The Pinhoe Egg

Chrestomanci (Recommended Reading Order) #6

by Diana Wynne Jones

Cat Chant and Marianne Pinhoe have discovered something exciting—something truly precious, very strange, and valuable. An egg. An egg that has been hidden away in an attic for who-knows-how-many years. An egg protected by some strong “Don't Notice” spells. An egg that Marianne gives to Cat, even though he lives at nearby Chrestomanci Castle. Chrestomanci himself, the strongest enchanter in the world, is sure to be interested in the egg—and interference from the Big Man is the last thing Marianne's family of secret rogue witches wants. But how much longer can the Pinhoes keep their secrets? Gammer, the leader of the clan, has gone mad, a powerful bad luck spell is wreaking havoc, and there's an unexplained plague of frogs. Not to mention the mysterious barrier Cat finds in the forest. Marianne and Cat may be the only two who can set things right. But first Marianne must accept her own powerful magic, and Cat must uncover the secrets behind the mystical Pinhoe Egg. In this new Chrestomanci book, Diana Wynne Jones is at her most magical.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Magic, Young Adult Fantasy

528 pages, Library Binding

First published October 3, 2006

About the author

Diana Wynne Jones was a celebrated British writer best known for her inventive and influential works of fantasy for children and young adults. Her stories often combined magical worlds with science fiction elements, parallel universes, and a sharp sense of humor. Among her most beloved books are Howl's Moving Castle, the Chrestomanci series, The Dalemark Quartet, Dark Lord of Derkholm, and the satirical The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Her work gained renewed attention and readership with the popularity of the Harry Potter series, to which her books have frequently been compared.

Admired by authors such as Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, and J.K. Rowling, Jones was a major influence on the landscape of modern fantasy. She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, two Mythopoeic Awards, the Karl Edward Wagner Award, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. In 2004, Howl's Moving Castle was adapted into an acclaimed animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, further expanding her global audience.

Jones studied at Oxford, where she attended lectures by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. She began writing professionally in the 1960s and remained active until her death in 2011. Her final novel, The Islands of Chaldea, was completed posthumously by her sister Ursula Jones.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diana Wynne Jones does so much with The Pinhoe Egg and makes it look so simple and easy. I think that must be her special gift as a writer: exploring dark themes and complex messages within the pages of children's fantasy novels that remain bright and fun despite the darkness and disorder lurking beneath the sparkling adventures. This, the final book in the series, is about two children from very different cultures living side-by-side who somehow manage to be change agents despite everything including their own personalities working against them. It is rife with terrible things like mind control and past atrocities being buried and difference being imprisoned rather than celebrated and torture being chosen as an alternative to murder and religious fanaticism and uncaring adults willing to harm children and towns that revel in their toxic tunnel vision. And it is also a whole lot of light, pleasant fun that is exciting and ends on a a wonderfully positive note.

⇨ some vague spoilers approach

All of the Chrestomanci books have been concerned, one way or another, with the evil that parents and parental figures and family members can do to their young protagonists and to children in general - often for the most banal of reasons. This book takes that theme to next level and widens its scope with whole villages willing to isolate, harm, and raise their children in ignorance in order to achieve their highly questionable ends. It was a bit breathtaking to realize how deep the evil ran. Jones did a particularly canny thing by setting the first 3 chapters, 50 pages worth, within one of these villages. The reader gets to see the rather charming misadventures of a whole clan of madcap eccentric types trying to move their ailing, senile matriarch into a new home while she tries to use the might of her magic to stop them. It was all so funny and human. By the end of the novel, with all of their misdeeds revealed, I was thankful that these terrible people had been given their moments of humanity despite the revelation of their close-minded villainy.

⇨ you can now lay to rest your fear of being spoiled

Perhaps to counter all of the darkness under the surface of this cheery adventure, Jones really ratchets up the cuteness factor. I'm used to at least one grouchy, adorable cat per novel. Pinhoe Egg has a cat of that sort, and another cat more maternal in nature, a luckless donkey, a wonderfully quirky horse, a unicorn, and most loveable of all, a baby griffin. I just want to say that again: a baby griffin! The scenes featuring the griffin and the horse together were the best sort of cuteness overload.

The Chrestomanci books are about how adults can harm children, but that's only half of the lesson - and not even the most important half. They are just as concerned with children being given the opportunity to follow their own hearts when deciding how they want to eventually live their lives; children learning to trust themselves and finding an inner bravery despite what fate has handed them. Valuable lessons! The series is a marvelous achievement.

[deborah o'carroll (offline during 2026) · Rating 5 out of 5]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH I LOVE THIS BOOK SO SO MUCH!!! It may be my absolute favorite Chrestomanci book ever. <3 And one of my top DWJ books, period.

Just so much is going on in this thing! Not to mention all the fabulous characters, including several familiar ones.

