Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Howl's Moving Castle is both a book, and a well known Miyazaki film. I'm honestly not sure which one is more popular. I've absolutely loved this movie since the first time I saw it, and finally I got to read the book, when a friend gave it to me for my birthday this past year.





Normally people complain that the book is never as good as the movie, but in this case, the book and movie are equally good, in different ways.

The plot in the movie is slightly different than the plot in the book, but, both work extraordinarily well.

To summarize, Sophie Hatter runs afoul of a witch and ends up being cursed and turned into an old lady. Through an interesting turn of events, she finds herself in the castle of the Wizard Howl, who has a reputation of eating girls' hearts, as his new cleaning lady. She makes a deal with Calcifer, Howl's fire demon: break his contract with Howl and he'll help break her curse. But in order to do that, she has to learn a lot more about Howl's past.

Of course there's more to the story than that, but I don't want to give away too many spoilers. If you've seen the movie, you'll have the general idea, with some key differences.

**Minor spoiler ahead**
Love is a major theme of this book, speifically Howl's inability to love properly (which has to do with his contract with Calcifer). So, of course, at the end, sorry to spoil, Sophie and Howl end up together. However, I will say that the only major criticism I have for this book is the lack of development of this relationship. We spend a lot of time in Sophie's head, but, she spends most of her time complaining about Howl. It's hard to see the falling in love aspect of their relationship. That is one thing I like more about the movie: the relationship development between Howl and Sophie is much more noticeable.


Apart from the one criticism I just had, I really did enjoy this book. It was a well-crafted story, and it kept me interested, even though I knew the main plot development from seeing the movie.


If you love the movie you'll love the book, and if you love fantasy novels in general, you'll most likely like this book as well. I highly recommend it.