Scan barcode
A review by crosswarrior7
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
4.0
I won't lie -- I was probably bias while reading this book. I have watched the Ghibli movie, and I adored it. Not only that, but I read this book right after another book I hated reading, but I read because I do not DNF books.
But dang, reading this book was just... It was relaxing. It was smooth. I was a child just sitting back and enjoying the adventure of this girl cursed to be an old woman and joining the craziness of life in Howl's castle.
I will say this though: for anyone who has watched the movie, do not go into this book expecting the same things. The movie was Miyazaki taking Dianne Wynne Jones' world and characters and twisting them to a degree to promote his own anit-war message. Imagine it as if two writers were given the same overall outline, but went two different focuses and added their own details mixed in.
Because where Miyazaki did this, Jones focused on Sophie. Sophie was an oldest child of three who had really let that rule her life, and only by suffering as an old lady did she learn to appreciate who she was.
This isn't an overly fantastical story. It is very controlled and focused. There is a lot of magical things that I would love to see explored, but it is mentioned in passing or with Sophie as a distant viewer. And if anything, that is my main gripe about this story. It does feel too centered on Sophie, but I came into the book with different expectations and beliefs of what the story would be, as well as most of my experiences with books being very modern.
But when I took that into account and distanced myself from these two factors, I could just enjoy the character focus. This is a whimsical, silly, enjoyable story of very imperfect characters growing into a family who genuinely cares about each other.
One other complaint I did have is the plot seemed unfocused, and I dismissed that as just being part of the story, but... Jones pulled a fast one on me and had everything tie together in an amazing way. I was the moron who didn't trust her, and she sucker punched me in a great way for it.
As I said before, the characters are very imperfect. Sophie is very grumpy and snappy and sometimes petter. Howl is vain and fickle. Calcifer is a fire demon who has his own agenda. Michael enables Howl and can be childish (though in his defense, he is a child). But they all are united by this just... This silent care they seem to have. None of them seem to admit it, but they do care deeply for people, especially Howl and Sophie. Howl I would want to beat over the head with a broom, but he is one of my favorite characters simply because of how much he silently cares for people.
I do wish we had spent more time with the characters at the end because I wanted to see where things went for them, especially in regards to a certain ship I have. I won't say which one in case the story is unknown to you. The ending had this weird way of feeling completely but not, but that may have been me expecting more and not reading between the lines enough. There are sequels though which, although not about Sophie or her new family, may expand a bit on what I'm wanting to see. I may pick them up when I have the chance.
Overall, strongly recommend for anyone who enjoys these kind of whimsical journeys of self discovery and family creation.
But dang, reading this book was just... It was relaxing. It was smooth. I was a child just sitting back and enjoying the adventure of this girl cursed to be an old woman and joining the craziness of life in Howl's castle.
I will say this though: for anyone who has watched the movie, do not go into this book expecting the same things. The movie was Miyazaki taking Dianne Wynne Jones' world and characters and twisting them to a degree to promote his own anit-war message. Imagine it as if two writers were given the same overall outline, but went two different focuses and added their own details mixed in.
Because where Miyazaki did this, Jones focused on Sophie. Sophie was an oldest child of three who had really let that rule her life, and only by suffering as an old lady did she learn to appreciate who she was.
This isn't an overly fantastical story. It is very controlled and focused. There is a lot of magical things that I would love to see explored, but it is mentioned in passing or with Sophie as a distant viewer. And if anything, that is my main gripe about this story. It does feel too centered on Sophie, but I came into the book with different expectations and beliefs of what the story would be, as well as most of my experiences with books being very modern.
But when I took that into account and distanced myself from these two factors, I could just enjoy the character focus. This is a whimsical, silly, enjoyable story of very imperfect characters growing into a family who genuinely cares about each other.
One other complaint I did have is the plot seemed unfocused, and I dismissed that as just being part of the story, but... Jones pulled a fast one on me and had everything tie together in an amazing way. I was the moron who didn't trust her, and she sucker punched me in a great way for it.
As I said before, the characters are very imperfect. Sophie is very grumpy and snappy and sometimes petter. Howl is vain and fickle. Calcifer is a fire demon who has his own agenda. Michael enables Howl and can be childish (though in his defense, he is a child). But they all are united by this just... This silent care they seem to have. None of them seem to admit it, but they do care deeply for people, especially Howl and Sophie. Howl I would want to beat over the head with a broom, but he is one of my favorite characters simply because of how much he silently cares for people.
I do wish we had spent more time with the characters at the end because I wanted to see where things went for them, especially in regards to a certain ship I have. I won't say which one in case the story is unknown to you. The ending had this weird way of feeling completely but not, but that may have been me expecting more and not reading between the lines enough. There are sequels though which, although not about Sophie or her new family, may expand a bit on what I'm wanting to see. I may pick them up when I have the chance.
Overall, strongly recommend for anyone who enjoys these kind of whimsical journeys of self discovery and family creation.