Favorite Dianna Wynne Jones
Mar. 13th, 2006 05:06 pmWhich is my favorite Dianna Wynne Jones? It might actually be Fire and Hemlock, though I'm probably biased by reading it first.
* Portraying real characters in the real world. Archer's Goon, Ogre Downstairs, and some of the magid books do this well, but Fire and Hemlock is very good. The relationships between Polly and Nina and Fiona, her parents, Grandma, and Tom all feel like a genuine mix of love and exasperation; impressive when you consider the different ways Tom and Polly know each other.
* Convincing magic. DWJ is often good at this, though in the more magic heavy books it's never perfect, but it's all understated in F&H. It's always the sort that you think you might just be imagining, or is some sort of metaphor, and generally done by other people, which makes it less implausible and more impressive at once. You think "that makes sense" not "Huh?" even when you don't understand.
* Creepyness. All DWJ are fun romps, but in F&H I felt loss when Polly's nice life went wrong. And the maelevolence and simultaneously sleazy pettyness of some of the people made me shiver a bit.
* Almost the same as creepyness, Feeling like things matter. Sometimes you want to read something fun, where you basically know what's going to happen, but want to know how it'll get there. Sometimes you want excitement. F&H actually moves into the latter, whereas her "adult" books, while fun, seem to be more sex, but concentrating on being fun. The Dalemark books, though less adult, are good at this too: each ends with everything changed beyond recognition, and with lots of things genuinely going wrong and the heroic moments standing out.
* Portraying young children. DWJ does this really well, it brings back all the silly beliefs we had and the stupid things we did, and how we had fun, and wanted to grow up... The Chrestomanci books probably show younger children, but F&H is a great example of someone's perceptions growing up. At the start, everything is simple and fun, and as Polly grows up she gradually understands more, and both sides feel realistic. This is *so* rare.
* Intricacy. Hexwood is her crown of intricate plots played out in lots of different times with lots of different characters turning out to be different people, but F&H does the slow reveal of what's going on well.
* Funny. No DWJ are really laugh out loud that I remember, but they all have their moments. F&H mainly with Leslie if I recall correctly :)
* Homages, references or in-jokes. It's based on the legends of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin. You may not have actually read these, but the background probably seeped into your consciousness somewhere. (Tam Lin was the captured lover of a fairy queen who haunted Carterhaugh collecting virginities of maidens who strayed there; one fell in love and rescued him from the fairy hunt. Thomans the Rhymer dallied witrh the fairy queen and came home to find seven years had passed.)
Also, while Eyre Affair persuaded me to read Jane Eyre, F&H supplied of over a dozen books I should have read growing up but haven't got to yet :)
* Portraying real characters in the real world. Archer's Goon, Ogre Downstairs, and some of the magid books do this well, but Fire and Hemlock is very good. The relationships between Polly and Nina and Fiona, her parents, Grandma, and Tom all feel like a genuine mix of love and exasperation; impressive when you consider the different ways Tom and Polly know each other.
* Convincing magic. DWJ is often good at this, though in the more magic heavy books it's never perfect, but it's all understated in F&H. It's always the sort that you think you might just be imagining, or is some sort of metaphor, and generally done by other people, which makes it less implausible and more impressive at once. You think "that makes sense" not "Huh?" even when you don't understand.
* Creepyness. All DWJ are fun romps, but in F&H I felt loss when Polly's nice life went wrong. And the maelevolence and simultaneously sleazy pettyness of some of the people made me shiver a bit.
* Almost the same as creepyness, Feeling like things matter. Sometimes you want to read something fun, where you basically know what's going to happen, but want to know how it'll get there. Sometimes you want excitement. F&H actually moves into the latter, whereas her "adult" books, while fun, seem to be more sex, but concentrating on being fun. The Dalemark books, though less adult, are good at this too: each ends with everything changed beyond recognition, and with lots of things genuinely going wrong and the heroic moments standing out.
* Portraying young children. DWJ does this really well, it brings back all the silly beliefs we had and the stupid things we did, and how we had fun, and wanted to grow up... The Chrestomanci books probably show younger children, but F&H is a great example of someone's perceptions growing up. At the start, everything is simple and fun, and as Polly grows up she gradually understands more, and both sides feel realistic. This is *so* rare.
* Intricacy. Hexwood is her crown of intricate plots played out in lots of different times with lots of different characters turning out to be different people, but F&H does the slow reveal of what's going on well.
* Funny. No DWJ are really laugh out loud that I remember, but they all have their moments. F&H mainly with Leslie if I recall correctly :)
* Homages, references or in-jokes. It's based on the legends of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin. You may not have actually read these, but the background probably seeped into your consciousness somewhere. (Tam Lin was the captured lover of a fairy queen who haunted Carterhaugh collecting virginities of maidens who strayed there; one fell in love and rescued him from the fairy hunt. Thomans the Rhymer dallied witrh the fairy queen and came home to find seven years had passed.)
Also, while Eyre Affair persuaded me to read Jane Eyre, F&H supplied of over a dozen books I should have read growing up but haven't got to yet :)