A review by maya_b
Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

It took me a while to get through this, but mostly because I was really sad it wasn’t a direct sequel. I loved Sophie so much, and not having her made me really sad, and then there was some other stuff going on, and I didn’t really feel the need to continue reading as much as I did with the first book, even though I did very much enjoy this one, too. Well, mostly. 

Sadly, there’s a lot of misogyny and also fatphobia going on, and it was just often enough that you couldn’t really forget about it? And then the end
with the soldier just demanding one of the women to marry him, and Flower-in-the-night being upset that Abdullah didn’t impose his kisses on her
was pretty upsetting, especially since it was something good in the end. Like … I’m glad it was good, and I had so much fun with everything apart from the problems, but it didn’t feel right, that it was a good thing. Not after that scene before. I wish the scene would have been differently, then the good ending would have made me really happy, instead of thinking “but this feels like the wrong thing to do here, what is everyone doing?” 
But, well, while I did have these problems, I thought most stuff was really solid. Abdullah was actually fun to read about, and Midnight and Whippersnapper made everything so much better, because I just loved both of them, but especially midnight.
And then when midnight turned out to be Sophie I was bursting with joy, because I finally had her back, and she was in this book after all, and oh my God I just love Sophie so so so so much, and she’s here, and then we got her family and Howl and everyone, and SOPHIE IS IN THIS! (Yes, I love her a normal amount, don’t talk to me.)
 
Also, the last 70 pages or so of this book were hilarious. Yes, there were problems, but I also couldn’t stop laughing, and then everything only got more chaotic, and it was amazing! Loved it. 

I think without the problems it would probably be a 4.5, I think. It’s not quite as good as the first one, but it was good, and I did like the characters. It’s just not the same without Sophie as the main character, because I really would have loved to see more of her story, and I feel like it was just a little weaker in everything. For example the love story in the first one felt like it was actually developing, while in this one it was just love at first sight and then spoken into existence, and that feels really weak in comparison. Still good, just didn’t have me as invested, and with the problems I had with it it’s even a little lower than the best it could have been. (But I didn’t think it was bad by any means, just certain scenes were, and I will most definitely read and enjoy (or so I hope) the third book, too!) 
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