Bago Book Review – Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle

<div id&equals;"content-area" class&equals;"post-118763 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-anime category-anime-reviews category-reviews tag-fairy-tail tag-hiro-mashima tag-kodansha tag-manga tag-shonen tag-top-stories">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"post-cont-out">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"post-cont-in">&NewLine;<div id&equals;"content-main" class&equals;"left relative">&NewLine;<p>For this monthly Bago Book Review&comma; I continue though the fantasy genre by looking at the infamous <em>Howl&&num;8217&semi;s Moving Castle<&sol;em> novel from Diana Wynne Jones&period; When most people hear the words &&num;8216&semi;Howl&&num;8217&semi;s Moving Castle&&num;8217&semi; and their minds immediately go to the Studio Ghibli film&period; What many have missed or long forgotten was that the story of Howl and Sophie was originally a book published in 1986&period; Jones&&num;8217&semi; novel holds a few secrets not featured in the Ghibli film&period; This alone makes reading the book worth is for those who have seen the movie but want to experience even more of the story and characters&period; Jones did a fantastic job writing an inspiring story about a powerful wizard&comma; an unassuming girl and those connected to them&period; Her characters are colorfully crafted into outlandish yet believable people that progress into their final forms beautifully&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three girls and believes since she is the elder of the siblings&comma; she will not find a fortune&period; After her father&&num;8217&semi;s death&comma; her step-mother signs the two youngest girls up for apprenticeships and leaves the hat shop work to Sophie&period; If this is beginning to sound like a retelling of Cinderella&comma; the book most certainly is not&period; Sophie ends up in between extraordinary events yet she acts in such a level-headed way&period; She is a such a practical creature that <em>Howl&&num;8217&semi;s Moving Castle<&sol;em> takes on a quiet comical form&period; After a drastic aging spell is casted on her&comma; Sophie simply accepts it&period; Her personality is completely opposite of Howl&&num;8217&semi;s whose actions reflect a spoiled-heartless Casanova&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>His reputation of eating girls souls is close to the truth&period; Howl woos girls until they love him only to dump them afterward&period; Sophie doesn&&num;8217&semi;t necessarily get angry over this yet it bothers her as it would a grandmother&period; Sophie acted much like a old woman before the spell took hold and she is very comfortable with her &&num;8220&semi;new&&num;8221&semi; life&period; The author weaves these two characters into an inter twinning web from two completely separate threads&period; Howl&&num;8217&semi;s actions tend to have indirect effects on Sophie and the same goes for her actions&period; One major theme of <em>Howl&&num;8217&semi;s Moving Castle<&sol;em> is actions cause ripples that spread outward&period; Every main and side character intertwines with each other&period; Jones was thorough with her writing&period; For the most part character backstories are sprinkled throughout the story and the reader has the pleasure to piece them together&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;123689" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-123689" style&equals;"width&colon; 336px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-123689" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;04204018&sol;Howls-Moving-Castle-Book-review-pic-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Howl's Moving Castle &sol; Harper Collins" width&equals;"336" height&equals;"499" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-123689" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Howl&&num;8217&semi;s Moving Castle &sol; Harper Collins<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Many concepts and ideas of our own world mean nothing in this book&period; The country of Ingary houses witches and wizards among more &&num;8220&semi;normal&&num;8221&semi; folks with ordinary occupations&period; The monarchy often requires Howl&&num;8217&semi;s magical skills yet Howl keeps himself at a great distance even while working with the King and his men&period; Jones depicts her story&&num;8217&semi;s setting with beauty&period; The multiple lands and towns the castle&comma; powered by Calcifer a fire demon&comma; has access too are each given their own unique characteristics&period; Porthaven as a poor town features residents who need Howl&&num;8217&semi;s spells to survive yet who cannot afford the proper payment&period; Michael&comma; Howl&&num;8217&semi;s wizard apprentice&comma; explains to Sophie that Howl doesn&&num;8217&semi;t charge enough for his work&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The depictions of the swamps&comma; gardens&comma; towns and plant life all add color to imagining Howl and Sophie&&num;8217&semi;s world&period; Readers can practically see the blue skies or darkening clouds and hear the bird calls or smell the honey used for spells&period; The country once thought of by Diane Wynne Jones comes into existence in the reader&&num;8217&semi;s mind&period;  Jones&&num;8217&semi; captured her audiences&&num;8217&semi; hearts with her story of spells adventures and hearts&period; The characters were wonderfully written with such personalities that are comical&comma; romantic and highly entertaining&period; The only disappointment of this book is that you will find yourself never wanting it to end&period; I dare all fans of the film to pick up a copy of <em>Howl&&num;8217&semi;s Moving Castle<&sol;em> and experience the magic for themselves&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you would like to read a review about a certain manga&comma; comic&comma; or novel feel free to leave your suggestion in the comment section below or let us know on Twitter &commat;BagoGames&period; For my next <em>Bago Book Review<&sol;em>&comma; look forward to my opinions about Wizards of the Coasts&&num;8217&semi; Magic the Gathering comic book series&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;