Review: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

  Title: Howl’s Moving Castle [Amazon|GoodReads]
  Author: Diana Wynne Jones [Website|Facebook]
  Standing: First in the Castle trilogy, can be read as a stand alone.
  Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
  Published: April 22nd, 2008 by Eos (first published April 14th, 1986).
  Format: Paperback; 429 pages.
  Source: Borrowed from my local library.

Sophie Hatter is certain she is doomed to a boring life.  As the eldest child, she is bound to fail while her younger sisters go on to happiness.  This inevitability seems to come to fruition when their father dies.  Lettie, her middle sister is sent to apprentice at the town’s bakery where she is likely to catch a fine husband, and Martha, the youngest, is sent to Mrs. Fairfax to apprentice the witch and learn her spells and power.  Sophie, fatefully enough, is stuck managing the family hat shop with her step-mother.  Resigned to her woeful inheritance, Sophie breaths life into her work, creating hats of beauty that bring in business from all corners.  Intrigued in her skills, The Witch of the Waste pays a visit to the shop, where she ends up cursing Sophie with old age, while ensuring that she won’t be able to tell a soul.  Sophie determines that there’s little point in staying around, and decides to strike out and seek her fortune.  As her fortune would have it, she ends up at Howl’s door.

This book.  I loved this book.  It was so much fun, full of fantasy and wonder, I honestly don’t have a bad word to say about it.  This is the kind of book that makes me cry over not having read it as a child, and I want to push it into the hands of anyone and everyone I know who loves middle grade and fantasy, no matter their age.  Diana Wynne Jones’s writing is so very whimsical and smart.  I love middle grade authors that are so utterly intelligent.  I feel like too many times the age group gets written down to, but not in this case.  In fact, the characters in Howl’s Moving Castle aren’t even middle grade themselves!  Sophie is eighteen (or about 90, respectively), Howl is in his 20s; in my mind Howl’s Moving Castle brilliantly includes characters of all ages, managing to write them faithfully to their differences and similarities. 

Sophie is timid, and lacks confidence as a young woman, but almost instantly upon becoming 90, she sheds the uncertainties and delicacies of youth.  She doesn’t have to be self-conscious of the things a teenager does, and so Sophie allows herself to be the hardened, nosey, insistent woman she really is.  I love it.  I love that Sophie is constantly doing things she knows will upset Howl, but she never lies about them when he confronts her, she just owns up.  Howl, of course, is a wonderful character.  What he appears to be on the surface, and what he really is underneath don’t quite line up, but yet he manages to be completely himself at all times.  They’re both rather saucy really.

The other characters in the castle, Michael and Calcifer, are equally wonderful.  Michael is the 15 year old apprentice boy, and Calcifer is the fire-demon who helps to power Howl’s moving castle.  Calcifer entreats Sophie to stay (and she very much wants to, because honestly, where else would she go?) and break the contract locking him and Howl together.  Michael, obviously annoyed with Sophie initially, quickly softens and begins to take to her.  So many of the characters in this book seem to have such large hearts, despite their appearances (and possibly their intentions). 

The story of Howl’s Moving Castle is full of magic, whimsy, and spectacle.  I loved that while the story stayed strictly tacked on to Sophie, it was very clear that everyone else was having marvelous adventures as well.  I find it enchanting that we get to know this, to glimpse these other stories, without really being privy to the details.  Also, I found Howl’s Moving Castle to be pleasantly unpredictable.  I was never sure quite which way the story was going, and I loved that Sophie and the others seemed to figure things out before I did.  I hate always being the first to know!  I really couldn’t recommend Howl’s Moving Castle more, and I’m certain I’ll be reading it again in years to come.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  Even though Howl’s Moving Castle can be read as a standalone, I already can’t wait to read more stories from Ingary.  I’ll be picking up Castle in the Air next time I pillage the tween stacks.

