What do you think?
Rate this book
The Game
Hayley’s parents disappeared when she was a baby. Since then, she has been raised and homeschooled by her grandparents. Grandad is overworked and travels a lot; Grandma is much too strict and never lets her meet any children her own age. When Hayley does something wrong—she is not quite sure what—they pack her off to her aunts in Ireland. To Hayley’s shock, her family is much bigger than she thought; to her delight, the children all play what they call “the game,” where they visit a place called “the mythosphere.” And while she plays the game, Hayley learns more about her own place in the world than she had ever expected. This original novella by Diana Wynne Jones is sharply funny, fast-paced, and surprising until its very end—like all of this acclaimed author’s work.
181 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2007
32 people are currently reading
2356 people want to read
About the author
Diana Wynne Jones
157 books12k followersDiana Wynne Jones was a celebrated British writer best known for her inventive and influential works of fantasy for children and young adults. Her stories often combined magical worlds with science fiction elements, parallel universes, and a sharp sense of humor. Among her most beloved books are Howl's Moving Castle, the Chrestomanci series, The Dalemark Quartet, Dark Lord of Derkholm, and the satirical The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Her work gained renewed attention and readership with the popularity of the Harry Potter series, to which her books have frequently been compared.
Admired by authors such as Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, and J.K. Rowling, Jones was a major influence on the landscape of modern fantasy. She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, two Mythopoeic Awards, the Karl Edward Wagner Award, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. In 2004, Howl's Moving Castle was adapted into an acclaimed animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, further expanding her global audience.
Jones studied at Oxford, where she attended lectures by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. She began writing professionally in the 1960s and remained active until her death in 2011. Her final novel, The Islands of Chaldea, was completed posthumously by her sister Ursula Jones.
Admired by authors such as Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, and J.K. Rowling, Jones was a major influence on the landscape of modern fantasy. She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, two Mythopoeic Awards, the Karl Edward Wagner Award, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. In 2004, Howl's Moving Castle was adapted into an acclaimed animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, further expanding her global audience.
Jones studied at Oxford, where she attended lectures by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. She began writing professionally in the 1960s and remained active until her death in 2011. Her final novel, The Islands of Chaldea, was completed posthumously by her sister Ursula Jones.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 435 reviews
January 1, 2009
This is one of those books that had amazing ideas and potential...and then falls quite miserably on its face. Well not quite on its face.
The story centers around a young girl who is an orphan living with her Grandma. Her name is Hailey, adn often times she will 'think' her way into a strange world where nothing is what it should be. While in this world she meets many friends one of which is a boy in charge of several large hounds (Pan from Greek Mythology?) who accidentaly gets pulled back into the real world with her. When her Grandma sees him she is furious and sends the girl to her relatives in Greece (I think...) where she is introduced to 'the game' by her older cousins. 'The Game' seems to take place in Haley's imaginary world and involves finding a specified object, for instance one of the golden apples from Greek myth.
Altoghether it is a fast read, but the Heroine has no real power in herself, all she does is be protected by others and does what others say. Her older cousin (the inventor of the game) turns out to have much more power and ingenuity than anyone else in the book and is the person you really want to read about. The only reason the 'bad guy' gets defeated in the end is because some random guy told Haley to get a star and she accidentaly does the right thing with it.
The story centers around a young girl who is an orphan living with her Grandma. Her name is Hailey, adn often times she will 'think' her way into a strange world where nothing is what it should be. While in this world she meets many friends one of which is a boy in charge of several large hounds (Pan from Greek Mythology?) who accidentaly gets pulled back into the real world with her. When her Grandma sees him she is furious and sends the girl to her relatives in Greece (I think...) where she is introduced to 'the game' by her older cousins. 'The Game' seems to take place in Haley's imaginary world and involves finding a specified object, for instance one of the golden apples from Greek myth.
Altoghether it is a fast read, but the Heroine has no real power in herself, all she does is be protected by others and does what others say. Her older cousin (the inventor of the game) turns out to have much more power and ingenuity than anyone else in the book and is the person you really want to read about. The only reason the 'bad guy' gets defeated in the end is because some random guy told Haley to get a star and she accidentaly does the right thing with it.
February 26, 2024
The concept of the mythosphere is a wonderful thing, typical of Diana Wynne Jones and full of creative potential. It is the place we go to in dreams, the realm of the Collective Unconscious, the landscape where mythical archetypes roam and Jungian symbols are to be encountered, collected and treasured.
Young Hayley gets drawn into the mythosphere when she is sent by her grandparents to stay with relatives in Ireland, who have invented a pastime called The Game where they have to fetch back mythical objects against the clock. However, there are repercussions which not only put her in danger but also reveal who she really is and the nature of her large extended family.
A clue comes from her name which, as in many of Jones’ books, has a significance beyond it being a girl’s name chosen at random: it is a not-so-closet reference to Edmond Halley who identified the periodicity of the comet that bears his name and whose surname is popularly pronounced as in the girl’s forename. And in the Game Hayley, like the comet, has the capacity to blaze away in the heavens.
The once novel but now ancient idea espoused by the 4th-century Euhemerus that the gods were merely deified human beings has been turned on its head here (not for the first time in Jones’s books), as spelt out by a final note. Just as, say, in 16th- and 17th-century masques Greek and Roman gods and goddesses were portrayed as fickle humans acting pretty much arbitrarily, so do Jones’s characters behave contrary to their presumed elevated and cosmic statuses, acting out personal whims and displaying petty feelings about each other.
As with many of the author’s other novels humour and wit and insight and intricate plotting are all present in abundance, but when I first read this a dozen years ago I felt the final outcome was rather a let-down in terms of drama and consequence. In particular, the transference of Mediterranean deities to two Atlantic isles, thereby transforming them into petite bourgeoisie, overly diminished them for no apparent reason. I had found her earlier novel Eight Days of Luke (1975), which also dealt with deities – Norse gods this time — much more convincing, especially as the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon pantheons had more than a firm foothold on the land, language and culture of Britain.
