The first time I finished reading this book was Saturday March 11, 2006--I know the exact date because I stumbled across an entry in my journal from that time. Ah, what inanities abounded in the ink spurts of my sixteen year old self! How annoying it was to find that I'd noted the date I'd finished reading the book but then got distracted from telling of what I thought of it by instead proceeding to elaborate on such silly and mundane things which had nothing to do with the book. Argh! Anyhow, I'm pretty sure I recall how I felt about Fire and Hemlock at that time. I remember that I felt that emerging from Jones' world was like waking from a particularly interesting dream where the details are fast seeping away from you the harder you try to recall them. All the reader is left with is a sense that it had been a sweet dream and perhaps might prompt you to want to try as hard as you can that night to have the same dream again. It never works, of course.
The experience of rereading the book wasn't too different except on several points. In the first place, I was reading it as a bedtime story to my 13-year-old sister. In the second, I kept getting distracted from the story by my interior monologue each time Polly and Mr. Lynn were in the same scene. I can't remember having been that annoyed by the age difference between the two characters the first time I read it. But this time, I kept startling myself out of the narrative to exclaim at such highly improbable instances such as when Polly's mother lets her go hang out at the flat of a man who is both a complete stranger and years older than her while her mother goes to her lawyer. What?! That isn't to say I didn't like the characters, I really did. But I found that it was harder for me to just swallow whatever Jones put forth as easily as I had done at 16.
As for what I loved about this story, that is quite a copious list. Jones' writing style has never left me wanting. She has a knack for capturing the mental processes of young people that is quite admirable. As for the seamless way she blends reality and fantasy such that the reader is scarcely aware when the threshold between the two has been crossed, that is the real magic of Jones' books which has always entranced me. And of course, it is wonderful how she doesn't clutter up the story over-explaining things to her readers, which I find a lot of other fantasy writer do. In fact, the lack of explanation is what heightens the mystery in her books. Jones is a woman who is well-acquainted with the geography of Dreamland. Having read a great many of her books since that first wonderful chance encounter with Hexwood at 16, I have since become quite accustomed to her trend of storytelling. It seems she can pluck a story out of the very air. Further, Jones knows people. I guess no writer worth their salt is without this gift, but in Jones especially, her powers of observation are immense. Oh dear, I fear I am far too biased about this lady's books to give anything close to a fair review since I have been so long enamored with her works.
I'll just add that I loved how Polly's knack of "pretending things" led to her reading fantasy books, which led to her trying to write down her made up characters and stories. I wouldn't be surprised if that was somehow a bit of Jones' own early experience with making up fascinating stories.
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