Recommended for: Anyone who loves MG, fantasy readers, people who enjoy whimsy and hats.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  While I absolutely adore the movie Spirited Away, and really liked both Ponyo and Princess Mononoke, I’ve never actually watched Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle.  Consider that remedied as soon as I finished this book!  I also haven’t seen Castle in the Sky, which apparently has nothing to do with Castle in the Air despite the similarities…will have to check it out as well.

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Review: The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

Title: The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Christopher Healy [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Illustrator: Tod Harris
Standing: First in a series, but can be read as a stand alone.
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Published: May 1st, 2012 by Walden Pond Press
Format: Kindle edition; 419 pages
Source: ARC from publisher via Edelweiss.
Challenge: YA/MG Fantasy Challenge

Prince Charming is afraid of old ladies. Didn’t know that, did you? Don’t worry. There’s a lot you don’t know about Prince Charming: Prince Charming has no idea how to use a sword; Prince Charming has no patience for dwarfs; Prince Charming has an irrational hatred of capes. Some of you may not even realize that there’s more than one Prince Charming. And that none of them are actually named Charming. No one is. Charming isn’t a name; it’s an adjective.

For anyone who’s ever thought:

• Why is ‘Prince Charming’ such an ambiguous title?
• Does it really have to be ‘true love’s kiss’, or would any old kiss do?
• Why’s it always the damsels in distress?
• Why aren’t there enough fairy tales staring the men?
• Beavers have the potential to be truly terrifying.  Okay, maybe this last one is just me, but ever since I learned that there were six foot beavers back in the day, I’ve been much more leery of the animal in general.

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy is the book for you! 

Welcome to the League of Princes!  Princes Charming that is.  Not to be confused with Prince Charmings.  Prince is the noun, after all, it’s what gets pluralized.  Like Attorneys General or Culs-de-sac.  Actually, the later is French and I sucked at French for the one semester I took it, so I can’t tell you if ‘cul’ is a noun, but I can tell you that the plural of cul-de-sac is culs-de-sac and not cul-de-sacs as is often said.  *Sigh.*  *Removes Grammar Nazi hat.*

Ahem.  Anyway.  The Princes Charming, as you know them, are better known in their own circles as Frederic (that’s Cinderella’s prince), Gustav (that’s Rapunzel’s prince), Liam (that’s Sleeping Beauty’s prince), and Duncan (that’s Snow White’s prince).  Unfortunately for them, the bards didn’t give two licks about their fame, and composed the songs all about the ladies, completely leaving out any identifying markers and causing the ambiguous ‘Prince Charming’ title.  They’re all a bit put out about it (and rightly so), but they each have some bigger issues to contend with.  Frederic is afraid of, well, everything, Gustav is always one to fight first and ask questions later (or never), Liam’s head is getting a bit big what with all the hero work and praise, and Duncan is, for lack of a better term, weird.

Ella (that’s Cinderella’s real name) wants adventure, Rapunzel wants to help people, Briar Rose wants to marry her Prince Charming (but she is absolutely horrid and needs to learn that you can’t always get what you want even as a princess), and Snow White just wants some ‘me’ time.  Thus, feeling alone, cast out, or on the run, the Princes Charming come together to save the day and put names to their fame.  Of course, this means battling the evil witch Zaubera, destroying her Supreme Scheme for Infamy, and putting a stop to her Grand Finale of Doom.

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is about as much fun as anyone can or should have reading a book.  The villains are dastardly, the heroes are flawed, and quite frankly any author who pushes foreshadowing on over into the spoiler territory gets a win in my book.  It’s not quite like Shakespeare flat out telling you how Romeo and Juliet is going to end, but it does paint an interesting picture when you’re starting out. 

