Jones writes books in chains or rings or cycles. There's the Chrestomanci cycle, the Dalemark Quartette, and so forth. Here's more on her books at her fan site, which is less flashy but easier to use than her official site.
The Merlin Conspiracy is related to Deep Secret
The story is told in two first person accounts – one by Nick and one by a young girl, Roddy from Blest – and is related as if they are writing it down in a diary or for a report. This is a technique Diana has made her own in books such as
The Spellcoats and Black Maria. It adds another whole dimension to the story, for Nick or Roddy not only describe how they felt at the time the events happened. They can also comment on how they feel now at the time they are writing their accounts, when they have the benefit of hindsight and perhaps a bit more understanding of what happened and why.
The only problem with a story split between two separate accounts is that one person's narrative is necessarily interrupted to allow the other's story to contine. In this book, however, the interruptions simply make you want to read even more quickly. And Diana's style is so smooth and seemingly effortless that it is easy to forget you're reading a book, and not actually listening to Nick and Roddy telling you all about it.
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