A review by effingunicorns
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

5.0

This book provided a not-exactly-necessary reminder of why I love books by Diana Wynne Jones. Charmain, who early on is more interested in spells for flying than in spells to find princes and who becomes increasingly willing to actually try things instead of retreating into her books, seems to me the kind of character one can connect to regardless of gender and is very human besides. Peter is a great foil for Charmain--hapless enough at magic to draw her away from her precious books, and then stubborn enough about the more practical problems they both encounter to keep her moving and learning. The "Not in the library!" bit near the end was random and kind of hilarious, at least to me, and Waif will probably be familiar to anyone who's spent a lot of time with a smart, clingy dog. I don't know if House of Many Ways will become a comfort read like Howl's Moving Castle, but I'll definitely be keeping it around.