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A review by remilauren
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
5.0
******MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD******
Such a lovely odd book! Filled with delightfully quirky characters, living in a ugly castle, set in a magical realm, this book took me on a wild ride. I loved that the book never lets you feel upset over the state of its characters. Rather the characters can make fun of their own miseries!
The world building is great, with so many details that sometimes even my imagination failed me! The writing held onto a steady engaging pace that never let me feel any part of it were meaningless. It's quite a skill to write a book that never once gets boring throughout.
Sophie starts out as a timid girl scared of everything outside her home! So when she lands a curse and grows old, it helps her to forget customs, manners, shyness, basically everything that was preventing her from coming out of her shell. Old Sophie was opinionated, had a huge self respect and was determined in her ways, all the elements that were lacking in her as a girl. In a way, the curse helped her discover herself, her talents and she truly found the fortune she was trying to seek all her life!
Howl like an adorable idiot had apparently traded his heart with Calcifer (who does that, seriously!) Howl is annoyingly vain, dramatic as hell but mostly he's a kind guy. He never does things the normal way but in his own strange ways, is always helping people, when he can. He didn't let Sophie know until the very end that he'd indeed been trying to break her spell, along with finding the Prince. This guy may throw tantrums like a kid but is clever enough to play through the Witch's own trap.
The antagonists I must say were quite annoying than scary. Throwing curses at random people's head just because they inconvenienced you unknowingly is rather entitled. They were powerful together but separated they were no match to Howl and I'm glad they were doomed. Was sick of them!
All the other characters except Michael and Calcifer weren't around much so I could not really connect with them. But each of them had something interesting going on for them. Especially Suliman and Justin, the trouble they must have endured, pieces strewn around, parts mixed, it must have felt horrible! I don't want to guess what must have happened to Percival's head. And the poor scarecrow, it meant no harm either. Calcifer, whom I imagined to be a whiny demon turned out to be a good friend of Howl's afterall.
I was certain of two things - Sophie's curse had to be broken and that Sophie and Howl would eventually lead a life together. But when the curse was broken right at the end, I was worried how they'd establish them as a pair. Sophie and Howl knew each other quite well, but appearance wise, he'd seen her as an old woman. He could not have guessed how she looked like. Was he in love right when he found out her secret, but won't that be a bit weird? There was no indication of Sophie's love either, until the very end, where terms like - Howl preferred, jealousy, and Sophie throwing weed killer at Howl lmao. It was a bit sudden and I wish it could have taken a little longer.
Still, I loved that the author made Howl's head a haystack to show that he was truly in love, oh lol. I found the last scene adorable, these two bickering cutely yet smiling and ignoring everyone else, it just fit Howl and Sophie's personalities lmao. Now I'll be off to watch the movie and read the sequels in hope of reading more about Sophie and Howl.
Such a lovely odd book! Filled with delightfully quirky characters, living in a ugly castle, set in a magical realm, this book took me on a wild ride. I loved that the book never lets you feel upset over the state of its characters. Rather the characters can make fun of their own miseries!
The world building is great, with so many details that sometimes even my imagination failed me! The writing held onto a steady engaging pace that never let me feel any part of it were meaningless. It's quite a skill to write a book that never once gets boring throughout.
Sophie starts out as a timid girl scared of everything outside her home! So when she lands a curse and grows old, it helps her to forget customs, manners, shyness, basically everything that was preventing her from coming out of her shell. Old Sophie was opinionated, had a huge self respect and was determined in her ways, all the elements that were lacking in her as a girl. In a way, the curse helped her discover herself, her talents and she truly found the fortune she was trying to seek all her life!
Howl like an adorable idiot had apparently traded his heart with Calcifer (who does that, seriously!) Howl is annoyingly vain, dramatic as hell but mostly he's a kind guy. He never does things the normal way but in his own strange ways, is always helping people, when he can. He didn't let Sophie know until the very end that he'd indeed been trying to break her spell, along with finding the Prince. This guy may throw tantrums like a kid but is clever enough to play through the Witch's own trap.
The antagonists I must say were quite annoying than scary. Throwing curses at random people's head just because they inconvenienced you unknowingly is rather entitled. They were powerful together but separated they were no match to Howl and I'm glad they were doomed. Was sick of them!
All the other characters except Michael and Calcifer weren't around much so I could not really connect with them. But each of them had something interesting going on for them. Especially Suliman and Justin, the trouble they must have endured, pieces strewn around, parts mixed, it must have felt horrible! I don't want to guess what must have happened to Percival's head. And the poor scarecrow, it meant no harm either. Calcifer, whom I imagined to be a whiny demon turned out to be a good friend of Howl's afterall.
I was certain of two things - Sophie's curse had to be broken and that Sophie and Howl would eventually lead a life together. But when the curse was broken right at the end, I was worried how they'd establish them as a pair. Sophie and Howl knew each other quite well, but appearance wise, he'd seen her as an old woman. He could not have guessed how she looked like. Was he in love right when he found out her secret, but won't that be a bit weird? There was no indication of Sophie's love either, until the very end, where terms like - Howl preferred, jealousy, and Sophie throwing weed killer at Howl lmao. It was a bit sudden and I wish it could have taken a little longer.
Still, I loved that the author made Howl's head a haystack to show that he was truly in love, oh lol. I found the last scene adorable, these two bickering cutely yet smiling and ignoring everyone else, it just fit Howl and Sophie's personalities lmao. Now I'll be off to watch the movie and read the sequels in hope of reading more about Sophie and Howl.