Reviews - Howl's Moving Castle

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22.4k reviews for:

Howl's Moving Castle

Diana Wynne Jones

4.25 AVERAGE

pc19's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

honnari_hannya's review against another edition

4.0

Absolutely magical! I love Diana Wynne Jones' way of worldbuilding: very little is explained, but it seems so full of life and vital. One thing I really admire about this book is how she picks up every (or nearly every, I may have forgotten one or two things) thread that she adds into the narrative. For fans of the movie, of course we know the thing about scarecrow and the star-who-ate-Howl's-heart. But for those diving into this story for the first time, I imagine it would be delightful to be in the hands of such a master storyteller.

I quite like how, in many respects, this was a fantasy comedy of manners. Both Sophie and Howl misunderstand each other so hilariously, and at first the readers are invited to misunderstand them too. Until of course we get the full story, and that delightful scene with all of Sophie's family and friends coming to see her in her new home, where we find out that she (our dear unreliable narrator) has been misunderstanding everything all along.

trixiedog2010's review against another edition

4.0

Enjoyed it a lot more than I've ever enjoyed the movie. The copy I read on Kindle Unlimited included an interview with Diana Wynne Jones, and iirc the very first question was "what do you think of everyone wanting to marry Howl?" and I was like wow... so all the girlies want a high maintenance yappy dog boyfriend... they're just like me fr. Female solidarity is beautiful.

My only complaint is Howl being apparently about a decade older than Sophie but whatever, the eighties were Different and I will take 10-years-older-but-immature-as-hell over whatever is going on with romantasy and its centuries-old love interests getting together with 19-year-olds. Ironically Howl's Moving Castle is remarkably progressive in its handling of common fairy tale tropes, especially compared to your average modern fairy tale retelling. Misogyny needs addressing, duh, but also why must we do it in a way where it ends up being a 400+ page struggle session for our MC and she still ends up with a guy who will run her life for her like he's her dad (not always in theory but certainly always in practice)? This is precisely what cringey American Evangelical tradcons believe but this stuff is being written by supposedly liberal, supposedly feminist women. Gets the noggin joggin don't it.

Anyway: Howl's Moving Castle is good and I think you should read it, even if you are an adult. If you're like me and don't really care for the movie you'll be pleasantly surprised. I'm just sad this wasn't part of my childhood.