a united country, and is still split up into states - one of which is Caprona. Caprona is a beautiful city, watched from above by the great Angel of Caprona atop the Cathedral, who long ago drove out the White Devil. The only blight upon the city is the ongoing feud between its two major families: the Montanas and the Petrocchis.
In case you haven't guessed by now, there are indeed hints of "Romeo and Juliet" at work. But in typical Wynne Jones style, the story is not told from the lovers' point of view, but rather from younger members of both families - predominantly Tonino and Paolo Montana. Like all the children of their family, they've been raised to hate the Petrocchis, and the rumours of a coming war against Caprona raises ill-will even higher.
But a visit from Chrestomanci reveals that he believes an evil enchanter is at work, though their identity is a mystery unknown even to him. The only way that they can save the city is to find the missing words to the Angel of Caprona song, and to do that it seems that the families will have to work together.
But then Tonino and Angelica Petrocchi disappear, the two most notoriously bad spell-casters of the families. While kept hostage, the two simultaneously discover the identity of the enchanter and the words to the song. But how can they get this information to their families, especially when the fighting has escalated?
"The Magician of Caprona" is probably the easiest to read of all the Chrestomanci books, and combines all of Wynne Jones's trademark features - zany magic, talking cats, clever twists and vivid characters who still act like normal people despite the magic happenings occurring around them. It moves between funny and somewhat scary, with a range of likeable characters throughout.
Rating: 
Summary: Magical
Review: I first borrowed and read this book from a friend in 1996 and found it really good and interesting. The characters were spunky and memorable. I remember going about for weeks imagining how fun it would be to have their kind of magic in our world.
I found myself thinking about it again recently and fortunately found it in my local bookstore in Malaysia. The book was as good as I remembered it....probably even more so now.
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Summary: Confusing, but fabulous!
Review: I found the first time I read this book, it was really confusing for some reason. Especially the part with the enchanted room and Punch and Judy. When I read it for the second time, I absolutly loved it! Do me a HUGE favor and read it!!
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Summary: The Magicians Of Caprona
Review: I think that this is a very good book. It has a lot of very interesting stuff in it and it also keeps you in great suspense so you can't put the book down. There is also a small mystery in it that you can try to solve before the book tells you the answer. This book also teaches a very important lesson, that poeple need to be united to achieve something great. In the book, the lesson is very clear and it gives a very good story to make you understand it. The lesson that the book teaches is especially important now, after the 911 event of terrorism. I really recommend this book to a lot of people because it's really a very good book. The other Chrestomanci novels are also very good books for people to read too.
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Summary: An exciting book in the Chrestomanci Series
Review: In Italy, a place far far away from the Chrestomanci's home there lives two houses "both alike in dignity" (hehe though I'd through in a little SHakespere) who are very talented in making spells. The would work together magically if it wasn't for an old family feud that pits them against eachother every day. In the Montana house lives a boy named Tonino who has terrible luck working even the simpelest spells, but he has an amazing ability to talk to cats. When the Montana home and the Petrocci home enter a time of war, Tonino is thrown into the middle of a terrible plot. And the only way he can save Caprona is by finding the true words to the Angel song, which is the stongest spell known in the world. Which is hard enough now add onto the fact that he has to wrok with her sworn enemy, a Petrocci girl. Can the two stop fighting long enough to find the spell? Or will the evil enchanter have their way.Though this wook wasn't as good as Charmed Life of Witch week it was still very entertaining. The plot line of two feuding houses it a bit chiched ever since Montagues and the Capulet's in Romeo and Juiet dropped into the scene. But the whole magic factor makes it a bit more orginal. All in all it was a very entertaining book. I'll probably read it again in again. I just wish Chrestomanci would show up a bit more. In the past few books he's only swooped in in time to do some magic, expalin things, than leave. I reccomend this to anyone whose a fan of the series. The last book in the series, The Lives of Christopher Chant, is on my shelf and ready to be read.
