Is it not what you thought it would be?

I read the first two chapters of Charles Butler's Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children's Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper (Scarecrow Press, 2006) this afternoon, before I got distracted first by Ostia Naye, then by Jones' The Merlin Conspiracy, which I am now about halfway through. So far it—in this case the critical work, although my opinion applies to the novel as well—is wonderful. Three of these authors I grew up on; the fourth I should clearly look into. What I have not yet seen, and what I am hoping there's room for, is a serious discussion of identity in the works of Diana Wynne Jones, because it's a topic I think about off and on. This particular think cut for spoilers for A Tale of Time City, Charmed Life, The Merlin Conspiracy, and any books that may come up in comments.

( Well, you seem to be all sorts of people. Perhaps everyone is. )