Hexwood question

[jack]

Hexwood is one of the Diana Wynne Jonesiest Diana Wynne Jones books. I couldn't really choose a favourite, but it's very good. Edit: It's wonderfully intricate.

You might say it -- literally -- raises people turning out to be other people to an art form :) I think she can overdo the "people turn out to be other people" thing sometimes. But in a book unashamedly about that it works well. I'm particularly impressed by the names. It's so easy to have fantasy-ised names of people sound obvious and fake, but everyone's both names sound completely natural, and you never notice the link the *first* time, but whenever you lose track it's obvious. It's slightly confusing, but only because there are so many people.

Would you guess Bors, Fors, Ambitas and Morgana le Trey mapped to Borasus, Four, Two and Three?

Q. However, how come Martin is Sinfjötli Fitela Wolf and Hume is Martellian aka Merlin. It seems unfair to have such similar names not linked. Is it misdirection? Did I miss something? Do you think she switched directions in midstream?

Q. And I re-read "Ogre Downstairs" too. You get a lot more of the jokes when you understand classical languages a bit more. The "Dens. Drac." powder makes warriors grow from the ground, isn't that cool? And the hellish language they speak in greek letters is actually *phonetically* English, isn't that cool?

Comments

[atreic.livejournal.com]

is actually *phonetically* English, isn't that cool

That's how I thought foreign alphabets worked, when I was little. I was very upset when I realised that even though I'd worked out all the letters carefully, I _still_ had something in foreign

[thethirdvoice.livejournal.com]

I must read that again, I never understood the time frame, in spite of spending a long General Studies lesson trying to work it out.

Maybe I should re-read...

[pavanne.livejournal.com]

I only remember being deeply, deeply in love with Mordion after reading that book.

[sonicdrift.livejournal.com]

I haven't reread it in *ages*. My favorite is probably Howl's Moving Castle, though as a kid it was 'Charmed Life'. I though Gwendolen was wonderful, I don't think I got she was an evil brat :)