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minzzi's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was a big desapointement, specially coming out of Howl's Moving Castle.
The plot was mildly entertaining and I liked some of the new side characters and the ones from the previous book that showed up. Beyond that, I don't have much nice to say.
Basically all the non-white characters were racist stereotypes written by a white woman. The people from Zanzib are described as all being greedy scammers who will do all matter of horrible things for money and power and the one asian princess is described as small, frail, quiet and the only one who doesn't speak the language that all the other characters seen to speak, even thou they are all from different places in the world. And that line were the main character says that Ingary (a place clearly inspired by England were most of not all people are white) was sooo much better and more beautiful than his homeland really bothered me.
Also, for some reason the men in this book are very misogynistic. In the previous book there was no such thing, or at least it wasn't part of the story. Woman worked and owned their own shops, they maried who they wanted and were over all independent and powerful, but in this book there is multiple instances were they are controlled or shamed for their apparence. The only time the main characters thinks the way a female character is being treated is wrong is only because he thinks "she is to beutiful to be treated like that". Big eyeroll moment. And most os the misogyny coming from the POC in the story didn't help either.
To close if of, the romance on this book sucks. I reeeeally don't like storys were the characters know each other for 5 minutes and are already in love, specially in cases like this were the male main character is obsessed with a woman only for her looks, without knowing nothing about her and for some reason the female love interest loves him back and that is seen as a completely normal thing.
<Spoiler> I was going to give this book 2.5 stars, but that scene near the end were the soldier coerces one of the princesses into marriage or else he is going to help the villain keep then captive really upset me. So just 2 stars it is. <Spoiler>
The plot was mildly entertaining and I liked some of the new side characters and the ones from the previous book that showed up. Beyond that, I don't have much nice to say.
Basically all the non-white characters were racist stereotypes written by a white woman. The people from Zanzib are described as all being greedy scammers who will do all matter of horrible things for money and power and the one asian princess is described as small, frail, quiet and the only one who doesn't speak the language that all the other characters seen to speak, even thou they are all from different places in the world. And that line were the main character says that Ingary (a place clearly inspired by England were most of not all people are white) was sooo much better and more beautiful than his homeland really bothered me.
Also, for some reason the men in this book are very misogynistic. In the previous book there was no such thing, or at least it wasn't part of the story. Woman worked and owned their own shops, they maried who they wanted and were over all independent and powerful, but in this book there is multiple instances were they are controlled or shamed for their apparence. The only time the main characters thinks the way a female character is being treated is wrong is only because he thinks "she is to beutiful to be treated like that". Big eyeroll moment. And most os the misogyny coming from the POC in the story didn't help either.
To close if of, the romance on this book sucks. I reeeeally don't like storys were the characters know each other for 5 minutes and are already in love, specially in cases like this were the male main character is obsessed with a woman only for her looks, without knowing nothing about her and for some reason the female love interest loves him back and that is seen as a completely normal thing.
<Spoiler> I was going to give this book 2.5 stars, but that scene near the end were the soldier coerces one of the princesses into marriage or else he is going to help the villain keep then captive really upset me. So just 2 stars it is. <Spoiler>
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Body shaming, Sexism, Kidnapping, and Racism
juli100101's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Dinge, die ich mochte:
- das Worldbuilding
- die Sprache in Zanzib
- den Soldaten und die Katzen
- Blume-in-der-Nacht in Kapitel 19
- Sophie und alle anderen aus Das wandelnde Schloß wieder zu treffen
Dinge, die ich nicht mochte:
- wie Abdullah von seinen Nichten redet und denkt
- wie Abdullah und einige andere Charaktere von Frauen reden und denken
- dass die Charaktere aus Kingsbury nicht sexistisch und fettfobisch sind, sondern nur die aus Zanzib (Kingsbury ist offensichtlich eine „westliche“ Stadt und Zanzib eine „orientalische“…)
Wer ein Sequel zu Das wandelnde Schloß erwartet, also eine Fortsetzung der Geschichte, getragen von den selben Charakteren, wird enttäuscht, trotzdem erzählt Der Palast im Himmel eine tolle Fantasy-Geschichte.
