Cat and Gwendoline are orphans. Gwendoline is going to be a witch. Cat isn't. Taken to live at the strange castle of the mysterious Chrestomanci, Gwendoline expects to thrive and hopes, more or less literally, to become queen of the world. Things don't quite work out that way and Gwendoline goes to more and more extreme efforts to show off her power and gain the attention of the increasingly loathed Chrestomanci. Cat quite likes it there, even though he has no magic, but he has always gone along with Gwendoline, but what is she up to and what will happen if she goes too far?

Typically lively and engaging tale by Diana Wynne Jones, full of wit and invention and cleverness. It shows its age here and there in ways that are slightly unexpected, but which would certainly have been unremarkable to me when I read it as a child. Didn't stop me devouring it in a few quick hours, though I was a bit miffed that the supposedly responsible adults were a) less horrified by the magnitude of what Gwen was doing to Cat than they really should have been and b) less hard on themselves for letting it happen right under their flippin' noses. There's a reason why they let it happen and it works but they were so appallingly wrong they were practically accomplices. Grr. I've more sympathy for Gwen getting so aggravated at Chrestomanci's complacency than I care to admit...