Year of the Griffin

· HarperCollins · Narrated by Jonathan Broadbent
4.5
2 reviews
Audiobook
9 hr 26 min
Unabridged
Eligible
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About this audiobook

A hilarious fantasy sequel to The Dark Lord of Derkholm, set at the University after the ‘fantasy world’ tours have stopped, and centred around 6 students (one a Griffin) and the bumbling new University Head Wizard. From the ‘Godmother of Fantasy’, Diana Wynne Jones.

The Year of the Griffin is the sequel to the Dark Lord of Derkholm, set in the same world several years after the abolition of commercial ‘fantasy world’ tourism from our world.

The University now aims to produce competent wizards to repair the damage caused by the tours. It’s broke, and out of date in terms of what it teaches. The new head, Wizard Corkoran, is obsessed with becoming the first man to visit the moon so is mostly preoccupied, and the new faculty is mostly inexperienced.

Wizard Corkoran has selected children from wealthy families to fill his own first-year classes, hoping to beg for money. But his students turn out to be more than he expected in oh-so-many ways, and despite the incompetence of their teacher, it falls to them to save the university... and themselves...

Ratings and reviews

4.5
2 reviews
Flo Sandler
July 27, 2024
I'll always love this story and I always discover new bits to love each time. The politics are 👌 and DWJs world building is on point as usual. I love that her sequels are almost always focusing on different sets of characters so you get to explore a whole new bunch of people in the same world. Just a note about the narrator's choice of accents though, since Elda, Calette, Kit and Blade all grew up together I expected them to have similar accents. Turns out I'm wrong, Elda is Brummie, Blade is Bristolian and Calette is French somehow? And then Kit is doing a perfect John Snow impression which I'm not mad about tbh 🔥 Regardless, good effort, I guess it's difficult to voice distinctly different characters unless you give them different accents?
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About the author

Diana Wynne Jones (1934–2011) spent her childhood in Essex and began writing fantasy novels for children in the 1970s. With her unique combination of magic, humour and imagination, she enthralled generations of children and adults with her work. She won the Guardian Award in 1977 with Charmed Life, was runner-up for the Children's Book Award in 1981 and was twice runner-up for the Carnegie Medal.

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