As this is an omnibus, I'll do the reviews a little bit differently.

Basic Reason for Starting: I'm trying to catch up on my DWJ-reading, seeing how y childhood was utterly deprived of them. That and I love Chrestomanci.
Basic Reason for Finishing: While I don't think that these two stories are the best (Chrestomanci) stories DWJ has written, they're still good fun.

Full review of 'The Magicians of Caprona' here
Texture: Uhm… A bit squishy, I think. It’s a lot more narrative in tone than I remember her stories being, and that’s counting the first person Conrad’s Fate I read a little while ago!

Full review of 'Witch Week' here
Texture: It’s a little sticky, I think.

Book Rereadability: I might reread these for the purposes of reading them aloud to children as bedtime tales, but they're not very high on my reread list. I think they're fun, but that's about it.
Author Rereadability: Yep. I've lost track of how much I've read, but DWJ continues to be one of my favourite authors, for what that's worth.
Recommendation: I wouldn't recommend introducing yourself to either DWJ or her Chrestomanci series with these, but they're good, fun reads for kids. ( )

The second volume has two stories that are based in two of these other worlds. Chrestomanci only has a small (but significant) role in these two: The Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week. They are both about children who need to discover their own strengths and powers or face the end of their worlds. I didn't enjoy these stories as much as the ones in the main world, especially Witch Week. It just didn't seem to have the same flow as the rest.

http://webereading.com/2008/07/chroni... ( )

I'm looking forward to reading more of Diane Wynn Jones after reading her two Chronicles of Chrestomanci volumes. Again, I liked the second story more than the first. I love her ideas about parallel worlds and how they came into existence, which is another reason why I loved "the Lives of Christopher Chant" and "Witch Week" more than the other two stories. ( )

Not as good as the first two Chrestomanci books. Witch week doesn't quite live up to its premise, and Caprona felt a bit by the book. Like Witch Week a little more than Caprona. ( )

Once again, I quite enjoyed the second of these two stories more than the first. Although The Magicians of Caprona was good, the story Witch Week was much better. I've seen Witch Week as a single book and I think it would make for a fun read just before Halloween. It is set in a world that still burns witches and involves school children who are shocked to discover that one of their classmates just might be a witch! ( )