petronia

I'll write about the Annie concert once Ced has his photos up on Flickr. XD

Castle in the Air: I had an Urahara x Yoruichi joke but it's gone. This is one of DWJ's more lighthearted romps like The Magicians of Caprona, I guess, not really so much with the subtext or journey of self-discovery (although there is a lot of travelling). The revelations at the end were almost too over-the-top, but I'd been expecting something like that anyway. XD I wouldn't say the surprise factor was the only point of interest. I quite liked the main character, I think DWJ worked hard to make him neither a wet rag nor a chauvinist - even by implication.

One thing about DWJ is that when she's being original, she feels completely original (the whole Chrestomanci-multiverse setup is v. original for children's lit fantasy, at least when she began writing it), but just as often I get the impression she's "doing a take" on some other, earlier writer or book. It never gets to the point of parody or pastiche, but there's a sense of hommage being paid. I'm not very good at pinpointing exactly what, though. XD There's Kipling and Blyton, at least if you go by what her characters like to read, I theorized LeGuin... When I was younger I read tons of old-skool British children's lit and never so much as bothered to keep track of the authors' names, is the thing. Also sometimes I think it's not so much novels as specific translations/editions of things like The Arabian Nights, in CitA's case anyhow.

Note Christopher Chant was v. fond of The Arabian Nights. XD

Mixed Magics: Carol Oneir, ONEIR AHAHA GEDDIT did she write this or Lives of Christopher Chant first? This story is basically an allegory (if allegory is the right word when so many are liable to employ the relevant imagery literally), and I think we've all either been there or know people who were/are there, if not w/r/t origfic then in fanfiction-land. XD A propos of nothing, I wish I were swimming in the pool of a villa in the South of France right now.

I also enjoyed the story that was the further adventures of Cat and Tonino (now in tandem, and I think my sister and I were bother wondering what had happened to Gabriel De Witt. It's a bit depressing/morbid if you think about it - if you keep your lives intact they will all run out at approximately the same time, so instead of dying once you die many times over in short order XD;;). The first story was a bit negligeable, the last was a bit... weird. Thought-provoking, and wait didn't I read a Weis & Hickman trilogy at some point that had this plot? Unless it was a Borges short story. Er.

Now I only have Conrad's Fate left, though I should get on