Year of the Griffin

Derkholm #2

by Diana Wynne Jones

It is eight years after the tours from offworld have stopped. High Chancellor Querida has retired, leaving Wizard Corkoran in charge of the Wizards' University. Although Wizard Corkoran's obsession is to be the first man on the moon, and most of his time is devoted to this project, he decides he will teach the new first years himself in hopes of currying the favor of the new students' families—for surely they must all come from wealth, important families—and obtaining money for the University (which it so desperately needs). But Wizard Corkoran is dismayed to discover that one of those students—indeed, one he had such high hopes for, Wizard Derk's own daughter Elda—is a huge golden griffin, and that none of the others has any money at all.

Wizard Corkoran's money-making scheme backfires, and when Elda and her new friends start working magic on their own, the schemes go wronger still. And when, at length, Elda ropes in her brothers Kit and Blade to send Corkoran to the moon... well... life at the Wizards' University spins magically and magnificently out of control.

This breathtakingly brilliant sequel to Dark Lord of Derkholm is all one would expect from this master of genre.

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

267 pages, Hardcover

First published August 19, 2000

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

[carol. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and then I have the urge for a comforting re-read, a diverting read that will be unlike real life enough to hold back the flood for a couple of hours. Year of the Griffin is one of those books for me, a lovely, reliable read about a group of young adults (both human and otherwise) at a school for wizards. Predating Harry Potter by three years, Diana Wynne Jones made her own foray into the traditional field of English magical schools and succeeds in marvelous, whimsical fashion.

Elda, the youngest griffin daughter of the famous wizard Derk, has enrolled at the nearly broke Wizards’ University without her father’s knowledge. It isn’t long before she meets a like-minded and curious group of friends: Ruskin, a revolutionary dwarf; Olga, a mysteriously wealthy and beautiful woman; Claudia, the outcast half-Marshwoman sister of the Emperor of the South; Lukin, the heir of the Kingdom of Luteria, and Felim, incognito from the country of the Emir to prevent assassins from learning his location. During introductions on the first day, Wizard Corkoran realizes his plan to solicit their families for more money won’t work since the students are either poor or in hiding. Unfortunately, he’s rapidly distracted by his project to be the first man to land on the moon and forgets to pass the word on to the administrative team, thus setting a wild chain of events in motion. Subsequent events include a flying horse, a bushel of oranges, a trip to the library, assassins, pirates, more griffins, a statue, twue love and cats.

Characterization is fun; all are reasonably developed and their bonding over shared academic and family frustrations seem entirely natural. In the long tradition of magical schools, it is refreshing to have a griffin and dwarf be part of the student mix, along with a few other representatives of countries/kingdoms in this world. It creates an interesting sense of diversity within the group. When their families come into play, each student gains a little more focus and detail. There is also an innocence and ingeniousness about the students that makes their efforts toward improvement quite sweet and not at all malicious. Eventually, a few members of the group and incoming supporting cast end up pairing off, but any romance is gentle and exists mostly in the area of hand-holding and shared company. The setting feels like a typical medieval fantasy setting, with carts and horses, fires for warmth and the like. It isn’t too fleshed out, but allows Jones to concentrate on characterization and action.

Plotting is fun. Driven initially by the disclosure that the six are currently students at the university, the converging families and chaos propel the action forward. When the six students realize trouble is headed their way, they band together. The spell-traps they create to protect one of their members are priceless fun. Corkoran’s focus on the moon shoot is especially entertaining from a real-world point of view.

I actually read this long before Dark Lord of Derkholm, so although it says “sequel,” don’t be put off. Most of the main characters from Dark Lord are only peripheral, and the preceding events are only responsible for the ruins of the college, not really what is happening to it now. The prior parallel worlds do help explain away some of the similarities and the stereotypes, quite clever on the part of Jones. However, the tone and conflicts of the two books are different enough that I wouldn’t call them a duology at all. Consider the second an insightful “whatever happened to –” installment.

