THE DARK LORD OF DERKHOLM by Diane Wynne Jones

THE DARK LORD OF DERKHOLM by Diane Wynne Jones
Millennium (Orion) - 2000
ISBN 1857989368 - Paperback
Young Adult - Fantasy

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
Buy the US Copy
Buy the UK Copy

In her Tough Guide to Fantasyland Ms Jones pointed out hilariously that fantasy novels basically consisted of a list of mix ‘n’ match ingredients that you gathered in as varied a selection as the author liked and you had a fantasy novel. All this is of course very true of post-Tolkein work and it is certainly hard to find a book labelled “fantasy” that doesn’t involve a Dark Lord, superior elves, tough dwarves, villages with funny names, assorted mythical beasts, wizards and mercenaries. In this comic novel she shows us a fantastic land next door to ours (shades of Xanth) that has fallen prey to the evil wiles of one Mr Chesney from our world that has enslaved a demon. He has turned the whole place into a vast theme park and is charging tourists from our side of the border telephone number sums to go there and participate in an adventure. This is organized by the hapless denizens of the magical realm at great cost to themselves and little remuneration. Moreover, many of the tourists have been sent there by their families so they can be killed en route…something’s gotta give! It is up to the High Chancellor Querida to consult the oracles and find out who is to save the day. Trouble is it is the maverick wizard Derk and his young son Blade who just want to live quietly on their farm making mythical beasts!

Ms Jones has a great idea here that is going to have most fantasy fans wanting to read more. The farm is certainly an engaging place where Derk and his family live with the strange creatures he has made and initially there is more than one dig at the perennially grooming griffins of Mercedes Lackey’s novels. But then cuteness creeps in and stays put and I was reminded that Ms Jones normally writes for juveniles. A spot of editing wouldn’t go amiss in the first two-thirds as the tour takes oh so long to get set up and there is a limit to the amount of organizing who does what, where and when anybody actually wants to read about in a novel. At times I felt I was sitting at the table of a board meeting! I wanted to see more of the whineing tourists and find out how folk from our world behaved in a fantastic environment but I had to wait until the last few chapters for this. However, by this time my attention had flagged and I felt sated with cute animals and organization. It’s a hugely enjoyable idea for a novel but terribly hard to do well and Ms Jones has had a valiant stab at it.