Conrad's Fate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Cover from the American hardcover edition. |
|
| Author | Diana Wynne Jones |
|---|---|
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Chrestomanci Series |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy, Children's Literature |
| Publisher | Harper Collins |
| Released | 2005 |
Conrad's Fate is a novel by Diana Wynne Jones that came out in 2005. It is the fifth book of the Chrestomanci series. It tells the story of Conrad Tesdinic, a boy from Series Seven who is sent on a mission to fix his bad karma.
[edit] Plot
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, the person's making money off of pulling the possibilities, perhaps even playing the stock market; but they're also mucking up things down in the whole rest of the world. At first only small details change--the color of the mailboxes, the title of books--but the changes keep getting bigger and bigger.
Conrad's uncle also tells him that the source of his bad karma is at the Mansion.
He and his group of magician friends work a strange spell on a cork, giving it––and Conrad, who has possession of it––the power to summon a Walker, a being who will give him what he needs to defeat the person he should have done away with in a past life. He needs to be sure who it is before he summons the creature, however, so instead of moving forward in school with his friends, Conrad is sent to work at Stallery and study its inhabitants.
Conrad soon finds that he's not the only one snooping around the mansion. He befriends his fellow servant-in-training, Christopher Chant, and soon learns that he is searching for his friend Millie. Together, they discover that she is trapped in one of the possibilities.
So they just need to stop the person behind all the mischief, rescue Millie, and fix Conrad's fate without spilling soup on the Countess.
[edit] Characters
Conrad Tesdinic: Conrad decides, when he gets to Stallery, to take an alias, and calls himself "Conrad Grant." 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 chooses, for his alias, "Christopher Smith." The character we see here is older than the one from The Lives of Christopher Chant, but younger than the one from the other Chrestomanci books––around fifteen. He is witty, confident, and charming, and people love him, even though he goes rather vague at times...
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 can't help but feel that there's more to his place than he's letting on.
| Books by Diana Wynne Jones | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Chrestomanci series: The Lives of Christopher Chant • Conrad's Fate • Charmed Life • The Magicians of Caprona • The Pinhoe Egg • Mixed Magics • Witch Week Dalemark Quartet: Cart and Cwidder • Drowned Ammet • The Spellcoats • The Crown of Dalemark Castle series: Howl's Moving Castle • Castle in the Air Derkholm series: Dark Lord of Derkholm • Year of the Griffin Magids series: Deep Secret • The Merlin Conspiracy Other: Archer's Goon • Dogsbody • Eight Days of Luke • Fire and Hemlock • Hexwood • The Homeward Bounders • Power of Three • A Tale of Time City • The Time of the Ghost • More... |
||
