Diana Wynne Jones: Power of Three

Had we but world enough and time, I would have prepared for the Diana Wynne Jones conference by re-reading everything she ever wrote in order of publication. In this imperfect world, my re-reading was much more random: a couple of particular favourites (Fire and Hemlock and The Homeward Bounders), a couple of books which featured prominently among the titles to be discussed, but of which I had only a hazy recollection (The Lives of Christopher Chant and Hexwood) and Power of Three, taken from the shelf, as I said, in a spirit of 'Oh, might as well re-read one of the early ones...' Power of Three was the only one of these which gave me any surprises: I continued to love the books I knew I loved, and to enjoy but not find exceptionally memorable the books I - well, you get the drift. And then there was Power of Three, so clever, so inventive, so - powerful. Where did that come from?

( Cut for length and potential spoilers )