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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

The Merlin Conspiracy - spoilers

09:55 / 09.04.03

MIT SPOILERS

O frabjous day, as I said elsewhere, calloo, callay, etc. Gobbled this one up with relish... has anyone else read it yet? (I know Deva has, actually, about six months ago, the lucky so-and-so).

I think I might read it again, but my first impressions were that it was jolly good, better than The Year of the Griffin, but perhaps not quite up to Deep Secret (with which it shares a multiverse and a couple of characters) or some of the others. It's very enjoyable though - lots of plot strands and twists which straighten out in a most satisfactory manner, and the usual excellent characterisation (though I found the use of different fonts for the two narrators rather distracting, and didn't like the one they used for Roddy - these things are important...). I liked seeing some of the themes from her other books cropping up in odd places as well - a hint of the weaving from The Spellcoats, I thought the paths were a bit like the place between in The Lives of Christopher Chant, and Romanov reminded me of Joris from The Homeward Bounders... and like a lot of her books, it's got some interesting ideas about relationships between worlds and universes.

I did read it with a moderately critical eye as well, though, and I felt that there were a couple of plot devices which weren't tied in quite as well as they usually are in DWJ - for example, why does Nick travel back ten years for his first visit to Romanov; and why does the ancient hurt witch choose Roddy to download her knowledge into? (I quite liked the way Roddy makes sense of the knowledge by thinking of it in terms of computer files and am wondering whether I could do something similar to help me cope with my work...). On the other hand some of the things which were left unresolved I thought worked well - Nick's attraction to Roddy, for example. And is it me or was it left open enough for more Nick Mallory action? I also have enough faith in DWJ to think that if I went back and reread it some of these things would become clear.

Oh, but it was full of good stuff - the cities, Loggia City, Mini the elephant, the goat, the salamanders, awful Sybil. I wish Diana Wynne Jones would download her brain into mine.

No Chrestomanci, mind. I wonder if Chrestomanci is a Magid?

Tryphena Absent

13:51 / 09.04.03

I love to fit these books together. Chrestomanci certainly has the power of a magid but he seems to have magical control over a number of worlds and that makes me think that he may be a member of the Upper Rooms rather than a simple magid like Rupert or Maree. That's assuming he has any connection at all? Am I right when I say his title is enchanter??

Anyway I bought The Merlin Conspiracy and read the whole thing yesterday... I broke pitifully.

I suspect that the time thing was simply an attempt to get across Romanov's home. Allow us to understand that it exists in many different moments at once but the boys from Loggia had aged as well... it definitely bears closer reading. Perhaps when the children all appeared at Romanov's they came in at a different moment. If both the future and past exist on Romanov's island and all at once then the place where you enter would surely be important. I must read it again.

Time works differently on Blest and in Loggia City or maybe the journey on the Dark Paths mixes it up. I think I've missed something but that's why I enjoy reading these books because I always discover something new on the second reading. Actually I think this was published just when I needed it!

It was better than Year of the Griffin but that seemed to be a brief interlude. Simply a continuation of Derkholm, some chapters tacked on the end or the second part of the book, I don't think this is going to make my top 5 DWJ's though.

I was sad that we didn't get more of those moments. The first time Nick goes for breakfast in Deep Secret or the book fair with the artwork. It struck me as odd that this has been published as a children's book when its prequel is in the sci-fi/fantasy section but I'm not complaining because I bought it for £10.

19:10 / 09.04.03

Yeah, Chrestomanci is an enchanter, isn't he... and I guess that, unless the Chrestomanci multiverse is a different multiverse to the Magid one, that the Related Worlds are part of the multiverse... they seem to have similarities at any rate. Though come to think of it there aren't multiple versions of Nick, Roddy et al across the worlds are there, so they must be different. Not that it really matters two hoots, I just like to think of Chrestomanci and his dressing gown in the Upper Room (I think you're right about that...)

