Reviews with content warning for Cultural appropriation - Castle in the Air

Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

8 reviews

bymaniak's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

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

1.25

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pythonesque's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

The worst thing about this book -- it casts a shadow to the Howl's Moving Castle, and I hate to find flaws in it!

I wouldn't give this book to my younger self, because otherwise I definitely would have hated my body even more than I already did.

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rcsreads's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Nowhere near as good as the first book in the series. It's basically a retelling of Alladin and it's as problematic as the Disney version, plus loads of added fatphobia!
I did really enjoy how it wrapped up and tied into Howl though, and Tabitha screamed with excitement when Calcifer finally put in an appearance!

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tory_shill's review

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

asolis's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.5

This book is technically fine but the inherent appropriation of the Arabian Nights theme made it hard to enjoy. You can completely skip this book with no adverse effect on understanding and enjoying book 3.

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leif's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Content Warnings

melonmachinery's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

2.0

Content Warnings

lily1304's review

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No

2.75

Disappointing compared to Howl's Moving Castle. The story was wiped clean of anything that made Howl's Moving Castle interesting - the characters were flat and there was no interesting puzzle to the plot. Even the feminist themes were gone - the female characters have very little agency besides manipulating children and each other.

Castle in the Air was published in 1990, before it was cool for white people to stay in our lanes I guess, because the setting is a fantasy-stereotyped medieval Middle East. It reminded me strongly of both of Calormen, C.S. Lewis' fantasy Middle East south of Narnia, and the Disney version of Aladdin.

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