While I like all of her stuff (and this was not exception), I'm pretty disappointed with it. I knew I had read it previously, but when I saw it in the library I had *no idea* what it was about, which suggested to me that I should re-read it. Bah. The first 90% of the book is fabulous - intricate, lots of things happening, lots of mystery about what is going on. And then the ending just kind of wraps it all up, in an untidy pile, and pretends that everything has been sorted out. Almost like she got bored, or she got most of the way through, wrote some notes about how it all worked out, and someone finished it for her.

(update, 2024: and now, a decade and a half after reading, I have zero memory of this book -- I'm transferring reviews from elsewhere, and this one tells me nothing!) ( )

Reread, obviously. Every time I revisit this book I like it more. The details of life as a servant in a Victorian-ish House---the weird rules, the behind-the-scenes personalities and occasional mayhem---are one of the highlights. My only complaint is that the exposition is a bit thick at the end, but it was a lot to wrap up.

Also, every time I reread the theme of Conrad's family dynamics comes out more strongly. He goes through some hard realizations. I didn't notice before that Christopher supports him at one point after he talks to his mother, saying "I went through something very similar once." He did, didn't he? I also love Anthea so much, even though she amounts to being a minor character, and I feel for her when she apologizes for not taking Conrad away with her. (Conrad doesn't understand why at that moment, but the reader does.) ( )

Although published later this volume could be read as following on from 'The Lives of Christopher Chant' as Chrestomanci, as a teenager, is a main character. However, the story is told in the first person by Conrad, who has been raised in a book shop in the alternative universe known as series 7. This is a world where magic works, and the town nestles below a mountain in the English Alps (there is no British Isles and the land forms part of continental Europe) where a big house called Stallery is situated. The rich aristocrats who live in this house are believed to be responsible for the occasional probability shift - known as pulling the probabilities - which affect the town and the wider world, resulting in changes to books in the shop or turning post boxes from red to blue, for example.

Conrad's father is dead, having committed suicide some years before and supposedly leaving half the bookshop to Conrad's uncle, Alfred, a magician. Conrad has to manipulate this uncle - by occasionally refusing to do the cooking for example - in order to obtain any of the ordinary things his friends are given, such as a bicycle or pocket money. For Conrad's mother is totally neglectful of him - she is a feminist writer (bit strange to see a critique like that in a book by a woman) who spends her time writing books and articles and doesn't want to be bothered by either of her children. Initially, older sister Anthea is there to take care of Conrad but she has been studying in secret and passes a scholarship - only announcing on the day of her departure that she is off to university. Her mother and uncle denounce this as selfishness and ingratitude, and her uncle creates a spell to keep her there if she comes back for the holidays - because he wants her to carry on working for free in the bookshop as well as doing the household chores - but she is too wise to that and Conrad does not see Anthea again until quite late in the story.

Conrad hopes to go to senior school with his friends and learn magic - there are hints that he has some gift for it - but his plans are wrecked when his mother signs the part of his school leaving form to say he is going off to a job (which children can do from the age of twelve in this universe). Aghast, Conrad learns he is to apply for a trainee servant's job at Stallery, although his uncle convinces him it is essential as Conrad has such a dark spell over him - his fate - that unless he kills someone at Stallery whom he should have killed in a past life, he will die horribly himself before the year is out. I must admit I wondered what the penalty for murder was in this world, but it transpired that the author had taken that into account as we discover late in the story.

As soon as Conrad arrives at Stallery he meets a tall, charming but arrogant young man known as Christopher whom any reader of other stories in the series will soon recognise as Christopher Chant who later becomes Chrestomanci, the nine lived enchanter. Both he and Conrad are there under false surnames - Conrad because his father's name is the same as the aristocrats living there - and Conrad is soon drawn into Christopher's quest to find his friend (and future wife) Millie who ran away from a terrible school in their own world when their guardian the present Chrestomanci refused to listen to either her or Christopher. It now seems that Millie has become trapped in one of the probability shifts affecting the house and which general opinion is are caused by the rich familiy manipulating possibilities to increase their wealth.

As in a lot of the author's fiction, a lot of the adults are unreliable or outright liars who betray and let down the child characters. I enjoyed the pseudo nineteenth century setting reminiscent of Upstairs Downstairs or early Downtown Abbey, with the life of the servants, and the way they have to behave before the family. The story for me, however, is a bit spoiled by the very convoluted resolution which is extremely rushed and not very clear. Certain people end up dragged off to face justice - but there are some inconsistencies, since certain servants were apparently at the house from an early age in which case why isn't the true identity of various characters known? An epilogue is then tacked on in which we learn about the eventual role of Conrad in his world as a representative for Chrestomanci. Quite a nice happy ending but a bit of an uneven jump from the end of the story proper. So I would rate this as a solid 3 star read. ( )

This DWJ story seemed less well executed in terms of retelling a Christopher Chant backstory (book 6), especially so long after I had read all the earlier books. The actual plot featuring Conrad had twists that I had trouble making sense of in terms of these previous stories. Since this book wasn't available until long after I had read her Chrestomanci and other novels in the 1970's and early 1980's, It was difficult to feel very connected to a 2005 publication.

However, there was lots of amusement ~ the usual chaotic household (and controlling adults), young people sent off on their own to manage somewhat undefined quests, a common DWJ (dare I say) trope?, plus surprising help from unexpected quarters. It's a good if convoluted backstory.

If you've ever read about Diana's upbringing (which comes out in several different tales, like Time of the Ghost and Eight Days of Luke, as well as her memoir (Reflections: On the Magic of Writing), it will be obvious why she creates characters in such dire family circumstances. ( )

A lightweight entry in the Chrestomanci cycle _targeted to the younger audience. Though set in an alternative universe in "the English Alps", the action is so local to one town that the implications of that really don't come into play. It doesn't seem relevant to explaining the somewhat odd mix of old European village with a few modern elements such as cars computers but no phones or television. Christopher Chant (last name not mentioned I think) is present through most of the story, but in his younger pre-Chrestomanci phase. The main character is yet another young boy who believes he has no magical gifts. There's an evil uncle and mysterious goings-on in a large manor / castle, with more playing around with the parallel universe aspect than usual.

Fun. ( )