Chrestomanci Books In Order

Publication Order of Chrestomanci Books

Publication Order of Chrestomanci Collections

Chrestomanci (Series by Diana Wynne Jones) include seven fictional novels published during 1977-2006. This fantasy series is very much celebrated for its use of language that is helpful for the children to learn. Chrestomanci is one of the leading characters in this book series. It is a character that stops the misuse of magic. A Chrestomanci must be an Enchanter who has nine lives. In the seven book series, we get to know that there are four Chrestomanci- Benjamin Allworhty, Eric/Cat Chant, Christopher Chant, and Gabriel DeWitt. Among these four we see Eric Chant and Christopher Chant are playing important roles in the series. Chrestomanci also refers to a British Government Office that is controlling and taking care of the use of Magic. In this world of magic, enchanters are the most skillful and powerful magician. As an Enchanter has nine lives, they are very rare personalities. The Series has twelve different worlds and all these worlds are linked and speak the same language. All these worlds are same, but of different time periods and also have different setups.

In the Chrestomanci (Series by Diana Wynne Jones) series, we see Eric Chant in three books- Charmed Life, The Pinhoe Egg and in Mixed Magics. In this course he loses six out of nine lives. Four of these were directly due to his elder sister Gwendolen. One of the lives was lost in the boat accident in which his parents die. Another one was sacrificed by himself when he challenged the idea of having multiple lives. He burned one of the matches from match box where his lives were stored. This was to show her sister that she was wrong. All these losses of six lives was happened by the end of the first book- Charmed Life. Eric was trained by another Chrestomanci, named Christopher Chant. He is portrayed as a very interesting character that has immense power and at a ruling place of the Chrestomanci, the government agency. In the book Charmed Life we see him as an adult Chrestomanci who helps Eric/Cat to become the next one. We get to know this Chrestomanci in the book the Lives of Christopher Chant. We find him as a youth who doesn’t know about own power and loses seven out of his nine lives while traveling to different worlds and then realizes his strength. In the books the Magicians of Caprona and in Witch Week he is there when he is being called for help. Here he uses his power as Chrestomanci. In the seventh series, Conrad’s Fate he is there in undercover as a fifteen year old. On the other book The Pinhoe Egg we see Eric Chant and Christopher Chant are working together and learning new magic. Among other two Chrestomanci, Benjamin Allworthy is the earliest. The Pinhoe Egg gives some valuable insights about him. Christopher Chant, the Chrestomanci in five books, plays vital roles in different occasions and every time shows that his powers are very much superior compared to other magicians.

Among the Seven Books of Chrestomanci series Charmed life was the first. It was published in 1977 by Macmillan. The book introduces us to the world of the Chrestomanci. The book is about the rivalry among Eric Chant and his elder sister Gwendolen. These two survived a car accident. Sadly, their parents died in that. Then they were sent to the Chrestomanci Castle. Later on, both the brother and sister develop their power. We get to know the elder sister Gwendolen Chant used his brother’s power to become stronger. She turns against to her brother as he becomes a barrier to rule the world. Gwendolen is a witch gifted with amazing powers and this leads her wisdom to rule the world and that is denied by the current Chrestomanci Christopher Chant. As Eric Chant is also close to the existing Chrestomanci, his elder sister treats him as an enemy. In this book we get introduced to Christopher Chant, the Chrestomanci. He remains very unpredictable and his power of magic seems very strong. He works on to guide the rules of magic and keeps a check on the witches like Gwendolen. As this book was the first among the series, it plays an important role in the understanding of the Chrestomanci Series. The book also helped the author Jones to win the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. It also won several notable prizes from the Britain and also won a prize in Germany.

“The lives of Christopher Chant” is the fourth book of the series. In this book we get to see the character of Chrestomanci quite closely. This one was published in the year 1988. This is a story of the childhood of the Christopher Chant, who is a Chrestomanci in five books. The plot shows that both of his parents are great magicians, but not in good terms with each other. The childhood of the Christopher doesn’t give him comfort because of this disturbed family life. He gets peace only when he dreams and in these dreams he travels to other worlds. There is no magician who can do it as easily as him. His uncle tries to get best out of this feature. He uses Christopher to bring back valuable things from these trips to different worlds. The uncle guides him with his agent to get the valuable things that would get a high price in the black magic market. In the meantime, his father and mother get separated. Father of Christopher puts him into a boarding school against of Christopher’s wisdom. Christopher fails to deliver the best in the exams. The reason was then found out by Dr. Pawson, a magic expert. He discovers that Christopher carries a silver coin given by his uncle. This touch of silver prevents Christopher to do well in life and restricts his power. It also shows that the Chrestomanci has a weakness from the silver. When he is out of this silver’s touch he becomes the most powerful Enchanter. Then he is sent to the Chrestomanci Castle to train and to become the Chrestomanci.