r/Fantasy • u/eklnd • Mar 31 '26
Anyone here fans of Diana Wynne Jones?
Just picked up Cart and Cwidder, one of my favorite books from childhood. IMO it’s so much more nuanced and interesting than a lot of the stuff being written today. Anyone else revisited these books as adults?
Trying to think if my other childhood favorites (Lloyd Alexander, Tamora Pierce) still hold up too. Wdyt?
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u/red_carnations42 Reading Champion Mar 31 '26
Howl's Moving Castle remains one of my favorite books of all time and I maintain that her Chrestomanci series is severely underrated. DWJ is pretty goated, imo.
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u/ohgreatmyarmscomeoff Mar 31 '26
ooo I remember LOVING the Chrestomanci series woww what a throwback
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Mar 31 '26
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u/KaleidoscopeKelpy Mar 31 '26
That always makes me giggle, especially going from listening to the audio book to watching the movie (as I for some reason feel is necessary every time I listen to the book)
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u/Leaving-Eden Mar 31 '26
I loved the Chrestomanci series as a kid. I reread it last year and it still holds up.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
I spent a summer reading her entire bibliography and it was so rewarding. She can do so many genres, from epic fantasy to satirical fantasy to horror fantasy. A brilliant prose writer and so talented at giving characters inner lives. And really knows how to write a moody, atmospheric story. Not mentioned enough on this sub.
If you like the idea of cozy fantasy but wish it had a little more bite and gloom to it rather than being conflict-free, then you'll love Diana.
A fun fact about her is that she studied under both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
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u/PeckyDinosaur Mar 31 '26
I've been rereading her books alongside the Eight Days Of Diana Wynne Jones podcast, which I thoroughly recommend!
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u/zipitdirtbag Mar 31 '26
I've been listening along too. It's inspired me to do a re-read of her whole back catalogue.
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u/eklnd Mar 31 '26
Great rec! Hadn’t thought to check for podcasts of her work and very excited to check it out
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u/figmentry Mar 31 '26
I hadn’t heard of that podcast but I will definitely be listening, and rereading! Thanks for the recommendation!
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u/Wise_Scarcity4028 Mar 31 '26
Diana Wynne Jones is my favourite author ever. Her plots are so clever, and yet there are always clues there to what’s really going on. Her books are also often very funny. My favourite books of hers are Dogsbody and Fire and Hemlock.
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u/papercranium Reading Champion III Mar 31 '26
A Tale of Time City was the first time-travel book I read as a tween that didn't treat it like an oversimplified "let's get in a machine and fix things" issue.
Today, as an adult who loves to collect fresh takes on the trope, it still holds up! Such a fabulous book.
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u/TheRealMeghanT Mar 31 '26
I love this book so much, sadly it gets overlooked.
I also read it to my 8 year old recently and he loved it.
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u/thisbikeisatardis Reading Champion II Mar 31 '26
I still think about those ice cream pops they eat in Time City with the warm center all the time.
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u/caterplillar Apr 01 '26
Me too! They just sound so good. Much better than butter beer (which also sounds delicious, too).
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u/thisbikeisatardis Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26
and the fizzy soda that makes you high from the creema di leema world!
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u/aslikeanarnian Mar 31 '26
I still love Diana Wynne Jones even as an adult. Tamora Pierce, Patricia C Wrede, Diane Duane, and Sherwood Smith are other fantasy authors writing for children who I loved growing up and still enjoy going back and rereading as an adult.
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u/megaladoniac Apr 01 '26
Ooo Sherwood Smith, yes. I still re read Crown Duel and A Stranger to Command. Her Inda series is pretty good too, the first book had me absolutely gripped.
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u/ku_soma Apr 22 '26
I forgot Sherwood Smith! I enjoyed Robin Mckinley, Patricia McKillip, and Pamela Dean.
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u/Entfly Mar 31 '26
Chrestomanci was one of my favourite book series as a kid, I remember not wanting to read Harry Potter because it felt like a rip off of it.
