Howl's Moving Castle -- Diana Wynne Jones

Just a note:  There's a movie by this same name, presumably the same-ish story, directed by Hayao Miyazaki.  I've never seen it.

I picked up this book on a whim.  A fellow book lover had long ago suggested it to me, but since I knew nothing of the plot, and didn't always have the same taste in books, I let other novels come before it.  I saw it recently in a book store, after years of not thinking about it.  I was looking for something particular, but I didn't know what.  Something magical, but not too fantastic, something entertaining, but not too heavy.  I thought this cover promised exactly that, so I picked it up.

I wasn't disappointed.  This is a delightful little book.  It tells the story of Sophie Hatter, a young woman who, as the eldest of three tries to accept the well known fact that when three siblings set out to seek their fortunes, it is always the eldest who fails first, and most horribly. When her father dies, Sophie dutifully takes over the family business of making hats.  It seems she is doomed to a life of boredom when the dreaded Witch of the Waste bursts into her shop and, insulted by the girl, turns Sophie into an old woman.  The curse prevents Sophie from telling anyone she is under a spell, and not knowing what else to do, the now 90-year old girl hobbles off into the wilderness.  She has not gotten far from her small village when she encounters another horror, perhaps more terrifying even than the Witch of the Waste: the moving castle of the Wizard Howl.  Howl, it is rumored, is a terrible, evil wizard who roams the hills outside of town in his enchanted, mobile castle, and kidnaps young women so he can eat their souls.  Sophie, whose newly old bones are tired, decides that Howl can't represent too much of a danger to her (she is, after all, no longer a young woman) and hopes perhaps the wizard might be able to help her. Or at least offer an old woman a place to sleep for the night.  And so she climbs aboard the moving castle, and joins the strange band of characters who live within its enchanted walls.

As I said, it's a delightful book.  The humor is reminiscent of Princess Bride, and even sometimes smacks of Terry Pratchett in its irony.  The author supplies the perfect amount of description to jump start the imagination and bring the world, the characters, the castle, into a vivid focus.  The world she creates follows fairy tale rules, and the story line is no different.  It's mostly predictable, with one little twist that I, at least, wasn't expecting (and, frankly, didn't find all that useful to the plot.)  But for all its predictability, it's a worthwhile story.  There are witches and wizards, magically confused identities (leading to magically confused love stories), kings and princes, a demon, a wizard's skull, a magic poem, a walking scarecrow, and more than a few curses.  I can't place this amongst my favorites, but I have to say it is highly enjoyable, and a pleasure to read.

Recommended