A review by merle_bookdragon
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Who me? I assure you, my friends, I am cone sold stober. ... What a lie that was! ... My shining dishonesty will be the salvation of me.

Oh my goodness, what an absolute joy of a book. I've seen the movie approximately 50 times and I was so happy when I got gifted the beautiful Folio Society edition and then it stood in my shelf for a year. But I finally got to read it as part of my university bookclub and I absolutely loved it (as was to be expected.)

I am usually not the biggest reader of introductions but in this case I was very happy I did because it was informative and funny and taught me things that made the story even more special. For example that Diana Wynne Jones came from Wales, that she had juvenile rheumatism and that she attended lectures by both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I really enjoyed her storytelling and her creation of this world which is such a delightful mix of fairy tales, myth, and folklore and went on to inspire many more.

The story itself surprised me in the places in which it differed from the movie, which kept me on my toes to anticipate any changes that were made. Both Howl and Sophie are much more ... assertive and rude? :D And I don't mean that in an entirely negative way it just surprised me a little. I read a couple days ago that the book is the story told from Sophie's perspective and the movie is the story as Howl likes to tell it. And I think that is very accurate because Howl sure is more annoying that he is made out to be in the movie. 

I enjoyed having to rethink some relationships and names that might've appeared in the movie but were connected differently in the book like Mrs Pentstemmon, the Witch of the Waste, the king, Michael, Sophie's sisters... basically most of them. But since the Ghibli movie was made to convey a very specific message and chose a specific route for that, I can totally see why changes were made and some things were left out. Still I would've loved to see animated Howl in rugby uniform.

I will most definitely reread this many times and extend my tabs and notes. I shall recommend this to everyone and I've also added the artbook for the movie to my wishlist :D

Megan's full of envy because she's respectable and I'm not.
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