Wonderful as her concept was, and though it saddened me then to say it, I thought this wasn’t the most successful of Jones’s novellas: even with a haunting quality to many of the characters I never quite lost the feeling that they were mere personifications of abstract notions. “This is not to say that this is a poor book,” I wrote: “Jones seems never able not to draw you into her storytelling by combining familiar everyday situations with fairytale motifs, mixing the new with the old. However, with The Game she has fallen a little short of her usual high standards and our voracious expectations, to my disappointment.”
And yet my return to the story revealed depths that had somehow eluded me back then, effectively drawing the sting that I’d so carelessly inflicted. For this, I believe, is essentially a story about the parents that we want as opposed to the parents that we get.
Hayley is being brought up in England by her grandparents, who homeschool her. The grandmother is strict and humourless, the grandfather more indulgent but ineffectual. There is another relative, an Uncle Jolyon, who’s full of false smiles and whom Hayley doesn’t trust one jot. When the girl accidentally starts getting inklings of the pathways of the mythosphere the grandmother sends her to a dilapidated castle in Ireland, where Hayley meets the extended family for the first time and is introduced to the clandestine Game.
But this pastime is expressly against the wishes of Uncle Jolyon. Why is it proscribed? Who will betray Hayley’s numerous cousins and aunts who play The Game, and why is the secret of Hayley’s missing parents hidden from her? It takes a desperate flight to Edinburgh in Scotland for Hayley and her newly found relatives and friends to counteract Jolyon’s machinations in the cosmic dance and restore both a natural equilibrium and, hopefully, Hayley’s familial situation.
Even in such a seemingly slight tale it’s hard to escape the sense that, as in much of her other fiction, the author was in part exploring aspects of her own unusual childhood and thereby trying to achieve some kind of resolution. Isn’t that what a lot of fiction – and even myth – is about?
Young Hayley gets drawn into the mythosphere when she is sent by her grandparents to stay with relatives in Ireland, who have invented a pastime called The Game where they have to fetch back mythical objects against the clock. However, there are repercussions which not only put her in danger but also reveal who she really is and the nature of her large extended family.
A clue comes from her name which, as in many of Jones’ books, has a significance beyond it being a girl’s name chosen at random: it is a not-so-closet reference to Edmond Halley who identified the periodicity of the comet that bears his name and whose surname is popularly pronounced as in the girl’s forename. And in the Game Hayley, like the comet, has the capacity to blaze away in the heavens.
The once novel but now ancient idea espoused by the 4th-century Euhemerus that the gods were merely deified human beings has been turned on its head here (not for the first time in Jones’s books), as spelt out by a final note. Just as, say, in 16th- and 17th-century masques Greek and Roman gods and goddesses were portrayed as fickle humans acting pretty much arbitrarily, so do Jones’s characters behave contrary to their presumed elevated and cosmic statuses, acting out personal whims and displaying petty feelings about each other.
As with many of the author’s other novels humour and wit and insight and intricate plotting are all present in abundance, but when I first read this a dozen years ago I felt the final outcome was rather a let-down in terms of drama and consequence. In particular, the transference of Mediterranean deities to two Atlantic isles, thereby transforming them into petite bourgeoisie, overly diminished them for no apparent reason. I had found her earlier novel Eight Days of Luke (1975), which also dealt with deities – Norse gods this time — much more convincing, especially as the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon pantheons had more than a firm foothold on the land, language and culture of Britain.
Wonderful as her concept was, and though it saddened me then to say it, I thought this wasn’t the most successful of Jones’s novellas: even with a haunting quality to many of the characters I never quite lost the feeling that they were mere personifications of abstract notions. “This is not to say that this is a poor book,” I wrote: “Jones seems never able not to draw you into her storytelling by combining familiar everyday situations with fairytale motifs, mixing the new with the old. However, with The Game she has fallen a little short of her usual high standards and our voracious expectations, to my disappointment.”
And yet my return to the story revealed depths that had somehow eluded me back then, effectively drawing the sting that I’d so carelessly inflicted. For this, I believe, is essentially a story about the parents that we want as opposed to the parents that we get.
Hayley is being brought up in England by her grandparents, who homeschool her. The grandmother is strict and humourless, the grandfather more indulgent but ineffectual. There is another relative, an Uncle Jolyon, who’s full of false smiles and whom Hayley doesn’t trust one jot. When the girl accidentally starts getting inklings of the pathways of the mythosphere the grandmother sends her to a dilapidated castle in Ireland, where Hayley meets the extended family for the first time and is introduced to the clandestine Game.
But this pastime is expressly against the wishes of Uncle Jolyon. Why is it proscribed? Who will betray Hayley’s numerous cousins and aunts who play The Game, and why is the secret of Hayley’s missing parents hidden from her? It takes a desperate flight to Edinburgh in Scotland for Hayley and her newly found relatives and friends to counteract Jolyon’s machinations in the cosmic dance and restore both a natural equilibrium and, hopefully, Hayley’s familial situation.
Even in such a seemingly slight tale it’s hard to escape the sense that, as in much of her other fiction, the author was in part exploring aspects of her own unusual childhood and thereby trying to achieve some kind of resolution. Isn’t that what a lot of fiction – and even myth – is about?
2012 review revised 2024
Read
December 2, 2019Kao što kaže Ivana ovde, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - malo je pišljivih sto strana! A koncept je predivan, i naravno priča počne normalno ali se ubrzo razvije u tri suluda pravca odjednom. Nikad više nećete gledati Halejevu kometu na isti način (a ja vam od sveg srca želim da je zaista ispratite i prilikom njene iduće posete Zemlji).