I think that part of the ten years thing was to allow the Loggia boys to age (otherwise you couldn't have the vital plot thingy where Japheth is childish enough to be furious when Nick laughs at him but can also

HUUUUUGE

SPOILER

be old enough in the book to pass himself off as the Merlin). But it is true that Romanov's island is built from different bits, so presumably you could explain it by saying that Nick and Mini arrive from somewhere in the past (where Loggia city is the first time, so Nick must have taken a wrong time turning before he got there) and Nick and Roddy and the goat et al arrive from 'the present' of the book the second time. Also worth noting that Grandfather Gwyn warps time as well? But I think that's because he's an Old Power as well... (I can't believe I didn't spot which one for so long, I'm rubbish)

MORE WHOPPING SPOILERS

I was very pleased with myself for spotting the Sybil/Romanov connection so early on as well (why is this book full of totally unexplainable couplings? Perhaps something to do with the way Nick and Roddy relate - where he says that you can like the look of someone but still have to get to grips with their personality - maybe that's where the adults in the books screwed up...

I thought it could easily have been published as an adult book, just as Year of the Griffin could have been a children's book. Perhaps Deep Secret is a bit more adult... there's the horrible bit where Maree gets stripped, after all. But fundamentally it doesn't really matter because it's DWJ.

Know what you mean about the moment as well - Nick's breakfast is legendary...

Tryphena Absent

19:41 / 09.04.03

Well Sudden Wild Magic really gives you the impression that only some people have doubles. I forget if Nick is originally from the series of worlds that Blest etc. are from, I'm guessing he isn't considering that they seemed quite magical but the concept must apply.

I could be completely off track but in order to work it all out I'd have to read the Chrestomanci books and my mother gave them away to some unfortunate kid with no money and crap parents who didn't read with my grudging approval. It was awful.

I suppose if you use the dark paths you could be entering another multiverse... when they were all riding on Mini I got the feeling that they were leaving one multiverse and entering another particularly when they mentioned Loggia City and the worlds around it. Blest would seem to be an Ayewards version of our Earth.

20:54 / 09.04.03

Yeah, I reckon you're right about that (or perhaps Earth is a Naywards version of Blest? I forget what the central world is called). That would mean that they'd be in the same series of Related Worlds in the Chrestomanci multiverse I suppose... and presumably since Nick and Roddy are both strong magic users they might not have counterparts to bump from world to world the way Gwendolen does in Charmed Life. Didn't it say, when they were jumping from island to island with the goat, that each one was a universe rather than a world? So... argh. Perhaps they're just different ways of approaching the same thing - Nick's way, Chrestomanci's way, the goat's way.

Nick's from the Koryfonic Empire, I don't think that's the same series as Blest or the Loggia places. Perhaps when they went up through the rock to get to the kidnapped people they were entering a different mulitverse by another different method, is that what you meant? So each world in each universe is sort of stacked up on all its counterparts in other universes. Gnnah.

Still, it's interesting to speculate...

Tryphena Absent

13:56 / 10.04.03

Well I think we've seen a number of ways to get from one universe to another/ one world to another. The first is Christopher Chant's- he walks round the fireplace and over the rocky wasteland place in to other worlds. He does appear to be from our series of worlds but I'm not sure if he walks between universes or not.

The second is the magid's way. Rupert, Maree, Maxwell Hyde and it's rather similar to Chant's but he appears to be more powerful because he can seemingly walk the dark paths. Thus Nick and Romanov are more on a level with whoever happens to be Chrestomanci- that moment when Nick sees paths intruding on the space between worlds and Hyde doesn't certainly says something.

The third is the goats way and the fourth is Mini's. The goat appears to visualise things quite differently to the humans and simply jumps about on islands. Mini just strolls along, it's a little tiring for her but her method is fluid and even more efficient than Chant's. Thus I assume that entering different worlds/universes is simply a method of bending space in a certain way and some creatures are better at it than others. I think worlds must be in a series like a string with empty space inbetween and universes, yes, stacked on top of each other because their often seems to be uphill climbing. However it seems to depend on your perception because the bloody goat just sees it differently. Yup- I'm back to the same point as you!

Christopher Chant has nine lives but it is placed as a bit of an oddity for no copies of yourself to exist unless you're an enchanter. Quite a few of the characters in Sudden Wild Magic don't have copies though so I'm assuming DWJ has discarded that notion just a little.

22:08 / 11.04.03

Then there's walking the bounds, from The Homeward Bounders, which seems similar to the dark paths (certainly the Homeward Bounders land in the middle of horrible situations like Nick does in Loggia City); and however it is they get between worlds in The Dark Lord of Derkholm (or is that another Chrestomanciverse? I can't bloody remember - it seemed rather like it. I can't remember that much about A Sudden Wild Magic either, which is rubbish, because I've reread it fairly recently) when Mr Chesney et al are shipping people across on the tours. Oh and the walking business from Hexwood, when the Reigners are travelling to Earth, don't they just walk down a series of corridors? Buggered if I can remember - perhaps I should sleep on it.