It’s closer to an actual sequel-type-book than Diana Wynne Jones usually wrote. A lot of her sequels follow entirely different characters, just in the same world, with cameos. This was more of a proper sequel to Charmed Life and some of the other Chrestomanci books, and it was such a delight to be back at Chrestomanci Castle with Cat, and Chrestomanci, and Millie, Janet, Roger and Julia, etc. New characters Marianne Pinhoe and her brother Joe were great fun. I also really liked Irene! And a certain character who’s a spoiler ‘til near the end… but he was great too! :)

It’s HILARIOUS, too. Julia and Janet going into a horse-craze, Roger and Joe and their inventing, etc. (WE BELONG TO CHRESTOMANCI CASTLE!)

And I so so enjoyed reading about Chrestomanci and his misadventure or two and how he fixes things when he knows about it; Marianne and the Pinhoe shenanigans; Cat and his problems with having to raise a baby griffin, keep a horse happy, help Marianne without Chrestomanci (doesn’t go so well), and learn more about his magical abilities, because he is, after all, going to be the next Chrestomanci someday.

These CHARACTERS, though!

Cat is just a fabulous hero. I really like him a lot, for some reason.

Marianne is a lot like Cat, though his opposite in some ways. They’re fun together.

Millie is the best mum/wife ever. She’s so calming and great! Gah.

Time would fail me to talk of sullen Joe Pinhoe, Roger and Julia, Cat’s sort-of-sister Janet, the lovely Irene (formerly Pinhoe; yes, there are a lot of Pinhoes in this), and all the rest. But it’s such an awesome cast!

Plus Klartch the griffin. There’s also a unicorn. Yesss to the fantasy goodness.

Last, but far from least, Chrestomanci himself is the absolute BEST!

I felt like we got to see an unusual amount of Chrestomanci in this one, which was fantastic! His dry and witty dialog, his sarcastic look that makes you want to melt into the ground, his elaborate dressing-gowns (one for every day of the year, according to an interview with the author!), his elegant suits, his vague looks that mean he’s paying extreme attention, his calm ability to step in and fix a magical disaster efficiently and with some great sarcastic remarks — as soon as he knows the disaster is there, of course (since the main characters often don’t tell him until it’s almost too late).

But he’ll also make sure that the right people help fix it, so that they learn from their mistakes, etc., and also that the right people get their comeuppance. It was also fabulous/hilarious to see him more in a parental-type-role, dealing with the antics of his son and daughter, Roger and Julia, as well as with young Cat and Janet.

AND HIS DIALOG. I CANNOT GET OVER HIS DIALOG. He’s sooo funny and dry and sarcastic and just… I cannot. (It was absolutely so much fun reading this book aloud, if only for his lines.)

Chrestomanci (a.k.a. Christopher Chant, since Chrestomanci is merely the title of the nine-lifed enchanter) is simply one of the absolute best characters ever; and if ever I was in a magical difficulty, I’d definitely want his help!

I love this series, and although I would read dozens more if there were any, this book was the perfect ending for it. Classic DWJ, and Chrestomanci is one of my top-favorite characters ever. <3

(Review originally posted on The Page Dreamer: https://thepagedreamer.wordpress.com/...)

[Spencer Orey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another delight. I was hooked early, by a scene about a witch grandma who didn't want her family moving her out of her house. She poltergeists the live-in nurses! She melds herself into the bed! When the whole family tries to levitate her bed-self out, she resists and then flings herself into town, a bed on the run.

What a great series. I wish there were more.

[carol. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saddened by the passing of Diana Wynne Jones, I thought it appropriate to commemorate her by dipping into her vast bibliography of books. She can be a charming writer, with interesting characters, gentle humor, pointed social commentary, and creative plotting and world-building. An unplanned stop at an unfamiliar library turned up The Pinhoe Egg, described as "Book 6 in the Chrestomanci Chronicles." As I had read two or three of the Crestomanci books in the past, I thought I could get by in the world--in my experience, her books are more like loosely related stories in the same world with some of the same characters, and not an epic novel in installments like Harry Potter. It turned out to be a bit of a wander through the woods but had some nice stops along the way.

Super-fast non-spoiler summary: teenage girl, Marianne, with a large, intrusive and witchy extended family. Although she is supposed to be heir to the family position of power, she has little say in what she does, and is delegated to deal with a failing grandma. Meanwhile, teenage boy enchanter, Cat, discovers his own growing powers as he meets a horse. On their explorations he encounters the complicated witchy dynamics of the surrounding town.

The good stuff: DWJ has an interesting world idea, the concept of multiple variations of a basic format (ex. World A having 1-9 similar realities). Love the idea, although she doesn't play with it at all here. There is a lot of magic thrown about, and I enjoy her applications of magic in creatures and activity, and the fact that there are limitations to it and it can't solve everything. I thought Marianne and Cat were characterized well--when she takes the time, DWJ's characters shine. Touches of humor were sprinkled throughout, from a contrary magical cat (aren't they all?) to Crestomanci's variety of dressing gowns, to magical shenanigans. The little girl in me squealed at the appearance of the griffin; I would have been right there with Cat, taking an egg home to hatch. Griffins and the magical creatures made the story worthwhile.