June 8, 2020
Raised by her grandparents since she was a baby, when her parents mysteriously went missing, Hayley is homeschooled, and kept away from other children. When she does something to upset her grandmother she is sent to her aunts in Ireland, where she discovers to her surprise that she has a very large extended family she knew nothing about. As she gets involved in "the game" played by her cousins, a game involving the magical mythosphere, she makes further startling discoveries about the nature of this family to which she belongs...
Although I have read and enjoyed quite a few of Diana Wynne Jones' fantasy novels for young people over the years - I have particularly fond memories of the Chronicles of Chrestomanci , as well as Howl's Moving Castle - I never happened to pick up The Game until it was assigned as a text in the course I took on the history of children's literature, while getting my masters a few years back. It utilizes Greek mythology, and to a lesser extent Russian folklore, in ways that are quite interesting and unique, and it kept me entertained, as I was reading. That said, it was not particularly memorable, and if I did not have the detailed notes I kept for all my class readings, I would struggle to recall anything beyond the vague outline. Certainly, none of the characters made a great impression upon me. Perhaps I will reread this, at some point, and change my mind, but overall I would not describe this as one of the author's better works. Recommended primarily to strong Diana Wynne Jones fans, and to readers who enjoy mythology-adjacent fantasy fiction.
Although I have read and enjoyed quite a few of Diana Wynne Jones' fantasy novels for young people over the years - I have particularly fond memories of the Chronicles of Chrestomanci , as well as Howl's Moving Castle - I never happened to pick up The Game until it was assigned as a text in the course I took on the history of children's literature, while getting my masters a few years back. It utilizes Greek mythology, and to a lesser extent Russian folklore, in ways that are quite interesting and unique, and it kept me entertained, as I was reading. That said, it was not particularly memorable, and if I did not have the detailed notes I kept for all my class readings, I would struggle to recall anything beyond the vague outline. Certainly, none of the characters made a great impression upon me. Perhaps I will reread this, at some point, and change my mind, but overall I would not describe this as one of the author's better works. Recommended primarily to strong Diana Wynne Jones fans, and to readers who enjoy mythology-adjacent fantasy fiction.
February 22, 2013
I started to get into Diana Wynne Jones' books after enjoying Hayao Miyazaki films, then finding out that a few were based on her books. Both storytellers are very similar in their imagination of fantasy worlds.
I think "The Game" is a good book to introduce the reader to Jones' work. It gently lifts you from the real world to the mythical, while overall flowing as a fast read. It is rooted in our world, but the gates open to folklore and fairy tales of old. One comes to realize that the main characters of the book are all picked out of old legends. Nevertheless, they each have their own real-world nicknames, so it's not as easy to guess who might be who even as you discover the link.
The level of reading is suitable to a young adult do to the lead characters and relative lack of violence or foul language. It it also teases more mature readers who try to solve the mysteries of the myths hidden within. Like I mentioned before, it is also a quick read, and therefore a good introduction to this author's work.
I stopped short of five stars due to a little confusion about some events in the book, yet would gladly recommend it.
I think "The Game" is a good book to introduce the reader to Jones' work. It gently lifts you from the real world to the mythical, while overall flowing as a fast read. It is rooted in our world, but the gates open to folklore and fairy tales of old. One comes to realize that the main characters of the book are all picked out of old legends. Nevertheless, they each have their own real-world nicknames, so it's not as easy to guess who might be who even as you discover the link.
The level of reading is suitable to a young adult do to the lead characters and relative lack of violence or foul language. It it also teases more mature readers who try to solve the mysteries of the myths hidden within. Like I mentioned before, it is also a quick read, and therefore a good introduction to this author's work.
I stopped short of five stars due to a little confusion about some events in the book, yet would gladly recommend it.
December 1, 2018
Dajanine zamisli ne mogu da se zbiju na pišljivih stotinak stranica. To jest, mogu, ali onda postaju pomalo zbrkana mešavina svega i svačega. Ali, ne mogu to dovoljno da naglasim, u osnovi je stvarno sjajan i nažalost nerazrađen koncept Mitosfere <3
It’s made up of all the stories, theories and beliefs, legends, myths and hopes, that are generated here on Earth. As you can see, it’s constantly growing and moving as people invent new tales to tell or find new things to believe
It’s made up of all the stories, theories and beliefs, legends, myths and hopes, that are generated here on Earth. As you can see, it’s constantly growing and moving as people invent new tales to tell or find new things to believe
January 20, 2013
I wasn't planning on writing a review of The Game, but after finishing the book, I feel I need to. The book has a great idea: a girl who lives with her strict grandma and traveling grandpa, is sent to live with her cousins, where they take her to a place called the "mythosphere." No spoilers here; you can read that in the book description. Well while the idea is great, and the mythosphere sounds like an amazing place, the entire things falls short.
For one thing, there wasn't enough description. I felt like I never got enough of a description of the mythosphere, for it to make sense. I wanted a clear picture of it in my mind, but I was forced to make up in my own imagination (aside from a tree here, and a lake there, descriptions) of what I thought the mythosphere would be like. I wished there had been more world-building involved, so I could really get a good feel for the mythosphere.
There was also a clear lack of descriptive character actions, and it was hard to tell--especially in the mythosphere--what was happening. The author describes what the character is seeing, but not what the character is doing, until it is already done, and you don't know how it happened.
This extended to the mythology characters as well. While I was excited to read another book having to do with mythology, I really wish there had been more explanation of the significance of important characters, or how they related to the story through mythology. It seemed the author relied heavily on the hope that the reader would have previous knowledge of such things, and there was no explanation for readers who may not have this knowledge.
For one reason or another, I did find myself lost at times (which is so frustrating), and chose to just forge on through, skipping ahead until I understood what was happening. I finished the book, but it wasn't much worth finishing. The end happens all too quickly, and you don't know it's the end, until there's no more story to read. I kept hoping that more pages would magically appear, so that the weak sauce ending I had just read, wouldn't be it. As much as I didn't like the way the book was written, it did deserve a stronger ending.
