Howl's Moving Castle - It needs to be read (Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones)

Member Name: kyara

Product:	Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
Date:	15/03/09 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: interesting characters, lots of plot twists

Disadvantages: strange start

Well, I did it, I read Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones. After my friend had spoke highly of this book in the past, I decided to finally give it a go. It centres around a 17 year old, Sophie, who is put under a curse by the Witch of the Waste, and turned into an old woman. Sophie leaves home to find Howl, a wizard who lives in a huge moving castle, and who, they say, eats young girls' hearts. She needs him to lift the spell from her, but there is one catch. She can't tell anyone she's under a curse, unless they already know...

The book starts off fairly strangly, with a young Sophie talking to hats and various other odd acts. Stick with it though, for once she sets out to find Howl, the story gets a whole lot better, and Howl's Moving Castle becomes one of those unputdownable books that everyone loves.

The characters are all very memorable, with my favourites being Howl and Calcifer the fire demon. Howl, as we know already, is a wizard, who loves women. He makes it his quest to woo as many women as he can, and he will make them fall in love with him, and once they are in love with him, he drops them, ready to conquer another heart. Calcifer is a fire demon who is bound by contract to Howl, and who consequently lives in Howl's fireplace. It is his job to move the flying castle. He makes a promise to Sophie that if she can break his contract with Howl, he will try to break the curse she is under, but Calcifer cannot speak of the terms of his contract, unless someone already knows it, much like Sophie and her spell.

Wynne Jones creates a world full of magic and deceit, and you can picture it clearly in your mind's eye, especially the inside of the castle, and the fields of flowers growning in the Waste. It's definately a book which needs to be read, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

All I need to do now is watch the film...

Summary: A brilliant book that everyone should try