Though the characters are young adult and the resolutions of issues neat, it is not a simple book by any means in concepts or language. Overall, it is very light in tone, the perfect kind of read when one needs a happy ending.

Highly recommended.
Re-read and updated 8/14

[Nataliya · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Forget your childhood. It’s over,” said Blade. “You can be a wizard now and go anywhere and do anything you want.”

It was quite adorable, although with a little bit of slight whiplash along with whimsy. Despite focusing on a group of young wizards starting their education at a magical university, it has more of entering-middle-or-maybe-high-school vibe, probably because of a silly lighthearted sitcom feel and our protagonist Elda acting quite a bit younger than her age. And suddenly everyone gets insta-love paired up in a hormonal storm, and there’s light mentioning of rogue male griffins wanting to sexually coerce a female griffin, and recounting child abuse, and a weird democracy overthrowing subplot that the book gives us no option but to cheer for (deservedly so, but huh?)

Jones throws a lot into this sitcom mix - things that should have been taken out (those rogue griffins for no reason, for instance) and some that I was hoping would be expanded into something more interesting (that cloakrack - that would have been less anticlimactic, and moonshot, and Wizard Policant, and and and and — well, the list can go on). I did get a kick out of stuffy silly university politics, but the focus on academia shifted quickly as well. A hodgepodge of storylines and characters works for some books, but here a few should have been trimmed and a few should have been expanded for a bit more focus. Oh, and perhaps fewer future marriages based on first lust.

I adored its predecessor Dark Lord of Derkholm all three times I read it, with its contrasts of humor and dark seriousness — but as cute and adorable as I thought Year of the Griffin was, I am unlikely to ever reread it. It lacks the weight and the impact of Derkholm. But this one was a fun epilogue to the first book, giving a quick look into the lives of a few of Derkholm crew after that book’s closing credits (I miss Blade and Kit brother hijinks!).

But hey, it’s cute and sweet even if it pales in comparison to Derkholm.

3 stars.

——————
Also posted on my blog.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remembered not liking this one as much as Dark Lord of Derkholm . . . I'm adult enough to admit when I'm wrong. Just a freaking delight from start to finish, as Dark Lord is, and so interesting to see the ramifications of what their world and magic had become after so many years under the thumb of Mr. Chesney!

[Melissa McShane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the narrator of Dark Lord of Derkholm, and I was a little sad that he didn't do this one, but since the narrator is the splendidly lovely Gemma Dawson, I wasn't too sad.

I think I've read this one other time, and that when it was published. So...nearly twenty years ago, and yet I remembered quite a lot of the story. I did not remember the beautiful but dim Melissa--are there any Melissas in books that are admirable? There's one in Anne Tyler's The Clock Winder and she's appalling. Anyway, it was disconcerting every time DWJ's Melissa did something dim-witted.

This book is yet another example of DWJ refusing to accept genre limitations. Technically I suppose it's YA, but the "kids" are all at least 18 and in college. So either it's defying convention, or the definition of YA should be reevaluated, or both, or neither...I don't know. It is, however, something I feel confident recommending to adult readers who aren't blinkered by notions of their own dignity. (I remember the Look I received from a sister-in-law when I handed her Howl's Moving Castle with the hideous cartoony cover, like she'd asked to pet a cat and I'd handed her a scabby mouse or something. Times have changed, and YA is acceptable to many adult readers, but we still have progress to make.)

I enjoyed the friendships that sprang up within the little group of misfit students. It reminded me of my own university days, though my friends and I didn't share enough classes to have that unified feeling of despair or anger over a particular professor. I also liked the return of characters from Dark Lord of Derkholm and getting to see them all grown up, especially Kit and Blade. And the secondary characters are a delight. My favorites are the tiny assassins and the mouse pirates and their continual appearances as forces of destruction.