Tryphena Absent

22:21 / 11.04.03

In Derkholm they control a demon who opens a portal I think or maybe the wizards do a ritual but it's really quite different from the Magids paths. I'm not sure about the Reigner's though I love Hexwood dearly... I always get caught up in other things.

22:18 / 27.04.03

I have just reread Year of the Griffin (I'm now obsessed with griffins and think I may be in love with Kit) and at some point someone says that Mr Chesney got in because time magic stretches the edges of the world... ah, here we are:

'...it is known that if you speed time up or slow it down too often in the same place, you weaken the walls between universes and let all sorts of undesirable things through. It's thought that this is how Mr Chesney got here.'

But then again, that is Corkoran, so maybe to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Incidentally, my father was reading The Merlin Conspiracy when I was at home last weekend and he also thought the ending was a bit abrupt - glad it wasn't just me. So perhaps there'll be another. I do remember reading somewhere that DWJ has another one on the go.

13:31 / 23.08.04

News - can this be true - of a new DWJ to be published next spring: Conrad's Fate, in the Chrestomanci world. Can anyone confirm? I shall rejoin the DWJ list...

16:16 / 23.08.04

Kit-Kat - yes!! (I'm on the DWJ list and it would be good to see you there, btw - sorry I didn't post when the news broke, it got eaten by the thesis like every-bloody-thing else). It is from the point of view of the eponymous Conrad, and Christopher Chant is in it, aged 15, the very thought of all of which makes me faint with lust and joy. Neil Gaiman has read it, apparently, and says it's better than Magicians of Caprona and as good as Charmed Life/Lives of CC (someone posted a quote from his blog).

Thanks for bumping this thread, btw, Kit-Kat - it passed me by a bit at the time for some reason & I realize I never posted about Merlin Conspiracy. (Also very interested to find that you like Deep Secret a lot; it's probably in my bottom three DWJs, together with A Sudden Wild Magic and Fire and Hemlock. All of which I like a lot compared to 'all the books in the world', or even 'all the children's fantasy in the world' - just not much compared to, say, Howl's Moving Castle or Charmed Life or, indeed, The Merlin Conspiracy.)

09:33 / 24.08.04

I think that the DWJ books I like most are usually the ones I've read most, and lately that has had a lot to do with which ones I happen to have with me... hence my fondness for Year of the Griffin, even though it is perhaps the most stopgappy of all her novels, which I have had actually in my room/flat for the last two years, when I've had few or none of the others, sob, sniff.

So my least favourites would probably be ones like Wilkin's Tooth, Eight Days of Luke and Dogsbody (though when I reread Dogsbody I loved it, so it is obviously a moveable feast). I'm not best fond of Cart and Cwidder or A Sudden Wild Magic either. But as you say, this is a separate DWJ scale, not to be confused with a scale on which other works of children's literature/YA fantasy appear...

09:35 / 24.08.04

And actually since most of my old copies are in need of replacing (and someone has borrowed Howl and not returned it - Haus?) I might end up rereading them all and revising my opinion.

(beetles off to join DWJ list)

Tryphena Absent

10:13 / 24.08.04

After deep consideration of the 'if one book existed above all others which would I want it to be' variety- if I had to choose one to save above all others it would be the Lives of Christopher Chant, partly because it's wonderful, partly because of the slaughter of mermaids, partly because of the girl. I almost cried the first time I finished it, the pain of separation was so great. The crime is that I don't have a copy.

There's something wrong in that I can't not post to this thread if it's at the top of the list.

ONLY NICE THINGS

10:51 / 24.08.04

I think I do indeed have your Howl, K-CC. I shall render unto.

I think I place the Chrestomanci books on a higher level than most of the others, just because the characters and the world are so well-realised, and also so *lovely*. People being lovely is an important part of the DWJ experience for me, which is why The Dark Lord of Derkholm is possibly my other favourite (I read Year of the Griffin first, which was a bit of an error, but order was restored), along with Howl's moving castle and Archer's Goon...

