Review: Deep Secret ~ Diana Wynne Jones

Deep Secret is my second book by Diana Wynne Jones, whose writing style I fell in love with after reading Howl's Moving Castle. - And after reading this one I have to get more from this amazing author.

Reading Language:	English
Pages:	526
Publisher:	Harper Collins
Rating:	4.5/5 stars

Blurb: Magids look after all worlds, steer them towards magic, and keep history happening. But Rupert Venables’ mentor has just died, and as the junior magid on earth he has to find a replacement while also trying to find the lost heir of a collapsing empire, worlds away. Rupert interweaves the fate lines to get all the candidates together at a sci-fi fantasy convention, and havoc ensues as they all converge on a very strange hotel, where everything is always linked, the walls keep moving, people are trying to kill him, and nothing is as it seems…a magical, epic story from the Godmother of fantasy.

My opinion:

Most of the book is written from the perspective of Rupert Venables, the junior Magid from earth, but also from the view of Maree Mallory who is one of the candidates of becoming the new junior Magid on earth. Both characters are pretty enjoyable to read and you can read out the difference between the two characters. (So you know, when you're reading from Maree's perspective and you also know when you are reading from Rupert's perspective because of the 'different' writing styles.) Most of the characters are just so unique and kind of crazy and lovable in their own kind of way. We've got the crazy neighbor who is also kind of creepy. The mother with an awful taste in clothes who loves her son way too much. The cousin who is way too much into his own little game and universe he created for himself and can't speak before he had at least four cups of coffee in the morning. The author who thinks his works are better than they actually are. The crazy old lady. The 'war hero'. The melodramatic Centaurus. And a lot more.
Throughout the book, the characters, especially the main characters, develop in my opinion perfectly. There isn't a sudden change of character you have in some other books. There is always a reason for a character to change and when they change, they do it steadily and not suddenly.

The universe Diana Wynne Jones is creating is just amazing. In her storeys, the universe is shaped like an infinity sign with an infinite amount of worlds who are either more Ayewards or Naywards. Ayewards worlds are more open to magic while Naywards worlds aren't that open to magic and it is harder to perform magic in Naywards worlds. (As an example the earth is more Naywards.) In the 'middle' of the infinity sign, between Ayewards and Naywards, is the Empire of Koryfos, where the second conflict, Rupert has to handle with, takes place.
Her writing style is just so cute and rich that you can imagine how the characters and their surroundings look like. You can imagine how the characters feel in certain moments. I think her writing style is just so unique, that I can't compare her to any other writer I've read before.

So why doesn't this book got 5/5 stars? - Because sometimes the story gets too strange and confusing, even for me. Sometimes throughout the book there is just 'too much' happening at once and you kind of can't get trough what is important and what Diana Wynne Jones is trying to tell you. But if you are a fantasy lover, like me, you can totally look over that point.