All-in-all, the whole idea of the book was great. The actual book could have been great...with some more work. It just felt like I was reading a first draft, and that there should have been more to the story. So two stars for an awesome idea, and no more, for not pulling it off.
Edit: Another reviewer (Amitha) said: "I think perhaps this novel would appeal more to her fans rather than someone reading her books for the first time."
...I completely agree!
For one thing, there wasn't enough description. I felt like I never got enough of a description of the mythosphere, for it to make sense. I wanted a clear picture of it in my mind, but I was forced to make up in my own imagination (aside from a tree here, and a lake there, descriptions) of what I thought the mythosphere would be like. I wished there had been more world-building involved, so I could really get a good feel for the mythosphere.
There was also a clear lack of descriptive character actions, and it was hard to tell--especially in the mythosphere--what was happening. The author describes what the character is seeing, but not what the character is doing, until it is already done, and you don't know how it happened.
This extended to the mythology characters as well. While I was excited to read another book having to do with mythology, I really wish there had been more explanation of the significance of important characters, or how they related to the story through mythology. It seemed the author relied heavily on the hope that the reader would have previous knowledge of such things, and there was no explanation for readers who may not have this knowledge.
For one reason or another, I did find myself lost at times (which is so frustrating), and chose to just forge on through, skipping ahead until I understood what was happening. I finished the book, but it wasn't much worth finishing. The end happens all too quickly, and you don't know it's the end, until there's no more story to read. I kept hoping that more pages would magically appear, so that the weak sauce ending I had just read, wouldn't be it. As much as I didn't like the way the book was written, it did deserve a stronger ending.
All-in-all, the whole idea of the book was great. The actual book could have been great...with some more work. It just felt like I was reading a first draft, and that there should have been more to the story. So two stars for an awesome idea, and no more, for not pulling it off.
Edit: Another reviewer (Amitha) said: "I think perhaps this novel would appeal more to her fans rather than someone reading her books for the first time."
...I completely agree!
March 1, 2012
I absolutely adore Diana Wynne Jones' writing. Every story is a great adventure, with lots of plot twists and surprises, and at the end, things are usually drastically different than they were at the beginning, but always in a way that makes a crazy sort of sense.
Her characters shine brilliantly. All of them. Even though they all have elements of the fantastic in them, they're all so real and believable at the same time. And there are always strong female characters with roles that--even today--would still be relegated to male characters only, were it any other author writing the tale.
Young Hailey has displeased her strict, prim and proper, drill sergeant of a grandmother and her nicer but slightly aloof grandfather, who live near London, so they've packed her off to Ireland to spend some time with her numerous aunts and even more numerous cousins (yet, strangely, no uncles to be seen, except for one: Uncle Jolyon, who Hayley dislikes on principle for his duplicity and his manipulative ways). While visiting her aunts, she is invited to play The Game with her cousins, which involved setting foot in the mythosphere...a realm of myths and fables and all sorts of other things that will start to seem more and more familiar to the reader as the story goes along.
I love how, in Diana Wynne Jones' stories, along the way the characters band together (some of whom may have been at odds at the beginning of the story) and head off to solve whatever confrontation is brewing, usually with unexpected results, and it is always a very wild ride…and The Game is no exception to that. Even the secondary and minor characters glow with life. They could grace the story for a page or two at most, and still leave a lasting impression. And also true to Diana Wynne Jones' form, characters who go off on their own at the beginning of the story (and as a reader it seems like their part is done, and you’ll never hear from them again) tend to show up at the penultimate moment. That, too, happens in The Game, and I was very delighted by it.
Reading this, I almost felt as if I was along for the adventure, which in my mind is a very good compliment indeed. The Game is definitely a book I will re-read, several times, and share with others. It's a fun roller-coaster ride from the beginning, sometimes mysterious, often hilariously funny (few books make me laugh out loud, and this one did). There were also many references, both to classical mythology and folklore--as well as some of the fantasy worlds from Diana's other works--which were a treat, too, as I always love making connections to other stories like that.
Her characters shine brilliantly. All of them. Even though they all have elements of the fantastic in them, they're all so real and believable at the same time. And there are always strong female characters with roles that--even today--would still be relegated to male characters only, were it any other author writing the tale.
Young Hailey has displeased her strict, prim and proper, drill sergeant of a grandmother and her nicer but slightly aloof grandfather, who live near London, so they've packed her off to Ireland to spend some time with her numerous aunts and even more numerous cousins (yet, strangely, no uncles to be seen, except for one: Uncle Jolyon, who Hayley dislikes on principle for his duplicity and his manipulative ways). While visiting her aunts, she is invited to play The Game with her cousins, which involved setting foot in the mythosphere...a realm of myths and fables and all sorts of other things that will start to seem more and more familiar to the reader as the story goes along.
I love how, in Diana Wynne Jones' stories, along the way the characters band together (some of whom may have been at odds at the beginning of the story) and head off to solve whatever confrontation is brewing, usually with unexpected results, and it is always a very wild ride…and The Game is no exception to that. Even the secondary and minor characters glow with life. They could grace the story for a page or two at most, and still leave a lasting impression. And also true to Diana Wynne Jones' form, characters who go off on their own at the beginning of the story (and as a reader it seems like their part is done, and you’ll never hear from them again) tend to show up at the penultimate moment. That, too, happens in The Game, and I was very delighted by it.
Reading this, I almost felt as if I was along for the adventure, which in my mind is a very good compliment indeed. The Game is definitely a book I will re-read, several times, and share with others. It's a fun roller-coaster ride from the beginning, sometimes mysterious, often hilariously funny (few books make me laugh out loud, and this one did). There were also many references, both to classical mythology and folklore--as well as some of the fantasy worlds from Diana's other works--which were a treat, too, as I always love making connections to other stories like that.
