Howl's Moving Castle
Howl’s Moving Castle is a fantasy book that follows Sophie Hatter, a young woman who lives in a land where it’s “quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three”. Sophie, who happens to be the eldest of three children, is resultantly willing to quietly fade into the background, allowing her more talented sisters to shine. Of course, there is more to Sophie than meets the eye.
While Sophie is working in the hat shop in Market Chipping, a mysterious castle that moves on its own appears in the surrounding county – the castle of the dreadful Wizard Howl. Howl has a reputation for kidnapping young girls and stealing their hearts. Once they fall for him, he loses interest and the girls are left heartbroken. This has led the entire town to be in fear of him.
Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste, a powerful witch who had been jilted by Howl and is intent on revenge. Sophie finds Howl and moves into the castle as the cleaning lady, hoping to break the curse. While there, she meets a cast of colourful characters including Howl’s apprentice Michael, Calcifer, a fire demon who agrees to break Sophie’s curse if she breaks his contract with Howl, and the people who come to Howl for magical assistance through the castle’s door, which allows Howl and his friends to go to different locations in the various worlds.
One of the people seeking help from Howl is the King of Ingary, who is looking for the Wizard Suliman and his brother Prince Justin, who disappeared while searching for Suliman. The event that started the disappearances was a confrontation that the King had with the Witch of the Waste, who is still searching for Howl. Being in hiding and trying to pretend that he’s not actually a good guy, Howl is reluctant to help. Despite that, he continues to work behind the scenes. All of Sophie’s attempts to help both Howl and the other characters consistently makes things more complicated. Along the way, she discovers that she has magical powers of her own.
The characters are quite complex, each with their own flaws and conflicts. Sophie is brash, tending to rush into situations without really thinking things through, while Howl is vain and a little bit selfish. Calcifer is powerful but unable to do anything on his own because of his bond with Howl.
As the novel progresses, so do all the relationships. We get views into the relationships between Howl and Calcifer, Howl and Michael, Sophie and Calcifer, Sophie and Michael, Sophie and her sisters and of course, Sophie and Howl. In the end, those relationships are what allow our flawed but still lovable characters to triumph over their adversaries.
If you’re looking for a fun and engaging young adult book, something full of adventure, romance, humour and magic, Howl’s Moving Castle is highly recommended.
