I loved the movie version of Howl's Moving Castle done by Studio Ghibli so I was very excited to finally get to read the book series. Luckily, my friend Allison owned all three books and was willing to lend them to me, yippee! So here I am now done the first book and ready to dive into the second. This was the first time I had ever read a book by Diana Wynne Jones and find that I really want to read more by her, especially seeming how she has so many novels written in the same genre. She sucked me in with her awesome ability to bring inanimate objects alive with her descriptive writing; I can see why Miyazaki was able to make such a colourful film. Needless to say if you enjoyed the movie you will definitely love the book since it explores the back stories of each character in more detail.
My favourite similarity from the movie to the book is just how shallow Howl is about his looks, it is always funny to visualize a guy giving off green goo because his hair has changed colours slightly; come on man up! Haha, definitely great to read a book with an extremely firm and strong female character. Sophie is just as no nonsense in the book as she is in the movie. Now I know I'm doing a lot of comparisons between the movie and the book but it just seems natural since I saw the movie first. Also, Calcifer is still as demonic as ever and the Witch of the Waste is just as heartless. I guess that is really where the similarities to the movie ends.
With quite the different story line I found the book much more inventive than the movie. She was able to create a land that was exquisite and encompassed many different places such as a port town, a royal city, and Wales in a different dimension. That would lead me to the biggest plot twist in the book, the fact that Wizard Howl is actually from Wales and when the doorknob is turned to black in his moving castle it allows you to travel from the dimension with Ingary in it to our dimension. All I have to say is multi-dimension = sweeeeeet! I love anything that involves hopping between worlds (Subtle Knife anyone?) Plus this just adds more depth and interest to Howl's character.
In the novel Diana Wynne Jones is able to give the back story of how Sophie grew up and ended up working in the hat shop. This explains a lot to do with her demeanor which is not explained in the film. Plus then you know how Lettie, her sister, ends up working at the bakery... or does she? Haha I leave it to you to read the book in order to determine my meaning. Even though the plot of the novel is quite different there is one thing that does not change, the fact that Sophie and Howl end up in love which really is quite touching considering how heartless Howl seems during the majority of the book.
To sum it up, Howl's Moving Castle is about the adventure of a young woman named Sophie who unfortunately finds herself transformed into a ninety-year-old woman. Through her strong will and some help from new friends made along the way Sophie is able to break the spell cast upon her and save the kingdom of Ingary from going into complete chaos. If you enjoy a book filled with wizardry and old world English charm then this is the book for you.
Diana Wynne Jones
With quite the different story line I found the book much more inventive than the movie. She was able to create a land that was exquisite and encompassed many different places such as a port town, a royal city, and Wales in a different dimension. That would lead me to the biggest plot twist in the book, the fact that Wizard Howl is actually from Wales and when the doorknob is turned to black in his moving castle it allows you to travel from the dimension with Ingary in it to our dimension. All I have to say is multi-dimension = sweeeeeet! I love anything that involves hopping between worlds (Subtle Knife anyone?) Plus this just adds more depth and interest to Howl's character.
In the novel Diana Wynne Jones is able to give the back story of how Sophie grew up and ended up working in the hat shop. This explains a lot to do with her demeanor which is not explained in the film. Plus then you know how Lettie, her sister, ends up working at the bakery... or does she? Haha I leave it to you to read the book in order to determine my meaning. Even though the plot of the novel is quite different there is one thing that does not change, the fact that Sophie and Howl end up in love which really is quite touching considering how heartless Howl seems during the majority of the book.
To sum it up, Howl's Moving Castle is about the adventure of a young woman named Sophie who unfortunately finds herself transformed into a ninety-year-old woman. Through her strong will and some help from new friends made along the way Sophie is able to break the spell cast upon her and save the kingdom of Ingary from going into complete chaos. If you enjoy a book filled with wizardry and old world English charm then this is the book for you.
Diana Wynne Jones
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