September 18, 2018
This is a short book but it’s packed with references to mythology, mostly Greek/Roman, with Baba Yaga thrown in from Russian folklore and some fairy tales and other things. So there’s a lot to take in within this slender story, as if everything from the ‘mythosphere’ (where all myths and fairy/folk tales are forever ongoing in cloudy strands wrapped around the earth) of the story was endlessly unfolding into your head and bringing more and more references to other characters and stories each time you thought about it. I don’t know if that completely makes sense but it’s a clever little story and I’m sure I’ll keep trying to work out all the references in it for a while.
October 8, 2023
I found a copy at a library booksale Saturday and picked it up because I wasn't sure I owned it, and indeed I did not. So then I reread it, and it was ok, but not her best. Although it starts strong (orphan girl sent to stay with boisterous family she's never met in an Irish castle, lots of flashbacks to orphan girl's life with a very unkind grandmother) the conceit of the story begins to dominate characterization and so ultimately it isn't a book I especially like.
August 31, 2019
This was delightful and not-quite-expected. I loved the particular twist on mythology that DWJ took here; it's thoroughly delightful and clever. I will say that it's very short, just barely a novella. But it's still a good read.
February 3, 2014
I liked it a lot. Interesting that it has a lot in common with Percy Jackson, but I liked the style of this so much more. It occurs to me to wonder what readers think of it if they have no experience of studying classical civilisations. Some material is explained here and there, and there is great info at the end of the book, but what young teenager is going to understand or pick up on all the fabulous mythological references?
From my point of view it was great that Wynne Jones slotted in all the references so deftly. I liked what she left unsaid. At the point when Hayley and Flute are following the swan strand and they come upon Leda with a giant swan, nothing is explained and Leda's name is not given either, but Flute says "I think that we'll take another strand now. All right?" I loved this. If you don't know about Leda and the swan, you are none the wiser. If you do, it's quite risqué. Ha!
On an obscure note, hats off to the marketing department of Harper Collins or whoever it was that thought of the 'if you like, you'll love…' page at the back of the book. That is SOOOOO clever. Because this book has a lot of features that might appeal to different kinds of readers, they have a section that says:
If you like MYTHS, you'll love 'Eight Days of Luke' (synopsis follows)
if you like GAMES, you'll love 'The Homeward Bounders' (synopsis follows)
And so on.
Sheer genius.
From my point of view it was great that Wynne Jones slotted in all the references so deftly. I liked what she left unsaid. At the point when Hayley and Flute are following the swan strand and they come upon Leda with a giant swan, nothing is explained and Leda's name is not given either, but Flute says "I think that we'll take another strand now. All right?" I loved this. If you don't know about Leda and the swan, you are none the wiser. If you do, it's quite risqué. Ha!
On an obscure note, hats off to the marketing department of Harper Collins or whoever it was that thought of the 'if you like, you'll love…' page at the back of the book. That is SOOOOO clever. Because this book has a lot of features that might appeal to different kinds of readers, they have a section that says:
If you like MYTHS, you'll love 'Eight Days of Luke' (synopsis follows)
if you like GAMES, you'll love 'The Homeward Bounders' (synopsis follows)
And so on.
Sheer genius.
December 16, 2007
So good. I like DWJ's prose; it's like water -- no distinctive taste of its own, and you see right through it, but it is everything the story need. I admire tremendously her way of starting out with what appears to be a fairly mundane situation -- here, Hayley being sent to her aunt's because she's displeased her grandparents -- and introduces a shower of characters and ideas and places, and then starts pulling all these disparate threads together and weaving them into a story until it builds and builds and all comes together in the end. I am mixing my metaphors, but man, SO good.
Mildly disappointed that her mythosphere is so predominantly Western/European, but that was only to be expected, really.
Mildly disappointed that her mythosphere is so predominantly Western/European, but that was only to be expected, really.
July 30, 2008
When Hayley is packed off to her aunt's house in disgrace she encounters a huge, rolicking family she never knew anything about. All of the children play a game, a scavenger hunt in the "Mythosphere" that weaves through stories and blends reality with make believe. When Hayley begins to play, the game changes everything Hayley believes about who and what she is and the fate of her long-dead parents.
This is not one of Diana Wynne-Jones's stronger works. The plot feels forced and rushed. While the story is filled with her usual vibrant characters and great description there is just too much coincidence and the revelations feel anything but natural. I was dissatisfied with the mystery, resolution and the overall plot.
This is not one of Diana Wynne-Jones's stronger works. The plot feels forced and rushed. While the story is filled with her usual vibrant characters and great description there is just too much coincidence and the revelations feel anything but natural. I was dissatisfied with the mystery, resolution and the overall plot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2025
I was curious to reread this because I remember loving it as a kid. I will say that Diana Wynne Jones does such a masterful job of capturing what it's like to be a kid without any control of your life, at the whims of adults. I also definitely understand way more of the myth references now that I missed or didn't fully understand as a kid. That being said, I felt like some aspects of the story were rushed, and there are too many characters for the length. I'll leave my original rating but for current-me this is more like a 3 star read.
January 21, 2022
I did enjoy the book, if for no other reason than it was written by Diana Wynne Jones and there's something about her style that I find almost irresistible. I don't know that I'll ever get an urge to read it again, though. It felt like she was trying way too hard to be clever and instead the story ended up stumbling all over itself.
January 8, 2019
I am a fan of Diana Wynne Jones, so when I saw that she'd written a new novel, I was excited. Unfortunately, this book fell far short of my expectations.
