{"id":15457,"date":"2012-08-22T06:30:56","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T18:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=15457"},"modified":"2014-01-09T20:58:32","modified_gmt":"2014-01-09T07:58:32","slug":"risking-delight-the-awesomeness-of-diana-wynne-jones-the-power-of-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2012\/08\/22\/risking-delight-the-awesomeness-of-diana-wynne-jones-the-power-of-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Risking Delight — The Awesomeness of Diana Wynne Jones & “The Power of Three”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Recently on the Supernatural Underground<\/a> I posted “All About… The Awesomeness of Story”<\/a> (which may be a post worthwhile reading in and on itself—just sayin’ \ud83d\ude09 )<\/p>\n

A long while before that, around about the time I first started blogging and learned of Diana Wynne Jones’ terminal illness, I posted here about her profound influence on me as first a reader, and subsquently an author. If you’re interested, you can read that tribute, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A book I specifically mentioned then was Power of Three<\/em><\/strong>, as follows: “<\/em>[her]… first book I recall reading was A Power of Three<\/strong>\u2014and I loved it.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I mentioned Power of Three<\/em><\/strong> again in the Supernatural Underground post, because—unable to resist temptation—I had finally (all these years later!) bought myself a copy of my very own. Yet there is always some trepidation in sitting down with a book you have loved as a kid or teen because there are some tales, alas, that do not stand the test of re-reading with adult eyes well.<\/p>\n

At that stage, although\u00a0 I had only just dipped into Power of Three<\/em> again, here is what I was already feeling:<\/p>\n

“\u2014but what a wonder of magical-ness it is. It isn\u2019t just the actual magic given Wynne Jones\u2019 is a pre-eminent Kids\/YA Fantasy author. It\u2019s her use of language, and the way she captures people in all their humanness, as well as a kid\u2019s eye view of the world, and the delight of telling life \u2014 as Emily Dickinson would have it \u2014 \u201cslant.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps most of all, as a reader, it\u2019s the sheer awesomeness of putting yourself into the power of a master storyteller \u2014 and knowing you are in safe hands.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Now I have completed my re-read of the book — and you know what, I still feel exactly the same. Power of Three<\/em> really is storytelling at its best. To the comments I have already made, I would like to add the following: humour! This is not what I would call “laugh out loud” funny, but I certainly caught myself reading with a broad smile on my face — best of all it’s “laugh with us” humour: we are laughing at ourselves and with ourselves in the very best kind of way.<\/p>\n

I would also like to specifically mention the characters because there are quite a few of them: Gair, Ayna and Ceri; Gerald and Brenda; Hafny and Halla; Adara, Gest and Hathil—just for starters—but every character is vital and real and well drawn. The plot is rather complex, too, but as a reader I barely noticed because it worked! And altogether because of the magic and the characters, the humour and the plot that worked, and the human-ness and the wonderful language—well, I enjoyed my time within the pages of Power of Three<\/em> thoroughly.<\/p>\n

When I closed the covers, I felt thoroughly satisfied. Yet I also felt something more, something as important to me as a writer as it is as a reader. The US poet, Jack Gilbert, wrote (in ‘A Brief for the Defense<\/em>‘) that: “We must risk delight.”<\/em> On re-reading Power of Three<\/em><\/strong> I experienced delight both as a reader and as a writer reading another author’s work. This suggests to me, quite powerfully, that Diana Wynne Jones risked delight when she wrote the book — and that, I believe, is something all those who wish to be an author must do, every time we pick up our pen (or keyboard) and write.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n