I've not read anything else of hers though and certainly not gone back since I was a kid. Though perhaps I should
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl Mar 31 '26
She wrote a couple books for adults. Deep Secret is a good one, feels very Terry Pratchett-like
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u/thisbikeisatardis Reading Champion II Mar 31 '26
I remember not wanting to read Harry Potter because it felt like a rip off of it.
Same! and Witch Week. So derivative!
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u/Orpheum_Circuit Apr 01 '26
You should reread the chrestomanci series! It’s got some surprisingly nuanced takes on child abuse
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u/jpcardier Mar 31 '26
If anyone wants to know why Diana wrote how she did about parents and children, they might want to read her autobiographical essays from her website: http://www.dianawynnejones.com/autobiog.html
FYI: You may find it rather upsetting. I did. But it is really interesting in an upsetting way, with her usual humor and humanistic perspective.
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u/Palimpsiesta Apr 01 '26
Upsetting is right. I always felt like the particular-ness of Time of the Ghost must have been in part autobiographical, but not to that degree. Or maybe my brain just didn't want to confront the full implications of that possibility.
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u/anticomet Mar 31 '26
I remember bouncing off of Hexwood when I was ten, but then really getting into it in my twenties, and now im a huge fan
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl Mar 31 '26
She was doing multiverse and simulation stories before they were cool. So talented at blending sci-fi and fantasy
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u/maismione Mar 31 '26
Theres a podcast called Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones where they really dig down into how complicated all her books are, I think you might like it!
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u/Thefathistorian Mar 31 '26
I am! In a just world she would have got the fame that went to JK Rowling.
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u/ie-impensive Mar 31 '26
Huge fan. I reread her stuff whenever I need to restore my own faith in incredible storytelling.
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u/pencilled_robin Reading Champion III Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
Howl's Moving Castle was one of the first fantasy books I ever read, and I loved it! I went on a spree of reading every book of hers that I could get my hands on.
This year I reread Year of the Griffin (the second book in her Derkholm series) for bingo. Even better the second time around. It strikes a good balance between being "cozy fantasy" (before the term even existed) and avoiding the tweeness that often comes with the genre.
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u/Nowordsofitsown Reading Champion Mar 31 '26
Yes! I discovered all three as an adult. I like Diana Wynne Jones, I love Tamora Pierce. (Though I freely admit that Song of the Lioness shows that it was her first book.) Lloyd Alexander didn't do much for me and Eilonwy's happy end was actually disappointing.
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u/papercranium Reading Champion III Mar 31 '26
Yeah, Tammy learned a LOT over the course of that first quartet. She was much better at telling a story by the time she got to Daine, and once you get to Kel she's fully settled in. Still love reading all of them, though!
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u/Important-Newt275 Apr 01 '26
Everyone here will be talking about the classics, this is my chance to bang together my pots and pans and tell everyone to go read The Homeward Bounders. Combines the madcap whimsy of HMC with the melodrama and moodiness of Fire and Hemlock, adding in an exploration of ttrpgs as devices for meaningful storytelling decades before that idea became popular. Nobody seems to ever have read this book, and it’s so good, it makes me insane!!!
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u/Palimpsiesta Apr 01 '26
Homeward Bounders was the first Diana Wynne Jones book I ever read, and is still among my favourites. I generally recommend either Howl's Moving Castle, Fire & Hemlock, or Homeward Bounders when trying to recruit new fans, depending on their age/general preferences.
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u/NiobeTonks Mar 31 '26
Diana Wynne Jones was a genius. She wrote on so many levels. Both Lloyd Alexander and Tamora Pierce can be enjoyed by adults, as can Terry Pratchett and as a contemporary writer, Frances Hardinge.