One thing I did not like was the explosion of romances in the final chapter. I love romance in stories. But what I love about it is seeing it grow. In the final chapter there are at least five romances, and most of them are the spontaneous "I'm in love even though I barely know you" type. I can buy Titus and what's her name, Luken's sister, because she's had everyone falling in love with her and it makes an odd sort of sense for her to fall in love, finally, the same way but even that wasn't very satisfying. So the ending fell flat for me. But overall I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the audio presentation was excellent.

A long time ago, I was reading all of DWJ's books in published order. This made me think it might be fun to pick up that challenge again.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this book. It's funny, sweet, and really ties up the story well. Maybe Jones did a little bit too much pairing off, but it's so cute that I don't mind. I also love the moon shot more than I can say, as well as the anti-assassin spells, food spells, and pretty much every other episode in the story.

2023 reread: I definitely don't record most times I reread this book, but it's just as good every time and that's amazing. DWJ was just the best.

[lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

bro what if we all formed a tight-knit friend group at wizard college and tackled each of our individual traumas and murderous enemies one by one until we could all be happy. what if the power of friendship and love given unconditionally carried us to an end befitting a shakespeare comedy. bro. what if.

[Jackie "the Librarian" · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny! I really loved this one. A griffin named Elda is starting her first year at the struggling Wizard's University. She makes friends with an assortment of misfits who, for various reasons, want to keep their presence at the University secret. Unfortunately for them, the University sends out letters to all their families in a fund-raising attempt that blows their cover.
This results in ninja attacks, armed forces arriving at the gates to demand the return of certain students, angry royal parents, and other mayhem. The misfits band together to deal with the various attacks with magic and creativity.
Griffin is the sequel to Dark Lord of Derkholm but can stand on its own. Another winner by Jones.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect book.

[Blodeuedd Finland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh she is so funny! Why did it take me ages to try her books! So far they have all been great fun.

This one takes on the whole wizard boarding school trope and it is hilarious. The University is run down and out of money. After Chesney they have barely any wizards who know real magic. Instead they teach basics that give you nothing.

To this glorious institution comes Elda, Derk's griffin daughter (yes you should read book 1 before, and no you do not have to read it before cos this stands well on its own, but you should still read it.)
She quickly becomes friends with a Dwarf revolutionary, a jinxed princess, a mysterious rich young woman, a crown prince with the worst talent and a man hiding from assassins. Let the good time begin!

They are all hiding from something, and all those things will show up and wreak havoc. There is a professor who knows nothing, another one that is trying to build a ship to get to the moon. There is never a dull moment at school from now on.

We meet old favorites from book 1, and it makes me wish there were more books in this serious. But then again, maybe I should just read more Wynne Jones books instead and hope they are fun too.

Fun. Humour. Crazy hi jinks.

Narrator
Oh she was perfect and I really felt I was in this world. She had a great range and I was swept in by her.

[Julie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sequel to a book I liked very much, The Dark Lord of Derkholm.

Many of the youngsters we met in The Dark Lord of Derkholm are Now in their first year of wizarding school. They discover that the many long years of serfdom giving tourist tours have given the existing wizards an extremely narrow view of magic use. They see it in strictly practical, stream-lined terms, with none of the potential for creativity, experimentation, and joy that is possible. Prompted by the last of the Dark Lords into expanding their magical horizons, the youngsters are creating chaos in their experimentation, but also proving surprisingly effective. Each person's storyline begins inadvertently edging the wizards' thinking about magic in new directions.

Overall, not one of the best Diana Wynne Jones but still quite enjoyable and fun in its own way as a coming of age/wizarding adventure.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Year of the Griffin (not 'The' Year of the Griffin, by the way) is set in the same universe as The Dark Lord of Derkholm and their common source The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, but, bar a few cross references, works equally well as a standalone. Set eight years after Dark Lord, the story is centred on the young griffin Elda who is in her first year of University. Yes, a student griffin. At a university for wizards. You just know that things aren't going to be straightforward. And so it proves: one cohort of student freshers find that their expectations of university are disappointed, their families or communities back home are, to say the least, unsupportive; and yet, despite all the obstacles and challenges (and there are many) they – Felim, Ruskin, Claudia, Olga, and Lukin, as well as Elda – start to grow and develop both as magic-users and as individuals.

