

He wished she had chosen another career for him. He found Mama’s talk increasingly alarming. Christopher saw that he was going to be a missionary when he grew up. Missionaries were the best people, and they were the ones Heathens ate. She told him Heathens were savages who ate people. But the only Society he had heard of was the Aid the Heathen Society that he had to give a penny to every Sunday in church, and he thought Mama meant that.Ĭhristopher made careful inquiries from the nursery maid with big feet. He knew he was going to have to enter Society with the best people. He understood that Mama cared very urgently about his future. Speaking of Christopher’s anxieties, I have to share this bit that seems to me such a good example of Wynne Jones’s perspicacity: Christopher’s anxieties ring true, as does his fascination with cricket, or the way he wants to please his uncle-the one adult who takes an interest in him, or the way his conscience pricks him about not fulfilling his bargain with the goddess. Part of it is that reading her stories feels like I’m watching a play-so vivid are her characters, and the world she conjures that I’m plunged into her universe straightaway. So, I’m trying to figure out why I enjoy reading Diana Wynne Jones so much. The way to reach these worlds is through the appropriately named The Place Between, also known as The World Edge which is “like a leftover piece of world.” As gets revealed in this book, there are 12 series of worlds in the Chrestomanci series. Plus, the world building is much bigger in scope. Literally.

I agree with Jenny- The Lives of Christopher Chant is waaayyy more fun than Charmed Life. It has tons more plot, and the almost constant presence of a kick-ass goddess (who seems to be Indian from the sounds of it!) forms a nice counterweight to the boy magician.