- das Worldbuilding
- die Sprache in Zanzib
- den Soldaten und die Katzen
- Blume-in-der-Nacht in Kapitel 19
-
Dinge, die ich nicht mochte:
- wie Abdullah von seinen Nichten redet und denkt
- wie Abdullah und einige andere Charaktere von Frauen reden und denken
- dass die Charaktere aus Kingsbury nicht sexistisch und fettfobisch sind, sondern nur die aus Zanzib (Kingsbury ist offensichtlich eine „westliche“ Stadt und Zanzib eine „orientalische“…)
Wer ein Sequel zu Das wandelnde Schloß erwartet, also eine Fortsetzung der Geschichte, getragen von den selben Charakteren, wird enttäuscht, trotzdem erzählt Der Palast im Himmel eine tolle Fantasy-Geschichte.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Sexism
merin_aran's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
- Enchanting, whimsical and fun (mostly). Has much of the same wit and humour that I really enjoyed in the first book, however...
- The new main characters were a bit disappointing. I found Abdullah and the soldier a bit lacklustre and annoying at times and I didn't warm to them much.
- I really wanted more of the OG characters that I fell in love with previously - they are in it, but remain in disguise through most of the book, which was a shame because they were such a big part of why I loved the first book.
- There were also definitely some problems with exoticism and racial stereotyping that changed the vibe of the book - I don’t think it was malicious but rather outdated ignorance and you can tell that Jones is not writing about her own culture.
- There was also a fair bit of fat-shaming and misogyny from the main character too, which is probably why I really didn’t like him tbh
- Overall an ok book, but the characterisation and problematic writing let it down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Fatphobia and Racism
Minor: Sexism
bpop's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Racism and Sexism
bexi's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Disappointing. Not nearly as good as Howl's Moving Castle.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Sexism, Confinement, and Fatphobia
Minor: Blood
natrossi's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Kidnapping, and Confinement
Minor: Sexism
pennym_'s review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Minor: Sexism and Confinement
littlecat's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
< spoiler> I really liked Howls Moving Castle and wished to have the sequel for my birthday blindly, now I regret it a bit.
The first thing that irked me was the sterotpyical orientalism at the beginning I though something would happen and invert it somehow, the first book does some clever things with fairytale tropes but there is none of that here.
And then the whole lot of fatphobia happens, there is love at first sight a trope i always disliked, and the sexism of the main character makes it really hard to root for him and his "romance", and the tone of the book for 2/3 of the run also felt like ... a downgrade, like it was writen for a much younger audience
the last 112 pages are better in terms of writing and now Sophie is there, and we do meet the princess and Flower-in-the-night gets to be a character (though main character does his best to ignore that) and I wish it had been there book instead, what a nice turn of fairytale tropes would it be to be about kidnapped princess from their viewpoint?
The first thing that irked me was the sterotpyical orientalism at the beginning I though something would happen and invert it somehow, the first book does some clever things with fairytale tropes but there is none of that here.
And then the whole lot of fatphobia happens, there is love at first sight a trope i always disliked, and the sexism of the main character makes it really hard to root for him and his "romance", and the tone of the book for 2/3 of the run also felt like ... a downgrade, like it was writen for a much younger audience
the last 112 pages are better in terms of writing and now Sophie is there, and we do meet the princess and Flower-in-the-night gets to be a character (though main character does his best to ignore that) and I wish it had been there book instead, what a nice turn of fairytale tropes would it be to be about kidnapped princess from their viewpoint?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Fatphobia, Racism, and Sexism
It is very orientalism, very ninthteenhundered idea of "arabian nights".empathephant's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I really enjoyed the fanciful, twisting nature of this story. It feels nostalgic, like a wonderful bedtime story. The portrayal of Middle Eastern culture leaves something to be desired.
Important to note that this is not a sequel per se. The Howl books are all set in the same universe but are independent stories that take place in different "countries". But if you like the feel of the first one you'll probably enjoy the others.
Important to note that this is not a sequel per se. The Howl books are all set in the same universe but are independent stories that take place in different "countries". But if you like the feel of the first one you'll probably enjoy the others.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexism and Confinement
The portrayal of Middle Eastern culture is a little cringey at times. The women in this story could be a tad more independent.
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