Howl's Moving Castle

I loved the movie and now I love this book. It was magical, whimsical and a bit silly. I didn't love the ending for a few reasons but the rest of the book was a super fun and an excellent listen.

It seems that most people are familiar with this story through the Anime film. I have to admit to never having seen it, so I came to this story with no real preconceptions. The tale itself is wonderfully cute and whimsical. Howl is very much a man child and it is interesting seeing a female protagonist in a fantasy of this vintage who does not fall into the usual stereotypes.

This is essentially an early YA story, but it is certainly one that has aged well. DWJ has created a wonderful world of whimsy and mystery. The moving castle itself is an intriguing concept and all the characters have a fun feel.

Light and fun and an easy read. I will have to go and check out the film version now!

It's mysterious in that way “the classics” are. They say things like they are but many things are still left up in the air. Sophie's always going on about how being the eldest would prevent her from attaining any happiness, but where did such a nonsensical idea come from and why should anyone take that as fact? Miss Angorian was a fire demon but why was she able to go about all willy nilly, hiding herself in guitars and even owning her own house? The Witch of the Waste killed Mrs. Pentstemmon? Then why isn't the Witch getting executed or put on trial or anything? A great many things seemed to be taken in stride all too easily. I myself find it a bit charming since not everything to do with a book related to magic need be sensical but I figured I should point it out.

And another thing...ALL THE JUICE ALWAYS RUNS DRY BEFORE IT HAS A CHANCE TO START FLOWING. At some point, I was wondering whether this story was going to be a romance at all. It was, in fact, a wonderful romance for the page or so that it was explicitly acknowledged. This book really adds to my appreciation for Howl and Sophie's romance more than the movie had time to. Howl was, in fact, a piece of trash, which the film adaptation glossed over (for the sake of time and fragile hearts, mine included). And yet he and Sophie grew a connection through all the arguments and difficulties of living with another human being. IF THAT AIN'T TRUE LOVE, THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS. To accept each other's flaws and see past appearances to appreciate the other's endearing, if annoying, personality traits...To know both the good and bad of a person...SOMEONE GET THE JUSTICE OF PEACE IN HERE, STAT.

All that being said, it was great. I still think Sophie's stepmom is a lying, lazy, exploitative wench. But I adored how much depth this book went into in my favorite movie's characters.

I have heard many good things about this book over the years. I fact it is a children's book must have escaped my attention.

Rating: 4.25 leaves out of 5
Characters: 4.5/5
Cover: 4.5/5
Story: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Magic
Type: Audiobook
Worth?: Yes!

It was a lovely book and there are comparisons with the book and the movie but book Howl is so much more different than movie Howl. I would much rather movie Howl, he just seemed more of a gentleman than book Howl could ever be. It still held that magical presence and I enjoyed it. Sophie is a kick in the book as well as in the movie. I would recommend giving this a go!

One of my absolute favorites, though I came across it later in life. I'm a fan of the animated film, and while the storyline is definitely different in the Ghibli version, both book and film hold their own. The characters are amusing, loveable, and the elements of magic are original.

This is the first book chosen for the Discord book club since I took it over. Suggested by Jae or Rezz. I have been listening to it while cross-stitching, cosy under my blanket on the couch. So far, I like it a lot and I am looking forward to discovering the rest of the story. I watched Miyazaki's adaptation years ago and I only remember glances of it, some images here and there, and I like that it colors the way I imagine and remember the story. Very enchanting. Strong characters. Very original setting. 3 daughters. Sent to apprenticeship. Two exchanged places in secrecy, one stuck at the hat's shop working for nothing. Trapped under a spell created by a witch after hurting her ego. Now an old lady, employed at the castle that terrorizes the neighborhood, creating a pact with the Fire Demon Lucifer in order to revert the spell she is trapped under. Interesting, interesting!

Update: I finished it. The audiobook. The -almost- full book. I missed some parts from being distracted, falling asleep or being too tired to really listen. But I finished it. And I loved it a lot. It reminded me of Anne of Green Gables. It has this classic children literature quality. One that creates wonder. One that stays with you long after you finish it. Like, I could imagine it being a comfort book, to just open and read a little bit from, when I would feel like it. Which is not something I really do. But this book has this quality to it. Only a few books have this 5/5 stars. Intemporal.

Update: After reading The Kite Runner, Po-On and 1984, I can't give this book a 5/5 stars. So 4 it is. Like, I fell asleep several times and I completely missed the flying whales. It became too fantastical for me, and too long. So 4 stars, which is still a high rating for me, who doesn't read fantasy books anymore. 6/7/21

Read: 2021-03-10

desert island book for sure.....I used to memorise chapters of this in primary to read in my head when my book got taken away......diana wynne jones is so excellent, this holds up every time, I need everyone I know to read it, it's deeply ingrained in my personality, love you forever and always.

