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Fire and Hemlock

Diana Wynne Jones

Why we're reading this: For fans of books that make you think
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May 30, 2022 Liz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, fantasy, ya

I have read this book so many times as a child; less recently as an adult as I've taken up reading all the things for fun and profit.
And I've always loved it. Diana Wynne Jones ruined me very early on for most other authors doing "magic in the real world" books because she's just so INTERESTING in a way that so few authors consistently managed.
Also the way she's so elegant with descriptions. Her characters never use comparisons beyond what they have access to, and yet everything is delineated so ...more

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Nov 26, 2011 Bayla rated it liked it

Shelves: fairy-tales-retellings-and-the-like, quasi-historical-with-magic

3.5 stars

I love D.W.J., so I had high expectations for this book. I have not seen many Tamlin retellings, so I was interested in that, and I loved the characters that filled this book -- Polly, Thomas Lynn, Anne, Sam, etc. I wish we had seen more of some of them. This was more of a reimagining than a retelling, so the ending was somewhat different than I expected -- less settled.

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Dec 08, 2024 Sara Gabai rated it really liked it

Strange darkish fantasy
EDIT: I read the author's essay "The Heroic Ideal - A Personal Odyssey." I think I understand the book much more now and will try to reread it soon. ...more

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