There are lots of images of circularity and sphericity here, compounded by the fact that none of the images are perfect. Take the Year of the title: we never actually witness the end of the year as most of the action is set in the autumn term. There are lots of references to oranges, but mostly always to mention the fact that they come apart in segments. One of the students frequently becomes protected by an accidental spell taking the form of a barrel made up of books, appropriately enough for a learning institution, which only evaporates when the danger has passed. A group of students, along with Professor Corkoran (the name no doubt inspired by the unfortunate captain of HMS Pinafore), heads off in a spherical space vehicle for the moon (though they inexplicably find themselves on Mars); sadly, they haven't thought things through and the lunar module, designed to be life-sustaining, threatens to end their existence. The circular theme is reinforced by David Wyatt's splendid but initially enigmatic cover illustration for the original Gollancz paperback: it shows a golden griffin through a round window (one of her feathers is in the foreground), which we eventually realise is part of a barrel viewed from above (or below, it's ambiguous, despite the darts sticking in its side); there's also a visual example of a wizard's attempt to enclose oranges in a metal shell (don't ask why) that effectively renders them cannonballs, unfit for their original purpose. Why the recurrent fallible examples? Maybe because nothing ever turns out perfect in this story. (Except the ending, perhaps.)

Then there is the young griffin, Elda, who contrary to the sound of her name is the youngest in a family of humans and test-tube beings. Part-lion, part-eagle, part-human, Elda pitches in with a bunch of other misfit students who are all also escaping from the expectations of their families or communities. In fact, Year of the Griffin is, underneath the joyous storytelling, inventive fantasy and punning witticisms, a critique of a number of social institutions in this, our own world. Foremost of the critiques is that reserved for the corrosive effects of conformity, whether imposed by traditions, laws or sheer ignorance. Typical is the attitude of academia at the university, which suppresses creative thinking and practical magic in favour of dry rote-learning and limited outcomes. A graduate of Oxford University, with a partner who is Emeritus Professor of English at Bristol University, Jones will have been well aware of the politicking that goes on in academia the world over, the inevitable conflicts between research and teaching needs, the financial considerations that underpin every decision and policy, and the human weaknesses to which all scholarship is prey. No surprise then that the Wizard University is riddled with accidents waiting to happen. And that they do.

Bar a couple of excursions, pretty much all the action takes place within the confines of the campus. At times this can be claustrophobic, but the students are often able to escape to the world of books or seek companionship amongst like-minded magic-users. In fact, Year of the Griffin is an almost Shakespearean comedy ('comedy' in all senses of the word) which, barring the calls of Morpheus, I could hardly put down over the period of just a few days. Why Shakespearean? Well, typically for Shakespeare, young male and female protagonists frequently get hitched by the end of the action (as in 'Midsummer Night's Dream', 'Much Ado' and so on), frequently with multiple pairings on the cards. Secondly, things don't start to go right till at the end, when often a ruler steps in to call a halt to the mayhem and gives a judgement (Wizard Policant, aided by Chancellor Querida, fulfills this role). And thirdly, magic, or the pagan past, often is a crucial part of the story to emphasise that this is hyper-reality.

No apologies are needed, I believe, for such an extended (if obviously incomplete) commentary on what some might argue is just a children's fantasy novel. But Diana Wynne Jones hardly ever wrote a straightforward story in her preferred genre: her young adult fantasies nearly always work on several levels rather than just as a superficial narrative. As the mythical griffin was regarded as the guardian of gold, so Year of the Griffin conceals real treasures between its covers.

