Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
The acclaimed author of children's fiction has turned her considerable talents to writing for adults, and has come up with a buoyant and boisterous romp through several universes. Unbeknownst to most people, a group of benevolent witches are hard at work keeping the world--and Great Britain in particular--safe from evil and destruction. Meanwhile, from their vantage point in another universe, the celibate magicians of Arth are busy spying on earth, and sending any likely-seeming ideas and inventions back to their own home planet, a Pentarchy--a world where magic is rife and originality is absent. Not satisfied with simply stealing ideas that already exist, Arth's magicians have taken to dispatching various disasters to earth (the latest is global warming) in order to learn from its inhabitants' reactions. Fed up with Arth's practice of using their world as a giant lab animal, earth's witches fill a magical bus with enchantresses and send it to Arth, with orders to make as much trouble as possible. They do. Matters are further complicated when a young woman (who may or may not be an embodiment of the Great Goddess) stows herself and her toddler son onto the witches' bus. Because there are a great many details that must be established before Jones can begin telling her story, the novel's first few chapters are relatively slow going. However, once the large cast of characters has been introduced and the three distinct worlds sketched out, the narrative careens ahead at a merry, headlong pace. Jones's sly sense of humor and her accurate, affectionate depiction of relations between women and men give an extra kick to this effervescent tale. (Oct.)
A Sudden Wild Magic
by Diana Wynne JonesView All Available Formats & Editions
Our world has long been protected by "The Ring" - a benevolent secret society of witches and conjurers dedicated to the continuance and well-being of humankind. Now, in the face of impending climatic disaster, the Ring has uncovered a conspiracy potentially more destructive than any it has ever had to contend with. For eons, the mages of a neighboring universe have… See more details below
Overview
Our world has long been protected by "The Ring" - a benevolent secret society of witches and conjurers dedicated to the continuance and well-being of humankind. Now, in the face of impending climatic disaster, the Ring has uncovered a conspiracy potentially more destructive than any it has ever had to contend with. For eons, the mages of a neighboring universe have been looting the Earth of ideas, innovations and technologies - all the while manipulating events and creating devastating catastrophes for their own edification. And unless the brazen piracy is halted, our planet is certainly doomed. Aboard a modified city omnibus, a raiding party of adepts is dispatched to Arth, the stronghold of the interfering Pentarchy - a world ruled by magic, ritual and unbending tradition. And while the Inner Ring on Earth battles spies, traitors and the terrifying sendings of an evil, would-be queen, a motley group of commandoes launches a cynical attack on the virtue of the great citadel of Arth - determined to conquer the mighty fortress through internal dissension, psychological sabotage and kamikaze sex. But ultimately the destiny of two separate universes is in the hands of a trio of unlikely champions: a dotty old Earth woman, caretaker to many cats and a bizarre, simianlike familiar...a rebellious heir to the Pentarchy, whose birthright enables him to perform astonishing feats...and Zillah, a beautiful but troubled young mother who unknowingly possesses the wildest, strangest, and most powerful magic of all. A Sudden Wild Magic is a breathtakingly original, consistently delightful blend of fantasy and SF - a surprising, funny and warmly human adventure of wars, worlds and otherworlds that signals the dazzling emergence of a major new talent in the literary field of the fantastic.
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Product Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9780380718511
- Publisher:
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publication date:
- 01/28/1994
- Pages:
- 416
- Product dimensions:
- 3.94(w) x 7.09(h) x (d)
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