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Binding: Mass Market PaperbackEAN: 9780060747459 ISBN: 0060747455 Label: HarperCollins Manufacturer: HarperCollins Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 400 Publication Date: May 01, 2006 Publisher: HarperCollins Reading Level: Ages 9-12 Release Date: May 09, 2006 Studio: HarperCollins Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: Devotees of The Chrestomanci Quartet and Mixed Magics will pounce on this sixth title in the series by Diana Wynne Jones, whose reputation as a fantasy writer is also enhanced by Archers Goon and Howls Moving Castle (soon to be an animated film). In this Chrestomanci tale, the nine-lived enchanter Christopher, who fans will remember from other books, appears as a dapper and self-possessed 15-year-old, and the narrator is young Conrad Tesdinic, who at the age of twelve has just finished school in the mountain village of Stallchester in the English Alps. He yearns to go on to Stall High, but his tight-fisted Uncle Alfred has other plans. With the help of magical spells and a story of bad karma, he intimidates Conrad into going off to serve on the staff at Stallery Mansion, burdened with a secret about an unknown person he must kill. Conrad makes the best of his new life, especially after he meets his elegant new roommate Christopher, who is, he explains, the heir in a different time level to the job of Chrestomanci, an enchanter appointed by the government to control the use of magic. Conrad joins him in his desperate search for his friend Millie, who has vanished from a parallel time track. Amusing scenes of life below stairs in the highly stratified servants quarters alternate with the boys strange adventures as they seek through other realities within the castle on their day off, glimpsing Millie but never able to reach her. With Wynne Jones characteristic skill at plotting, the finale is a whirlwind of revealed alter-identities and just desserts for villains, ending with as many satisfying romantic pairings as a Shakespeare comedy. (Ages 10-13) --Patty Campbell Product Description: Someone at Stallery Mansion is changing the world. At first, only small details, but the changes get bigger and bigger. It's up to Conrad, a twelve-year-old with terrible karma who's just joined the mansion's staff, to find out who is behind it. But he's not the only one snooping around. His fellow servant-in-training, Christopher Chant, is charming, confident, and from another world, with a mission of his own -- rescuing his friend, lost in an alternate Stallery Mansion. Can they save the day before Conrad's awful fate catches up with them? Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Does Jones ever not deliver great fantasy?According to his uncle, Conrad's karma hangs over him like a black cloud until he fulfills his fate to kill someone at Stallery mansion, a powerful mansion where things keep changing all the time. Conrad meets Christopher, a boy from another world who ran away from his training as the next Chrestomanci in order to find a missing enchantress. Full of Jones' characteristic magical elements and clever plot turns, this book is a parlor room romance from the perspective of the servants. Funny, beautiful, ... Read More Rating: - A review for adults who still like kids' litFinally, a Chrestomanci story that deals with young Christopher, rather than dealing with Cat (when Christopher is the grown-up Chrestomanci). I have been quite intrigued with Christopher and Millie since reading "The Lives of Christopher Chant" about, oh, 10 years ago, and was delighted to read this book and find it was about their teenage years. Of course it is mostly about Conrad, a new character in one of the Related Worlds, but it's got plenty of Christopher to satisfy me. The story was brisk ... Read More Rating:  - The Book I Never ReadThis book is made for children from 9-12, and trust me i'm a eleven year old kid. This book is basically made from a fantasy and hilarious jokes. The strory goes like this that a boy named Conrad has to kill a certain person or he will die at the end of the year. So he travels with a smart kid who doesn't know a what a chili pepper is, to a castle to seek the person who he has to kill. Thats all i have read, but soon you will find on your own. Rating: - Quite enjoyable return to the Chrestomanci milieuDiana Wynne Jones has of late returned to her popular Chrestomanci milieu. Her 2005 novel, Conrad's Fate, features Christopher Chant and his eventual wife Millie as teenagers. But the main character is Conrad Tesdinic, who lives in a village dominated by nearby Stallery Mansion. Conrad's father is dead, and his mother is rather ineffectually a fire-breathing feminist writer, so the family is maintained by his uncle, who runs a bookstore. The uncle is convinced the people in the mansion are manipulating ... Read More Rating: - A Welcome Return To ChrestomanciA hugely welcome return to Wynne-Jones's fabulous Christopher Chant - he and Millie are amongst my favourite of her creations. Some probably feel that the author is re-treading a lot of very familiar territory - parallel universes, layered happenings and dastardly plots - but that is why this is such a nice book: it's familiar and comforting like your favourite pudding. It loses a star only because the baddies aren't quite bad enough - but I do have an insatiable appetite for her books. 
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