[Olga Godim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This spoof of fantasy tropes defies every genre convention and turns the familiar story of a magic school (Harry Potter, anyone?) upside down. Laughter is a gift of this tale, where every dangerous situation has its farcical silver lining.
The action takes place in a magic university, where six first year students study magic and have adventures and help each other deal with their deadly families. Most of them are deadly anyhow.
There are assassins shrunk to the size of rats, pirates turned into mice, a walking cloakrack and a trip to Mars – by accident. There are incompetent teachers and inedible food in the cafeteria. There are spells for every occasion, and of course, there are griffins: a magical mix between a lion, an eagle, a human and a cat. Charming!
I won’t talk about the plot of this novel, except that it’s so full of buffoonery you have to read it for yourself. Humor sparkles now and again, as the author follows her chosen group of students through their college escapades, all of them ridiculous but exciting.
The protagonists are a diverse bunch: one dwarf, one griffin, one green girl from the marches, and three humans. Their friendship blooms despite their diversity, as all of them are united in one fact: they are all at the university in secret, studying magic against the express wishes of their families or their masters. Except the griffin Elda, of course. Her family is the best, with lots of love for all its human and griffin members. Whenever the others’ families manifest as an invasion of senators or an influx of assassins or a pirate raid, Elda’s numerous relatives are there to assist.
The characters are all cartoonish, more suitable to an anime caper or a comic video game than a dramatic feature. They are sympathetic but not alive, more avatars than living souls. The fact doesn’t diminish their attraction to the reader, which was a surprise for me. Unlike a serious fantasy story, where my emotional core is usually involved, this book captivated my brain with its wit and engaged my laughing buds with its absurdities.
The only irritating detail was the author’s head-hopping. There are too many points of view in this novel, but I enjoyed reading it all the same.
Recommended to anyone who loves fantasy.

Footnote: Some time ago, I tried to read the first book of this series – The Dark Lord of Derkholm – but I couldn’t finish it. This one I loved. Perhaps I should try to read the first one again, to get the background for this one.

[Melora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and sweet. Sort of “Harry Potterish,” only with lots more “main” characters and with the Danger to be Met replaced by Individual Challenges Which Really Only Affect Our Protagonists. By which I mean that there were too many characters for me to really care about any of them, and too many little story arcs to maintain any sort of narrative tension. For me. Plus, the villains all felt like caricatures and the romantic pairings off were rather predictable.

Not that I didn't enjoy the story! While this is nothing like as good as Howl's Moving Castle, or some of the better Chrestomancis, Year of the Griffin has some really fun characters and clever set-ups. I got a kick out to the university politicking, and the spirit of camaraderie among the students is really nicely done.

I've read that Dark Lord of Derkholm isn't tightly tied to this book, but I suspect that if I had read that first I'd have enjoyed this one more. Several of the characters whom we meet only in passing here, such as the wizard Derk, his wife, Mara, Kit, Blade, Querida, seemed intriguing, and I wanted more on them. Brief references to “the tours,” “Mr. Chesney,” and “the gods” felt like teases, though I realize that I set myself up by reading the books out of order. Last time I make that mistake for a while! Anyway, this is light and fun, but I think I recommend reading Dark Lord before you read this one. I'm adding it to my list now!

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jones had a great time going to college, if this book is anything to judge by. (Of course, she got to hear lectures by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, so I can't help thinking it must have been heaven). So, this is a book about a group of undergraduates who meet and form friendships and romance right off the bat. And although things at college aren't ideal, and most of them have very challenging problems with their families, they do work together and learn and make decisions and affect their futures in a way very like Circle of Friends.

I have previously expressed a desire to live inside House of Many Ways because of never having to cook and the library, but no one who loves the idea of Hogwarts can be other than smitten with this particular wizarding college. Unlike Terry Pratchett's Unseen University it is fully integrated both by sex and species: there's a griffin, a dwarf, several heirs to different thrones. There's also some eccentric but good professors and some eccentric and awful ones, assassins, pirates, Legionaries, and a Disneyesque coatrack in thrall. There's lots of coffee being drunk, and some booze, and actual studying, as well as everyone ending up happily ever after.

