Archer’s Goon

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In the climax to the story, both plots intersect, with Quentin Sykes's words being the device that keeps the world from being run by the megalomaniac Archer--a scene that is a true delight. In 1943 her family finally settled in Thaxted, Essex, where her parents worked running an educational conference centre.

Also, there's an element of fat phobia, which is the second time I've noticed that from Jones; it's an unpleasant trend. Beside the children, she felt harried by the crises of adults in the household: a sick husband, a mother-in-law, a sister, and a friend with daughter. Foremost amongst the latter are The Tough Guide To Fantasyland, and its fictional companion-pieces Dark Lord of Derkholm (1998) and Year of the Griffin (2000), which provide a merciless (though not unaffectionate) critique of formulaic sword-and-sorcery epics. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.

It is obvious from the way they talk about each other that they merely tolerate each other, and their greed, egotism and disdain feel somewhat fitting for beings with their level of power. 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. Diana Wynne Jones spent her childhood in Essex and has been writing fantasy novels for children since 1973. I had mixed feelings about the ending, there were pieces of it that made me smile and pieces that left me wanting more. When war was announced, shortly after her fifth birthday, she was evacuated to Wales, and thereafter moved several times, including periods in Coniston Water, in York, and back in London.

Many of her earlier children's books were out of print in recent years, but have now been re-issued for the young audience whose interest in fantasy and reading was spurred by Harry Potter. Other siblings also want to acquire samples of Quentin's words for the same purpose as Archer and they all start putting pressure on the Sykes family. I know Neil Gaiman likes Wynne Jones, and I wonder if these seven might have been at the back of his mind when, a few years later, he created seven Endless siblings of his own?While investigating, Howard and his sister Awful learn that their town is secretly controlled by seven mysterious siblings — Archer, Torquil, Dillian, Hathaway, Shine, Erskine, and Venturus — at least one of whom seems to be thinking in terms of "tomorrow, the world". Its very fast paced and each chapter or section ends with a new revelation or mystery which keeps it interesting to the end. Archer's Goon is a 1984 fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones both for the young adult and adult markets. While it was YA before YA was mainstream, the characters are perfectly plausible, there's no love triangle (can it still be YA, in that case? When Howard Sykes comes home from school and finds the enormous Goon in the kitchen, his life turns upside-down.