Books like The Magicians of Caprona

another splendid entry in the Chrestomanci cycle! this wonderful little series about multiple dimensions, magic, and the trans-dimensional authority on magic known as the "Chrestomanci" has been a real light in my life whenever i open up a new book. what a lovely and pleasing breath of fresh air.The Magicians of Caprona takes place in an alternate dimension in which magic is openly practiced and where the various city-states of Italy never united. Caprona is a fairly powerful city that appears to be on the decline, for obscure and possibly sinister and magical reasons. perhaps the city's archnemesis "The White Devil" is to blame; perhaps the long, long rivalry between the two major magical houses of Casa Montana and Casa Petrocchi is only making matters worse. we see this absorbing little world through the eyes of two of the youngest of the Montanas, Tonino and Paolo. the two boys manage to be entirely charming without being even slighly cloying. there is not of whiff of preciousness to be found in the novel. although Magicians of Caprona is a part of a series, it is completely standalone. its subject matter and scene change (from England to Italy) set it quite apart from prior entries i've read. Chrestomanci himself only appears in an extended and rather bland cameo - which makes sense because Chrestomanci himself has been portrayed as a nice and rather bland man who prefers not to be at the center of things.so the novel features a Romeo and Juliet-ish love affair, formidable cats that are key members of their respective casas, griffins coming alive (sorta), a magical street battle between the houses, a shifty Duchess, a childlike Duke, lots of loud "Italian" style (i suppose) communication and combativeness and warmth, children being shrunk to the size of puppets, and war on the horizon. it is pretty jam-packed with incident but the novel feels pleasantly small and personal. child-sized. it has the necessary life lessons of a children's novel - in this case, the key lesson being do not judge or demonize others because they are probably just like you. Diana Wynne Jones cleverly literalizes this by presenting parallels to each of the major characters in Casa Montana and Casa Petrocchi. and then there was a lesson that came out of the blue for me, that really took me aback. early in the novel i was struck by the bloodthirstiness of the Punch & Judy show that Tonino witnessed - featuring Punch beating his child and then his wife Judy to death as a crowd roars with laughter at the zany puppet shenanigans. i wondered what the purpose was and why that dark bit had to be included. well - a bit of a spoiler here - i stopped wondering after a couple of the characters are transformed into Punch & Judy puppets and are forced to enact the same scene. i really appreciated the clear and almost undramatic way that the author set that up, made a very hard point, and then let it go and moved on. i did not expect such a tough lesson to be featured in such an amiable book. good job, author. and great book!