So, now, this Derkholm is the world I most want to live in, even if the food isn't that tasty, because unlike Harry Potter's world, the murderous thugs here are easily thwarted by clever people.

Library copy.

[martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sequel to Dark Lord of Derkholm: Elda the Griffin goes to magic school. In that way it's every so slightly like Harry Potter meets Diana Wynne Jones, but it's much more DWJ-y, with a whole lot of really diverse characters all maneuvering toward one big climax. Also very romance-focused for a DWJ book; there's more pairing off than in most of her other books put together.

Honestly, I'm still a little weirded out by the part-animals and humans being genetically related. (The griffins are "children" of a wizard and his wife, and have human siblings.) And there's a lot of stuff about the mating rituals of griffins -- especially how the female ones react -- that further complicates the way she writes women. But it's still awesomely imaginative like all her books.

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awww - this follow up (some eight years later) to The Dark Lord of Derkholm is a wonderful fantasy novel. Elda, Derk's griffin daughter, attends the University, and becomes mixed up in assasination plots, and a trip to the moon. Elda is a terribly sweet character, and all the friends she makes at University (with their variety of dark pasts they're hiding from) are wonderful as well. This is typical Diana Wynne Jones - funny and very, very engaging.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A positively delightful sequel to Dark Lord of Derkholm, this time focused on a magical academy. At times, it's a rather pointed look at academia, but that never gets in the way of telling interesting stories about a beautifully developed group of friends. There's a touch of romance, but it's only a touch, and it's rather light.

[Hazel · Rating 2 out of 5]

15% good

Slightly attention grabbing at the beginning, this book's interestingness quickly faded away like fog in the morning. Not a book that I looked forward to reading every day at all.

---------------
Author:Diana Wynne Jones
Pages:404
Ages:11+ for slight violence
Note on age rating: These age ratings are not professional but simply my opinion.

[Tirzah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think my face is going to be permanently fixed in a very large grin 😅 I love this book! I like it much better than the first one, which is not what I expected. It gets 4.5 stars only because the storyline isn’t THAT impressive. But the characters and their relationships and everything else about this book!!!! 🫶🏻🤩😍🥰🥳😅 Also I love Flury so much 🫶

[Armando · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Diana Wynne Jones read, Year of the Griffin is full of magic, wonder, comedy, great characters, witty dialogue, and everything else that is great about her writing. The cast of six magical students in this were great, I loved how their pasts caught up with them so quickly and created quite a havoc within the magical university they were attending. Each member of the six party students have something that they are running away from, that eventually, comes crashing down on them at one point or another. And they have to learn to rely on each other in order to get out of these hard and often sticky situations.

Its hard to think if I prefer this one over the first one, because this one I feel is better paced, and I loved the companionship between the characters. However the story doesn't seem to hold the same kind of weight as the first one did.

However, this was still a great series. A bit sad that there's nothing left of Derkholm to come back to, but ending on a great duology is still a great way to end things.

[Shriya Uday · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's just so much fun! I love the little student team, I loved the evils they had to face, I loved the criticisms of academia. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the weird pairing up of so many characters.

[Amrita Goswami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absorbing and cute! I think J. K. Rowling may have borrowed liberally from this book.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

yayyyy ☺️ this was so fun and cute, w a ‘light’ academia ambiance: sweet-smelling orange peels, soft mists swirling ‘round turreted uni buildings, an enormous library asking to be ransacked. and all the ingenious spellwork ☺️ the characters were very endearing and actually studious, i loved the bits when their papers were properly reviewed and graded. has the happiest of endings (the dimwit melissa does end up w felim, bc why not)

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have definitely read this before, because I remember the griffins - specifically, I remember being weirded out by the griffins. That particular sensation returned on this re-read. I don't know what it is about the concept of two humans 'inserting genetic material' into a 'combination of cats, lions, and eagles' that CREEPS ME TF OUT, but there it is. I am fully on board with the division between 'parent' as a role and 'parent' as a genetic contributor, but for some reason I draw a line in the sand at mixing it with cats and eagles, I guess? Maybe it's because I like lions and cats a lot and eagles not at all, and dislike the mixing of those elements? To be clear - I like mythological animals, but I want them to BE animals, not a weird human-animal hybrid that gets romantic subplots with full humans. Christ, what brand of -ist does this make me, I wonder?

