Hexwood

A novel by Diana Wynne Jones. A powerful magical artifact from the center of the galaxy, buried on Earth, becomes active and distorts reality in its neighborhood.

""This wood," Yam told him, "is like human memory. It does not need to take events in their correct order.""
 * All Just a Dream:
 * Affably Evil: Reigner One.
 * Anachronic Order: The second mini-chapter takes place near what is chronologically the end of the book.  To be fair, there's an in-story reason for that.
 * To be precise, the chapters really occur in chronological order, but the Bannus is


 * Arthurian Legend:
 * The Baroness: Reigner Three.
 * Big Screwed-Up Family: Ironically enough, the only two major characters who probably aren't -- Reigners Three and Four -- are sister and brother.
 * The Chessmaster:
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Once  kicks into action, the Reigners are too busy trying to wipe each other out to wonder what's really going on.
 * Decoy Protagonist
 * Five-Bad Band: The Reigners
 * Gambit Roulette:


 * Mind Screw: When we say distorts reality, we mean it.
 * Well, what do you expect when you've got a  Reality Warper involved? Figurative warping of reality?
 * One-Winged Angel:
 * Smug Snake: Reigner Four.
 * Tomato in the Mirror:
 * Training from Hell: Boy howdy.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: What happens to the mothers of the Reigners' Servants.
 * When He Smiles: Mordion
 * Worthless Yellow Rocks: Flint, from Earth, is valuable elsewhere in the universe.