I think one of the main problems was that I couldn't identify with the character. We're not told very much about Hayley (presumably because Jones was trying to keep the true identities of the characters a secret until later in the book). I couldn't figure out how old she was, or anything about her that really mattered. I assumed, though, that she was about 10. The problem with that assumption, however, was that she then went and followed strange adult men into bushes, without really questioning the situation or her own safety. A similar theme appeared in Fire and Hemlock, but that was written decades ago when child predators weren't as much in the news as they are today (and the main character in that novel eventually grew up, rendering her friendship with a man twice her age somewhat more acceptable).
I do appreciate Jones's creation of the "mythosphere", and I thought it was an interesting idea. However, I would have liked to see more of it. So many books for children today seem to suffer from a lack of editing. If anything, this book seemed to suffer from over-editing! It seemed as if large chunks were missing. Certain things were badly or barely explained. How could a wedding photograph of Hayley's parents even exist if they were as old as they were supposed to be? Why did Hayley have no memories of the world changing around her? Surely she would have noticed that computers, cars, and airplanes were relatively new inventions. How did she pin Jupiter to the sky when the planet was already there?
There also didn't seem to be much peril. Aside from the rather gory scene with the Maenads, the characters didn't seem to be in much mortal danger. And how could they be? Half of them were immortal!
Jones has been through this territory before in Eight Days of Luke (though with Norse mythology, while The Game is Greek mythology). However, there seems to be an awful lot of metaphor and symbolism here for kids to absorb. And while I enjoyed the unique "mythosphere" aspect, I really wanted to see all parts of the story more fleshed out.
I think one of the main problems was that I couldn't identify with the character. We're not told very much about Hayley (presumably because Jones was trying to keep the true identities of the characters a secret until later in the book). I couldn't figure out how old she was, or anything about her that really mattered. I assumed, though, that she was about 10. The problem with that assumption, however, was that she then went and followed strange adult men into bushes, without really questioning the situation or her own safety. A similar theme appeared in Fire and Hemlock, but that was written decades ago when child predators weren't as much in the news as they are today (and the main character in that novel eventually grew up, rendering her friendship with a man twice her age somewhat more acceptable).
I do appreciate Jones's creation of the "mythosphere", and I thought it was an interesting idea. However, I would have liked to see more of it. So many books for children today seem to suffer from a lack of editing. If anything, this book seemed to suffer from over-editing! It seemed as if large chunks were missing. Certain things were badly or barely explained. How could a wedding photograph of Hayley's parents even exist if they were as old as they were supposed to be? Why did Hayley have no memories of the world changing around her? Surely she would have noticed that computers, cars, and airplanes were relatively new inventions. How did she pin Jupiter to the sky when the planet was already there?
There also didn't seem to be much peril. Aside from the rather gory scene with the Maenads, the characters didn't seem to be in much mortal danger. And how could they be? Half of them were immortal!
Jones has been through this territory before in Eight Days of Luke (though with Norse mythology, while The Game is Greek mythology). However, there seems to be an awful lot of metaphor and symbolism here for kids to absorb. And while I enjoyed the unique "mythosphere" aspect, I really wanted to see all parts of the story more fleshed out.
September 7, 2018
Hayley is a child who has been sent away to an aunt's in Ireland in disgrace by her very strict grandmother and more tolerant but busy grandfather, although she is not really clear why. The reason gradually becomes clear, but meanwhile Hayley is immersed in a, to her, bewildering new existence, as a lot more of the family have come to stay with her aunt for an annual reunion. And as part of that, they play a strange Game which is a scavenger hunt with a difference: each child is set the task of retrieving a mythological/fairy tale/folk tale/fictional object by travelling through a network referred to as the mythosphere. Hayley has learned from her grandfather about this energy field/network, generated by all the stories on Earth and continually changing as new stories emerge and old ones fall into disuse. In the course of her stay at her aunt's house and her participation in the Game, she learns surprising things about her family and the parents whom she thought were dead.
This is a short book - my edition had large print with gaps between the lines and the last 20 or so pages were taken up with an author's note on the characters and some more character notes (a lot of the characters are based on divine/semi-divine beings in Greek/Roman mythology), a quiz and a few other things, so the book ended sooner than anticipated. It is a very quick read; a romp that goes from one bit of action to another with lots of characters being name checked. I didn't find any of them well realised including Hayley, who mainly does things under the guidance of others although she is eventually instrumental in the slightly too convenient finale.
Although the story comes across as meant for younger children, there is some content which is older than that - at one point Hayley meets the Maeneds who, true to mythology, have torn a man to bits and are parading his head around while they cavort in a drunken state, covered in blood. So the book does rather fall between stools as far as its age group is concerned. Anyway, because I didn't love it as much as other DWJ stories, I rate it at 3 stars.
This is a short book - my edition had large print with gaps between the lines and the last 20 or so pages were taken up with an author's note on the characters and some more character notes (a lot of the characters are based on divine/semi-divine beings in Greek/Roman mythology), a quiz and a few other things, so the book ended sooner than anticipated. It is a very quick read; a romp that goes from one bit of action to another with lots of characters being name checked. I didn't find any of them well realised including Hayley, who mainly does things under the guidance of others although she is eventually instrumental in the slightly too convenient finale.
Although the story comes across as meant for younger children, there is some content which is older than that - at one point Hayley meets the Maeneds who, true to mythology, have torn a man to bits and are parading his head around while they cavort in a drunken state, covered in blood. So the book does rather fall between stools as far as its age group is concerned. Anyway, because I didn't love it as much as other DWJ stories, I rate it at 3 stars.
January 10, 2018
Children's contemporary fantasy. Hayley grew up with her grandparents, isolated from the world. Only then Hayley did something wrong - she's not sure what, only that it was to do with Fiddle and Flute and the boy with the dogs - and now she's been packed off to a house full of aunts and cousins in Ireland. The house is riotous and warm and, best of all, the children play something called The Game, in the mysterious Mythosphere. But Hayley's misdeed has attracted the attention of the dangerous head of the family - a family that turns out to be far more unusual than Hayley realised.
