- Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz (17 July 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575601973
- ISBN-13: 978-0575601970
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
435,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #63 in Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators > J > Jones, Diana Wynne
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
For aeons the mages of Arth, a neighbouring universe, have been looting Earth of ideas, innovations and technologies, all the while manipulating events and creating devastating catastrophes for their own edification. Now this brazen piracy is threatening Earth with total extinction. It is up to the Ring, a secret society of witches and warlocks dedicated to the continuance and well-being of mankind, to fight the virtuous, unbendingly traditional stronghold of Arth with an arsenal of psychological sabotage, internal dissension -- and kamikaze sex . . .
About the Author
Diana Wynne Jones is Britain's foremost writer of children's fantasy, including the World Fantasy Award-nominated Archer's Goon, which was made into a six-part BBC TV series, and the Guardian Award-winning Charmed Life.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
The magical activities of Britain have always been highly organized. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The magical activities of Britain have always been highly organized. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
A very fast read and clever plot it reminded me in many ways of A Wrinkle in Time.
A group of 'normal' British people are actually part of a magical web who protect earth from attack.
It has some wonderfully funny scenes and underlying gags, the dam, dam-witches requested by the toddler who gets dragged unwittingly into the plot and causes complete chaos in a male run bastion has become a household joke.
I thoroughly recommend it - I've re-read it several times and several friends have bought others of her books after I foisted it on them!
A group of 'normal' British people are actually part of a magical web who protect earth from attack.
It has some wonderfully funny scenes and underlying gags, the dam, dam-witches requested by the toddler who gets dragged unwittingly into the plot and causes complete chaos in a male run bastion has become a household joke.
I thoroughly recommend it - I've re-read it several times and several friends have bought others of her books after I foisted it on them!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
An absolutely fantastic book, and one that should not be missed by anyone with a sense of humour and a taste for fantasy. The story is well crafted and pleasantly written and the characters are colourfully portrayed, ranging from perfectly charming and deeply amusing (Tod), to pathetic, to spirited, to foolish, to creepy, to downright evil. The ending is totally unexpected, which is always a pleasant surprise and all in all I wish I could wipe my memory of it so I could read it all over again.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
As an adult fantasy, this book doesn't quite live up to the standards Diana Wynne Jones has set with her children's books. The book contains several surprising twists, a lot of baby language and kamikaze sex, amongst other things.
The complicated plot revolves around a mage named Mark Lister, whose life is less than satisfactory. As one of the mages who heads The Ring - a secret society of witches who work to keep Britain, and more ultimately the World, safe from destruction - it becomes his duty to consult fellow witch Gladys when he discovers something is tampering in Earth's affairs. A visit to a badly injured girl in a local hospital reveals that another Universe has been creating disasters, in order to steal the ideas that the Ring come up with to save the Earth.
A bus full of witches is sent to the other universe to deal with the problem. The trouble starts when Mark's ex-lover stows away with them, taking her toddler, Marcus.
If you love Diana Wynne Jones's books, this is a good one to add to your collection. If you haven't tried her before, it may be better to start with Howl's Moving Castle, or Deep Secret.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good, but
Very little that Diana Wynne Jones writes is less than well-crafted, but I think that she has never quite hit her stride with books aimed at an adult audience. Read more
Published 15 months ago by P
..........
This was quite a strange book. I have read a lot of this genre and thought I would like it but some of the ideas were quite strange. Read more
Published on 12 July 2005
Wild fantasy fun!
This is another great book by Diana Wynne Jones, featuring other worlds, quirky characters and plenty of twists and turns. Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2005 by "bookrepository"
Not her best but still good.
I did enjoy reading this book, as I do all DWJs books, but it did dissapoint me. I think because there were too many charachters and I didn't really feel as if I got to know any... Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2001 by lylais@hotmail.com
Where's the humour ?
Driven by the entusiasm of the reviews here i bought this book...and found it not actaully badly written but i felt as if it was aimed at 12 year olds. Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2001
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!
This is not the first Diana Wynne Jones book I have ever read - far from it. In fact, it's third to last, because I've only got two more to go before I've read all of... Read more
Published on 6 May 2000
Quirky, enjoyable, empowering, and fun!
I was swopping favourite titles with a chance-meet fan in the queue at a Terry Pratchett book signing when he recommended Diana Wynn Jones. Read more
Published on 21 Aug 1999
Top class fantasy
This was the first ever book I had read by Diana Wynne Jones. It focuses on a band of magical characters, an ancient secret society who try to solve all the problems of Earth. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 1999
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