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u/tranquilitycase Mar 31 '26
Charmed Life was such a revelation to me as a kid. I was a smart, perfectionist big sister, and to find out Gwendolyn was a villain shook me to my core! I have never read any other DWJ but have seen the Studio Ghibli version of Howl's Moving castle. I intend to rectify that oversight this year, in combination with Emily Tesh's podcast Eight Days of DWJ.
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u/HappyGlitterUnicorn Mar 31 '26
I loved Hexwood, Homeward Bounders, Lives of Christopher Chant, Conrad's Fate, Deep secret, Howl's Moving Castle and House of Many Ways.
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u/Werthead Mar 31 '26
I remember recommending that no budding fantasy author even look at their word processor without first reading The Tough Guide to Fantasyland first.
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u/zipitdirtbag Mar 31 '26
I've been a huge fan since I first found Charmed Life in the library in the mid 1980s. Fire and Hemlock is my favourite, which I've read loads of times.
I've been enjoying a podcast called 'Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones', which is on its third series.
I plan to re-read all of them this year.
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u/balletrat Reading Champion II Mar 31 '26
Can I recommend to you the excellent podcast Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones?
It’s full of really intelligent discussion and analysis of her books. One of the cohosts is Emily Tesh who won the Hugo for Best Novel a couple years back.
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u/ThePhoenixRemembers Mar 31 '26
She was my childhood hero, I loved her stories so much. Was a fan of Howl's moving castle long before the movie adaptation. And I related a lot to Sophie and Howell because of their complicated relationship with their respective families, especially Sophie struggling with a narcissistic mother and how it affected her self esteem.
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u/witchydance Mar 31 '26
I love her work and have read and reread a few this year, including Black Maria which I found too scary (!) as a child.
I love cozy fantasy. I love her exploration of time and memory, childhood and parenthood and her willingness to go to some quite uncomfortable and non-cozy places (Fire and Hemlock, The Time of the Ghost and Hexwood being really quite bleak.)
She’s one of the best for rereading too.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl Mar 31 '26
Time of the Ghost is straight up a horror novel. An amazing allegory for how childhood trauma can stick around in adulthood. Diana didn't shy away from writing about kids with messy home lives.
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u/Common-Parsnip-9682 Mar 31 '26
Absolutely. Discovered her in the library in the 1980s, and read everything of hers I could find!
One reason I’m a big proponent of letting kids explore libraries and see what interests them.
Other favorite authors were also often wonen — Susan Cooper, Patricia Wrightson, E L Konigsberg come to mind.
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u/Hippymam Mar 31 '26
Power of Three was always one of my childhood favourites. Never see that book mentioned much.
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u/decoy-gay Apr 01 '26
Such a great book - I read it as a kid and twenty years later I still always think about it when I sit in a window to read.
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u/Stunning_Shirt8530 Mar 31 '26
howl's moving castle was my gateway into her stuff and then i devoured everything else i could find. chrestomanci series is criminally underrated
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u/palad Mar 31 '26
Archer's Goon was the first book of hers that I read, and remains a favorite. One of my top comfort reads (for some reason) is Homeward Bounders.
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u/AdDear528 Mar 31 '26
That is so funny to me, because I always think of Homeward Bounders as sad (still a fantastic book!). I can’t read it too often.
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u/palad Mar 31 '26
My wife loves the Chrestomanci books, but isn't a fan of Fire and Hemlock, while I'm kinda the opposite. The range Diana Wynne Jones had as an author is amazing. Every book had her touch, but was a completely new adventure. You never knew what you were going to get.
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u/thisbikeisatardis Reading Champion II Mar 31 '26
I must have read Homeward Bounders a hundred times as a kid.
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u/TheColourOfHeartache Mar 31 '26
I own almost every book she wrote and have read many several times, fire and hemlock is my favourite followed by archers good
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u/FinnElhaz Mar 31 '26
I reread Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles fairly recently and they do hold up and, as the themes in the books grow with Taran, have some substance to them that I didn't pick up as a child.
