House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

[lightreads]

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Not much to say. I didn’t grow up on DWJ; I was too busy reading things incredibly inappropriate for my age, like Heinlein and Dune and Watership Down (people who say that book is for kids are liars, Liars!).



DWJ stuck to her roots to the end. This is an aggressively cute kid adventure in an alternate magical world, with an ever-expanding wizard’s house and a kingdom to be saved. It all ties off at the end with an improbably neat bow. Very much the old breed of young adult, a little bit cartoonish, a little bit silly, but kind and safe right through. You know what I mean.





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Comments

[ecaterin]

Hey, I grew up reading Heinlein and Dune and Watership Down....you're saying that wasn't normal? :D

I do love the kind of book you're describing though - I mean, it's a bit older but I re-read The Dark is Rising at least once a year :P The thing is, I mostly didn't read those books as a kid. I came back to them later as an adult. I found them far to simple (and short) to be interested in them for the most part. So I skipped Chronicles of Narnia because I was sucked into James Harriot's world of 1930s veterinary medicine :P I didn't get around to reading Chronicles and all the other classic fantasy YA books till I was in my 20s. I wasn't snobby about it (I was frankly oblivious to where I stood intelligence-wise), I just wanted a book long enough that I couldn't finish it in 2 hours! It's been really magical to discover all of those books as an adult, cause I can appreciate not only the story but the craftsmanship :)

Watership Down = BUNNIES ON THE COVER. BUNNIES. CUTE ADORABLE BUNNIES. And then the story is so fabulous that you're sucked right in, even if you're only mumble mumble years old. WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO? I WAS READING AT COLLEGE LEVEL BY THE TIME I WAS 9. OTHER BOOKS WERE BORING AND TOO SHORT, OKAY?

If Watership Down sucked me in with bunnies, Mary Renault's The Persian Boy = statue of Alexander the Great on the cover! Historical fiction - I love historical fiction (says the child who's been reading Irving Stone books like ice cream sundaes)! I do remember the sense of shock when our faithful narrator's father is killed in front of him, his mother throws herself to her death off a high tower right at his feet, and his sisters are hauled off and raped because they *couldn't* get to the high tower fast enough.....and then he's castrated so he can be sold into sexual slavery. All in the first couple of chapter. Left me kind of stunned, but that book is so fucking amazing, I never even considered putting it down.

I have continued the same tradition with my kids, I've gotta say. They've grown up since infancy hearing me read aloud from Ender's Game, The Lord of the Rings, most everything ever written by Ursula K. LeGuin and all the other books I love. I've become really slick at editing on the fly, I've gotta say! It's one thing to know Ender killed another kid in self defense (children understand death, cruelty or graphic violence is another thing all together) - it's another thing to hear it described in detail before you're able to read :P But why should those couple of scenes stand between a kid and a great story? I couldn't deprive them of Ender!

Okay, clearly I'm to sleepy to know when to stop typing, so I'm for bed :D I'll have to give this book a read - I'm overdue for some simple & charming.