Unfortunately, "Pinhoe" could have used more development. It generally suffers from an assumption that the reader is familiar with the world. The Crestomanci world is never really very well explained in any book but the first, and even then the level of explanation is questionable. While a telephone makes a singular appearance, people are forever being sent on errands to deliver messages, and a crucial plot point involves mistakenly knocking on one person's window in an attempt to reach the brother's. As cars also exist, it seems to be about an early 1900s sort of time/tech level, but it bugs my Virgo soul that no one calls each other if the tech is available.

Unfortunately, uneven pacing almost hamstrung it from the start, where the first seventy-five pages deal with moving Grandma ("Gammer") out of her giant house and into the hands of someone who can care for her. Now, as an adult, I can appreciate the drawn-out problem of dealing with an aging but incompetent relative, but as this is a young adult book, it would likely be a section that lacked relevance to younger people and contained too much detail. Had I been a teenager and in Marianne's place, I would have wandered away from the adults tout de suite and found my own thing to do, but instead there is far too much story focus on "Uncle Edgar did this," and "Aunt Dinah did that" that detracts from Marianne's story and own conflict development.

There were also rather disturbing actions by the adults, who not only behaved in typically ignorant adult ways (ruining holidays, ignoring talented children, discounting their ideas, etc), but flagrantly homicidal ones like deliberate leg-breaking, imprisonment and attempting to unleash smallpox on a rival family. Including those crimes into the repertoire of childish pranks was an odd decision on the author's part that seemed to either inflate the seriousness of their earlier crimes, or minimize the seriousness of ones the teens didn't know about. It takes the story to a rather disturbing level that doesn't fit well into the whimsy of the rest of the book.

Heavy-handed application of A Message at the end hurt an otherwise nicely dovetailed wrap-up.

Like Neil Gaiman, I do love me some DWJ, but this isn't one of the books I'd recommend. Try The Dark Lord of Derkholm for a better story, even stronger characterization and even more griffins. or The Year of the Griffin for a lovely little "magical college" storyline that's told with humor, wild creativity and left me wishing DWJ could write at least six more.

Three stars for beginning, three for the ending, four for a fun, fast-paced middle, leading me to three and a half stars.

[nastya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely my least favorite of the series, this book is a bloated mess. Things happen, that's how I would describe the plot. It's also the last one she wrote in the series, and the previous 5 were under or around 300 pages. I really believe this is the ideal length for these whimsical stories. This monster is almost 500 of, I suspect, unedited pages. Also didn't we already get the similar themes of fighting families in Magicians of Caprona, but less nasty?
Also, this is the second Cat's book and he is remarkably completely devoid of personality, even for a kid's book.

[Agatha Donkar Lund · Rating 4 out of 5]

So it works like this: I think the Chrestomanci books that are about Chrestomanci (Charmed Life, The Nine Lives of Christopher Chant) are better books, but I think that the books that just feature Chrestomanci are often more interesting (Witch Week, Magicians of Caprona). And I didn't care for Conrad's Fate at all, which is odd considering that it's the only one I own in hardback.

BUT ANYWAY. My point being: this Chrestomanci book is the best of all of them, because it's about Cat Chant and Janet and Roger and Julia and Millie and Chrestomanci, but it's also about people who have nothing to do with Chrestomanci at all getting into trouble. It's like smooshing Charmed Life and The Magicians of Caprona together, and it was an utterly delightful perfect read. Nothing will ever surpass Dogsbody as my favorite DWJ, but this one is a very, very close second.

Absolutely worth the 25 cents I paid for a hold on it at the library. I would have paid the full buck if I'd had to.

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was kind of darker than any other DWJ I've read, which was interesting. Although there are hints of a more adult world lurking in her books for older readers such as Fire and Hemlock and Hexwood, this book comes closer to describing overt violence than any of her others (that I've read). Unlike in her other books, where the villains are rather tame and any actual brutality takes place off-screen, the real villain in this book is human nature and the consequences of its existence play out before the reader's eyes. A man is crippled and imprisoned for life behind a magical barrier because it is "kinder" than killing him. The children of an entire village are infected with whooping cough and at least one child almost dies. War is declared and blood is spilled, though no one dies.

I wonder if DWJ meant to do this. This book is just an add-on to the Chrestomanci series, which are very much childrens books, told from a child's perspective. They are less about magic than about the way adults and children constantly misunderstand each other. There is that in this too, but there is also more.

And I loved it, but mostly for the reasons I love all DWJ books, which are irrational and largely inexplicable. It suffers from the fantasy sequal blow-out syndrome, but DWJ can get away with it where other authors can't. The plot wrap-up at the end is slightly too neat, but seriously, who gives.

[Zen Cho · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pinhoe Egg, or, DWJ Learns to Write Endings.

