The Sunset Warrior Cycle
science fantasy
Series · fantasy
Chrestomanci
The Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones has 7 known books (7 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Charmed Life (1977).
- Books
- 7 known books (6 novels + 1 collection)
- Published
- 7
- First published
- 1977
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Fantasy
- Last checked
Start here: Charmed Life (1977) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Charmed Life
Charmed Life opened Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci series in 1977, running 288 pages as the book that introduces her multiverse of magical-enchanter bureaucracy.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Charmed Life - Book 2:
The Magicians of Caprona
The Magicians of Caprona followed three years later in 1980, continuing the series at the same 288-page length as its predecessor and following two feuding Italian spell-casting families forced to cooperate against a real threat.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Magicians of Caprona - Book 3:
Witch Week
Witch Week, the third Chrestomanci novel, appeared in 1982 and runs to 304 pages, set in a boarding school in a world where witchcraft is illegal and punishable by burning.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Witch Week - Book 4:
The Lives of Christopher Chant
Published in 1988, The Lives of Christopher Chant is the fourth entry, extending to 336 pages, going back to tell Christopher's own boyhood before he became Chrestomanci -- the book some editions place first in internal chronological order.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Lives of Christopher Chant - Book 5:
Mixed Magics
Mixed Magics, the fifth book, arrived in 2000 after a twelve-year gap and is by far the shortest entry in the series at 193 pages, a short-story collection spanning various points in the Chrestomanci timeline that works well read last.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Mixed Magics - Book 6:
Conrad's Fate
Conrad's Fate came out in 2005, five years after Mixed Magics, and at 352 pages returns to novel length, following a boy trying to fix his own fate through world-walking between parallel worlds.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Conrad's Fate - Book 7:
The Pinhoe Egg
The Pinhoe Egg closed out the series in 2006, the year after Conrad's Fate, and at 480 pages is the longest of the seven Chrestomanci books, following a girl protecting an illegal magical family secret.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Pinhoe Egg
The order the story's events happen in, novellas slotted where they belong.
- Book 1:
The Lives of Christopher Chant
Published in 1988, The Lives of Christopher Chant is the fourth entry, extending to 336 pages, going back to tell Christopher's own boyhood before he became Chrestomanci -- the book some editions place first in internal chronological order.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Lives of Christopher Chant - Book 2:
Charmed Life
Charmed Life opened Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci series in 1977, running 288 pages as the book that introduces her multiverse of magical-enchanter bureaucracy.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Charmed Life - Book 3:
The Magicians of Caprona
The Magicians of Caprona followed three years later in 1980, continuing the series at the same 288-page length as its predecessor and following two feuding Italian spell-casting families forced to cooperate against a real threat.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Magicians of Caprona - Book 4:
Witch Week
Witch Week, the third Chrestomanci novel, appeared in 1982 and runs to 304 pages, set in a boarding school in a world where witchcraft is illegal and punishable by burning.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Witch Week - Book 5:
Conrad's Fate
Conrad's Fate came out in 2005, five years after Mixed Magics, and at 352 pages returns to novel length, following a boy trying to fix his own fate through world-walking between parallel worlds.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Conrad's Fate - Book 6:
The Pinhoe Egg
The Pinhoe Egg closed out the series in 2006, the year after Conrad's Fate, and at 480 pages is the longest of the seven Chrestomanci books, following a girl protecting an illegal magical family secret.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Pinhoe Egg - Book 7:
Mixed Magics
Mixed Magics, the fifth book, arrived in 2000 after a twelve-year gap and is by far the shortest entry in the series at 193 pages, a short-story collection spanning various points in the Chrestomanci timeline that works well read last.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Mixed Magics
About the Chrestomanci series
Chrestomanci is Diana Wynne Jones's longest-running series, built around a deceptively simple idea: in a multiverse of parallel worlds where magic works, someone with nine lives has to be appointed as a kind of government enchanter, keeping ordinary witches and wizards from causing catastrophes across worlds that don't all know magic is real. That role belongs to the elegant, maddeningly evasive Christopher Chant, who appears in every book but is rarely the narrator -- instead, each novel follows a different young protagonist pulled into his orbit, usually a child who doesn't yet know how much magical power they have or how badly they're about to misuse it.
Charmed Life introduces the series through Cat Chant, a boy who doesn't realize his sister has been quietly stealing his magic for years. The Magicians of Caprona follows two feuding Italian spell-casting families forced to cooperate against a real threat. Witch Week is set in a boarding school in a world where witchcraft is illegal and punishable by burning. The Lives of Christopher Chant goes back to tell Christopher's own boyhood, before he became Chrestomanci. Conrad's Fate and The Pinhoe Egg, the two latest entries, follow a boy trying to fix his own fate through world-walking and a girl protecting an illegal magical family secret.
What holds the series together isn't a single continuing plot but a consistent, richly imagined magical bureaucracy and Jones's recurring interest in children who are more powerful, more responsible, or more compromised than the adults around them realize. It's frequently cited as the best entry point into her work for readers who love portal fantasy and multiverse worldbuilding.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Chrestomanci series?
Seven: Charmed Life, The Magicians of Caprona, Witch Week, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Mixed Magics, Conrad's Fate, and The Pinhoe Egg, published between 1977 and 2006.
What order should I read the Chrestomanci books in?
Publication order (starting with Charmed Life) is the traditional and generally recommended path. Some editions instead use internal chronological order, starting with The Lives of Christopher Chant, which tells Chrestomanci's own backstory first -- either works, but they give a different experience.
Do I need to read the books in order to understand the world?
Not strictly -- each book follows a different protagonist and mostly stands alone -- but Chrestomanci himself, and the rules of his multiverse, come into sharper focus the more of the series you've read.
Is Chrestomanci the same character in every book?
Yes, though he's rarely the narrator. Christopher Chant holds the role of Chrestomanci throughout the series (after his own origin is told in The Lives of Christopher Chant), while each book's actual point-of-view character changes.
Is the Chrestomanci series finished?
Yes. Diana Wynne Jones completed all seven books before her death in 2011, with The Pinhoe Egg (2006) as the final entry.
If you like the Chrestomanci series
Reading order last verified .