Anyway. Like most DWJ novels, this was a romp, and also at least 70% underbaked, which is par for the course. It seems to me that DWJ just bubbled over with ideas and plot points and character arcs but didn't have the time or energy to work them into a well-finished whole (something she has in common with most writers, I might add). She just throws in the bit about Olga's horrific child abuse that led to her losing touch with a vital part of her magical abilities and gives it back to her all in the same chapter. It's a plot souffle that never rose.

This book was written in 2000, so it missed the era of wokeness, and it's certainly not DWJ's fault that I happened to re-read it in 2020 amidst one of the greatest civil rights risings of the century so far, but ... it still CLANGS so badly to have a character (Titus) cast as a Good Guy who does the following things:

1. Rules as an inherited autocrat
2. Decides to shut down the entire democracy that serves beneath him on a personal whim
3. Orders the arrest of the democratically elected senators of said nation by his PERSONAL MILITARY
4. Puts them in prison without access to LAWYERS OR FAMILY VISITS FOR AN INDEFINITE PERIOD

Holy god. That was a deeply sour note. As was the ending, where we have two older men cheers each other with pints over the fact that they've fallen for much younger women (no ages actually given, but presumably 18 or 19 years old, given they are first-year university students) who they intend to ... groom into partnering them, I guess? UGH.

I mean, in the spirit of fairness, this is a problem that ALL of fantasy - and to an extent, scif-fi as well - shares. We buy in collectively to the concept of nobility and honour and crowns and the one true heir to whatever, which means, y'know, inherited rulers. And we all know that's fucked up, but secretly we all think that GOOD inherited rulers are kind of ... okay ... until they're not ... Democracy, unfortunately, carries with it the whiff of having to actually do the work yourself and not rely on a saviour swooping in with a magic sword and a white horse. Yet we keep falling back into that trap (Rey Skywalker After All, how are ya). I don't know what to do about it, and twenty years ago DWJ did not care. Fact.

[kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was read for the YA/MG Book Battle for Round 1, Match 8. My review—and decision!—can be found here.

- - - (copying for posterity) - - -

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg is a good book. It’s centered around the regional academic bowl which frames four short stories that explore the strengths and minds of the students on Epiphany Middle School’s sixth grade team, and the teacher who doesn’t know why she chose them at all.

Year of the Griffin by Diane Wynne Jones is also a good book. Also a found family story, it focuses on the first year of six students at the Wizards’ University and the scrapes they get into while exploring their gifts of magic and dealing with their families’ various reactions.

So here’s the million dollar question: If they’re both good books, HOW DID I MAKE MY PICK? (I threw them across the room and the one that landed cover-side up won! Okay, no.)

Here’s the thing: The View from Saturday knows it’s a good book. It is neat and clean and very precise. It utilizes its devices with a master’s precision: frame narrative, foreshadowing, internal vs. external conflict, rising action – it’s all there and it works! It tells a good story!

But it doesn’t ever unfold itself enough to let the reader crawl inside it and enjoy it. It doesn’t breathe. It doesn’t come to life and exist after you put it down. It tells, very competently, the story of four smart misfits who come together, overcome bullying, and forge an unquestionable friendship. That story, however, feels almost tired because it’s expected. It’s rote. It’s easy. There are no outliers to that plot; it is all wound up very neatly.

Year of the Griffin doesn’t do that. It’s messier – it’s a sequel to another novel (Dark Lord of Derkholm, which I haven’t read), and there are gaps where it could explain itself better. The world-building is a strange mishmash of this, that, and the other thing. There are griffins and moonships and wizards and neckties and coffee.

