B (Good).

A girl cursed to be an old woman takes up meddling.

One of the things that makes this book interesting is how the main character is an outsider, and basically walks in on someone who's in the middle of their story. It's a fun perspective. We often don't know what's going on, which means the twists are really able to come out of left field. On the other hand, we often don't know what's going on.

(Aug. 2024) ( )

delightful and amusing ( )

I love Studio Ghibli, and after seeing Miyazaki's adaptation of the book I just had to read it.
As a book about a moving castle it's one of the most boring books I've ever read.
Diana is a master of the craft of having the first three chapters to be somewhat readable and then getting rid of anything that someone under the age of ninety would like. The first few chapters were full of magic, then the next few were just a poorly written romance story, then there was nothingness...
My sibling also read this book, and they agree that Diana Wynne Jones has no talent whatsoever. This book was complete torture to read.
No I regret saying all this, Diana has talent, it takes talent to write something so boring to mislead the reader by having a few interesting chapters, I admire how bad she is at writing. ( )

I don't remember now how a copy of this book first fell into my lap, but I do remember sitting at the large desk in my room when I was in high school, curled up in my chair, trying to stretch the novel longer by reading the last lines over and over. Years later, after shedding much of my over-romantic tendency, this book is still one of my favorite go-tos. It's not particularly heady or complicated, but it's so expertly told it's no wonder Miyazaki chose this book to base his movie from.

The premise is intriguing, set in a world similar enough to our own to be familiar, but filled with magic and strange customs enough to make us curious. The characters grow in unexpected ways and even though I confess I'd seen the movie before reading this book, I could not predict what would happen next. The story is fun and (dare I say it) cute, but anchored in real and universal enough problems that the contradiction was pleasant. As Howl struggles with his own past and identity, we see Sophie find herself and grow ever more powerful, claiming agency for herself and really bringing balance to the world.

I adore this book and will read it over and over still. ( )

This is the story the way Sophie remembers it. I think the film is canonically Howl's perspective. Both are excellent in their own ways and you cannot change my mind about the preceding headcannon ( )