This is my overwhelming favourite of all the books: I love the screwball structure, I love the first sign of The Tough Guide to Fantasy (Howard looks at the map the children have made and if we understand our fantasy we know where the truth will be found); I love the scenes with Hathaway and that Nan is *not* Anne Hathaway, I adore the post-modern irritant of every day Plagues that are sent down on the family. I love the Words are Powerful meme and the way she exploits it.
When I decided to buy all of them in first edition, this was the one I had to pause over: £300. I still think it was worth every penny.
I enjoy it loads; it just didn't carve itself into my subconscious the way (for example) The Homeward Bounders did. Not sure why; I'm sure I read it around the same age.
The whole "words are powerful" thing is, I suspect, the bedrock of why I love her work as a whole.
When I decided to buy all of them in first edition, this was the one I had to pause over: £300. I still think it was worth every penny.
The whole "words are powerful" thing is, I suspect, the bedrock of why I love her work as a whole.