This has a stupendously exciting setup. The Mythosphere is exactly what it sounds like - a realm where you can travel through the different forms and interconnections of myth and story. Hayley is an immediately appealing character, and the aunts and cousins dashing about dealing with the flooded upper rooms the night Hayley arrives are fantastic. But then the story sort of ... loses its way. Like Eight Days of Luke, this is based on ancient mythology - in this case Greek rather than Norse - and while it's huge amounts of fun to sit there with the book and a copy of The Greek Myths and work out what all the references are to, the story does kind of lose itself in references at about the midway point, and forget that it's a story. The resolution just sort of happens, and then everything's over.
It's a nice little book, based on one of the coolest concepts DWJ has ever played with. But I wanted the ending to be as clever as the beginning, and it didn't quite live up.
This has a stupendously exciting setup. The Mythosphere is exactly what it sounds like - a realm where you can travel through the different forms and interconnections of myth and story. Hayley is an immediately appealing character, and the aunts and cousins dashing about dealing with the flooded upper rooms the night Hayley arrives are fantastic. But then the story sort of ... loses its way. Like Eight Days of Luke, this is based on ancient mythology - in this case Greek rather than Norse - and while it's huge amounts of fun to sit there with the book and a copy of The Greek Myths and work out what all the references are to, the story does kind of lose itself in references at about the midway point, and forget that it's a story. The resolution just sort of happens, and then everything's over.
It's a nice little book, based on one of the coolest concepts DWJ has ever played with. But I wanted the ending to be as clever as the beginning, and it didn't quite live up.
March 11, 2015
A short little novella that is probably aimed at younger readers, I would say this is more juvenile lit than YA. It's a fun read about classical era mythological people living in a modern time. A very large family of aunts and cousins (there didn't seem to be many uncles involved) convene in Ireland for a week every year for a family reunion. Most of the book is about a kind of scavenger hunt game they play whereby they enter a supernatural realm called the mythosphere, where myths, legends, and fictional characters reside. Apparently everyone in the family has the ability to enter this realm. The game takes a darker turn when the protaganist Hayley learns her parents, whom she was told were dead, are actually trapped in the mythosphere, sent there by a powerful uncle who was angry that Hayley's immortal mother married a mortal man. In the back of the book is a glossary of the mythical people mentioned, who are sometimes referred to by nicknames or slight alterations of their mythological names, e.g. Cyrus Foss is actually Sisyphus. Of course it all comes right in the end, but the book does take a slighter darker turn towards the end, which seems typical of DWJ books. It is not one of her best works, but like pretty much everything she wrote, it's still quite engaging and readable and mostly enjoyable.
September 12, 2017
This is not DWJ's best book, but it was really enjoyable. I found it by accident when my daughter was picking something up from another branch of the library. While it's not as deep as most of her works (because it's novella length) it was a fun romp, and I think anyone who enjoys her books will also like this one.
If you haven't read Diana Wynne Jones before now, don't start with this one. Start with Howl's Moving Castle.
If you haven't read Diana Wynne Jones before now, don't start with this one. Start with Howl's Moving Castle.
January 13, 2020
Reread in an afternoon. Its a fun and quick story with DWJs trademark of completely ignoring certain details and going straight into the fantasy as if its all acceptable and normal. Very interesting way of depicting all the mythical characters..as english families. Lol.
Very enjoyable
Very enjoyable
July 27, 2023
This little novella centres on Hayley Foss, who lives with her grandparents and is home-schooled with no friends. When she commits one infraction too many, her grandmother packs her off to her family in Ireland where she discovers many cousins, and also, the game. Unlike The Game, this involves traversing a multiverse of stories known as the Mythosphere. But the feared Uncle Jolyon is coming, and he has it in for Hayley.
This was an enjoyable little story, but I feel that it would benefit from a classical education. There are so many references that I feel I missed. I'm still not entirely sure I know who Fiddle and Flute were and other elements didn't entirely make sense (why did Martya come and work for Hayley's grandmother, for example?). But it kept moving at a good pace so you don't think too hard about these things as you're reading. I'm not sure it'll linger long in the mind though.
This was an enjoyable little story, but I feel that it would benefit from a classical education. There are so many references that I feel I missed. I'm still not entirely sure I know who Fiddle and Flute were and other elements didn't entirely make sense (why did Martya come and work for Hayley's grandmother, for example?). But it kept moving at a good pace so you don't think too hard about these things as you're reading. I'm not sure it'll linger long in the mind though.
February 27, 2021
Should not have read this at the same time as a Tiffany Aching! I would occasionally get mixed up as to which world I was in. Pratchett's was the more accessible, I have to say. This is is still a very imaginative book, drawing heavily from mythology-- primarily Greek and Roman. I think I should have brushed up a bit before I read this, but it's still quite good.
March 19, 2024
Loved the concept of the mythosphere and appreciate the star/constellation references but could not get into the flow - there was almost too much… including shifting from one fantastical image to the next without time to register or appreciate what was unfolding…
March 24, 2019
I love the premise of this so much. Parts of this reminded me a lot of the Homeward Bounders but this was a lot happier than that one...
September 6, 2018
“Hayley discovered that being a comet was more fun than she had ever had in her life.”
Hayley lives with her grandparents and has never met her mother or father. Life with her grandparents is dull - grandmother is severely strict and never lets Hayley leave the house on her own. But during an unwatchful moment of her grandmother's, Hayley slips away and meets her first friends ever, Flute and Fiddle. Once back home, though, grandmother becomes so furious that she puts Hayley on the next plane to Ireland to live with her until then unknown numerous cousins. But life in Ireland soon becomes a lot more interesting than anything Hayley has ever known as she gets drawn into The Game where she and her cousins visit the Mythosphere world.
