"Diana Wynne Jones - A Sudden Wild Magic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Diana Wynne)

A Sudden Wild Magic [070-4.3]

By: DIANA WYNNE JONES

Synopsis:

Magic, Mages and a host of other supernatural phenomena populate this
novel.
VICTOR GOLLANCZ

LONDON
First published in the USA 1992 by Avon Books First published in Great
Britain 1996 by Victor Gollancz An imprint of the Cassell Group
Wellington House, 125 Strand, London we2R OBB

Diana Wynne Jones 1992 All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or
any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publishers.

The right of Diana Wynne Jones to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.

ISBN 0 575 06299 1

Typeset by CentraCet Ltd, Cambridge Printed in Great Britain by St.
Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk The magical
activities of Britain have always been highly organized.

Anyone who doubts this should consider the Spanish Armada and the winds
that so conveniently dissipated it and perhaps further consider why
even the most skeptical of historians accepts this convenient hurricane
so calmly, as a perfectly natural occurrence. Or the doubter might
also consider why Hitler, or Napoleon before him, never got around to
invading Britain, and why we accept these facts, too, so easily.

A moment's unclouded thought should persuade anyone that these things
are too good to be true. But of course, no one's thought ;'s
unclouded, for the very good reason that the organization has, for
centuries, devoted itself to clouding it and making sure that most
people perceive its activities as messy, futile, and mainly concerned
with old ladies astride broomsticks. In fact, the organization is so
ruthlessly secret that even the majority of those engaged in the
various forms of witchcraft are unaware that their activities are being
directed by a ruling council which we shall call the Ring carefully and