Delightful, and definitely something I will read to my daughters one day. The ending was a little too conventional and slap-dashed together for me, but it works in a classic fairy tale kind of way. It's fun and quirky and entertaining, but I'm just not great at honing in my inner child enough to appreciate it in the same way I might have when I was twelve.

VERY different from the movie though, so don't think you know the story because you've seen the movie.

5 stars are not enough... I am absolutely in love with Sophie, Howl and, of course, Calcifer

Re-read review (22 Jan 2021): My first re-read of this book in a super long time and if anything, I just love it even more than ever, I burst into tears when I finished (could also be hormones talking).

I love it that we have this female protagonist who is rather insecure and unsure of herself at the beginning of the story, and it's her younger sisters that are trying to bolster her self-worth, which is such a great twist on that usual “evil stepsisters” trope. I love that so much of this book, even though the sisters were apart from each other, Sophie never stopped thinking about them or caring for them in whatever ways she could. I love that we have one sister who wants to get married and have ten children, and another sister who wants to keep on learning and making a name for herself and both of them are fine with that, support each other and help each other achieve their goals even if wildly different.

I love that it shows so many things that aren't very common but which I really like to see in YA stories: a female protagonist that starts off being insecure, but very gradually starts to realise how powerful she is because she took the first step to get out of her comfort zone, and not because anyone else (and not a dude) told her so; a hero that is endearing but so flawed and annoying at the same time; truly believable chemistry between the two leads which develops throughout the book to culminate in a very satisfying ending (that doesn't even need to show them kissing or being all handsy with each otherThis has always been one of my favourite books of all time, and this re-read has only cemented that status.I just love it, OK? *cries*---------------------I bought this many, many years ago, attracted by the colourful cover and the illustration of a handsome, crazy wizard. I did not regret it.Howl's Moving Castle is the kind of book that I come across only very rarely, where the moment I finish reading the last page, I lean back, exhale, try to digest all the plot twists at the end, then I immediately turn back to the first page and begin re-reading immediately. I am personally someone who isn't in the habit of re-reading books almost ever.Though I have owned this book for more than a decade now, but it's still in relatively good condition and I still occasionally re-read it. I think of it as one of my favourite books of all time, and it introduced me to the magical world of Diana Wynne Jones.

A childhood favourite of me and beloved by all my family, I pulled this out to re-read on Christmas Day. It holds up to adult re-reading and analysis. So clever! So engaging! I love How Wynne Jones messes with all kinds of tropes (fairy tales, fantasy, gender roles, family dynamics, romance), all while galloping the plot along to a satisfying conclusion. Hooray for Howl and Sophie!

This book is a warm blanket on a cold day. It's a balm against troubled times and was the perfect thing to read while dealing with this stressful season. It's one of those books that ostensibly gets shelved for children, but is really for the parents to enjoy reading aloud. The prose is lyrical and beautiful. The characters are rich and vivid. And there's a snarky fire demon. I first read this book way back when the Studio Ghibli movie came out, and I think I appreciate it more now just because of my current headspace. Every night when I picked this book up to read, I got a healthy dose of escapism that let me actually sleep. I'd never not recommend this book, but right now, I think it should be required reading for all us anxiety-crippled, pandemic fatigued folks out there.

Adorable!!

This story was so difficult for me to follow. I think it just wasn't my thing. I thought the Miyazaki movie would clear things up, but it really didn't, plus it is a wildly different story at times. I can say that this story shows off a very imaginative mind.

I loved it! It's different from the movie, like my favourite scenes from the book are not included in the movie and my favourite movie scenes are not part of the original work, yet both are so good in their different ways, and just bring you happiness.

Reread after 3 years because I had no recollection of the plot that wasn't shown in the movie

absolutely delightful in every way

Extremely charming, wicked funny. Both fantastical and mundane (in the best way). A book to fall in love with.

Movie watchers wondering if the book is worth it, WITHOUT A DOUBT. It'll make you love the characters you already know so well more while also opening your heart to the stories of so many other lovely characters.

Howl, Sophie, and Diana Wynne Jones own my heart.

HOLY SHIT!!!!! Gaaaaaahhhhh this was SO fantastic!!!!! I loved this a LOT!!!! It's so very different from the movie that I love it separately from the movie (and yes, honestly, More than the movie)!!!!!

Reread after watching the movie within the last week and Wow not only is this so much better than the movie, but it's honestly such an incredibly good book with so much depth to it that the movie just doesn't have!!!!!!

Amé mucho a estos personajes

Segunda vez lido em... muitos anos.

Como li uma edição diferente, acabei perdendo o rastreio (meu Goodreads deve estar uma bagunça).

