One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
I’m pretty sure I “borrowed” Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones from my mom. But I could have also got it at a book sale. It seems like a thing I would pick up.
Sophie is the middle girl in her family and is therefore content to remain in her families hat shop toiling away, as that is the fate of middle children. But one day she is visited and cursed by a witch and Sophie’s thoughts about life and her place in it change drastically.
Surprisingly this book and author are not well known. Jones wrote a prolific amount of books, including several that a certain famous writer mined (stole?) ideas for her most famous wizarding series. I have read some of Jones’ books before, but I didn’t realize that they were all by the same author until researching this review. Howl’s Moving Castle is actually a trilogy of books all revolved around Ingary, a magical kingdom in a magical world closely related to our own world. The first book is probably the most well known of all Diana’s book bc it was made into a Hayao Miyazaki film of the same name. I have seen the film, but remember very little of it. I liked this book bc, although many books are set in magical lands, this one is also connected to the “real world”. I thought that this was an interesting take on magic in general. No spoilers, but trust me, it is unlike that aforementioned wizarding book. I also liked that there are many magical and fairytale tropes in this book, but they all have a bit of a spin. There’s a scarecrow, but it’s not what you expect, there’s a house hunted (but by a demon!). It was fun to see where the twist on the tale I was familiar with would turn up. I also picked up on a few other ideas that I’ve seen borrowed by other books, or shall we say that inspired other work? I really enjoyed this book, but it was actually a little difficult for me to get through. I’m not sure if it was the style it was written in, or that it was just such a different type of book from those I’ve been reading lately, but I felt that reading Howl really dragged for me. At points, I really wanted this book to just be over. I would blame that feeling more on me and my mindset than the book it’s self, bc I also feel this book starts a spate of books that dragged my reading down. That being said, I would definitely recommend this book to those who love magical adventures, those who have seen the movie based on it, those who like new takes on traditional fairytales, and anyone wanting to see some source material for other more well known authors.
I plan to watch the movie when I can find it! Have you ready this book and seen the movie? How did they compare?