Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones

[lightreads]

Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Early 90's DWJ about an earth child seeing some odd happenings in the wood near her house, which are somehow connected to a machine belonging to our unknown galactic overlords.

I was expecting something silly and probably too young for me. I got a startlingly ambitious tale of nonlinear time, fluid identities, and the overthrow of feudal power. Over-ambitious, maybe – this got a little muddled and crowded here and there.

But mostly I think this book was hobbled by being too precisely a transformative work. By which I mean I was like, "oh, we're mucking about with a bit of Arthuriana here and there, yes I see, that plays well as a lens for this reimagining of – oh. Hmm. I think that might actually be Arthur. You know, that's less interesting, it turns out." The notion of Arthur et al giving one a great deal more story room in their penumbras, as it were, whereas the actuality of Arthur locked things down and made me start thinking about how this whole feudalism metaphor collapses in on itself, and you know, DWJ you're making some very questionable choices in re the ladies, etc. etc.




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