I don't mean that in a snarky way; I speak with genuine delight. Cat was totally adorable in this book, and I loved getting to hang with Chrestomanci again.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This apparently is the last of the Chrestomanci series of which I have read a few of the earlier ones so I wasn't as lost as perhaps I might have been afterwards, at least knowing about Chrestomanci, the castle, Cat who is the nine-lived enchanter understudy to be the next Chrestomanci, Millie, Chrestomanci's wife and an enchanter in her own right, and their children Roger and Julia, plus Janet the girl from our world who ended up stranded in Chrestomanci's world after Cat's nasty sister Gwendolen caused havoc in 'Charmed Life'. However there was still a 'cast of thousands' as the beginning plonks us into the life of the villages around the castle where a few familes, the Pinhoes being one of the chief ones, have been hiding their magical abilities from the castle for centuries to avoid 'interference' from Chrestomanci and his predecessors. For the families are all witchy people who routinely misuse magic - although it is not till towards the end when it is revealed precisely how bad that misuse has been.

This is a story about adults behaving badly and victimising children in various ways. Brother Joe, who has his own ideas about magic, and sister Marianne are both pushed about by their family - it being the school holidays, they have already lined up a job for Joe at the castle as a boot boy but really because they want him to spy on the 'Big Man'. And Marianne ends up lumbered running general errands and helping out with her grandmother, Gammer Pinhoe the matriarch of the clan, who starts acting very peculiarly at the start of the story thanks to a spell from the rival Farleigh family. Gammer's manipulative behaviour is the driving force behind the magical feud which breaks out between the families and ends up being the catalyst to reveal just what they have been up to for centuries.

Along the way is the discovery of the egg which hatches into a griffin setting off the breaking of the century long secrecy and fulfilment of a prophecy, plus the arrival of a spookily intelligent horse Syracuse who soon becomes Cat's mount despite his procurement being at the insistence of Julia and Janet.

The book is rather long and a bit uneven. Partly a romp, partly a rather dark tale of imprisonment and torture, partly a rather drawn out account of the attempt to pacify Gammer, then of Marianne's realisation that no one will believe her about Gammer. It starts off with with three chapters dealing with the havoc Gammer causes and how she is gradually settled into ther new accommodation during which it seemed dozens of uncles and aunts plus two grand uncles are introduced. It was very difficult to keep these people differentiated and they had only sketchy characterisation at best. On top of this, there are the several children, various animals - and I wasn't a fan of the wandering cat - and the extended Chrestomanci circle which includes another sorceror, Jason and his new wife Irene. Plus other relations of Marianne and Joe - cousins etc including one who is working at the castle as an ostler but really is there to spy on Chrestomanci and family. And the various Farleigh characters too.

The cast is huge and at the end most of them sit down for an extended infodump at the pub where all is revealed about the various badness that has gone on and the reasons for it, which involved some rather odd history (baddies invaded centuries ago and the families' mistaken "mission" arose as a direct result, as these baddies were anti-magic/anti-nature. I assumed the Christian church was referenced until it was said that the Romans had conquered the baddies - if instead it was meant to be the Celts it doesn't make sense as they worshipped various nature deities. So I was thrown by that.) Anyway, I liked the fact that things ended on a happier note, but given the various issues would rate this at 3 stars.

[J.Aleksandr Wootton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because Jones opened this story with tensions between two local extended families - neighbors, and none too fond, of Chrestomanci Castle - I thought at first it was going to be another riff on cliches a la The Magicians of Caprona, but the narrative sidesteps that trap soon enough, and branches into something more interesting and original. This story deepens the Chrestomanci setting quite a bit, and like the other installments, doesn't shy away from exploring difficult themes. I really love how ordinary Jones' villains are in this book, and throughout the series: it's rare for genre fiction to showcase the true banality of evil, and harder to do it well in any narrative, including nonfiction.

As with a couple of the previous installments, The Pinhoe Egg really could have benefited by including a couple more chapters, enabling Jones to avoid the Summation Gathering-style wrap-up. But it's ok: the story still works, and the explanation manages to charm, even if the resolution feels a bit hasty (both within the narrative and without).

In all, a great series of novellas. I'm looking forward to reading the accompanying short story collection, Mixed Magics.

[Belmanoir · Rating 5 out of 5]

The newest Chrestomanci novel. This is now one of my favorite Diana Wynne Jones books. I love her so, so madly, she is just so creative and clever. Which makes me sound like a prig, but seriously, her books are always totally original. I always either ADORE her books, or find them just a little oddly flat---and this one was just brilliant. I loved all the children, especially Marianne, and her family was convincingly family-like yet also sort of sinister...like, she really captured the betrayal that children can get from adults who don't understand them or take them seriously, or who seem to be nice family members and then turn out to be massively fucked up.

Also, Chrestomanci is so damn hot. In this book, he wears at various times:

A dressing gown made of peacock feathers;
dark crimson velvet evening dress WITH A FRILLY APRON;
various other amazing amazing dressing gowns.

DWJ's femmy heroes are the best. If you haven't read any of the Chrestomanci books, though, don't start with this one---start with the Nine Lives of Christopher Chant or Charmed Life, they are both brilliant.

