#the dalemark quartet

[yonayona]

Long live the king

[no-where-new-hero]

I'm applying for a Diana Wynne Jones Community on here, so if you're interested in being invited to it should it be approved, please interact with this post!

[the-dust-jacket]

[dianawynnejonesfan]

I was at a concert about a month ago where all the musicians were playing music from the 1600s on surviving instruments from the 1600s (there was something very like a violin but not quite and a 6 stringed curvier cello). Anyway I just kept thinking of the Cwidder from Dalemark, which I previously struggled to imagine lasting so long with regular use.

[thenegoteator]

Finished the dalemark quartet yesterday and I may never recover

[thenugking]

Can't believe the revisionist historians in Dalemark who had the official translation of the Spellcoats claim Kars Adon died, when what really happened is that he united the land by marrying Hern.

This is a hill I will die on, they're gay as fuck for each other and Kars Adon absolutely did Not need to die and use his dying breath to name Hern his heir for the plot to work. So mad DWJ killed him but also so delighted that the story we actually read is a translation the glossary says is not entirely accurate.

[silvereyedowl]

There's also The Merlin Conspiracy, the sequel to Deep Secret that's about interdimensional conspiracies and a government plot in an alternate British Isles.

The Dalemark Quartet is written in a totally different style than her usual, and follows four teens/preteens in the titular kingdom.

Year of the Griffin is the sequel to Dark Lord and follows Derk's daughter as she goes to university.

I've seen increasing buzz around here about Howl's Moving Castle (book). I think you all deserve to know that all of Diana Wynne Jones's books are filled with characters and plots that are absolutely as delightful and unhinged as that one.

Some Actual Plots include:

Dogsbody - The star Sirius is accused of murder and sentenced to exile on Earth in the body of a dog until he finds a magical item called a Zoi. He's adopted by a young Irish girl living with her abusive and neglectful English relatives. He has to balance his desire to find the Zoi with needing to be a Good Dog for the girl who takes care of him. Also the Wild Hunt is there. Hexwood - A girl finds a magical wood behind her house where she meets a wizard who thinks he's a convict of the intergalactic government, a boy created by the man to destroy said government, and a robot found in a junk heap. The magic wood is actually an alternate reality being generated by an AI who has a grudge to settle with the head of said government. The book is about abuse, PTSD, and trauma. The Dark Lord of Derkholm - Magical world is being destroyed by a company using it as an isekai amusement park for people from another dimension. Bio-wizard is appointed Dark Lord for the year, and he and his family (four of whom are bioengineered griffins) have to find a way to survive the season while everything is going wrong. Deep Secret - Interdimensional detective/diplomat/wizard needs to find a replacement for his deceased mentor. He does so at a fantasy convention, while trying to keep an interdimensional empire from collapsing into civil war after the emperor is assassinated along with all of his heirs.

She's an absolute master at weaving fantasy elements into the mundane world and writing from the PoV of kids. Her books are funny, clever, and full of delightful characters. I'm begging you all to check them out.

[deborahocarroll]

Wrapup: #MarchMagics 2022!

Recapping my recent #DianaWynneJones and #TerryPratchett adventures!

Time got away from me (clearly! XD), but it’s time to look back at the Diana Wynne Jones and Pratchett related goodness I got up to in March — and, actually, April as well! I didn’t manage to finish up my March Magics goals during the month since I got crazy busy, so I carried on a bit of the reading in April, which was rather nice, actually. And now that I’m trying to ease back into blogging, I…

[tanoraqui]

Help! An Immortal Wizard Disguised as a Museum Assistant Sent Me 200 Years Into the Past, and Now Everyone Thinks I’m the God-Chosen Destined Queen and I’m Surrounded by Cute Boys!

^ the hit new* light novel by Diana Wynne Jones

*published 1996, also called The Crown of Dalemark

[yonayona]

the spellcoat family sketches

[dianawynnejonesfan]

I think about this all the time.

losing my mind once again over the dalemark quartet. how many other fantasy series let the industrial revolution happen

[syrupfog]

No one better to repair an ancient map than the navigator and the archaeologist of the ship.

[windsroad]

“That's right! Pick on me!" Mitt called. "Tireless Mitt they call me. Think I don't wear out or something?" He turned to the figure of Libby Beer. "Excuse me, lady. She wants you to wake me if there's trouble. She thinks I'm made of the same stuff as what you are.”

lol. lmao, even

[dianawynnejonesfan]

What do we think of Lenina?

Could interpret her as loving Ganner and Clennen, loving Ganner and hating Clennen but staying cause of duty, having Clennen murdered, or just being relentlessly practical (needing someone to look after her 3 kids).

She went with Clennen (cause magic) but she stayed with him and had 3 kids and he was clearly willing to take her back to Ganner cause he says so

She seems to hate Cart life and takes off to Ganner immediately when Clennen is murdered, and has been meeting with Ganner in the towns they go though. So did she know Clennen was going to be murdered?