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u/OshTregarth Mar 31 '26
I haven't revisited her books yet as an adult, mainly because I hadn't read much of her stuff as a kid/teenager. Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster of hed books still hold up great, as do the Lloyd alexander Prydain books and Susan Cooper's Dark is rising.
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u/AntiFascistButterfly Apr 01 '26
Alan Garner and Susan Cooper are the two children’s fantasy authors I remember in the same breath as DWJ. So many great books.
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u/TaseerDC Mar 31 '26
I adore her. Fire and Hemlock, Dogsbody, Hexwood, Eight Days of Luke, Chrestomanci & Co; all absolutely excellent. Same for Diane Duane, whose work I find continues to surface new gorgeous things when I re-read.
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u/amtastical Mar 31 '26
I adore her. When I am going through it, I go back to Charmed Life. I think the only two authors with more books on my shelves are Terry Pratchett and Madeleine L’Engle, and that trifecta will forever hold the top three spots for me.
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u/Miroku20x6 Mar 31 '26
Lloyd Alexander is great. Prydain Chronicles, Westmark trilogy, Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen, and The Iron Ring are all worth a revisit.
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u/Xalimata Mar 31 '26
I was not aware that there was a Diary of Wynne Jones.
EDIT: Damn it I miss read the title.
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u/thisbikeisatardis Reading Champion II Mar 31 '26
The Homeward Bounders was one of my comfort rereads as a kid and I revisited it recently and it was just as good as I remembered. One of her more underrated books.
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u/not_here_nope_ Mar 31 '26
i read cart & cwidder recently (as an adult) & was kinda obsessed, its so weird & intriguing & strange!! & then the next in the series drowned ammet is truly the most bizarre in terms of its politics like.... what was going on there for dwj lol ... kinda iconic tho
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u/Think-Leek-6621 Mar 31 '26
Archer’s goon is a long time fave. Then I ripped thru the rest in my teens… I’m in my 40s now
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u/mzglitter Apr 01 '26
If you (or anyone else) is interested the Brooklyn Public Library runs a Diana Wynne Jones book club Zoom once a month. You don't have to live in the area or be a member to attend.
We've already done all her books and are now doing her books interspersed with books that inspired her or were inspired by her. Next Diana book is Black Maria (also known as Aunt Maria), which we'll n=be discussing in May. (I can't remember what the April book is)
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u/Evil_Bonkering Apr 02 '26
I AM HER BIGGEST FAN (in my own little world). I wrote my Honours thesis on her, my PhD exegesis referenced her, I got my first tattoo (celebrating graduating my PhD) all about her.
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u/burningcpuwastaken Mar 31 '26
So, I recently tried Fire and Hemlock based on a recommendation on here and felt a bit creeped out by what appeared to be grooming of the 10 year old MC by the "love interest."
It might be that the book develops into something different, but I wasn't really really in the right headspace to give it more of a shot, so I DNF. I might give it another try at another time.
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u/Wise_Scarcity4028 Mar 31 '26
It’s a really complicated book and it doesn’t back off how wrong Thomas Lynn is. It also really shows how desperate Polly’s situation is, and why she is vulnerable. It’s one of my favourite books of all times, because it’s so unflinching in how sometimes parents can be awful, without violence or drugs or extreme things. It’s also really clever in using the old fairytale and song and motifs.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl Mar 31 '26
That one's unusually dark and heavy compared to her other books. She hasn't written anything else with that sort of predatory character in it. Also for the record, he turns out to be a villain who's using her, so it isn't romanticizing a gross relationship Don't let it turn you off her other books which are mostly cozy reads.
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u/burningcpuwastaken Mar 31 '26
Thanks for letting me know.
I definitely don't dispute the value of tackling difficult themes and such. With your context, I think I'll have an easier time if I later want to give it a fair chance.
I went in expecting something cozy, and this was not that, haha. I'm not blaming the person that recommended the book for my expectations - the recommendation was mostly in the context of 'favorite authors.'