[Christina Baehr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was simply glorious. A wonderful climax for the Chrestomanci novels, with all of DJW’s big hearted, joyous, head-spinning eucatastrophic genius. Loved the way themes of family and community played out in this one, and the magic system.

[X]

DNF @ 12%. So far, an accurate reflection of the way that as a kid you’re kind of doing 100% family time 100% of the time, but I’m not in the mood for that, especially when by definition they’re just some fictional character’s annoying relatives, not even my own real ones.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marianne and Cat were my favorites. And I really enjoyed having so many creatures in the story. It reminded me of Dark Lord of Derkholm (I'll re read it soon).
And now that I'm done with the series (a shame because i would love to know more about Marianne, Cat and the rest) I can say that my top 3 are:
Conrad's Fate
The Pinnhoe Egg
The Lives of Christopher Chant

[Night Owling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.

A very clear explanation of how cults operate, without a moment of preachyness.

Diana Wynne Jones is one of the few authors that understand the complications and limitations of families and familial love.

I can imagine there are a lot of children out there who would be comforted with a book that doesn't say "but above all you put your family..."

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last of the Chrestomanci books written by Diana Wynne Jones, The Pinhoe Egg was also the longest and, arguably, the most complicated in terms of plot. Unlike some of the novels preceding it Chrestomanci doesn’t just have a walk-on part at the end but takes on the most integrated role in proceedings since Charmed Life, the very first Chrestomanci story of all. The story actually centres on young Eric ‘Cat’ Chant, who lives at Chrestomanci Castle near Helm St Mary, and his contemporary Marianne Pinhoe, who lives about ten miles away in Ulverscote. Marianne’s grandmother appears to lose her mind in a blast of magic — did I mention this is a fantasy? — and poor Marianne’s long-anticipated summer holidays start to disappear over the horizon as her extended family gets drawn into a feud with a neighbouring village. Not only this but her family also fear the attention of Chrestomanci, the ‘Big Man’ at the Castle, whose job is to monitor any misuse of magic. And it turns out a whole lot of misuse of magic is going on.

As well as the last of the Chrestomanci books this was the first of the series where I felt you could draw a detailed map of the localities and how they related to each other; which, in fact, is just what I did. This gave the characters a landscape in which to work and interact, and helped to make the story more grounded, as it were, than some of the others in the series. This was, for me, also one of the richest and most satisfactory of the stories, as well as one of the longest, and helped to further enrich the sequence as a whole. True, some readers have been overwhelmed by what seems a cast of thousands — at a conservative estimate six ‘family’ members at the Castle , their staff of over two dozen, at least forty named villagers (a thousand appear in the final battle) and a handful of assorted non-humans. But rather than being a turn-off surely such complexity, requiring close attention to and engagement with the text, is something to celebrate rather than criticise? There is certainly no let-up in the expected drive of her story-telling.

The joint fulcrums on which the story turns are personified in both Marianne and Cat, the latter a nine-lifed enchanter who is likely to become the next Chrestomanci. The general assumption that children should be seen and not heard is not one that Diana Wynne Jones subscribed to, and so both youngsters have to struggle against not being believed by adults by becoming more brave and assertive. Being gifted magically they recognise each other’s innate abilities, and by working in tandem have the opportunity to avert the dangerous situation that all and sundry find themselves in. Things are particularly hard because there seem to be outside forces operating that prevent the truth from being investigated, let alone revealed. Is that truth being hidden by 'dwimmery', a state brought about by an Old English word implying an illusion brought about by sleight or magic?

The Pinhoe Egg is a novel that reveals more the more you enquire. The author explains in a note that she could only get started on the book by imaginatively exploring the countryside around Chrestomanci Castle and the villagers who lived there. Many of the names of villages and families are genuine, and Jones clearly delved around in her memories and her extensive learning to retrieve them. The Pinhoes for example live in a village called Ulverscote. There is in fact a real village called Pinhoe on the outskirts of Exeter, where a great battle was fought by Danish Vikings and King Ethelred’s army in the 11th century; the settlement, in hilly country, has a name probably derived from Celtic pen and Old English hoe, meaning ‘top of the hill’. As it happens, the village inhabited by Jones’ Pinhoes is called Ulverscote, close by Ulverscote Wood and situated on an eminence. The ‘cote’ element could denote ‘cottage’ or Welsh coed (‘wood’), while the first element seems to imply a personal name like Ulf, an old Scandinavian name meaning ‘Wolf’. Is it beyond the bounds of reason to suggest that ‘Ulverscote’ was concocted partly from a memory of the real Wolvercote, on the outskirts of Oxford? After all, Jones went to Oxford University, where she attended lectures by Tolkien, and the man himself was buried in Wolvercote cemetery. Yes, Wolvercote was before the 12th century originally the cottage of a certain Woolgar, not Ulf, but I am also mindful that in Charmed Life Cat’s home town is noted as … Wolvercote. In a lively and creative mind like Diana’s all these associations could easily have been tangled together, partly consciously, partly subconsciously; as a reader it is not necessary to know that these associations are possible but it certainly adds to one’s appreciation if historic events, etymologies and personal experiences are woven together in an artful and satisfying way.

