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lightreads ([personal profile] lightreads) wrote2020-01-29 03:53 pm

A Sudden Wild Magic by Diana Wynne Jones

A Sudden Wild Magic

3/5. DWJ writes adult fiction, except it's sorta Chrestomanci with banging? Basically, a group of Earth witches set out to another dimension which is secretly parasitizing off our reality. Their plan is to infiltrate an all-male outpost and defeat the men with sex?

This is . . . weird? It is doing lots of things – it's about parasitic relationships of all sorts, and the stories you have to tell about another world or another person in order to feed off them. But it's also just – maybe it's unfair of me, but I have this quietly offended sniff sniff reaction to DWJ writing about adults generally making their problems worse with sex. I just feel that the way she writes about children is more complex and interesting than this, is the thing.

Also, separately, the way she introduces a few gay guys just to kill them off to eliminate any reference to gay sex is really something.
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[personal profile] lokifan 2020-02-02 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
Huhhhh okay lol this is making me realise there's a DWJ I haven't read! Shame it's this one, lol. I've seen references to this but I think I thought it was one of the Chrestomanci short stories or an alt title for the Wild Robert book or something?