Might I ask why you don't like Fire and Hemlock, Deva? I am never convinced by the ending, but find it v. well-written - although so gaspingly, achingly sad so much of the time...

13:53 / 24.08.04

Oh, there are stunning bits in Fire & Hemlock; Ivy, Polly's bad mother, is one of the best characters in DWJ, and (following Anna de L) if I had to save passages from DWJ, rather than whole books, the bit where Polly's dad lets his girlfriend covertly throw Polly out of the flat in Bristol would make the shortlist - it's a breathtaking, subtle and precise evocation of a very complicated yet hugely simple situation (sort of like a YA haiku). But overall, it's just not one of my favourites. It has to do with the relation between the mundane and the magical worlds, and I think in the end it comes down to this: it's almost the only one (together with Deep Secret, one of my other least favourites) of DWJ's books where the 'real world' is portrayed as less worthwhile, duller and not as good as the 'fantasy world'. I thought about this at some length recently for a discussion on the DWJ list and will look out some of my posts, because there are other reasons, too: I think she fudges the Polly/Tom relationship, for example (I think Ann-Vierran/Mordion in Hexwood - and Sophie/Howl in Howl, for that matter - work much better as portraits of a cross-age relationship, partly because they mobilize the age difference metaphorically and so are able to address it more directly, in a way).

ONLY NICE THINGS

13:25 / 25.08.04

Oh, there are stunning bits in Fire & Hemlock; Ivy, Polly's bad mother, is one of the best characters in DWJ, and (following Anna de L) if I had to save passages from DWJ, rather than whole books, the bit where Polly's dad lets his girlfriend covertly throw Polly out of the flat in Bristol would make the shortlist - it's a breathtaking, subtle and precise evocation of a very complicated yet hugely simple situation (sort of like a YA haiku).

Ah... yes, actually, I think you are explaining that very well, rather better than I understood my own reaction to the book. These sections really affected me, partly I suspect because they are about childhod as a series of moments of sadness over circumstances over which one has no control. Ivy comlaining at the end about how she has earned her bit of happiness, having sucked happiness out of herself and everyone around her... (shudder)

But the actual plot comes at me as something of a muddle... and the Tom/Polly relationship is a bit weird... I think the only way to make sense of it is to assume that she gets his age absolutely bang wrong the first time they meet...

14:54 / 25.08.04

I think so - Polly, as a child, sees Tom as a grown-up, and therefore 'old', when he is probably in his late teens/early twenties (isn't this the age at which the queen, whose name I have forgotten, picks her victims, more or less?) - so, x years later, the gap is not outrageously huge. However, I still find it very disturbing that Tom, whatever age he is, apparently picks Polly, still a child, not even verging on adolescence, and... er... sends her anonymous presents etc. (though the descriptions of Polly reading the books, and the bit where she tries to rewrite the Lord of the Rings, are very happy-making). He's almost grooming her, really. It is rather icky.

19:03 / 08.09.04

Alas, still insufficient headspace to say anything of substance - but I just wanted to check that you people were all aware that Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli (of Spirited Away fame) have made a movie of Howl's Moving Castle, which has aired at the Venice Film Festival? Who knows when it will come to England, but here are two reviews: one from Livejournal and one from Yahoo News. I am, as can probably be imagined, looking forward to this more than can possibly be imagined. (I'm posting about it now because I saw Spirited Away for the first time this week and fell very in love with it.)

11:22 / 09.09.04

Argh I knew that Studio Ghibli was making it, but I didn't know it had been FINISHED. Ohmygod ohmygod - when is it out, whenisit whenisit whenisit

I'm so excited I've just eaten an entire tub of hummus reading the reviews.

14:16 / 09.09.04

argh too exciting...

11:20 / 11.09.04

Get yourself some more hummus, Kit-Kat...

longish review with picture of Howl

I luuuurve him.

11:46 / 13.09.04

I love the castle. Is it possible to be in love with a castle?

Tryphena Absent

14:40 / 13.09.04

He's almost grooming her, really. It is rather icky.

He is grooming her to save him from Laurel. Then as she grows up he feels guilty. And then she chooses him anyway as victims often do because the book is about abuse and the utter and complete inability to let go of it. And of course the worst thing about it is that you don't really want them to let go of it either. Which is why it's a tough book to like because it is quite horrible but loaded with insight.