[namedafterflowerstournament]

Botanic Tournament : Main Bracket !

Round 1 Poll U

Tanaqui means "rushes" in-universe, although it breaks down into "younger sister"

(Rushes and cosmos flowers)

[carrotcouple]

Book Thoughts: Cart and Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones

*knock knock* I got it into my head that I wanted to talk about the books I read and how I felt about them and try not to spoil them so that if anyone reads this post they can pick up the book without knowing everything that happens in it.

So 'Cart and Cwidder' is from "The Dalemark Quartet". Publication wise it is the first book to have been published. Chronologically however, it is the third book in the series. I decided to read the series in publication order. For those of you who recognize the name, yes! It is the same author who wrote Howl's Moving Castle! I actually read the fourth book (chronologically and publication wise) randomly when I was a child cause I found it in a library and none of it's friends were around.

From my understanding each book in the Dalemark Quartet is about a different character's story and all these characters end up significant characters in the fourth and last book. With heavy Welsh Mythology and Celtic Mythology roots, the Dalemark Quartet is a fun vibe for those who liked Arthurian Mythology too!

Cart and Cwidder is about a family of Singers (consider them traveling bards). Moril, the youngest son of the family, is the main character. He's dreamy but level headed and rather detached from the world. He tends to go where the wind takes him. His family travels between the North and South of Dalemark often, singing songs and talking to people. The North and South have a horrible relationship and tensions are rising. War seems to be looming on the horizon.

Now that my brief summary is over, lemme talk about how I enjoyed the book, my overall impression of the characters and the themes that I gleaned from the story.

Moril was an incredibly fun character to read. His dreaminess and detachedness led to a very broad view of the story. The story was, of course, written in third person but it was through his point of view. He was fairly content to remain stagnant in that dreamy state at the beginning of the story, but when the ball starts rolling and the plot catches him, he has to learn to grow into his own person, realize that the stagnant dreaminess was his calling to pave his own path as a Singer and eventually lead him to play the blessed Cwidder. He grows in leaps and bounds in this story, hearing the music in the wind and letting it carry him.

Brid was fun! As the only daughter in the family, she was naturally closer to her mom, but she didn't quite have the same steadiness. In fact, it's mentioned on more than one occasion that she needed to be in performance mode in order to do anything in public. Yet despite being in performance mode, she had no qualms with integrating her personal emotions and her real personality into the story. It was incredibly endearing how halfway through the story, her siblings and Kialan let her take the reigns in familial stuff. She was cute and young and wore her heart on her sleeve, but she too grew by the end of the story.

Kialan, who is a boy the family takes in to travel with them briefly is prickly and annoying (to Moril and Brid) at first. He's a smart and no nonsense kind of person who is always looking over his shoulder and trying to keep himself safe. He has one goal and has been trying to achieve that goal for a long time, sometimes no matter what cost it comes at. However, by the end of the story he grows incredibly attached to Moril and Brid. Ready to trade in those self survival instincts and smarts, just for them.

There are other characters, but these three were the central ones, so I really will not talk about the others.

'Cart and Cwidder' is a children's adventure story, not unlike "The Dark Is Rising Sequence" and "The Chronicles of Narnia". So you can expect going into the story that the characters will behave like children, but will often have that beautiful view of the world that adults do not have. 'Cart and Cwidder' is actually fairly dark though, so keep that in mind going into the story.

Music was a central theme, since Moril plays a Cwidder and sings and Brid sings too. Music reaching people, telling people stories, news, about their loved ones, is something explored heavily. But music having power is explored too. How music can move mountains, stop wars, make the most alert soldier sleep, make the hardest heart melt.

It is somewhat of a coming of age or a self discovery story on Moril's end. Throughout the story he struggles with what kind of music he wants to make and what music means to him. The fact that his Cwidder holds power that deeply unsettles him adds flavor to his struggle. He learns to find himself, what he wants, acknowledges the power he holds as a person, a musician and a storyteller and also realizes what he wants to do with that.

Truth is an incredibly large part of the story that was not as obvious. But Moril has to learn to be truthful. True to himself, true to his Cwidder. He has to face the consequences of twisting the truth, the consequences of lying. With a constant opposite being shown in how his father only performs and his sister also does too and how his brother tries to share his truths, Moril has to understand what is actually truth.

And lastly, my favorite bit was a minor but nonetheless, the role of women in the story. Given the time period in the story, it is better for a woman to get married in order to be protected and safe. And we see the decisions that Moril and Brid's mother makes and how they're somewhat resentful of her at first but then they understand and realize she was just a person. And then we end up seeing it reflected in Brid as she learns and grows.

Cart and Cwidder was a super fun read with secretive bards, ancient legends, magic, songs that can move mountains, wars, conspiracy, discovery and freedom.