Howl’s Moving Castle — Diana Wynne Jones

The Overview:

Diana Wynne Jones’s 1986 fantasy novel, Howl’s Moving Castle, is about Sophie Hatter, who after disrespecting a maniacal witch, is transformed from a beautiful eighteen-year-old woman to a ninety-year old woman. Unable to speak about her cursed, she is forced to move in with Howl Pendragon (or Howell Jenkins, if you go by his birth name), a wizard notorious for swallowing young girls’ hearts, Michael, his young apprentice, and Calcifer, a fire demon. She makes a deal with Calcifer, who promises to break Sophie’s curse if she breaks his.

(BONUS) The Characters:

Sophie is an extremely strange, but refreshing choice for a protagonist. She does not react to situations the way a normal person would. Arguably, this makes her less relatable, but she makes up for it by being interesting. In the beginning of the story, she acknowledges Howl’s handsomeness, but she is repulsed by it, rather than attracted to it. When someone calls her a witch and says she has accidentally cast a spell over Howl’s clothes to make him irresistible to all women, she shrugs and thinks to herself, “Well, that sounds like me, messing up as usual,” despite never having prior knowledge of any magical ability whatsoever. She is, however, easily influenced emotionally. She gets jealous whenever Howl is out courting, mad when her younger sister tries to convince her their mother is manipulating her, and irritated when Calcifer is not direct with her.

How(el)l Pendragon (or Jenkins) is the most vain, supercilious, cowardly, good- natured, cleverest, funniest deuteragonist I have read about in a long time. He is used to getting his way and is not above throwing temper- tantrums, including forcing green slime to ooze out of his skin, when the slightest thing does not go as planned. He takes pleasure sending people out to ‘blacken his name”, just so he will not have to do work. On sight, most people who meet him either fall in love with him or despise the very dirt he stands on. He is not to be trifled with, however. He has been known to intimidate people and even Calcifer, a fire demon.

Michael is a meek boy and there is nothing particular special about him, excluding his diligence. He loves like a normal boy and gets depressed over mediocre things like a normal boy. But I would say this works in his favor because Howl and Sophie have such unusual personalities, that more absurdness might make the book too off-putting.

Lastly, Calcifer. Calcifer is a bit of an antihero, being a demon, but being on the side of “good.” He does mostly what Howl says due to a mystery contract, but he will not stand to be disparaged. He argues with everyone is the house, and is even a little creepy just in his description.

It would be a thin blue face…very long and thin, with a thin blue nose….And those purple flames near the bottom make the mouth– you have savage teeth, my friend…

A Potential Turn-off:

I’ve thought long and hard about what could possibly turn someone off from this book. I guess the sheer abundance of characters might be it. There a lot of characters including: Sophie, Howl, Michael, Calcifer, the Witch of Waster, Sophie’s two sisters and step-mother, Howl’s sister, nephews, and ex-magic teacher, the King and his brother and daughter, Miss Angorian, a creepy scarecrow, a dog-man, and I’m probably forgetting more.

An Appealing Factor: 

Everything. Mostly Howl’s dry humor.

My Rating:

It’s been a long time since I got angry I had to put a book down. I rate Howl’s Moving Castle ten out of ten stars. Buy the book.

 

Author: Jordyn Harper

If I were to describe my writing style, it would be... volcanic. Most of the time, I sit, looming, silent, harmless. My writing is generally romantic, pleasing to the eye. I imagine a scenario that in my opinion would be mutually satisfying. But every now and then, maybe after a particularly odd dream or an especially horrible day, I will erupt. And these eruptions might last for a long time. My writing devolves, or evolves, however you choose to view it, into madness. Scrawls of controversy and scribbles of the chaos of my inner mind. That is my best writing, and I can rarely summon that at will, which means, I have plenty of room to improve. But then again, don't we all?