And then, on top of all those other things, there are abusive parents and revolutionaries and sibling rivalry and it’s great. Because life is messy! It, too, tells the story of six misfits who come together and forge a friendship, but that’s only the beginning: as in life, the story doesn’t end there.

The world keeps spinning and stuff keeps happening and Year of the Griffin reaches out with claws and asks you, the reader, to think about your life and challenge how you live it and explore what else might be out there. It expands. It exists outside its own margins.

Fact: My selection for advancement in Round 1, Match 8 is… Year of the Griffin.

[Harold Ogle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommendation: Another fantastic novel from Jones, Year of the Griffin is a wonderful comedy about magic, hopes, and dreams.

Review: The book is ostensibly a sequel to The Dark Lord of Derkholm, but familiarity with that novel almost isn't necessary - the only place it is helpful is in knowing which of Elda's siblings are humans, which are griffins, and which are winged humans. It is about a bunch of young students with magic talent who have come to the University of Wizards to study magic, and the reasons they have to be nervous about their studies. There's Felim, the charmingly polite and handsome young man (who disobeyed his ruler, the Emir, to come to school, and must deal with a team of assassins as a result); Claudia, the shy, slightly greenish girl (who is the hated half-blood sister to an Emperor); Olga, a large fierce-looking girl (who stole the tuition money from her abusive pirate father), Ruskin the dwarf with bones braided into his hair (who is a lower-class artisan chafing at the hierarchical nature of the dwarven aristocratic system); Lukin, the large, shabby-looking boy (who is the eldest son of the King of a dwindling country), and Elda the golden griffin the youngest griffin daughter of the Wizards Derk and Mara, who came to university against her father's wish. The book follows their journey to learn magic while many challenges arise at the University.

Critique: I hope that no one thinks that this novel, which takes place at the University for Wizards, was in any way a response to the Harry Potter series, because that's a completely fatuous comparison. You'd be hard-pressed to find any similarities between the novels. This novel really feels much more like a Shakespearean comedy than YA fiction: there's lots of mistaken identity gags, slapstick, mockery of pompous characters, companionship, and the first stirrings of romance. It's really a delight.

[Chelsey Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather liked the Dark Lord of Derkholm book, but really struggled to get through this one. The first book had a good over-arcing objective: to end the tours and somehow get out of the hold of Mr. Chesney. This book...I'm still not sure of the objective. To save the University? To help each of these students to find their spouses? To overcome the various things sent against them? Who was the main character? Who was this book really about? It just was trying to do too many things and be too many things and, as such, it became a bit of a disjointed mess.

By the last 50 pages of this book I was so fed up with my slow progress (since it just didn't have a specific story to draw me in) and wanted to move on to my next book, so I just started glancing through pages to get the jist of things. Even with that, I BARELY made it to the end of this book. Really disapointed.

[Valfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigh... I love DWJ and I love all these characters and their instant college friendship group, but I gotta say, on this reread I really dislike the ending. It just... semi-randomly pairs off over a dozen characters, some of whom literally decide to get married after just seeing each other once, and Blade and Flury are like, "haha the girls we like are too young for us, but let's stick around and make sure we ingratiate ourselves with them so that when they grow up they'll want to get with us" and I'm sorry but that is creepy my dudes!

WHATEVER, DWJ never finished her third book in this series so I'm just gonna headcanon Kit and Ruskin as like, extremely aroace since they're literally the only major characters who didn't get paired off

[Robin Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books EVER about life at university, set in one of my very favourite fantasy worlds. (12+)

*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. If you use it in any marketing material, online or anywhere on a published book without asking permission from me first, I will ask you to remove that use immediately. Thank you!*

[Alana Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable book about a group of friends at a magical university, this had a very strong, Harry Potter, feel to it (except none of the characters were as insufferable as Harry) I enjoyed this book so much! This author is quickly becoming one of my favorites, the story was witty, and she closed up everyone’s storylines beautifully without rushing.