A little harder to get into than most Diana Wynne Jones books, but once you figure out all the names and happenings you're hooked.

This book did have a fair amount of one of the few problems I have with the author, she has issues writing fat characters. There are a fair number of sympathetic and likable fat characters in Diana's stories, but the way they are pysically described is quite critical and off putting to read sometimes. ( )

Entertaining and clever enough. Some irritating fat-hatred mars the second half of the book. ( )

DWJ Book Toast, #14

Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favorite fantasy authors, growing up and now, and I was saddened by the news of her death. I can't say I'm overcome with emotion - as personal as some of her work is to me, its not like I knew her after all - but I wish I could put into words how I feel about her no longer being out there, writing new adventures and laughing at all of us serious fans thinking so hard about her words when we should simply get on with the business of enjoying them.

And that's...what I'm going to do. She's left behind a huge body of work, a large amount of which I haven't read yet, so I'm going to reread all my old favorites (and hopefully some new).

An early Jones book, and a disappointingly bland one, too. I don't know how much of that must come from the fact that Jones changed and rewrote most of the rules for young fantasy stories, everything that would have made this book interesting has been appropriated and reused by other authors, and Jones herself.

First we have Gair who insists and whines over and over and over again about how Ordinary he is, and how he doesn't have special powers. He's only smart, and kind, and good at hunting, and the heir to the chiefdom of his people. His sister and brother have, respectively, the ability to know the future, and where things are, but only when asked. Most of this book would have been solved in three pages if someone had, I don't know, asked them one or two obvious questions.

Then we have the Giants and the Dorrig, a race of shape-changers, who have their own adult and youth representatives. There's a long-standing curse, and self-discoveries, and "Boy we're not so different after all" moments, but there was little of that sense of fun or insight that Jones usually bring into play.

'The Power of Three' takes a long time to build up and a lot of the elements we spend so much time on don't matter in the end. It was mostly "world-building" for the sake of world-building. I've heard good things about books that came before this one, but it seems to me that this book is definitely from a Diana Wynne Jones that is still in her apprenticeship. This is for completists only. ( )

Not my favorite Diana Wynne Jones book - Its missing a feeling of joy and fun - its too dark, with not enough humor. The children in this story were actual kids - not grow ups in kids bodies. I don't know if this is an early story by the author, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was. ( )

I can’t believe this Jones book isn’t as popular as Howl’s Moving Castle, because it is just as good and is easily one of my favorite fantasy reads this year. I came across it just by browsing books by Jones — I was in the mood for a decent young adult fantasy and I’m so glad I came across this gem.

The Power of Three is about Gair, the oldest son of of Chief Gest, a hero, and Adara the Wise. His siblings both have extraordinary gifts, so he thinks he’s ordinary, even though everyone else looks up to him and seeks counsel from him because of his wisdom. However, he gets stuck in a feud between his people and the Dorig, little knowing that he and his siblings are being drawn into a war that started when his parents were children.

This is my favorite kind of fantasy book. Everything is set up to seem a certain way, but then it turns on its head halfway through and you find out you’re reading a completely different book than what you thought you were. I absolutely loved that, it added an entirely new dimension to the story and the twist is really what makes this book so spectacular. Aside from that, however, the concepts at the heart of this novel are incredibly important; essentially, this story shows how prejudices and assumptions color our perceptions and serve to keep those prejudices and assumptions alive, even if there are facts and truths that are showing us something completely different. I love how brave Gair and his siblings are in exploring new things and being willing to accept new truths, mirroring the hope many of us have for our young people to have open minds and be brave enough to point out the flaws in the adults’ ways of thinking.

The worldbuilding is absolutely fantastic, but I expected nothing less from the queen of young adult fantasy, and the storytelling is just exquisite. I love how the internal struggle with Gair and his ordinariness is coupled with external struggles like Dorigs attacking or being on a dangerous hunt. I feel like Jones included everything about regular life in this book so that it feels perfectly complete and whole. There’s adventure, familial tension, internal struggle, and unlikely friendships, and it really is just perfect.

I highly recommend this book to any fantasy fans, especially those who love young adult fantasy. It’s wonderful.

Also posted at Purple People Readers. ( )