Seguimos.

Estou mais velha, mais “lida” hehehe, e este livro segue... surpreendente. É um livro para criança pelo tom da escrita, pela proposta, as personagens o sistema mágico simples e descomplicado, e a leitura fácil. Ainda assim, todos os personagens, até mesmo os secundários, embora menos desenvolvidos, possuem caracter, personalidades definidas, e são presentes.

Tive algumas realizações que não havia percebido na primeira leitura, que me deixaram em estado de graça.
Howl é do País de Gales (se você leu Lisa Kleypas na vida, a imagem de qualquer homem de lá, falando inglês britânico com um leve sotaque, é extremamente útero supressor), extremamente sarcástico, vaidoso, mas apaixonável a sua maneira. Como a autora disse em sua entrevista, “muitas meninas querem casar com Howl”. Eu sou uma delas. Versão do filme, versão do livro, qualquer versão.
Sophie é MUITO RELACIONÁVEL. Sem um pingo de paciência com frescura, decidida, e um pouco traumatizada com seus próprios valores, o que a “ofusca” um pouco seu real potencial.

Para quem conheceu castelo animado primeiro pela animação, pode levar um grande choque ao ler a obra original. Miyazaki, embora sua versão tenha sido aprovado pela própria Diana, usou o esqueleto do Castelo Animado, alguns de seus personagens centrais, alguns pontos altos, e transformou na aclamada animação - com um total toque japonês - que tem praticamente NENHUMA similaridade com o livro.
Pode considerar como duas obras completamente diferentes.

Amo o filme mais que pipoca doce. E acho que o desenvolvimento do romance foi muito mais estruturado e progressivo no filme. No filme, Howl e Sophie praticamente se odeio em todos os momentos, por nenhuma e todas as razões, e apenas têm um momento de “amor” que seria o final (com a Bruxa e o retorno ao castelo). O que deixa o filho deles em The Castle in the Air meio que um passo muito grande num romance tão juvenil. Por isso, mais uma vez, um livro para crianças. Não precisamos falar de baixaria com eles.

O que realmente me segurou nessa segunda leitura foi que, por mais que o filme seja EXCELENTE, perdeu-se MUITAS COISAS que tronam um dos livros de fantasia mais cativantes.
A magia ser um sistema normal, que permeia a família de Hatter, e neste mundo, que faz com que você escolher a magia seja uma opção tão sadia quanto vender chapéus. De as irmãs Hatter serem três, de Fanny não ser tão interesseira, mas uma mulher em desespero. Michael ser mais velho, um adolescente, apaixonado por Martha e espero em suas magias (mais do que um garotinho com capa que o deixa um anãozinho de barba comprida, como o Gimli). A própria Bruxa das terras Abandonadas. Uma mulher camaleoa, malvada e cheia de ódio, que também vendeu o coração a um demônio do fogo, mas que foi corrompida. O Mago Suliman, o Cabeça de Nabo, como o irmão entojado do rei - e a falta da própria figura do rei - e a magia bem da assustadora, com o corte de corpos e junção de pedaços, que os envolviam através da Bruxa. Os poderes de Sophie, naturais dela, que conseguiam trazer a vida às coisas, mas seu dom natural em possuir magia. O CORAÇÃO DA BRUXA - Srta. Angorian - que me deixou com cara de "misericórdia, que doideira é essa". Como podem ver... muita coisa me pegou de jeito.

Como é perceptível, esse livro me pegou de jeito. E adorei demais. Seguramente seguirei com os demais volumes outra vez.

I have seen the movie and had no idea that it was based on an English book.

This story is so fun. I love the characters and their stubbornness. Truly an enjoyable and quick read. Perfect for kids and grown ups - especially if you watched the movie.

howl is a himbo send tweet

Executive Summary: Enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected. I was looking for something fun and short and this was perfect.

Audiobook: Jenny Sterlin did a good job. This is definitely a good option in audio and the story works well in this format.

Full Review
I've had this one in my library for awhile after getting a deal on it, but I never felt a lot of urgency to read it so it just sat there.

The main reason I finally picked it up was I was looking for short, light listens to finish out the year and this seemed to fit the bill.

After a bit of a slow start, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I'm pretty sure I've watched the anime, but I didn't really remember the details I guess. Now I want to rewatch it.

Generally I prefer well defined magic systems, and this book is definitely not that. Still I found the story interesting enough to not get hung up on the hand waving nature of the magic. Not every book needs to have a cool magic system.

For me it was the characters that really made this one for me. I loved the grumpy fire demon, and the crazy scarecrow and the kind of sketchy wizard.

Apparently there are sequels to this, but I'm totally fine stopping here. The story felt self contained enough that while it could be interesting to continue on, I don't find it necessary.