All of the characters in The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom are wonderful.  I loved them all.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  Okay, I hated Briar Rose, but I loved Zaubera (I mean come on people, she has a thesaurus spell so that she can insult people more creatively), The Bandit King, and Reese.  I love that Healy points out (repeatedly) how silly the notion is that you could love someone you’ve never even met, that his damsels are not in distress, and that his hero’s heroics are questionable.  Ella, Rapunzel (I’m hoping to see more of her in the next book!), and Lila (Liam’s little sister) are all strong young women who aren’t afraid to save themselves.  The princes, with the exception of Liam, are all victims of circumstance more than anything else.  Liam, the one true ‘hero’ among them, isn’t perfect either, he has a lot to learn about utilizing others’ assets and diplomacy.

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom can teach anyone a lot about fairy tales, and a lot about life.  It’s fun, adventurous, and informative!  I highly recommend it to middle grade and fairy tale lovers of any age.  I also have to say that the art is wonderful, but unfortunately, the e-galley copy that I had only had art for the first few chapters, so I can’t say much about it other than that I liked what I saw!  I loved the cartoony look, and the reality that the princes were not all handsome, and the princesses were not all perfect.  I do plan on purchasing a hard copy so that I can reread and view to my heart’s delight!

Likelihood that I'll be back for more: I cannot wait for the sequel to this one!  Healy mentioned it in a video interview for Fairy Tale Fortnight on The Book Rat and I am all over that!  Also the entire time I was reading this I kept thinking ‘this book needs a movie deal…omg somebody please make this into an awesome animated feature!’ and I totally called it!  Fingers crossed, I so hope they do a good job with this one, it has the potential to be amazing (I’m thinking like How to Train Your Dragon awesome here).

Recommended for: I want to start shoving this book into so many kids’ hands, and kind of want to have a baby and instantly age them to an appropriate age that I can read this to them.  That’s a justifiable reason to have kids, right?  Any fairy tale fans will love this one, particularly if you also enjoy middle grade and some light, adventurous fun!

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  I just have to say that Walden Pond Press is quickly becoming one of my favorite imprints.  After reading this, Neversink, and Breadcrumbs, I am beginning to wonder if they can put out a book I don’t love.

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Salute Your Shorts: The Ties That Bind by Rachel Hawkins

Salute Your Shorts is a weekly (ish) meme hosted here at Bunbury in the Stacks highlighting and reviewing short stories and novellas. Everyone is welcome to join at any point, just grab the pic above and shoot me a link in the comments so that I can include your post in a roundup.

Title: The Ties That Bind
Author: Rachel Hawkins [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Stand alone short set in the Hex Hall universe.
Genre: Historical, Paranormal
Published: October 28th, 2010
Format: Blog post = free and easy!
Source: These Dark Things

So...as YA readers, I'm guessing that you've probably heard of a couple of authors named Myra McEntire and Victoria Schwab that debuted in 2011 with a couple of books called Hourglass and The Near Witch.  But did you know that these two lovely ladies hosted a short story blog together?  It's called These Dark Things and was used by Myra and Victoria to challenge one another to write short stories adhering to a monthly theme.  Now, the blog's been hearing crickets since late 2010 when these ladies got busy gearing up for their debuts, but that just means it's easy to read through all of their stories!  Today, in honor of Spell Bound, the third and final Hex Hall book by Rachel Hawkins releasing, I'd like to highlight her guest post story on this blog.

The Ties That Bind is historical fiction, where Rachel Hawkins put her own twist on the Bloody Bender Family that ran The Devil's Inn from 1871-1873.  Basically, this was a family from Germany who just showed up in Kansas and started killing people, complete with creepy symbols and spiritualism.  By the time people figured out what was going on and went after them, the Benders were gone, and were never caught or seen again.  You can read the history behind this story here, and Rachel talks about it on her own blog here.

The Ties That Bind takes place in a world with the same rules as the Hex Hall universe, so it's a great place to start if you're debating whether or not that series is for you!  Of course, I feel it's my duty to point out that Hex Hall is funny and there is kissing, despite the fact that there is none of either in this short.  The Ties That Bind is totally creepy, and wonderful because it's based on a true story!  It's probably the longest 'short' on These Dark Things, but it's only about 2,000 words, which is shorter than some book reviews.  Check it out!