A review by foggy_rosamund
Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones
4.0
The wizards' university is struggling. The buildings are falling apart, and the teachers haven't been properly educated. But Elda the griffin, daughter of one of the most famous wizards in the world, arrives excited and eager to learn. In her tutorial group, she meets Ruskin the runaway dwarf, as well as four humans: Lukin, Felim, Claudia and Olga. Faced with terrible food and unhelpful teachers, the six of them quickly bond. Then the assassins arrive.
This is a very fun DWJ adventures: Elda is a wonderful character, a loving and intelligent griffin, and her friends are all very likeable and have interesting backstories. The madcap magical exploits combine with DWJ's typical distrust for authority and characters who must learnt to depend on themselves. DWJ is passionate about learning, but her books tend to feature characters who struggle with the pedagogical method presented to them and must figure out how to do things in their own. Year of the Griffin is particularly typical of this. I really enjoyed many of the elements here: the unruly cast of characters, the overlapping plot threads, and the respect and humour with which DWJ explores her themes. For a lesser writer, the many elements here would push the narrative too far into nonsense -- and this is a trap DWJ has fallen into in other books. But everything works in Year of the Griffin, creating imaginative and thoughtful escapism. Recommended.
This is a very fun DWJ adventures: Elda is a wonderful character, a loving and intelligent griffin, and her friends are all very likeable and have interesting backstories. The madcap magical exploits combine with DWJ's typical distrust for authority and characters who must learnt to depend on themselves. DWJ is passionate about learning, but her books tend to feature characters who struggle with the pedagogical method presented to them and must figure out how to do things in their own. Year of the Griffin is particularly typical of this. I really enjoyed many of the elements here: the unruly cast of characters, the overlapping plot threads, and the respect and humour with which DWJ explores her themes. For a lesser writer, the many elements here would push the narrative too far into nonsense -- and this is a trap DWJ has fallen into in other books. But everything works in Year of the Griffin, creating imaginative and thoughtful escapism. Recommended.