Conrad's Fate
File:Cover of Conrad's Fate.jpg First UK edition | |
Author | Diana Wynne Jones |
---|---|
Illustrator | Tim Stevens[1] |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Series | Chrestomanci |
Genre | Children's fantasy novel |
Publisher | Collins |
Publication date | March 2005 |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 393 (first edition)[2] |
ISBN | 978-0-00-719085-0 |
OCLC | 57199954 |
Preceded by | Mixed Magics |
Followed by | The Pinhoe Egg |
Conrad's Fate is a children's fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones published by Collins in 2005. It was the sixth published of the seven Chrestomanci books (1977 to 2006).[3]
Conrad is the protagonist, a twelve-year-old boy sent to work at the local Stallery castle with a magical mission to kill someone neither named nor described. Fifteen-year-old Christopher Chant (The Lives of Christopher Chant) applies for work at the same time on a personal mission. They are both hired.
The Chrestomanci books are collectively named for a powerful enchanter and British government official in a world parallel to ours, who supervises the use of magic —or the Chrestomanci, an office that requires a powerful enchanter and is responsible for supervising. Conrad's Fate is set perhaps three decades ago in a world quite different from ours, during the adolescence of Christopher Chant who is Chrestomanci in five of the books.
Plot summary
Conrad Tesdinic lives in Stallery, a small town in the English Alps, a mountain range present in Series Seven worlds where the British Isles are still connected to the European mainland. Conrad's father is dead; his sister Anthea has left home to go to university; and his mother, Franconia, is an eccentric feminist author whose books are sold exclusively in her brother's bookshop, where she and Conrad also live.
In the mountains high above Stallery lies Stallery Mansion, known as a "possibilities mansion," and home to the Count and his family. Conrad's uncle tells him that someone up at Stallery Mansion is pulling the possibilities – that is, changing the details of the world. Judging from the affluence of Stallery, this person is making a great deal of money by doing so, perhaps by playing the stock market; but this is adversely affecting the rest of the world. At first only small details change – the colour of the postboxes, the titles of books – but the changes keep getting bigger and bigger. Conrad is going to die within the year unless he kills the person pulling the possibilities—someone he should have eliminated in a past life. To kill this person, Conrad will need to secure a position at Stallery Mansion, and then summon a Walker, someone who will give Conrad what he needs to defeat his nameless foe. Conrad's uncle and his group of magician friends work a strange spell on a cork, giving Conrad, who has possession of it, the power to summon a Walker at will. Conrad needs to be sure who this person is before he summons the Walker, however, so instead of moving forward in school with his friends, he is sent to work at Stallery and study its inhabitants, one of which is the person Conrad needs to defeat.
Conrad soon finds that he is not the only one snooping around the mansion. He befriends his fellow servant-in-training, Christopher "Smith" (really Christopher Chant), who is searching for his friend Millie. Conrad finds that Christopher sometimes goes into trances where he can be in several places at once and is on the run from friends of the Countess. Together, they discover that she is trapped in one of the possibilities by a witch vengeful of her youth. Conrad and Christopher must stop the person behind all the mischief, rescue Millie, and fix Conrad's fate, which is especially difficult seeing as he isn't getting the supposed 'feeling' when he finds the person.
Meanwhile, Count Robert falls in love with Anthea despite her low status and they attempt to figure out how to stay together and keep the relationship a secret.
Millie is eventually freed and the trio need to try and figure out what to do. Gabriel De Witt, the current Chrestomanci and who Millie and Christopher are on the run from, arrives at the castle suspecting they managed to escape there. As they are found out, Conrad's uncle becomes furious revealing Amos, a resident at the castle, is Conrad's other mysterious uncle. When Christopher attempted to remove a spell from Conrad, he inadvertently removed a charm which was supposed to make him believe that Amos was the cause of his karma. It is also revealed that the count, countess and others are actually frauds. As Conrad's two uncles and the family are all arrested, Robert proposes to Anthea and Gabriel takes Millie and Christopher back to their world.
Conrad joins them, and explains his whole life with them, revealing he was Christopher's best man and his and Millie's wedding, and lived with them for several years. However, Conrad began fading away as he didn't belong in 12A and so was forced to return to the British Alps where he lived out the rest of his days.
Characters
Conrad Tesdinic: Conrad decides to take an alias at Stallery, and calls himself "Conrad Grant", as "Grant" is his uncle Alfred's surname. Christopher suspects this is false, and so calls him "Grant" in a superior and often sarcastic way all throughout the book. Conrad's uncle runs the bookshop in town, and so he has a great love of books – which makes the pulling of the possibilities very irritating for him, as the book titles and minor details within the books change overnight. He brings his camera with him to Stallery and makes great use of it.
Christopher Chant: Christopher also has an alias: "Christopher Smith". The character we see here is around fifteen, older than in The Lives of Christopher Chant, but younger than in the other Chrestomanci books. He is witty, confident, charming, he also seems to have a very soft spot for Millie. Christopher can often talk his way out of a situation, even though he goes rather vague at times...
Millie: Christopher's friend. She becomes lost in the possibilities at Stallery while running away from boarding school. Christopher's chief reason for coming to Stallery is to find her. When found by Conrad she becomes a maid for a while.
Mr. Amos: The pear-shaped, severe butler of Stallery. He insists on discipline and impeccable dress at all times. But even through his reiteration of and insistence on a servant's place, Conrad and Christopher cannot help but feel that there is more to his place than he is letting on.
Anthea Tesdinic: Conrad's sister, who left home a few years before the bulk of the story. Appears again in a sticky mess she can't see.
Count Robert: The supposed owner of Stallery who marries Anthea. His real name is Robert Brown.
Awards
Seventh rank for the annual Locus Award, young adult book.[4][5]
References
- ^ Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones: HarperCollins Children's Books 9780007190850 Hardback with paper jacket, First edition & printing – Booksort. Retrieved 11 February 2013
- ^ The infobox provides data from ISFDB for the first UK edition (from "Publisher" to "OCLC Number"). Conrad's Fate (first edition) publication contents at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
- ^ Chrestomanci series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved 2012-04-28.
- ^ "Diana Wynne Jones" Archived 20 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine. The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index to Literary Nominees. Locus Publications. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
- ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2007 Locus Awards". Archived from the original on 9 February 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
External links
- Webarchive template wayback links
- EngvarB from September 2017
- Use dmy dates from September 2017
- Articles with short description
- Short description with empty Wikidata description
- 2005 British novels
- British fantasy novels
- Children's fantasy novels
- British children's novels
- 2005 fantasy novels
- Chrestomanci books
- HarperCollins books
- 2005 children's books