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Hexwood is a rather strange DWJ, even though the actual plot and characters are fairly normal for her.
When the Sector Controller who oversees Earth discovers that someone has illegally activated the Bannus field, a reality warping device, resulting in the entire Hexwood estate being closed off from everything else, he sends a message to the Reigners, five people who rule the galaxy. The Reigners send investigators, but they disappear.
Ann Stavely is a teenager who lives near Hexwood Farm. When she explores the woods nearby, she enters the Bannus field and meets Mordion, who claims to have been asleep in the woods for centuries, even though she saw him enter a few days earlier. Mordion mixes their blood together and creates a boy whose purpose is to kill the Reigners. The boy meets a robot named Yam, who names the boy Hume because he’s a human, and Mordion and Yam raise Hume in the forest while Ann wonders what’s going on. And so does the reader.
The story is told entirely non-linearly, and every character has at least one alternate identity. Many have at least two. Large chunks of the story don’t make sense until the very end, which must be read carefully. It’s not convoluted so much as complicated, and skimming at any point could make the entire thing a complete mess in your head. Not my favorite DWJ, but one of the most interesting ones I’ve read.
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a 234 page collection of fantasy tropes and clichés, presented as a guidebook for tourists who have booked an adventure in a real AU fantasyland. Conveniently, DWJ actually has a canon based on exactly that. Minus the guidebook. One day, I shall write a Book. The Book will include every single trope in this book and be about 12000 pages long by the time I include a minimal plot to string things together. I shall publish it with either my initials or an androgynous synonym, and it shall be hugely popular, but disdained by most fantasy fans. No, wait, Eragon is already out. Though Paolini didn’t have to be ambiguous about his gender. It suffers a bit from “naturally clever people aren’t quite as clever when trying to be clever” but was a pretty good read, though I recommend reading it in doses.
When the Sector Controller who oversees Earth discovers that someone has illegally activated the Bannus field, a reality warping device, resulting in the entire Hexwood estate being closed off from everything else, he sends a message to the Reigners, five people who rule the galaxy. The Reigners send investigators, but they disappear.
Ann Stavely is a teenager who lives near Hexwood Farm. When she explores the woods nearby, she enters the Bannus field and meets Mordion, who claims to have been asleep in the woods for centuries, even though she saw him enter a few days earlier. Mordion mixes their blood together and creates a boy whose purpose is to kill the Reigners. The boy meets a robot named Yam, who names the boy Hume because he’s a human, and Mordion and Yam raise Hume in the forest while Ann wonders what’s going on. And so does the reader.
The story is told entirely non-linearly, and every character has at least one alternate identity. Many have at least two. Large chunks of the story don’t make sense until the very end, which must be read carefully. It’s not convoluted so much as complicated, and skimming at any point could make the entire thing a complete mess in your head. Not my favorite DWJ, but one of the most interesting ones I’ve read.
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a 234 page collection of fantasy tropes and clichés, presented as a guidebook for tourists who have booked an adventure in a real AU fantasyland. Conveniently, DWJ actually has a canon based on exactly that. Minus the guidebook. One day, I shall write a Book. The Book will include every single trope in this book and be about 12000 pages long by the time I include a minimal plot to string things together. I shall publish it with either my initials or an androgynous synonym, and it shall be hugely popular, but disdained by most fantasy fans. No, wait, Eragon is already out. Though Paolini didn’t have to be ambiguous about his gender. It suffers a bit from “naturally clever people aren’t quite as clever when trying to be clever” but was a pretty good read, though I recommend reading it in doses.