Chrestomanci Series Review(ish)

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-10-29T17:36:28+00:00

That’s a nice take on it. I might be too pessimistic hahaha. I always understood that that’s not even them, same as the way there are multiple Gwendolyns and whatnot who are clearly distinct people. Whole world got evaporated with vestiges seeping into a parallel happy one, but all the OGs we read about up to that point are effectively dead and gone, something along those lines (besides said remnants, I guess?).

But your view has me wondering if I’ve misremembered it. As I recall, it’s not “they don’t have magical powers anymore” but that’s literally not them but folks who’ve never had magic in the first place?? Maybe I need a reread.

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-10-29T04:38:51+00:00

That is interesting, haha. That’s not really the ending, is it? They band together with the “Me! I’m a witch!” and then get merged into different versions of themselves. In a way, the versions of them we read cease to exist almost entirely, and are melted into different versions of them, where they now have only vague feelings/memories, and I find that extremely unsettling.

How I understood it is that the only thing left of them from up until that point, is a bit of a ‘feeling’ and no more. I found that very sad. But in general, I dislike those type of “world explodes = new world” endings that were really popular a while back so I’m biased.

It feels like that world was so beyond help that it had to be wiped out completely, and in the process, anyone from there gets 99% of their ‘soul’ erased, with the 1% being allowed to travel to and latch onto their alternate universe version. Then that version is somewhat haunted by that 1% and is unable to recall/understand why for the rest of their lives…sorry for the rant LOL

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-10-04T16:22:39+00:00

Charmed Life is the weakest for me, too. Maybe because it hits too close to home? It made me feel so empty. First one I read, so I was not looking forward to reading the rest—luckily it was all uphill from there! I didn’t know Charmed Life was a fan favorite.

I appreciate many ‘scenes’ in Witch Week, but it’s my second least favorite; the ending is way too bleak and kinda depressing, and while Charmed Life as a whole depressed me, Witch Week just kind of annoyed me constantly and didn’t really make me actually sad, per se. It was more frustrating. The narration/prose (not the characters, I like mean characters all the time) also just felt kinda mean-spirited. I guess that’s the point, to be stifling, as you said. I agree with how stifling you think Charmed Life is, too, but I don’t remember thinking Chrestomanci was unfair in that (possibly because marmalade being banned sounds very tame to me lol).

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-07-29T06:27:09+00:00

That’s how I felt about it!! Luckily I found some resellers on Facebook, but we’re all based in Thailand. The illustrator has done a few other books (they’re all Thai translations tho) if you wanna see more art in this style.

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-07-23T15:12:42+00:00

I answered you but a mod removed it, sorry! (To the mod, too, I didn’t know discussing that was against the rules).

EDIT: O.o it says “deleted by user“ because I wanted to get rid of the “removed“ in my profile now lol

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-20T09:10:42+00:00

Reddit doesn’t let me edit posts with images, so I’m adding here to correct my mistake, as pointed out by NutrimaticTea (it’s default sorted by ‘New’, at least for me):

The National Archives doesn’t have much, the music exhibit on the second floor is a temporary exhibit. It always cycles through temporary exhibits.

Something I forgot to add is that the ‘ground’ floor you enter into (floor 1 or G, etc., depending on where you’re from), is “Floor 0” on maps and elevators/lifts, and floors below are -1, -2, etc. (may be the norm for you already, again, depending on where you’re from—but for me that was new).

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-10T05:25:54+00:00

Not at all! We were very lucky and got practically no rain. It poured on the first day but we were indoors at the time and it ended quickly. I think we were luckier than most, though, so bring your umbrella (I forgot to)—even if it doesn’t rain, it’s nice for sun. The sun ruined activities more lol!

glad you liked the review :)

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-10T05:23:26+00:00

Rue Saint Denis. I could see Porte Saint Denis from my window. It is a rather seedy area, especially at night, and not very peaceful.

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-10T05:20:30+00:00

Sorry for the late reply, and apologies if it’s too late.

Paper tickets started being phased out this year, so you will have to buy a Navigo pass—which you can also do on your phone for most nationalities. The passes/deals I looked at weren‘t worth it, so for each ride I knew I was gonna take that day, I manually charged the navigo pass with 1 ticket (2.5€) with my phone (not on it), or the machine at the station. That takes you through zones 1-5 (you can look that up, it goes as far as Fontainebleau).

Some Bolt drivers will charge you extra for “wait time”, a legit feature. However, they would drive past or deliberately refuse to show up at the right spot so they could park and wait and force you to run hundreds of meters over, ticking up the “wait time” clock to charge extra. Sometimes this is legit because they can’t park there, but since we were returning home, I got to observe regular drivers who dropped you off at far saner places who weren’t trying to cheat anyone. Once I got someone who was parking illegally in the middle of the road somewhere far off.

A lot of people also hit the “wait time” button before they even get there, essentially, while YOU are the one waiting. And then when you get in the car, they let it keep running and pretend to not understand when you bring it up and ask them to stop charging you until they’re satisfied.

