Dark Lord of Derkholm, 1998, by the late Diana Wynne Jones.
I'm currently obsessed with it, and I have not yet found any place online with a level of discussion much deeper than "I liked it" except for a thesis on postmodern deconstruction (because DWJ did a number on most of the standard fantasy tropes in it), which isn't the sort of thing I see in it.
One of the reasons I'm so fond of it, I am coming to realize, is that it is the closest I've found to a book that is written somewhat like the way Sir Terry does. It has a few stealth puns, it has comedy on more than one level and tragic relief and information sneaked in that you have to dig to find. DWJ goes into the economic damage of a world that is having an annual onslaught of questers seeking to destroy the Dark Lord (and getting annoyed about it), which is not too surprising since she published this book two years after she published The Tough Guide to Fantasyland.
Has anyone else read this? Have you figured out the map yet? (The edition I have does not have a map, but there are hints in the text.) I did finally figure out the calendar, and it does work.
I'm currently obsessed with it, and I have not yet found any place online with a level of discussion much deeper than "I liked it" except for a thesis on postmodern deconstruction (because DWJ did a number on most of the standard fantasy tropes in it), which isn't the sort of thing I see in it.
One of the reasons I'm so fond of it, I am coming to realize, is that it is the closest I've found to a book that is written somewhat like the way Sir Terry does. It has a few stealth puns, it has comedy on more than one level and tragic relief and information sneaked in that you have to dig to find. DWJ goes into the economic damage of a world that is having an annual onslaught of questers seeking to destroy the Dark Lord (and getting annoyed about it), which is not too surprising since she published this book two years after she published The Tough Guide to Fantasyland.
Has anyone else read this? Have you figured out the map yet? (The edition I have does not have a map, but there are hints in the text.) I did finally figure out the calendar, and it does work.