Chrestomanci was my first encounter with the phenomenon that is Diana Wynne Jones. I liked the books – they seemed to strike the tricky balance between whimsy, absurdity, and having an actual plot. I can still remember how Christopher starts going into other worlds, touching things to make them solid. It's a great image.

Romeo and Juliet: magic edition! Feuding Italian families, throwing magic at each other and being delightfully temperamental. Add in nosy kids, moody teenagers, snarky cats and almighty matriarchs … yes, I really like this book. It's among my top books by Diana Wynne Jones, and that's saying something.

This book confused me a lot when I first read it (to be fair: it is a confusing book). Then I watched the movie a year or two later, and I didn't connect it with the book at all. It only came to me slowly over the course of months that the two might be connected. It's so weird!

Cat and Gwendolen felt real and the plot came back to me in no time. I keep loving how Diana Wynne Jones manages to not feel condescending towards children, but still make the adult world seem mildly incomprehensible and muddled. She does tone so well that I never even have to care about her plots. It's all just vibes. This book is part of the 2022 Backlog Incident.

It has been over a decade since I read my last book by Diana Wynne Jones, but I'd like to think that I would have recognised this as hers by the playful prose and convoluted plot where you will miss half the fun if you blink. I had left this book on my reading list as a guaranteed good book, and after being so disappointed by Romanitas, I needed the palate cleanser badly.

Neat YA book. Read this as comfort read and because you can't go wrong with Diana Wynne Jones, really. A group of teenagers thrust into political conflict, with a side of magic, by way of mythical music, handled by them as a wandering troupe. I didn't find the story particularly compelling (authoritarian countries bad, liberal countries good blah), but as always, Diana Wynne Jones absolutely delivers on characters and group dynamics.

Young Chrestomanci, as seen by outside eyes. Fun, but mostly fun if you have read any other book of the series. Gave me Doctor Who vibes, funnily enough.

Parallel England, where a teacher at a boarding school is accused of witchcraft. The inquisition is called and a terrified pupil has to look for a way out … It gets very dark very fast. Not my favourite Chrestomanci book, but still solid.

This is a very weird one for me. I generally vibe with Diana Wynne Jones, but this book? I don't know, it was fine but I constantly felt like I should hold onto lore in preparation for the other two books in the series, and somehow integrate this one with the previous book, but … I didn't know how, and the lore ended up feeling very un-sticky. The general story (aristocratic girl and idiot idealist revolutionary boy flee together) is alright, but the required "everybody is an annoying teenager phase" is something that I'm maybe just over, so it didn't work all too well for me, either. This book is part of the 2022 Backlog Incident.

The only Chrestomanci book my school library didn't have. Enjoyed it, showed cool development. Lots of recurring characters who work fine if you don't recognise them, but even better if you do. Christopher's children and their friends and the villagers ourside the castle. Fun! This book is part of the 2022 Backlog Incident.