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The Lives of Christopher Chant (The Chrestomanci Series)
 
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The Lives of Christopher Chant (The Chrestomanci Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Diana Wynne Jones (Author), Tim Stevens (Illustrator)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £5.99
Price: £5.39 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

The Lives of Christopher Chant (The Chrestomanci Series) + Conrad's Fate (The Chrestomanci Series) + The Magicians of Caprona (The Chrestomanci Series)
Price For All Three: £15.12

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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books; New Ed edition (2 May 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0006755186
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006755180
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 234,619 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #48 in  Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators > J > Jones, Diana Wynne

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Think of a world, almost like our own but a little more genteel and old-fashioned, where magic and witchcraft is as common as mathematics--but just as dangerous in the wrong hands. In The Lives of Christopher Chant--the fourth book in her Worlds of Chrestomanci series--Diana Wynne Jones succeeds in creating a vision of England close to our expectations of what should be, but subtly different enough to excite our interest and draw us into a strange new world of incredible reality and possibilities.

Christopher Chant is a dreamer, a boy who returns home each night with strange gifts from his nocturnal travels and leaves sand in his bed as proof. He's happy to play cricket and wander the world in secret--so having nine lives and being the next "Chrestomanci" is not part of his plans for the future. It's only when an evil smuggler known as The Wraith threatens his existence that the young Christopher truly takes hold of his destiny. He must try to halt his loss of lives and defeat evil before times runs out.

Set at least 20 years before the events as told in the first Chrestmanci novel, Charmed Life, The Lives of Christopher Chant is a detailed fantasy and wild adventure with dollops of humour that will challenge and intrigue every fan of this sequence of otherworldly novels.

Chrestomanci patrols the pages of three more full-length novels--Charmed Life, The Magicians of Caprona, Witch Week and in a collection of short stories, Mixed Magics. He is undoubtedly Diana Wynne Jones' finest creation and should not be missed. --John McLay

Synopsis
The childhood of Chrestomanci. Everything in this book happens at least twenty-five years before the story told in Charmed Life! Discovering that he has nine lives and is destined to be the next 'Chrestomanci' is not part of Christopher's plans for the future: he'd much rather play cricket and wander around his secret dream worlds. But he soon finds that destiny is difficult to avoid, and that having more than the usual number of lives is pretty inconvenient - especially when you lose them as easily as he does! Then an evil smuggler, known only as The Wraith, threatens the ways of the worlds and forces Christopher to take action!

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Lives of Christopher Chant (The Chrestomanci Series)
65% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous book, couldn't put it down., 16 Feb 2000
By A Customer
This is an excellent book. I borrowed it from the library and began reading it one evening and read right through the night. I just couldn't put it down. I'd recommend it to any lover of fantasy books, young or old. I'm 19 and I still think it's among the best books I've ever read!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A good read, though not her best, 23 May 2003
This review is from: The Lives of Christopher Chant (Paperback)
Like the rest of the Chrestomanci series, this book is interesting and inventive in its exploration of what forms magic can take. The way in which Chrestomanci's having nine lives allows him to travel from world to world is more properly explored than in the other books, as are other curious factors taht pop up in the 'later' stories. This is more or less what you would expect from a prequel, but the fact that it is described as 'volume 1' is somewhat confusing, and I do not recommend reading it before Charmed life, as it will spoil many of the surprises for you.

Other than that, it was essentially a good and enjoyable read with colourful characters - not top notch for Dianna Wynne Jones, but wothwhile over all.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, loved it, 14 Feb 2003
No offence to charmed life but this is secretly my favourite of the Chrestomanci books. It has the best hero-Christopher Chant makes me laugh even when he's being rude and obnoxious and its obvious he's really a very nice person and a bit of a softy(besides Cat is wet and weedy and annoying).I also loved it for the extra insight it gives you into world 12a and how Chrestomanci got to be like he is in Charmed life and why Millie is Called Millie which is brilliant and very cool
It has a very clever plot all about other worlds and multiple lives and evil gangs of smugglers with a magical twist which is written with all the flair and wit I have come to expect from a Diana Wynne Jones book (eg the mallory towers spoof)and has some very neat peices of charachteristation (eg Tackroy and Millie-the-godess)which make it that little bit special and more enjoyable the climax is well measured and skillfull and keeps you constantly turning pages desperate to get to the next bit. This book is brilliant-read it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An Inmaginative Book.
Its taken me about 3 years to actualy want to sit down and finish the series of books, that is not because 'The Chrestomanci Series' are bad, but because I was a rather lazy... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Blue Shoes

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book - no child should miss it
Recently ordered this for my nephew who loves it as much as I did (and still do). The best of the Chrestomanci series in my opinion. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Luciana Montmorency

4.0 out of 5 stars Creative, Imaginative and Totally Terrific
I can assure you that you will never read a book with so much scope for the imagination as this. The creativity and magic of the book means that it will stay with you for years... Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2006 by Ginny Granger

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!
This book was amazing. The storyline was original and intigueing and there was always a new twist to the story. It was never boring. A book for all ages, highly recomended!
Published on 23 Jan 2006 by aoifeduff1

5.0 out of 5 stars The Lives of Christopher Chant
Far better than charmed life. I like the character of Christopher much better than Cat.
Published on 29 Sep 2003 by annabellabellyann

4.0 out of 5 stars How glorious to find there are worlds other than ours
Christopher is one of a kind, left all alone with a steady stream of nursemaids, who never last long because of his parents, he finds a way to visit other lands (Anywheres) and... Read more
Published on 26 Jul 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant story of how a boy learns his destiny
a brillant book about how a boy learns to cope after finding out he has nine lives and that he is to be the next chrestomanci and that having a destiny is difficult to avoid
Published on 28 Jan 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars Early years of Chrestomanci
For fans of Diana Wynne Jones this book is a real treat as it deals with the childhood of Chrestomanci, or Christopher Chant, for as we discover Chrestomanci is merely a job... Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing book!
I first read this as a child and have been hooked on Diana Wynne Jones books ever since. The Lives of Christopher Chant has a fairly complex storyline which is so well explained... Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Fantasy - Appeals to children and Adults alike
This book which has been out of print for some time is a "Chrestomanci" book (like Charmed Life" and "Witch Week")

Christopher Chant lives in a world... Read more

Published on 7 Dec 1999

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