A review by shandyt
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

4.0

4.5 stars; utterly enchanting. This was just the cozy, low-stakes, soft-magic fantasy I was craving. I saw the Ghibli movie once or twice, maybe fifteen years ago, so I was vaguely familiar with the plot and premise. One of the major differences, which I was both surprised and delighted by, was the fact that

Spoiler

'Howl,' aka Howell Jenkins, is actually just a slacker from real-world 1980's Wales. He makes his niblings magic video games! He sings Welsh folk songs and plays rugby! Normally, real-world reveals like that get on my nerves, but the fact that he's a loser back home is just... chef's kiss.

While I wasn't the biggest fan of Howl's character in the movie, this time around I was charmed by his dichotomous gentleman/drama queen antics. Sophie is as great a character as I remember her, and I enjoyed Michael and the other side characters as well. All in all, I think my only complaint is that while the first 3/4 of the book are paced rather slowly, the climax is a whirlwind of activity and ends abruptly. I could have done with an extra 20 pages or so to let things breathe. Nonetheless, I came out of the book feeling as relaxed and happy as I'd hoped. Book therapy!