cimorene

It's not poorly written; I don't like it because it's so frustrating and harrowing to read. I suppose the horribly manipulative (and evil) little old lady, and particularly the gender roles she keeps trying to enforce, are a hot button and piss me off. The main character's mother forces her to go along with a lot of the demands and goes along with them herself too, with the result that the lot of them end up in far more trouble, most likely, than if she'd been a bit more strong-willed from the beginning. This protagonist is really likeable, and intelligent as well (apart from writing all her secrets and plans down in plain English and keeping them in the house of the villain, an evil sorceress, who also is well aware that she's writing all the time). But I just can't stand Aunt Maria.

DWJ has a thing for evil polite little old ladies and also for good but formidable little old ladies - little feeble old ladies with starch and lace and ugly stockings and teapots and canes, very English, who are also very powerful. I think this novel shows the metaphor for their sort of power most clearly, but it's also a humorous sort of contrast a lot of the time. This book is sort of the antithesis of A Sudden, Wild Magic. Mrs. Þentstemmon in Howl's Moving Castle and the lady in charge of English magic from The Merlin Conspiracy are the other examples of the type who leap most readily to mind.