Year of the Griffin

Every now and then I have the urge for a comforting re-read, a diverting read that will be unlike real life enough to hold back the flood for a couple of hours. Year of the Griffin is one of those books for me, a lovely, reliable read about a group of young adults (both human and otherwise) at a school for wizards. Predating Harry Potter by three years, Diana Wynne Jones made her own foray into the traditional field of English magical schools and succeeds in marvelous, whimsical fashion.

Elda, the youngest griffin daughter of the famous wizard Derk, has enrolled at the nearly broke Wizards’ University without her father’s knowledge. It isn’t long before she meets a like-minded and curious group of friends: Ruskin, a revolutionary show more dwarf; Olga, a mysteriously wealthy and beautiful woman; Claudia, the outcast half-Marshwoman sister of the Emperor of the South; Lukin, the heir of the Kingdom of Luteria, and Felim, incognito from the country of the Emir to prevent assassins from learning his location. During introductions on the first day, Wizard Corkoran realizes his plan to solicit their families for more money won’t work since the students are either poor or in hiding. Unfortunately, he’s rapidly distracted by his project to be the first man to land on the moon and forgets to pass the word on to the administrative team, thus setting a wild chain of events in motion. Subsequent events include a flying horse, a bushel of oranges, a trip to the library, assassins, pirates, more griffins, a statue, twue love and cats.

Characterization is fun; all are reasonably developed and their bonding over shared academic and family frustrations seem entirely natural. In the long tradition of magical schools, it is refreshing to have a griffin and dwarf be part of the student mix, along with a few other representatives of countries/kingdoms in this world. It creates an interesting sense of diversity within the group. When their families come into play, each student gains a little more focus and detail. There is also an innocence and ingeniousness about the students that makes their efforts toward improvement quite sweet and not at all malicious. Eventually, a few members of the group and incoming supporting cast end up pairing off, but any romance is gentle and exists mostly in the area of hand-holding and shared company. The setting feels like a typical medieval fantasy setting, with carts and horses, fires for warmth and the like. It isn’t too fleshed out, but allows Jones to concentrate on characterization and action.

Plotting is fun. Driven initially by the disclosure that the six are currently students at the university, the converging families and chaos propel the action forward. When the six students realize trouble is headed their way, they band together. The spell-traps they create to protect one of their members are priceless fun. Corkoran’s focus on the moon shoot is especially entertaining from a real-world point of view.

I actually read this long before Dark Lord of Derkholm, so although it says “sequel,” don’t be put off. Most of the main characters from Dark Lord are only peripheral, and the preceding events are only responsible for the ruins of the college, not really what is happening to it now. The prior parallel worlds do help explain away some of the similarities and the stereotypes, quite clever on the part of Jones. However, the tone and conflicts of the two books are different enough that I wouldn’t call them a duology at all. Consider the second an insightful “whatever happened to –” installment.

Though the characters are young adult and the resolutions of issues neat, it is not a simple book by any means in concepts or language. Overall, it is very light in tone, the perfect kind of read when one needs a happy ending.

Highly recommended.
Re-read and updated 8/14 show less

I enjoyed Book 2 about the Derkholm clan as much as the Book 1. Here Elda, the youngest (I think?) of the griffin children gets her heart's desire and goes to the Wizard college, only . . . while Elda immediately makes friends with the others in her class (which include heirs to various empires and kingdoms and exotic fortunes) things are not going at all well there as far as pedagogy goes. The present wizard teachers were all trained during the period of "The Tours" and were taught ONLY what they needed to help the visitors and themselves survive. Any sort of invention or theory or unconventional ideas and attempts were thoroughly discouraged. Of course, mayhem ensues! I love Elda. I'll miss them all. *****

Year of the Griffin (not 'The' Year of the Griffin, by the way) is set in the same universe as The Dark Lord of Derkholm and their common source The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, but, bar a few cross references, works equally well as a standalone. Set eight years after Dark Lord, the story is centred on the young griffin Elda who is in her first year of University. Yes, a student griffin. At a university for wizards. You just know that things aren't going to be straightforward. And so it proves: one cohort of student freshers find that their expectations of university are disappointed, their families or communities back home are, to say the least, unsupportive; and yet, despite all the obstacles and challenges (and there are many) they show more – Felim, Ruskin, Claudia, Olga, and Lukin, as well as Elda – start to grow and develop both as magic-users and as individuals.

There are lots of images of circularity and sphericity here, compounded by the fact that none of the images are perfect. Take the Year of the title: we never actually witness the end of the year as most of the action is set in the autumn term. There are lots of references to oranges, but mostly always to mention the fact that they come apart in segments. One of the students frequently becomes protected by an accidental spell taking the form of a barrel made up of books, appropriately enough for a learning institution, which only evaporates when the danger has passed. A group of students, along with Professor Corkoran (the name no doubt inspired by the unfortunate captain of HMS Pinafore), heads off in a spherical space vehicle for the moon (though they inexplicably find themselves on Mars); sadly, they haven't thought things through and the lunar module, designed to be life-sustaining, threatens to end their existence. The circular theme is reinforced by David Wyatt's splendid but initially enigmatic cover illustration for the original Gollancz paperback: it shows a golden griffin through a round window (one of her feathers is in the foreground), which we eventually realise is part of a barrel viewed from above (or below, it's ambiguous, despite the darts sticking in its side); there's also a visual example of a wizard's attempt to enclose oranges in a metal shell (don't ask why) that effectively renders them cannonballs, unfit for their original purpose. Why the recurrent fallible examples? Maybe because nothing ever turns out perfect in this story. (Except the ending, perhaps.)

