Reviews

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

tch0's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

xeyra1's review against another edition

4.0

I loved the writing on this - as expected from DWJ - and I really liked the characters (hated some too!) and the fantastic elements, but may have been a little weird-ed out by the slightly romantic goggle of the later part, considering the age difference. Full review to come, when I get around to writing one. My reviewing as been as sluggish as my reading, lately.

callmeren's review

3.0

I'm not sure I appreciate the flashback style of the book. But something about the whole adventure captured my heart. I can't NOT think of the story with the kind of senseless attachment, fondness, and fervor I have for books that I can't immediately say why I love it, but I just DO. I'm so attached to the protagonists. As a Diana Wynne Jones story, however, I don't think it's her best. It has its own flavor of magic though. I still love it to bits, like how I love all of her work to bits.

ladytiara's review

4.0

4.5 stars. This was such a great book.

lazydazey's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

mistressviolet's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 

 Beautiful and compelling. This book celebrates music, literature, imagination, and female independence. It is also a dark exploration of dysfunctional families, with perhaps a bit of forbidden love mixed in. 

 This story is rich, deep, and undeniably thought-provoking. There is so much to unpack here. And I'm still not sure if I understand the ending. The more I think about it all, the more I want to read the whole book again. 

 This book is as strange as it is beautiful. Haunting, whimsical, dark, and tender. 

nokisuu's review against another edition

4.0

I first read this when I was about 16 I think and I remember it left me in awe. Now after 30 years it's still one of the best YA fantasy novels I've ever read and I think I need to read all of the Diana Wynne Jones' again.

miimiisreading's review

adventurous funny slow-paced

3.0

whatsmacksaid's review

4.0

"Fire and Hemlock" was enitrly different from what I was expecting in so many different ways, and to my surprise I quite enjoyed it anyway. There was what seemed to be a clear age difference between the two main characters, though toward the end it was sort of explained away as how children view anyone a few years older than them--but it was never explicitly stated how big the age difference was. It's left me to needlessly obsess, since it wasn't that important to the story.

I loved all the characters. They were all beautifully developed and felt utterly real. My biggest complaint is the ending. I didn't quite understand exactly what happened. It was a kind of magic that isn't the usual hocus-pocus, and I feel like it wasn't explained fully.

Other than that, though, fantastic read. I devoured it in two sittings--two instead of one because at one point I was up until five AM and finally gave up for the night and had to go to bed. :)

bookswithme's review

hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25