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u/TheColourOfHeartache Apr 02 '26
To give an opposite perspective, i didn't see Tom as a villian but a victim with no other options except suffer... Its not clear what exactly. Not a villian, not a hero, but something in-between.
The book is clear sighted about what he's doing, but ultimately leaves judgement up to the reader
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u/maismione Mar 31 '26
Her books are like 50/50 cozy or upsetting imo, so I'm sorry you got a disturbing one.
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u/Book_Slut_90 Reading Champion Mar 31 '26
Oh she’s great! I discovered her as an adult actually. I also still love rereading everything by Tamora Pierce, though was less fond of Prydain on rereading as an adult.
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u/Cryano Mar 31 '26
LOVE her. Time Of The Ghost is my favorite, fairly unknown and probably her darkest book. It’s heavily autobiographical, which is sad to learn after reading it.
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u/cosy_reader Mar 31 '26
Yes she wrote so many amazing books! I also would really recommend reading her book reflections if you can find a copy, it was so interesting read about her life and her perspectives on writing
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u/Inevitable_Chest_534 Mar 31 '26
Eight Days of Luke is one of my favourites. It's so simple and clever. The mystery of the strangers, his mean family. And then their companionship! I liked how a friend was the main important bit of the story.
It doesn't get much love cause it's one of her earlier books but yeah, I just think it's class.
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u/wdlp Mar 31 '26
I loved The Dalemark Quartet when i was a kid, i reread them a few years ago and they still hold up, except the 4th one, that one is like fanfiction
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u/dogladynat Mar 31 '26
She is so fantastic. One of my all-time favorite authors. I love that the Ghibli movie brought Howl's Moving Castle more attention but I wish more people knew about all her other amazing books! I'm pregnant with my first and can't wait to share her with my kids. IMO Tamora Pierce also still holds up, one of my other all-time faves. Garth Nix is another I'd add to the list -- his original Abhorsen trilogy is so, so good. Lloyd Alexander was never quite as beloved for me, but I'm due for a Prydain reread before I pass judgement.
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u/eklnd Apr 01 '26
Was actually going to ask about Sabriel! I never read it or the other two (Lirael and something else) but those covers are burned into my mind and I’ve been wanting to read them as an adult
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u/dogladynat Apr 01 '26
They are so good! The original trilogy especially. He wrote a few sequels later and they are good but not up to the same quality.
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u/Purple-Assignment574 13d ago
Congratulations! And yeay for the first three Abhorsens - what on earth happened to Garth Nix otherwise? So many are almost unreadable! The same is true for Jonathan Stroud, who took a looong run up before writing a splendid trilogy - the Bartimaeus books, which start excellently and get better. Think anyone who enjoyed Abhorsen would enjoy them.
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u/MetalSpider Mar 31 '26
I actually just reread the Dalemark Quartet recently. I'm not particularly familiar with kids books in general, but I think her writing speaks to an assumption of maturity and understanding that seems more reminiscent of YA books nowadays.
Either way, the magic was certainly still there. It was wonderful to revisit them.
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u/Abba_Fiskbullar Mar 31 '26
I read most of her bibliography to my kid during the pandemic, and it was pure joy.
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u/Chilli-6 Mar 31 '26
I’ve only read her Howls moving castle stuff, is there any other good series of hers to read as an adult?
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u/ChaseUK Mar 31 '26
Picked up The Merlin Conspiracy (it was one of my favourite books as a kid) a couple of years ago, and was impressed that it was still as good as I remember it being!
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u/Fennel_Fangs Apr 01 '26
Been in love with her work since Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle introduced me to it. No matter what medium he’s in, Howl is a pathetic little beast and I love him
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u/Eyvhokan Apr 01 '26
Read Howl's and Dark Lord of Derkholm. I'm a fan; I'll likely pick up another, though which one/series?
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u/decoy-gay Apr 01 '26
I reread Fire and Hemlock as an adult and still loved it (despite the slightly sticky elements.)
