Book: Charmed Life (Book 1 of the Worlds of Chrestomanci)
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Release Date: 1977
Source: Borrowed audiobook from the library
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

As part of my 2020 “Storm the Castle” Reading Challenge, I needed to read three books that had been on my TBR list ten years or more. I read Solaris, and A Wrinkle in Time, and last for that part of the challenge, I chose Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones.

Charmed Life came out in 1977, and it is the first of the Worlds of Chrestomanci series (I think The Lives of Christopher Chant, which is probably the most popular of the series). I read Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle and its two sequels: Castle in the Air, and House of Many Ways ages and AGES ago. I had always planned on reading more of her books but never seemed to get around to it. So, I finally did it! (Admittedly, I “read” the book on audio, which is the only way I’ve been able to get any reading done lately, because it can often do it while I’m working).

So, Charmed Life follows the misadventures of young Cat Chant (real name Eric, but everyone calls him Cat), who is an orphan with his sister Gwendolen. Their parents died in a boating accident, during which Cat himself almost died but survived by clinging to Gwendolen who showed signs of being a witch at a young age and therefore could not drown. Cat spends all his time following behind his sister, who is older, talented, very bossy, and taking magic lessons from the local magician, Mr. Nostrum.

Gwendolen is very bossy, and strong, and often very mean to Cat (and others). At one point she turns Cat’s violin (he’s been taking music lessons) into an actual cat, who then runs away. And Mr. Nostrum is very happy to encourage these tendencies. I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that it becomes clear very quickly that Gwendolen is going to be one of the main antagonists (dare I say villains) of the story.

By a series of incidents orchestrated by Gwendolen and Mr. Nostrum, Cat and Gwendolen are eventually adopted by the mysterious Chrestomanci – a tall elegant man who is clearly feared by Mr. Nostrum and respected by many others, though it is very unclear to Cat (and to the readers) exactly WHY. At Chrestomanci’s Castle, Cat and Gwendolen meet Chrestomanci’s wife Millie and two children, Roger and Julia, who have magical abilities like Gwendolen. The castle has strange magical properties of its own as well. Gwendolen immediately takes a dislike to absolutely everyone, and starts a campaign of childish but magically-fueled terror on Roger, Julia, Chrestomanci, and the rest of the household. She tries again and again to force Chrestomanci to react to her and notice her, but Chrestomanci mostly ignores her, until she finally goes too far and her magic is taken away as punishment.

Things don’t go TRULY nuts, however, until Gwendolen manages to remove herself to another dimension, pulling a replacement version of herself called Janet from another another dimension to hide her disappearance. Suddenly, Cat has a series of disasters on his hands: an evil sister gone missing to who-knows-where, a replacement who doesn’t understand that magic exists and needs constant watching over as no one else has noticed she’s not Gwendolen, several threats of magical retribution on his head for various misdeeds actually perpetuated by Gwendolen, and Mr. Nostrum who has come calling with some dark secret plan he expects Cat to help him with.

How all of this insanity gets resolved, I will leave to you all to read and see for yourself.

I really enjoyed this book quite a lot. It has Diana Wynn Jones’ signature charm, wit, and dry humor. It is not funny on a level like, for instance, Terry Pratchett, but there were quite a few parts that made me chuckle out loud. Chrestomanci, in particular, I found very funny in that dry, sarcastic, “I’m pretending I’m oblivious and don’t know what’s going on” way that I always appreciate and enjoy. On top of that, I routinely hit parts on the book where I thought “I don’t see how it could get more insane than this!” And then it DID. Cat does some things that frustrated the hell out of me, in that “no! Why! Don’t! Go tell an adult!” way, but it all made sense for the character. And it fits that very traditional way in stories in which children never feel safe to actually just tell an adult that they’re in trouble and need help.

Somewhat ironically, when I started writing this review yesterday, just a few hours after finishing the book, I had planned to get it a 4 out of 5. I really enjoyed it, but I was thinking “was it so great as to deserve a 5?” But then this morning, when I was getting a new audiobook loaded to listen to while I worked, I found that I really just wanted to listen to more Charmed Life – which, of course, I couldn’t as I had already returned the book to the library and my library doesn’t have any of the rest of the Chrestomanci series available. So that indicated to me that I had actually enjoyed it even more than I, at first, realized. And it has been lingering in my thoughts all of last night and today. So, it does deserve a 5 out of 5 after all!

If you, like me, have been intending to read more (or any) books by Diana Wynne Jones and just never seem to get around to it, consider this your sign to get started now! I highly recommend this book! And I fully intend to read the rest of the series when I can get them (either on audiobook, or perhaps in print, from my used bookstore).