With exactly 400 pages in the paperback edition it’s neither possible nor desirable to give a detailed plot description, so instead I’ll draw attention to a few other aspects that struck me in this reread. Fot example, Jones slyly alludes to the fairytale trope of seven sons, but despite Marianne’s father being one of these boys she herself is no seventh son of a seventh son; instead, she is the only girl amongst thirteen cousins — a fact which helps cement her unique magical status. Another theme that Jones harps on about is bigotry. Though there is a church and a Reverend Pinhoe in evidence, we are never anywhere told the precise religion of this fantasy world; however that doesn’t stop the rival Farleigh family, equally witches and magic-users, from inveighing against “ungodly abominations”, an all too familiar rant in our own world. There’s a confusing backstory of an orthodox religion but this seems to predate ‘the Romans'; whether these are ‘our’ Romans or a closet reference to Roman Catholics is unclear, and may be the sort of typical obfuscation that Jones tends to throw into her novels from time to time.

The final aspect I want to explore is the place The Pinhoe Egg has in the series’ chronology. Luckily Jones gives us some clues. It’s been almost a year since the moment in Charmed Life when Cat accepted he was a nine-lifed enchanter. So we have a fairly tight timeline between the 1977 title and this last in the series published nearly three decades later, all linked by the character of Cat (and Chrestomanci, of course). Since I’ve reviewed all these at some time or another I won’t give full details, but the sequence is Charmed Life (when we first meet Cat) followed by the short story ‘The Sage of Theare’ (where Cat puts in a brief appearance). The young Italian Tonino (who appears in The Magicians of Caprona) meets up with Cat in another short story ‘Stealer of Souls’, and both feature again in ‘Caroline Oneir’s Hundredth Dream’. This last short story ends with the Chrestomanci ‘family’ on holiday in the South of France, from which they return in time for the start of The Pinhoe Egg. As always, most of these tales can be read as standalones, but those readers wanting continuity in their series reading could do worse than read the stories in this order.

You will by now be wondering what the egg of the title is. This appears as a result of “a promise I made to my sister” (Ursula, perhaps) “that I would write more about such things”. What this spotted mauve egg contains is a surprise I leave to the reader to discover for themselves, but it is a creature that traditionally guards gold. And while I feel the egg itself is a bit of a McGuffin I suppose the story itself, in a way, is the gold.

https://calmgrove.wordpress.com/2015/...

[Heini | lokikirjoituksia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Luulin lukevani Chrestomanci-sarjan kolmatta osaa, mutta kävikin ilmi, ettei sitä ole käännetty suomeksi. Taikuuden taakka on kirjasarjan kuudes ja viimeinen osa ja tässä ilahdutti paluu tuttujen hahmojen pariin. Kirja on tyypillistä DWJtä: vasta kirjan loppupuolella käy ilmi, miten kaikki asiat liittyvät yhteen. Sitä odotellessa lukija saa nauttia hullunkurisista hahmoista, oudoista sattumuksista ja ystävyyden kuvailusta. Tässä kirjassa oli mielestäni vähän turhaa jaarittelua, mutta monia ilahduttavia yksityiskohtiakin löytyi: esimerkiksi se, että Kissan vasenkätisyys antaa hänelle etulyöntiaseman joissain taikuuteen liittyvissä tilanteissa. Taikuuden taakka ei ole suosikkikirjani DWJltä, mutta tuttua, turvallista ja ilahduttavaa tämän lukeminen silti oli.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best in the Chrestomanci series. It brings back familiar characters while introducing new ones and even new elements of magic. This is a prime example of a book that can make a reader fall in love with fantasy because the magic is so fun and delightful.

[Mom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book caught my interest early on, but as I read, I was wondering if we were ever going to come to a point and there were so many side stories that I began to wonder how it was ever going to wrap up. In the end, it comes together and it has a nice conclusion.

[Janelle]

Awwh man, this was definitely my favourite of the Chrestomanci series - such a shame it was the last one! It's another one set in the castle during Christopher Chant's reign as Chrestomanci, with Cat as his apprentice. I do love me some Chrestomanci in his dressing gowns XD

Initially I didnt really know where the Pinhoe/Farleigh storyline was going, and I spent many a page wanting to stab Gammer and all the Pinhoes. But all tied up wonderfully in the end, especially with the stories of the hidden creatures, and the Pinhoes slightly redeeming themselves - though I still find myself wanting to stab Marianne's father.

This is by far the cutest book of the series, and everytime Klartch was mentioned my face literally went like this ^_^! I think I loved this one the most because it dealt with magical creatures, and the story about Gaffer and the unicorn, and the sinister misdirection spells and barriers were genuinely mysterious, unlike Witch Week, which I hated with a passion.

