Book Review: Howl’s Moving Castle
The classic whimsical fantasy and first book in the Land of Ingary trilogy by Diana Wynne Jones.
Howl’s Moving Castle is one of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies (that’s not really saying a lot, because most of the movies in Studio Ghibli’s catalogue are my favourite movies lol!) But I was intrigued to read the original children’s fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones, and I was surprised to learn it’s only the first book in a whole trilogy. Let me just take a moment to praise the cover art for this edition of the book—WOW! Just look at it. It’s beautiful, and definitely befits the whimsy of the story.
Blurb
In this beloved modern classic, young Sophie Hatter from the land of Ingary catches the unwelcome attention of the Witch of the Waste and is put under a spell…
Deciding she has nothing more to lose, Sophie makes her way to the moving castle that hovers on the hills above her town, Market Chipping. But the castle belongs to the dreaded Wizard Howl, whose appetite, they say, is satisfied only by the souls of young girls…
There Sophie meets Michael, Howl’s apprentice, and Calcifer the fire demon, with whom she agrees a pact. Her entanglements with Calcifer, Howl and Michael and her quest to break her curse come alive with Diana Wynne Jones’s unique combination of magic, humour and imagination.
Review
I loved this book. It’s just so cozy and fun. And the Studio Ghibli adaptation sticks surprisingly close to it—at least, in the earlier parts of the book. It does diverge significantly towards the end. The plot is twisty-turny with plenty of mystery about things like Howl’s identity, the nature of his contract with Calcifer, what happened to the prince and the former royal wizard etc… And Sophie Hatter is caught up in the middle of it all ultimately just trying to find a way to break the curse put upon her by the Witch of the Waste. I do feel like the Ghibli movie cranked up the coziness to maximum compared to the book, though. In the book, Calcifer isn’t as cute (but he’s just as snarky), Howl is much more melodramatic (and a bit of a dick), and the scarecrow is made out to be a lot more terrifying to the characters.
The characters themselves are all wonderful, and there’s a much wider cast than in the movie. We get to see Sophie’s sisters and their stories as they go off to find their fortune, as well as the magical shenanigans they get up to. Calcifer and Michael are a brilliant pair and we spend a lot more time with them. Michael is older here, too, and a lot more capable. Howl absolutely steals the spotlight whenever he’s on-scene, with a huge personality that everybody else just has to work around. It’s all great fun. One of the more unsettling aspects of the story is not just that Sophie has been cursed to look like an old woman, but that she actually is, with all the ailments and frailties that go along with it. There’s the sense that it could actually kill her before she finds out how to change back.
Diana Wynne Jones’ prose is elegant but fun. It reminded me somewhat of Ursula K. Le Guin’s prose, but much more geared towards the younger reader. The pacing, however, is a little uneven. It starts off really great, and it ends marvellously. But in the middle, there’s a large section where, honestly, not a lot happens. We just have Sophie watching from the sidelines sewing up one of Howl’s suits as Michael and Howl go about their business. She gets involved in the odd caper, but it did sag a bit.
I don’t want to talk too much about the worldbuilding because a lot of it is left a mystery. There’s enough to get the implication that it’s a portal fantasy of sorts, and there’s a little explanation about some of the magic system when it relates to the fire demons like Calcifer, but mostly it remains very soft. Being the first book in a trilogy, I’m willing to bet that a lot of the worldbuilding gets fleshed out in the next two books. The nature of the world is one of the mysteries the book leaves open, likely deliberately.
Overall, as I said, I really enjoyed this book and I’m absolutely going to be reading the rest of the trilogy. Highly recommended!
