9 Diana Wynne Jones Books All Magic-Lovers Need to Try

In this collection of short stories, Jones offers readers a short but expansive exploration of her incredible imagination. The seven tales contained within are full of bizarre new worlds bound by a unique detail. In each of these worlds, a child is born who is destined to spread change and chaos: a girl who so loves the sun that she renounces her humanity for eternity; a cat and a boy bound together in opposition to an evil magician; a woman imprisoned in a strange country dominated by three ravenous wolves…

Rupert Venables is a Magid, one of the overseers of the Multiverse. Well, actually, he's only a junior Magid, but that doesn't make his job any easier. His territory includes Earth, for one, where things are never simply. When his mentor dies Rupert must find a replacement. But there are hundreds of candidates. Finding and interviewing them all will take an era. So, what if he rounds them all up in one place for the ultimate interview? What could go wrong?

Perhaps the most famous of Jones's books, Howl's Moving Castle is beloved by generations of readers as well as fans of the luscious animated adaptation from the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. Sophie thinks she's doomed to a life of mundane spinsterhood, but when she attracts the fury of the Witch of the Waste, she finds herself under a strange curse that turns her into an old lady. Her only chance of breaking the curse is to find the notorious wizard Howl, who lives in a castle on legs that roams the countryside. 

Far to the south of the land of Ingary, in the Sultanates of Rashpuht, there lived in the city of Zanzib a young carpet dealer named Abdullah. He was talented but not very wealthy, and he loved to spend his days dreaming of something beyond his own life. He was sure nothing would change until, one day, a stranger sold him a magic carpet. That very night, the carpet flew him to an enchanted garden, where he met the beautiful princess Flower-in-the-Night. but then a wicked djinn stole her away, and now Abdullah and his magic carpet must journey to save the princess from certain doom.

Gwendolen is the most promising young witch the residents of Coven Street have ever seen. Her brother Cat lives in her shadow, but he's content with his lot in life. When trouble starts brewing the moment the two orphans are summoned to live in Chrestomanci Castle, a place of immense magic that goes unexpressed. The witches of the castle refuse to acknowledge her talents, leading Gwendolen to scheme of a way to make them change their ways. 

Christopher Chant comes from a powerful magical family. His father and uncles are enchanters, his mother a powerful sorceress, and everyone expects him to be the same. But he seems rather normal. That is, until he falls asleep. In his dreams, he climbs through the formless Place Between and visits the Almost Anywheres, a series of mystical lands utterly unlike the waking world. 

Then Christopher discovers that he can bring real, solid things back from his dreams. It's an incredible power that requires rigorous training, and so Christopher is ordered to attend Chrestomanci Castle. His quest: to train to be the controller of all the world's magic.

In a magical world next door to ours, a horrifying threat is terrorizing the populace: tourists, eager to experience their fantasy dreams of dark lords, grand battles, and fire-breathing dragons. It's far less fun for the people who live there and just want to get on with their lives. The Head of the University resolves to shut the tours down, but that would mean going up against the ruthless tour-master and his demon goons. 

To save them all, the incompetent wizard Derk is appointed as Dark Lord in the hope that he will ruin the tours. But what happens when failure accidentally turns into success?

Polly Whittacker has two sets of memories. In the first, things are perfectly normal, but in the other set, her life is a strange blend of magic and romance, and at the heart of it is a mysterious cellist named Thomas Lynn. 

These dueling memories fight for power in her mind, trying to seek dominance in Polly's brain. Someone has been trying to make her forget Tom, but why? She has to find out before Tom's life is erased from her world entirely.

After the death of his beloved grandmother, Aidan Cain was sent to a foster home, where strange beings have started to stalk him. There is one person Gran told Aidan to go to if he ever got into trouble: a powerful sorcerer who lives at Melstone House. But when Aidan got there, he found that the sorcerer's grandson, Andrew, was now in charge. Andrew has immense powers too but no idea how to use any of them. 

With a sinister neighbor stealing magic from the land, Aidan and Andrew must harness their abilities and help one another before the entire country is torn to shreds.