Rating:
Summary: An exciting book in the Chrestomanci Series
Review: In Italy, a place far far away from the Chrestomanci's home there lives two houses "both alike in dignity" (hehe though I'd through in a little SHakespere) who are very talented in making spells. The would work together magically if it wasn't for an old family feud that pits them against eachother every day. In the Montana house lives a boy named Tonino who has terrible luck working even the simpelest spells, but he has an amazing ability to talk to cats. When the Montana home and the Petrocci home enter a time of war, Tonino is thrown into the middle of a terrible plot. And the only way he can save Caprona is by finding the true words to the Angel song, which is the stongest spell known in the world. Which is hard enough now add onto the fact that he has to wrok with her sworn enemy, a Petrocci girl. Can the two stop fighting long enough to find the spell? Or will the evil enchanter have their way. Though this wook wasn't as good as Charmed Life of Witch week it was still very entertaining. The plot line of two feuding houses it a bit chiched ever since Montagues and the Capulet's in Romeo and Juiet dropped into the scene. But the whole magic factor makes it a bit more orginal. All in all it was a very entertaining book. I'll probably read it again in again. I just wish Chrestomanci would show up a bit more. In the past few books he's only swooped in in time to do some magic, expalin things, than leave. I reccomend this to anyone whose a fan of the series. The last book in the series, The Lives of Christopher Chant, is on my shelf and ready to be read.
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Summary: The third wonderful Chrestomanci novel of the quartet.
Review: THE MAGICIANS OF CAPRONA , though having little to do with the enchanter Chrestomanci, is a thoroughly intriguing novel with the most suspenseful story yet. Tonino and a band of magicians -- the Magicians Of Caprona -- are the only ones who can save Caprona. The magic is wonderful, the characters -- particularly Tonino -- are aptly described and vivid. In this third very enchanting and deep novel of the Chrestomanci Quartet by Dianna Wynne Jones, readers will very much consider this a personal favorite, as I did -- for the story is even more suspenseful then THE LIVES OF CHRISTOPHER CHANT which I thoroughly enjoyed. Though it has littler to do with Chrestomanci, it is in no way an 'add on' to the quartet. This is a must read for all of Jones's fans, as well as fans of Harry Potter, Which Witch, and Half Magic.
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Summary: Chrestomanci's Back Again!
Review: The third book in the Chrestomanci series, this one takes place in Caprona, Italy, far away from Chrestomanci Castle in England. It is rather different from the other three books in the series, but I enjoyed it a lot. I found it impossible to put down, even after I had finished reading it. I read it through a second time and then settled down to think about the plot. The feuding houses of Casa Montana and Casa Petrochi are the two strongest spell houses in Italy. Yet, their virtue is fading. An enemy enchanter is helping other states nibble on and finally war against Caprona. The only thing that can save Caprona is for the words to the powerful spell, "The Angel" to be found. And no one knows where they could be! Matters get horribly worse when young Tonino from Casa Montana and Angelica from Casa Petrochi are kidnapped by ? (you have to read the book to find out)! Both casas are sure that the other one has kidnapped their child. But Tonino and Angelica have made their peace inside their prison and have even figured out where the words of the Angel are. But they can't get away from their powerful and horrifying captor. And to make matters worse, the rest of their families seem to have been enchanted by the enemy enchanter as well. How can two young children who are the least talented in their families, ever save themselves, let alone Caprona? Read the book and find out!
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Summary: Family Fued
Review: This enchanting story takes place in a world parallel to ours where Italy is still divided into city states that are ruled by dukes. In Caprona the two best spell-writing families in the world live: the Montanas and the Petrocchis. And, of course, the two are bitter rivals ever since some long ago argument that no one really remembers.
But Caprona is in trouble from all sides, with other city-states chipping bits off of her all the time. Caprona is run by a rather silly yet lovable Duke and his downright evil Duchess.
When one misfit child from each of the fueding families turns up missing, of course the families blame each other, and end up having a havoc-wreaking fight in the down-town.
Then Caprona heads into war. It looks inevitable that she will fall, when the only possible solution would be to find the words to the Angel of Caprona, whom no one has sung properly for centuries. Then the two misfits miraculously save their state and re-uninte their fighting families. This story was, like all of Jones' work, very well written. She has a marvelous and twisting plot that keeps your mind racing and your eyes glued to the page. She describes perfectly what it feels like to be left out of something that comes so natural to others.
Rating:
Summary: not one of her best
Review: This is a good story, but in my mind doesn't even come close to the other Chrestomanci books. It's really funny, and the characters seem real, but its kind of hard to get into and is not one of her best. I would still buy it and read it, but if it's your first Jones book don't judge her writing by this book, but read something like 'Cart and Cwidder' or the other Chrestomanci books.
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