Conrad’s Fate (The Chrestomanci Series, Book 6) cover art

Conrad’s Fate (The Chrestomanci Series, Book 6)

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Conrad’s Fate (The Chrestomanci Series, Book 6)

By: Diana Wynne Jones
Narrated by: Tom Hollander
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About this listen

A magical adventure from Diana Wynne Jones, set in the worlds of Chrestomanci!

Conrad is young, good at heart, and yet is apparently suffering from the effects of such bad karma that there is nothing in his future but terrible things. Unless he can alter his circumstances – well, to be brutally honest, he is DOOMED.

Conrad is sent in disguise to Stallery Mansion, to infiltrate the magical fortress that has power over the whole town of Stallchester, and to discover the identity of the person who is affecting his Fate so badly. He has to put an end to them, or he wont last the year. But can any plan really be that simple and straightforward? Of course it can't! And things start to go very strangely for Conrad from the moment he meets the boy called Christopher…

©2005 Diana Wynne Jones Fantasy Fiction Growing Up & Facts of Life Literature & Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Magic Heartfelt

Critic reviews

"CONRAD'S FATE is quintessential Chrestomanci – funny, smart, twisty, exciting, tricky, delightful and always perfectly magical."
Neil Gaiman

For Diana Wynne Jones:
“…Her hallmarks include laugh-aloud humour, plenty of magic and imaginative array of alternate worlds. Yet, at the same time, a great seriousness is present in all of her novels, a sense of urgency that links Jones’s most outrageous plots to her readers’ hopes and fears…”
Publishers Weekly

“Truly magical – guaranteed to leave you gasping – even hotter than Potter”
The Bookseller

For The Merlin Conspiracy:
“The characterisation is first rate, the ideas are fabulous … This is fantasy at its most inventive – canny, funny and far-reaching.” The Telegraph

“A curiosity shop of a book … a pleasure to lose yourself in.” The Sunday Times

“The Merlin Conspiracy is Wynne Jones on top form … [her] powerful narrative and her ability to create extraordinary charachers with real emotions make her more than a worthy rival to J K Rowling.” Financial Times

“A must for all Wynne Jones fans, past, present and future.” Limited Edition
All stars
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Brilliant no matter what age you are. The narration is superb and really brings the story to life.

Fantastic

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Loved it. Narrator did a great job. Anything with Christopher Chant in it is wonderful.

Another great story from Diana Wynne Jones

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Good plot. However, I was disappointed with Tom Hollander's narration; he is an excellent actor but dreadful narrator. It didn't ruin it, but it detracted from my enjoyment.

Entertaining, but not Wynne-Jones' strongest

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The story is really well read and like all Diana Wynne Jones texts is engaging and entertaining, but really why abridge it. As someone loves the texts I spent much of the book noticing where snippets of the text were removed and then wondering why. With an author as good as this it is wrong to change their creation purely (I assume) to reduce the running time by a few minutes.

A lovely read but why abridged?

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