February 13, 2011

Castle Book 1

CASTLE:
Howl's Moving Castle
by Diana Wynne Jones

Heartless!


In the land of Ingary there exists a powerful and feared wizard named Howl who is well known for his wickedness. Howl devours girls, taking their hearts. He also spends hours at a time in the bathroom. Howl is a brilliant and talented wizard who is charming and charismatic, however he is also messy, vain and a terrible coward. But that is to be expected from one as heartless as Howl.

As the eldest of three daughters, Sophie is domed to a life of mundane boredom, and then the Witch of the Waste appears and curses her. Forced to leave her home Sophie soon finds herself on Howl's doorstep, however, changed as she is she feels quite safe that Howl would not be interested in her heart. But then again she could be wrong.

Howl's Moving Castle is a dreamy story of magic and wonder where friendships, secrets, demons and danger follow Sophie's every move.  In many ways it is a re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz with heartless Howl also searching for courage, a scarecrow looking for a brain and a lost Sophie looking for a place to call home. An intricate fairytale for all ages, but one you should pay close attention to if you are to lift the curses plaguing these colourful characters.
On sale: 13 May 2009
Price (AU): $14.99
ISBN: 9780007299263
Recommended age: 11+
In a word: Curses
Re-read it: yes
Recommend: yes
Star rating: five out of five
xx

1 comment:

  1. I love this series! It's definitely one of my favourites of all time. Have you seen the anime yet?

    ReplyDelete