Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Castle in the Air

The author clearly had fun turning arabian-nights-like tales on their heads a bit, and it is definitely fun and clever in some ways. However, there is a lot here that is really problematic, not least of all the general and persistent misogyny of the main character. I'm afraid that learning to love one smart, capable woman doesn't make him not sexist.

In the very last pages he is giving away his (previously extensively fat-shamed) relatives as chattel to the villain. But it's okay, because he's handsome and actually wants them because they're not uncooperative like the kidnapped princesses, so they're into it?!
I also find it annoying that the Howl's Moving Castle characters all have babies in this book, as if that's the only possible progression of a young woman's life/story.

You could explain some of this away as "satire, not endorsement" but this is a kids' book, and kids don't get sattire; they're going to see women being constantly compared to each other (and generally criticized and found wanting) by the male protagonist, who is pretty unlikeable and shitty, but is still somehow the hero of the story.

He rides in and attaches himself to the escape plan the princesses were already working on, and then one of them has to agree to marry a slimeball just so he won't eat them out, and the men get all the credit for the rescue.

And a bunch of other toxic stuff.

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aeris7's review

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Content Warnings

idlg34713's review

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

Just as I said with The House of Many Ways, The Castle in the Air has a cast of mostly unlikeable characters, the book is mostly fluff, two thirds of which can be cut and the book would still make sense and that doesn't even account for the healthy dosage of orientalism in this work.

Content Warnings

probablyelissa's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

After finishing Howl's Moving Castle I immediately ordered the remaining books in the series. While I was never under the impression that this book was about the original characters wholly, it seemed to really drag on before they were included. I had such difficulty getting into the story at some point I flipped through the pages until I saw their names and marked it. If I hadn't done this I don't think I ever whould have finished it. Casting aside the blatant fatphobia and xenophobia in the story, it was fine. Unfortunately or fortunately, I care far too much about the Howl's characters and will still be finishing the series.

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