The Pinhoe Egg

This post originally published May 22, 2010.

Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Published: October 2006
Publisher: Greenwillow
Series: Chrestomanci series #6
515 pages (hardcover)
 
Summary: Marianne Pinhoe’s family are all witches who frequently misuse magic and as a result, try to keep their magic a secret in order to prevent the Chrestomanci from meddling in their affairs. This proves to be difficult lately as the Pinhoe Gammer — head of their family — has spontaneously gone crazy and started a magic war with the Farleighs, another clan of witches that misuse magic and are trying to avoid the Chrestomanci. With this magic war going on, it will be hard to keep their magic misuse under wraps for long, especially when Cat finds an egg in the Pinhoe’s attic that may prove to be their biggest secret of all.

My Thoughts: I’m so happy to finally read another Chrestomanci book where Chrestomanci and Cat are prominent characters in it! Chrestomanci! Chrestomanci!

This is, overall, a very fun book to read. Looking back at the ratings I gave to the last two Chrestomanci-related books I read, I was very relieved to finally encounter the kind of Chrestomanci book I expect from the series. I have my issues with the book (I always have issues with every book, haha) and in this book, my problem was that it took a very long time until I had an idea of what the conflict in the novel is supposed to revolve around. I mean, the object of the title — the egg — didn’t even show up until halfway through the book! But despite the slow-moving plot, the story isn’t sluggish. It is very entertaining and humorous throughout, for me, one of her most funny works, and, personally, just being able to read about my favourite characters again kept me entranced. Of course, there are also lots of new characters, and Chrestomanci characters always have a way of being very memorable, and I have a suspicion that Marianne and Joe will be in future Chrestomanci novels to come; I have a strong hunch that Marianne will be Cat’s wife someday too, heh. They have that same sort of friendship that Chrestomanci/Christopher and Millie had in The Lives of Christopher Chant, and lo and behold, they ended up getting married.

The only ridiculous thing is that unicorns and griffins can talk. Like, English. That’s too weird, even for me.

But regardless, great book! It has me hungering for more Chrestomanci!

My Rating: 4/5