The Game defines the words wasted potential - I could kick and scream because the concept of the Mythosphere is brilliant yet the execution is so poorly done. I more or less forced myself to read this as it either failed to hold my attention or simply lost me halfway in the underdeveloped and messy plot. If anything, it reads like a prequel to what should have been a much bigger story - a prequel one would only fully grasp if one is already familiar with the main story.
The Mythosphere sounds like a most intriguing place. Essentially, it seems some kind of magical place that consists of all myths, stories and legends ever told. That includes all the different variations so it is an ever-growing world as new stories or variants are told. Every story has its own strand which all seem to stretch through the universe passed zodiac constellations, stars and planets. And as wonderful as it all sounds, the problem lies in the 'seems'.
The Mythosphere was hardly explained at all as well as all the characters in it. I don't even understand who or what Hayley is. There is talk of story strands hardening - but what that does or how it happens is never explained. How time flows is never explained. There are several precious items mentioned and collected yet never explained. Fiddle and Flute are never explained - who are they?? Who is the self-proclaimed strongest witch who pops up out of nowhere at the end? How do all the characters relate to each other? This book did nothing for me other than bring up more and more questions.
For that same reason, I found it hard to care for the characters as I didn't really get who they are supposed to be. There's a lot of astrology and Greek and Roman mythology - that's great, but the story is told with the assumption that you already know all about it. But knowing about Greek and Roman mythology won't be enough as this book covers all stories ranging from Cinderella to The Lord of the Rings.
With so much going on in the Mythosphere, it strikes me as a story that requires a whole series to go anywhere. With its less-than-200-pages, however, it doesn't do anything other than give you a very brief glimpse of what could have been an absolutely mesmerising world to read about if given the space and world-building it needed.
July 23, 2022
DWJ always writes fun books, although I think I would’ve liked this one even more if it was more fleshed out. Some parts were a little rushed, and it would’ve been fun to learn more about the world. An easy read and the character were very likable.
Read
September 13, 2019I picked this book up at the library when I was there looking for something else completely. I've been wanting to read one of Jones's books and the description on the cover about magic and mythology really sucked me in. I love a good fantasy novel.
At first glance, the idea seems a genuinely good one: what would happen if the constellations came to life as real people? I imagine this book is meant to appeal to the Percy Jackson set (I still haven't read those books). But in practice, the book was difficult to follow and slightly..well...boring (is there a nicer way of saying this?).
Diana Wynne Jones is obviously a masterful writer. One sentence is still memorable to me after closing the book: "Martya was a big strong girl with hair like the white silk fringes on Grandma's parlour furniture--soft, straight hair that was always swirling across her round pink face." Lovely. But memorable images and interesting characters are not enough for a good book--what is missing for me is a solid plot.
I've summed up the premise in the story in one sentence, but it actually takes quite a while of reading to get there. She starts out introducing an incredibly cute main character and her rambunctious, colorful family, but then when the actual driving conflict is introduced...it all becomes a winding mess. "The game" itself is strange and a little too ethereal to really get a good sense of what is going on. It almost reads as a giant inside joke that is hard to follow for everyone else.
I have heard lots of good things about Jones's other books (including Howl's Moving Castle, the movie of which I liked a lot), so I am hardly going to stop reading her writing, but I think perhaps this novel would appeal more to her fans rather than someone reading her books for the first time.
At first glance, the idea seems a genuinely good one: what would happen if the constellations came to life as real people? I imagine this book is meant to appeal to the Percy Jackson set (I still haven't read those books). But in practice, the book was difficult to follow and slightly..well...boring (is there a nicer way of saying this?).
Diana Wynne Jones is obviously a masterful writer. One sentence is still memorable to me after closing the book: "Martya was a big strong girl with hair like the white silk fringes on Grandma's parlour furniture--soft, straight hair that was always swirling across her round pink face." Lovely. But memorable images and interesting characters are not enough for a good book--what is missing for me is a solid plot.
I've summed up the premise in the story in one sentence, but it actually takes quite a while of reading to get there. She starts out introducing an incredibly cute main character and her rambunctious, colorful family, but then when the actual driving conflict is introduced...it all becomes a winding mess. "The game" itself is strange and a little too ethereal to really get a good sense of what is going on. It almost reads as a giant inside joke that is hard to follow for everyone else.
I have heard lots of good things about Jones's other books (including Howl's Moving Castle, the movie of which I liked a lot), so I am hardly going to stop reading her writing, but I think perhaps this novel would appeal more to her fans rather than someone reading her books for the first time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2014
Definitely lesser-Diana Wynne Jones. The Game seems to have as plot as your average younger-skewing DWJ book except it’s about a hundred pages shorter, which really leaves out all the characterization and the slow build-up (so basically, arguably all the best parts of her work*) that usually form the filling of her opening-premise-and-crazy-explain-y-ending-with-several-identity-reversals-sandwich. The result is just so bland and oddly clipped that it feels like she found she didn’t really like the story as she was working it and just bundled up what she already had to move on to the next idea. It’s not totally without merit, however. I do really love how she describes the “mythosphere”, where all the stories people tell intermingle on a different plane. All the major types of stories reside nearby each other and recurrent themes and motifs and small changes are visible as crossing threads. It’s a mythologists dream come true!:
*It’s the characters and build-up that I think make a good DWJ novel. If the madcap ending actually makes sense and finalizes the concept of the whole book into something actually thought-provoking, now that’s a great one. Rating: 2.5 stars
“This is the mythosphere. It's made up of all the stories, theories and beliefs, legends, myths and hopes, that are generated here on Earth. As you can see, it's constantly growing and moving as people invent new tales to tell or find new things to believe. The older strands move out to become these spirals, where things tend to become quite crude and dangerous. They've hardened off, you see.”
*It’s the characters and build-up that I think make a good DWJ novel. If the madcap ending actually makes sense and finalizes the concept of the whole book into something actually thought-provoking, now that’s a great one. Rating: 2.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 30 of 435 reviews