Then there is the young griffin, Elda, who contrary to the sound of her name is the youngest in a family of humans and test-tube beings. Part-lion, part-eagle, part-human, Elda pitches in with a bunch of other misfit students who are all also escaping from the expectations of their families or communities. In fact, Year of the Griffin is, underneath the joyous storytelling, inventive fantasy and punning witticisms, a critique of a number of social institutions in this, our own world. Foremost of the critiques is that reserved for the corrosive effects of conformity, whether imposed by traditions, laws or sheer ignorance. Typical is the attitude of academia at the university, which suppresses creative thinking and practical magic in favour of dry rote-learning and limited outcomes. A graduate of Oxford University, with a partner who is Emeritus Professor of English at Bristol University, Jones will have been well aware of the politicking that goes on in academia the world over, the inevitable conflicts between research and teaching needs, the financial considerations that underpin every decision and policy, and the human weaknesses to which all scholarship is prey. No surprise then that the Wizard University is riddled with accidents waiting to happen. And that they do.

Bar a couple of excursions, pretty much all the action takes place within the confines of the campus. At times this can be claustrophobic, but the students are often able to escape to the world of books or seek companionship amongst like-minded magic-users. In fact, Year of the Griffin is an almost Shakespearean comedy ('comedy' in all senses of the word) which, barring the calls of Morpheus, I could hardly put down over the period of just a few days. Why Shakespearean? Well, typically for Shakespeare, young male and female protagonists frequently get hitched by the end of the action (as in 'Midsummer Night's Dream', 'Much Ado' and so on), frequently with multiple pairings on the cards. Secondly, things don't start to go right till at the end, when often a ruler steps in to call a halt to the mayhem and gives a judgement (Wizard Policant, aided by Chancellor Querida, fulfills this role). And thirdly, magic, or the pagan past, often is a crucial part of the story to emphasise that this is hyper-reality.

No apologies are needed, I believe, for such an extended (if obviously incomplete) commentary on what some might argue is just a children's fantasy novel. But Diana Wynne Jones hardly ever wrote a straightforward story in her preferred genre: her young adult fantasies nearly always work on several levels rather than just as a superficial narrative. As the mythical griffin was regarded as the guardian of gold, so Year of the Griffin conceals real treasures between its covers.

http://calmgrove.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/griffin/ show less

Basically you and your misfit friends in college but with magic and your academic advisor is a space travel obsessed Gildoroy Lockhart. I love how the story progresses and the shifts between funny and serious and I love the griffins so. Wasn't a fan of how almost everyone got paired off by the end. Romance not needed.

2022 edit to say I enjoyed the critique of academia

I much preferred this follow-on to Dark Lord of Derkholm. I never bought the "tour groups overrunning the world" plot of Dark Lord. It always seemed to me to be a joke for a flimsy short story that made it difficult to understand or empathize with any of the leading characters. The focus primarily on adult characters also made it an odd tale for the young adult market. Year of the Griffen has neither of those flaws, plenty of invention, some wry digs at universities, and a plot that initially seems episodic but eventually leads into a grand knot at the end, if a little too pat with too many happy endings.

Recommended.

Year of the Griffin is set eight years after Dark Lord of Derkholm, and the Wizard's University is short of money. Wizard Corkoran, the university chairman, proposes to appeal to the students' parents for donations, and he chooses to teach those he believes will be the richest himself. However, his six students are interesting in ways he doesn't expect, and while some are rich, all of them have someone they wish to hide their whereabouts from; letters home demanding money are the last thing they need. Bonding over poor teaching, worse food, and the prospect of a descending force (whether it be familial, senatorial or assassins) to remove them from the university, Corkoran's students team up to protect each other and take their education show more into their own hands.

Less confusing than Dark Lord of Derkholm (although possibly part of that is because I was already familiar with this world), Year of the Griffin a fantastic, fantastical, and humorous story about friends, teamwork and challenging the status quo. It's also about incompetent bureaucracy, the dangers of dwelling too much on impossible dreams (and how teamwork can make said dreams possible), the challenges and qualities demanded of rulers, and family.
Most of Derk's family (from Dark Lord) make an appearance - most notably his youngest Griffin daughter, Elda, is one of Corkoran's students. She's a delightful, blithe character: "[Corkoran's] sweet! [...] I want to pick him up and carry him about! [...] he does so remind me of my old teddy bear that Flo plays with now. But I’ll be good." And it is fun to find out what happens to the rest of her family.

My only complaint with this is that there is one too many incidence of love-at-first-sight. Otherwise I enjoyed it very muchly. Particularly because I'm a university student and could really relate to that. show less

Now that there's no money coming from the tours the University for Wizards is not getting the income it was used to and now they have to try to convince the parents of the latest crop to shell out some more, only some of these students aren't playing ball, they're at the university without their parents or guardians permission and now things are going to get complicated. It feels a little like the unseen university only from the students side. And now I want a story where Derkholm meets the Discworld.

It's a fun read and I like how the students worked together to find solutions. I can also see the frustration with incompetent lecturers. Enjoyable as always.