Diana Wynne Jones: Howl's Moving Castle

Hey there folks!

I know, long time no post ^^° sorry? :P

So, Kim asked me to assist her and write a blog post. No more details, you know, just something with books... -.- You know, Kim, best instructions ever! :P

Buuhuuut, I found something, or better: some book I want to tell you something about. I don't believe it is going to be a long post, but I will give my best to present the book to you.

I am talking about one of my favourite book series by one of my favourite authors, but I am only going to write about the first book of the series. And here it is, tadaaaa:

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones!

First of all, the cover art is awesome! :D I love it, when the cover fits the book ;) Now I will write a little summary.

In the land of Ingary, in a small town there lives Sophie together with her sisters & her stepmother. As the hatter's daughter, she is to take care of her father's business after his death. Sophie leads a very boring life. While one of her sisters is send to a witch outside the town to be her apprentice, and the other one starts working, Sophie has to sit at home and make hats.

One day, the dreaded Witch of the Wasteland comes to the hat shop and since she is not satisfied with the hats Sophie presents her, she bewitches her and the young girl is turned into an old woman. Fearing the reactions of her family members she runs away and after some time she reaches a moving castle. Though uninvited, she enters it and meets Michael, the apprentice of the castle owner, the wizard Howl, and the fire demon Calcifer.

Sophie's own adventure begins and now she has to find a way to get back to normal, which is not that easy, especially since the wizard, the fire demon and the apprentice have their own problems...

It's an incredibly awesome book. It has everything it needs: It is funny, brilliant, creates a very good atmosphere, describes everything in a very beautiful way and the characters really show some development.

Howl for example can be considered as absolutely self-centered, narcistic and annoying, but especially in the end it is really nice to notice the little romantic moods he has sometimes. Believe me, it is heartwarming to 'be part' of his change. Sophie seems totally boring in the beginning, but finally finds herself and it must be some natural talent to deal with Howl and his horrific mood swings :D And Calcifer is so sweet, I would love to have an open hearth like him ;P

I can only recommend to read this book! Just do it!

(I still didn't come up with some good ending phrase … ^^“ I'm so sorry!!)

Instead of the still non-existent phrase I can only tell you:
Heroes are nothing but smoke and mirrors.

So long, Rachel Shelly, still hunting her inner demons