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Book Review: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

So I started with a terrible review, then did a mediocre review, and now I will do a positive review. Howl's Moving Castle is a very famous and popular young adult fantasy novel. It's been made into a movie by the Japanese filmmaker, Miyazaki. I've met people who claim not to like reading, but who will sing the praises of this novel, and with good reason. Howl's Moving Castle is about a teenaged girl who is cursed and turns into an old woman. She goes to live in a mysterious castle with the wizard Howl, to work there and try and get the curse reversed. I love the humor in this book. The first chapter, for example, is titled "Sophie Talks To Hats." The narrative voice is amusing and engaging, and the fantasy, fairy-tale feel is just great. The characters are fun and well-developed, and so are the relationships between them. Also, I want to talk about the title, because I think it's important to the book's success. Howl's Moving Castle is a wonderful title. The idea of a moving castle is not only a great one for a story, but it is a great image to put in the title. It's original and intriguing, and the reader immediately wants to understand how the moving castle works and how the story is built around it. Furthermore, Howl is a unique name and the fact that the moving castle is owned by someone makes the reader wonder: What kind of person owns a moving castle? Of course, the book delivers and the story is really fun.
The one negative thing I can say about this book is that the worldbuilding isn't very in-depth. There's some fun magic, but I'm not sure of the bounds of the world and the magic system. Putting a lot of worldbuilding into a book, though, can ruin the pacing and make the story drag, so, honestly, it was probably good that Diana Wynne Jones didn't spend a ton of time on it.
There are two sequels to this book: Castle In The Air and House Of Many Ways. I read Castle In The Air and it was entertaining, but not as good and original as the first book. That level of originality is difficult to repeat, though. I completely stand by what everyone says; Howl's Moving Castle is a definite fantasy classic.

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