Mixed Magics: Four Tales of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones - Fantasy - SFBookcase.com - Reference of Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels/Authors.

Mixed Magics: Four Tales of Chrestomanci (Chrestomanci)

Series: Chrestomanci
Volume: 5
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 0060297050
Pages: 144 pages
Publisher: Greenwillow
Price: 1595
Reader Rating: 5 out of 10
Votes: 3

Mixed Magics: Four Tales of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones

Description: Chrestomanci the nine-lived mage is one of the most interesting and amusing magicians in fantasy, and his slightly off-kilter parallel world is revisited in these four stories. Three were previously published, but the enchanting 'Stealer of Souls' is new.

'Warlock at the Wheel' is the weakest of the stories, in which an unfortunate young warlock loses his magic to Chrestomanci, and tries to steal cars. Things don't turn out quite as he expects.

'Stealer of Souls' brings back several favorites from the four novels. Cat Chant becomes jealous when the talented Tonino Montana is brought to the castle by Chresomanci, but neither boy has time to deal with their problems. A strange magician called Spiderman kidnaps both boys as a part of his attempt to make himself a ten-lived magician - one more powerful than even Chrestomanci.

'Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream' features a little girl who controls her vivid and dramatic dreams, which are then bottled for others to use. Until the day Carol stops dreaming. She is taken to the magician Chrestomanci, who helps her discover that her dreams are being hit with a very unusual actors' strike...

In 'The Sage of Theare,' the future Sage of Dissolution is sent to Chrestomanci's orderly world, by the gods who are hoping to avoid having him destroy them. Chrestomanci takes the befuddled young Sage under his wing, and shows how asking questions is a very good thing.