Wednesday 3 January 2018

REVIEW: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones



I read this to my daughter, Celyn (10), who is too disabled to read books by herself.

I had seen some of the anime film version years ago but remembered basically nothing of it.

I found the whole thing original and refreshing. The point of view character (Sophie) is engaging and no-nonsense with a very capable can-do attitude. The story moves along at a good pace and the whole moving castle / multiple doors thing is a great idea and used well.

The Welsh connection is well-played. It expands the scope of the book world and the continuing reveals keep everything interesting.

My only complaint is that the end seemed rather tortured with so many story-lines converging in ways that felt rather unsatisfying / hard to believe. The (highlight for spoiler) Miss Angorian part, for example, seemed to come out of left-field and made very little sense to me.

If I were a touch harsher then that ending would pull this down to a 4*. But Celyn loved it. I enjoyed reading it. And I'm in a good mood. So 5*.

I can see why it's a classic, and if you have a 10 year old, point them at it! 

We've now finished the trilogy and it's quality stuff for the Y end of YA!



You can go 'like' my review on Goodreads if you like!





An index of my reviews.




1 comment:

  1. Hey Mark, I would enjoy knowing what you've read to Celyn. Also I would like to know if she liked it or not. I have some young nephews that I would like to get them started on reading some books or me reading to them. Thanks for your time.

    JFish

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