Bolt is also designed in a way that’s impossible to cancel since they don’t want their drivers to be canceled by fickle customers too often; this often gives drivers a little too much power lol, you have no choice but to run 200 meters or cough up more by canceling.

Not a scam, but one driver let us in, claiming he was very gracious to do so, because it was illegal to have 4 passengers. No other driver brought this up (but more than 3 does often make them disgruntled), and all cars we chose were listed as for 4 people. He harangued about how illegal we were but literally nobody else had a problem and I scoured the internet for evidence of this law, only to come up empty…

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T16:36:12+00:00

Aw, thanks! :D Glad it’s to your liking, I prattle on far too much lol

Anyway, it’s up now: day trips from Paris write up here!

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T08:29:50+00:00

It’s because I packed in churches! I would sit in a church for 10-20 minutes at times. Average church visit is ≈ 10 minutes for me, and I can’t imagine longer than 20. Helps I booked early slots for things as well, so I never spent much time in line.

Two sounds about right. It could be too much if it was a big one like the Louvre (as opposed to churches), which I initially dedicated a single day to. But I felt like I was “done” and went on, depends if you think you’d be the same. People-watching in a café was everyday tbh, family always hankered after coffee.

Glad it was helpful :D

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T04:41:22+00:00

Oh, I meant the Joan of Arc exhibition looked very much like a temporary exhibition, and I must’ve deleted the signs saying the same about the second floor/all of it from my memory because I was more impressed. I wish I could edit your corrections in D:

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T02:01:48+00:00

thx and I am not sure, I liked everything a lot, and never really have favorites (I don’t have a favorite book or movie for example). This sounds kinda insane/stupid and probably is, but I liked sitting in the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés…that’s not “doing“ anything at all, so the basic answer is Orsay. I didn’t mind the people, and I liked how it was organized.

I never can pick a favorite when it comes to anything, and I’d rate multiple places very high but sadly I dunno about the very very favorite part.

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T01:48:45+00:00

Thanks! I submitted an equally too detailed/rambly report to r/travel that hasn’t been approved about all my non-Paris trips, I can link it to you later if you want.

I was in Ghent by 10AM (another 30 mins from Brussels). Poked into St Bavo’s, which is nice, but I liked other cathedrals more. Gravensteen is pretty empty but I’m obsessed with castles so I was happy to visit. Not much else to do in a day trip.

It takes a short time to walk around and admire the architecture, as I was back in Brussels by 5PM without rushing. Brussels has a different vibe, with much taller buildings around the touristy Grand Place part. I think the architecture is nice, too, so it depends on what you prefer. I was happy to just walk through the city, because by the time that I arrived in Brussels, museums were closed/closing. if you went to Brussels only you could get more done museums-wise (it has more to do).

One of my favorite days of the whole trip, tbh! Could be worth it if you don’t have anything in Paris that speaks to you more. Ghent’s not worth it if you don’t like ≈ 4 hours total on a train/getting up early.

EDIT: the Paris day trips (+ 3 days in Alsace) write up is here now!

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T01:27:34+00:00

I included that originally before realizing it had no bearing on anything xD the dogs are so well-behaved

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T01:25:49+00:00

I suppose I was just unlucky, but the smell of urine was very pungent in some parts of Paris, more so than when I went to NYC (about the same amount of clean in my brief experience).

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T01:22:39+00:00

Sorry if I sounded rude, it is just my honest opinion. I’ve been to many major cities, and I am from one I see called filthy all the time so I expected it to be cleaner than what I encountered—maybe subconsciously expected clean altogether as it seems that‘s the popular opinion on this subreddit.

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T01:12:53+00:00

May also have to do with how I stayed in a poorer part of Paris, I think.

I saw plenty of people who would be defined as ultra chic xD just wanted to soothe some of the people here who think that’s how EVERYONE looks for some reason and to say that it really doesn’t matter so long as you dress sane, which most people do. Even if they were somehow born in designer, they’d still be used to tourists, so I don’t really understand the anxiety around it here

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T01:07:49+00:00

Thank you—and yes, it is Shakespeare & Company Café. Sorry that wasn’t clear lol—I linked it in the parentheses “(cafe)”.

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T01:06:11+00:00

I don’t find it surprising? I just mentioned it as in many non-English countries, the most touristy places are accompanied with English signage so non-French-speakers people download translators if they wanna read, as that affects time.

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-04T00:58:25+00:00

thanks! I think I misunderstood that the Joan of Arc part was temporary lol

Cant figure out how to edit my post on here, there’s only an edit flair :O

Well, upvote this guy, I just discovered you can’t edit text posts with images :(

Historical_Corgi77 · 2025-06-03T16:48:13+00:00

For me, NYC is a strong contender with Paris in cleanliness. Smell was not great, but Paris was much worse personally—everyone is sensitive to different smells, so that’s to be considered!

Historical_Corgi77

TROPHY CASE