Contains: Charmed Life, Witch Week, The Magicians of Caprona and The Lives of Christopher Chant ( )

This collection of 4 novellas is an entertaining read for the children's genre. DWJ stories make superior read-aloud adventures in alternate worlds. Older children will especially like the imaginative magical worlds. As an adult reading aloud, I found it easy to clarify points for our younger kids. I dropped a star because some of the narrative was a bit obscure as to what was happening.

My personal favourite is Charmed Life which is a delightful prequel to The Pinhoe Egg. Other sequels are built around characters in this set of core stories. It's a light-hearted set of books for adults to revisit if they're dyed-in-the-wool DWJ fans. ( )

This is an omnibus of the first four books featuring Chrestomanci in varying degrees.


Charmed Life: This was a favorite when I was a kid and it was still fun. A lonely boy nicknamed Cat, an awful sister, lots of magic, a castle, alternate worlds and a cat that used to be a fiddle... What's not to love?

Witch Week: This was darker than I expected. Magic at boarding school sounds like fun unless it's full of orphans because [b:it's a magical world|24814|It's A Magical World (A Calvin and Hobbes Collection)|Bill Watterson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1219602232s/24814.jpg|25601] where witches are still burned.


The Magicians of Caprona: This one's the opposite - full of magic and love and cats and silliness in an Italian city.


The Lives of Christopher Chant: The Lives of Christopher Chant: This is the childhood that Chrestomanci refers to in Charmed Life. One of the most fun backstories that I've ever read. More magic, awful relatives, boarding schools, cats, and alternate worlds.

Is it me or is Good Reads html display a bit wonky? ( )

Imaginative but not compelling. Perfectly suitable for the Junior reader it is intended for, but nothing out of the ordinary for the genre.
I picked it up again 18 months later and forgot I had finished the final novel so I read it again. Did not remember the details from any of the other three until I looked at them again.

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Wynne_Jones_bibliography#Chrestomanci_series

The Chrestomanci fantasy series comprises six novels and four short stories.[6]
Publication order The books in order of release:
Charmed Life (1977) – Guardian Children's Fiction Prize; Carnegie Medal commendation; Preis der Leseratten (ZDF Schülerexpress, Germany)
The Magicians of Caprona (1980)
Witch Week (1982)
The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988) – Carnegie Medal commendation
Mixed Magics (2000), short stories published 1982 to 2000
Conrad's Fate (2005)
The Pinhoe Egg (2006) – Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Children's finalist;[3] Locus Award Young Adult Book, 6th place
If the short stories in Mixed Magics are counted separately, the order of release is:
Charmed Life (1977)
The Magicians of Caprona (1980)
Witch Week (1982)
"The Sage of Theare", in Hecate's Cauldron (1982) ed. Susan M. Schwartz
"Warlock at the Wheel", in Warlock at the Wheel (1984) by Jones
"Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream", in Dragons and Dreams (1986) ed. Jane Yolen et al.
The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988)
"Stealer of Souls", in Mixed Magics (2000) by Jones
Conrad's Fate (2005)
The Pinhoe Egg (2006)
Reading order Diana Wynne Jones herself, however, recommended reading the books in this order:[7]
Charmed Life (1977)
The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988)
Conrad's Fate (2005)
Witch Week (1982)
The Magicians of Caprona (1980)
The short stories in Mixed Magics can be read in any order after that. The Pinhoe Egg can probably be read after The Magicians of Caprona.
Chronological order
Two works feature Christopher Chant as a boy and teen; the others are set during his tenure as Chrestomanci. The narrative sequence is clear for all but two(‡).
The Lives of Christopher Chant
Conrad's Fate
Charmed Life
"Warlock at the Wheel"
"The Sage of Theare"‡
Witch Week‡
The Magicians of Caprona
"Stealer of Souls"
"Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream"
The Pinhoe Egg
‡ Three of the short stories follow soon after the novels as listed here. On the other hand, "The Sage of Theare" does not have a fictional date or any landmark that relates it closely to another work in the series. (There is some evidence that it predates Witch Week whose own place is uncertain. Both works were published in 1982. In the novel Chrestomanci observes that he likes to dress nicely and reveals that he has been called away in his dressing gown a couple of times in spite of his care. That may be an allusion to the short story, where he is summoned in pyjamas.)
‡ Witch Week is set sometime after Charmed Life, in which Chrestomanci acquires his legal ward Janet Chant. ( )

Got to be read by any serious fantasy fan. ( )