Don't want to spoil it for any potential readers, but this book is positively ADORABLE and definitely redeems any faults with the other books in the series. Diana Wynne Jones creates cute and fascinating mythology, and yet again manages to create utterly frustrating characters that make you want to throttle them XD

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

2021: *wipes away tear* I don't want to be done :( This was a lovely ending book to the series, but as usual made me want so much more. I just adore Cat. I feel like in Charmed Life he became free from being manipulated all the time, and then in this book he really started to come into his own. I desperately want a scene 20 years into the future where someone shouts "Chrestomanci" and he just appears with a unicorn and a griffin and everyone is like "what. the fuck."

Too short.

[Miss Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

apparently i didn't review this the first time around? enjoyed it, as usual dwj is very seriously like Child Rights and i support her! autonomy for all and cute pets to boot

3.5 stars

[Fantasy boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pinhoe Egg is the six installment of Chrestomensi series, continue with cat being an apprentice of the Nine Lifer enchanter, Chrestomensi. This time he discover an egg by coincidence and he will discover the secrets were hidden in the wood by Chrestomensi’s castle. Another protagonist, Marianne who was trying to save her family from the wicked havocs which she thought had all been done by Gammer who always commended other people to do what she requires. Two story lines are divided into two parts, one is Cat, another one is Marianne. From both side we can see the traditional family which had been remonstrating to another nearby family, Faeleighs. In this book from both Pinhoe and Farleighas POV, they both were retaliating with each other. Chrestomensi started investigating what was about The Pinhoe family’s secrets and histories of one of the oldest witch families. In addition, the hidden one was the victim who were confined by the witch family. This book has the most background stories that compares to the previous installments. Not like first book, Chanted Life, it provides the histories of the witch family and an inborn magic “Dwimmer” what is the misunderstanding and discrimination between magic creatures like Unicorns and griffins among those witch family. Due to this point, the Chrestomensi World has been expanded more details and starts connecting with magic creatures, interaction with more characters from witch families.

Sadly, this is the final installment in Chrestomensi series, but Wynne Jones proffer us readers a magic world to be immersed in. About characters, Cat becomes more active in this book rather than in Chanted Life; because his sister was controlling and manipulating Cat until he found out he need to take in charge of his life. I see Cat as a grown character makes many his own decisions to save situations. And now He has animal companions, unlike In Chanted Life, he was dismal in loneliness. It is good to see that he starts having a meaningful life of his own without his sister in his life. This time , I can imagine that smile on his face, not a grimace, but an actual smile.

[Abbey Stellingwerff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now that I have finished them all, here are some of my thoughts about the Chrestomanci books:
-My definitive ranking goes Conrad's Fate, The Magicians of Caprona, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Charmed Life, Witch Week, The Pinhoe Egg.
-I loved the character of Chrestomanci himself.
-The cats in The Magicians of Caprona are lovely.
-Once again, Diana Wynne Jones' imagination has impressed me.
-Although I loved the characters in The Pinhoe Egg (and that we got to see Cat again), I thought that the plot (though a clever concept) was a bit all over the place and underdeveloped. It was also very long.
-Conrad's Fate is glorious. The houses. The Countess. Conrad himself. CHRISTOPHER.
-I loved visiting all the different worlds that DWJ has created for this series.
-DWJ made a good choice by having the books be about Chrestomanci, but not from his perspective. Instead, you read from the point-of-view of someone in one of the other worlds, and you get to know and love that character while you are waiting for Chrestomanci to show up.
-Witch Week was good, but it didn't make a huge impression on me. I liked the end when the MCs were wandering about in the woods and then had to go back to school to be questioned.
-Klartch and Syracuse.
-Millie and Christopher's friendship in The Lives of Christopher Chant is lovely.
-The fabulousness and variety of Chrestomanci's dressing gowns delighted me.

This was a fun series to read over the summer. I recommend it for people who have read and enjoyed Howl's Moving Castle and for people who just need a little whimsy in their lives. Young and old alike can enjoy Diana Wynne Jones books, so maybe make this a family read.

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know the Chrestomanci books can be read in pretty much any order, but starting with A Charmed Life and finishing with The Pinhoe Egg feels very natural, and I really enjoyed seeing Cat and Janet again. I felt like this book combines elements of my two favorite Chrestomanci books, which are A Charmed Life and The Magicians of Caprona , so naturally I really liked it.

I did think Janet and Julia were both a bit underused in this book, they showed up a little bit in the beginning but then didn't really get any involvement at all. I really liked Janet from the first book, so I was sad to see her sidelined this way. Besides that, I really thought the story was well done and had a very satisfying ending.

[fulano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rep:
PoC side character

TW/CW:
fatphobia, some unchallenged sexism, ableist slurs, abuse.

This one is good! It’s among one of my favorites in the series, pretty much every character was fun to follow, which I rarely like with too large casts.

[Els]

515 pages of continued DWJ brilliance. Her characters are all just so delightfully human, and I am beginning to write reviews like a 62-year-old man.

Also, I should like to be Miss Irene someday, house included, thankee.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There should. Have been more to a wood than this. And there was no more. Even though he could see far off through the trees, there was no depth to the place.”