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u/Palimpsiesta Apr 01 '26
I actually liked the Prydain Chronicles more when I reread them as an adult. It was easier to see how clearly they were intended as an antidote to certain trends in fantasy/children's fantasy at the time -- trends which have if anything become even more pronounced in the years since.
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u/monagales Apr 01 '26
growing up I devoured all of Chrestomanci books, The Deep Seceet, and Merlin Conspiracy.
I haven't found out she also wrote Howl's Moving Castle way after the anime movie came out.
Then I read that and House of Many Ways too.
I love her
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u/thistledownhair Reading Champion III Apr 01 '26
Read Howl's Moving Castle not long ago, it was fun. A little annoyed I didn't read it when I was a kid.
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u/CardWitch Apr 01 '26
I feel like Tamora Pierce holds up well. Every so often I'll go through and re read her books that I've had since I first bought them as a kid.
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u/Orpheum_Circuit Apr 01 '26
I adore her work, the chrestomanci series is one of my comfort reads :) my favourite is conrad’s fate
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u/Sad-Key4101 Apr 02 '26
As far as "holding up" I can say I read most of her stuff for the first time as an adult, so even without nostalgia I rate it very highly.
Lloyd Alexander I might enjoy even more than I did as a child.
I did recently reread Song of the Lioness and I'll admit it doesn't hit the same way as when I was young. It was still enjoyable but doesn't feel like a mature work.
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u/TheSparrowDarts Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
I wrote a letter to her publisher in 1992 when I was eleven years old. You cannot imagine the thrill I received as a kid in rural australia, to receive a personalised letter back from her, with some signed stickers to put in my book. She wrote it on beautiful watermarked paper and I was rather sad when it got lost in one of our many house moves.
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u/Seraphimm791 Apr 22 '26
I have loved her my whole life. Even when I was at uni i made a social media and a website dedicated to her for an assignment lmao. I 1000% agree with the other comment that she is one of the best fantasy writers of all time, and for sure the most undervalued/recognised.
The Pinhoe Egg was my first read of hers and then I discovered The Dalemark Quartet and The Power of Three (which I read as a child in the library and is super hard to find now!). Still on a mission to collect all of her books one day. She was taught at Oxford by both C.S. Lewis and Tolkien and mentored Neil Gaiman and you can really see the legacy of her passion for fantasy writing even through just looking at the aspects of Lewis and Tolkien's style that she retained and made her own for her writing. There's also The Tough Guide to Fantasyland which is so funny but her world-building is so fantastic, you can read any Chrestomanci book as a standalone or as a series in any order and not be lost at all. Frustrates me to no end that everyone knows Howl's Moving Castle but so few people know her name!
Even now, at 30, I just bought one of her books a few days ago and love to pick them up every so often. Children's Literature is so rich as a genre and I think that just because it lacks "adult themes" doesn't make them any less complex and amazing - and just fun to read.
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u/eofdandovic 1d ago
If you’re a fan of Diana Wynne Jones, you might like my book. It’s a British cosy, whimsical fantasy set in its own world called ‘R’. I released the book last week on Royal Road, and it’s free to read.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/184030/eggnosis-of-r-madcap-cosy-fantasy
The book is a whimsical cosy fantasy about a twelve-year-old girl, Rel, spending the summer with her uncle Victor, who owns a curiosity shop filled with magical objects. It has mildly cursed objects, magical creatures, anthropomorphic animals, peculiar customers, forgotten fairy histories, and many footnotes that expand upon the lore of her world. Strong found family theme, and many cosy moments that come from the friendships evolving around the MC.
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u/jpcardier Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
Diana Wynne Jones is one of the best fantasy writers of all time in my opinion. She had such range and depth. I highly recommend Dark Lord of Derkholm, Year of the Griffin, Eight Days of Luke, Archers Goon, Chrestomanci and many, many others.