Published by HarperCollins Children's Books, March 2005

The most common question asked of Diana Wynne Jones by people who post messages on this site is "Are you going to write another Chrestomanci book?" Well, finally, the answer is yes. Conrad's Fate features a teenage Christopher Chant – the definitive Chrestomanci to many of us.

Conrad is a 12-year old boy living in a world in Series 7 where magic and magicians exist. It is Conrad's magician uncle who discovers the boy's terrible fate. Unless Conrad kills someone – he doesn't even yet know who – he will face an early and painful death himself. It's all because of bad karma caused by a mistake in Conrad's past life. But the potential victim apparently lives in the local mansion, where someone seems to have very powerful magic and is manipulating the future.

So off Conrad goes to get a job in the castle and meet his fate. However, he has a rival for the job, an older boy called Christopher, who seems to have a mysterious agenda of his own.

Chrestomanci is a hero so most of us assume that the teenage Christopher is probably a charming, heroic young man.

But, as Diana Wynne Jones does so often, she confounds expectation. Christopher is not actually very nice. He often behaves like an arrogant smart-arse with an irritatingly superior manner who thinks he is clever and witty when he is really just annoying. This is a teenage boy who you sometimes want to punch in the face.

As Conrad says: "I had time to be maddened by Christopher generally. He would keep calling me 'Grant' in that superior way, and there were times when I wanted to hit him for it …"

On the other hand, he can be funny, he does sometimes empathise with others, there is no real malice to him, and he is obviously prepared to shift worlds to help those people he really cares for.

This is a Christopher who is mid-way between the boy in The Lives of Christopher Chant who was prepared to hate everyone at Chrestomanci Castle, and the distant, ironic man who, as Chrestomanci, is still willing to exhaust himself and run risks for friends, as he does in The Magicians of Caprona.

This Christopher has a few lessons to learn. By sympathising with Conrad, and by panicking over Millie, he is beginning to learn them. We are also told that Conrad is a continuing good influence on Christopher. Which leads to the same old question – "Are you going to write another Chrestomanci book?"

For those of us who love the Chrestomanci series, we can trace the beginnings of the grown-up Chrestomanci's penchant for fancy dressing-gowns. "Looking after clothes and keeping secrets are the two things I do best," Christopher says eagerly at one point. Also, since we know from The Lives of Christopher Chant that he developed a sizzling enchanter's signature, I would be interested to know who really wrote his job reference that he describes as "glowing".

But although there is much in this book for established fans to savour, it is perfectly possible for someone new to the Chrestomanci series to enjoy and understand it. As an Author's Preface, DWJ has written a short explanation of the Related Worlds. Christopher's magic as a nine-lived enchanter, the world he comes from, and the work of Chrestomanci, are all adequately and neatly explained during the course of the story.

Conrad's Fate has all the familiar elements of a DWJ book. There are twists and turns and convolutions, with everything tied up neatly by the end. There's Diana's dry wit threaded throughout, along with some hilariously funny scenes. There are characters who are barking mad (Mr Amos) and others who are really nice (Mr Prendergast). There are neglectful parents and the betrayal of children by family members. And scattered throughout the story, almost in passing, there are many fascinating ideas crying out to be explored further in another book – the spooky Walker, the buildings overlaid like double-exposed film, the travellers' spiral journeys around the worlds …

Finally, the book is so absorbing that I didn't even react when Conrad has to leave school and get a job. In his country, children are chucked out of school at the age of 12 and can only get a higher education if their families can or will pay for them. Diana Wynne JonesŐs magic is such that instead of going, "Oh no, that's terrible", I simply thought, "Oh, so that's the way they do things in Series 7, then."

(With the publication of Conrad's Fate, HarperCollins have also reissued all the Chrestomanci books in shiny new covers)

Reviewed by Meredith