In a small town not far from Chrestomanci Castle lives the Pinhoe family - an old clan of magic users who make sure to stay hidden from Chrestomanci. Young Marianne Pinhoe discerns unease and strange events happening in their town. As none of her relatives seems to notice or even believe her, Marianne sees little choice but to seek help elsewhere. Upon a chance meeting with Cat of Chrestomanci Castle, the two share in a secret friendship in which Cat receives an odd egg that was hidden away in the Pinhoe attic. But will Cat be able to help Marianne without Chrestomanci knowing?

The Pinhoe Egg, the last of the Chrestomanci books, neither feels like the end nor does it feel incomplete. As all instalments were conclusive and didn't follow a strict timeline order, none of them leaves you hanging. And yet, there is so much more that could have been explored in this universe of multiple worlds full of magic. Sadly, with the passing of Diana Wynne Jones, we'll never get to see further adventures of the Chrestomanci Castle inhabitants - what a shame!

Although this was a very enjoyable book, the beginning was awfully slow and therefore hard to get into. Fortunately, Marianne is a very likeable character. She is a lot more open minded compared to her relatives - she is modest about her magical abilities but without seeming as though she is demeaning herself. What makes her an interesting character is that she has enough confidence and will stand up to take action, yet she is unaware of her full magical potential until it is pointed out to her. Only then does she truly see what is holding her back and who is abusing her. This gives her great character development and makes it easy to root for her.

It is great having another book set in Cat's timeline as he is one of my favourite Chrestomanci characters and of course, we also get to see more of Chrestomanci himself. Cat has grown considerably since the first instalment. He has grown confident with his magic but is still quiet and reserved. This, however, is more in a thoughtful way rather than out of fear as he had done in Charmed Life.

And not only does The Pinhoe Egg feature another awesome cat named Nutcase, but also a whole number of other fun creatures; horses, unicorns, griffins and gnomes among others. With all these creatures around, there is an atmosphere reminiscent of fairy tales. There were a few scenes set in a forest - they only covered small parts of the book but they were wonderfully written; full of magic and an eerie sense of something sinister happening at the back of it all.

Although it wasn't always in plain sight, there were many dark and cruel things unfolding between the otherwise lighthearted scenes. I didn't quite like how the last chapters suddenly contained some undefined religious elements - I don't think they matched the rest of the series and the conclusion could have worked just fine without bringing religion into it. That was my one peeve with the otherwise fantastic final volume of Chrestomanci!

[Shoshana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read a couple of Chrestomanci books about a decade ago (Charmed Life and The Nine Lives of Christopher Chant, I believe) and enjoyed them, but remembered very little about them. Fortunately, this book stands on its own, although it has backstory I know I'm missing.

Anyway, it is darling. It starts a little less slowly than the other books of hers I've read (Howl's Moving Castle [still my favorite], Castle in the Air, House of Many Ways, Fire and Hemlock, The Dark Lord of Derkholm), and it also doesn't have that classic DWJ ending that those all share - you know, the one where you think you're following the plot acceptably well, and yes, sometimes little subterranean bits of plot make appearances like they're supposed to be relevant but you completely have no idea why and they're confusing but they go away pretty quickly and you're back riding the surface of the story with no trouble, and then all-of-a-sudden-in-the-last-two-pages-18-storylines-emerge-and-are-all-interconnected-and-resolve in a giant mass of confusion that you have to read twice more before you understand what happened.

Was that grammar?

The point is, that is both a strength and weakness of her other books, but The Pinhoe Egg doesn't have it, which is kind of nice. I don't remember if the other Chrestomanci books have it.

At any rate, the story is fun, I enjoyed Cat and Marianne and Roger and Joe and the rest of the Castle folk, and I thought Marianne's relationships with her extended family were well-drawn if sometimes maddening. Gammer cracked me up every time she was onstage. In fact, she might be the best part of the book.

I guess this review spent more space saying what the book isn't than what it is, but the point is, I recommend it!

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the final instalment of the Chrestomanci series, we meet Cat Chant once again, as well as the families who live outside Chrestomanci Castle, including Marianne Pinhoe, a powerful enchantress in her own right. The Pinhoes are at odds with other magical families, including the Farleighs, who have set out to destroy the Pinhoes by a thousand cuts. But at the same time, many secrets are hidden within the Pinhoe and Farleigh lives, and once Cat and Marianne meet, they begin to uncover them. This is an entertaining, sprawling narrative, full of surprise twists and likeable characters. I always enjoy a fantasy novel in which a character discovers an egg, and the egg in question does not disappoint. In Jones' world, the adults are always either clueless or malevolent, although in this novel Chrestomanci and Millie try their best to be neither. With the general malevolence of adults getting in their way, Cat and Marianne set out to right wrongs, and on the way, discover unicorns, griffins, and a beautiful horse named Syracuse. This book is full of wonderfully chaotic animals, and a host of plot-twists. I found it really engaging and very, very likeable. Recommended.