House of Many Ways (2008)

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I finished this so much sooner than I wanted to! Diana Wynne Jones' tone is lovely, funny and matter of fact and magical all at once. Charmain is a decent sort of main character -- not too goody-goody, not too narcissistic, not too capable and not too stupid. And I identified with her always having her nose in a book! I approve very much.

Diana Wynne Jones' books often seem to me just the slightest bit rushed, in some parts. Either I'm used to her style, or this is simply better on the pacing front.

It's fun to have Calcifer and Howl and Sophie around, and good to see all the other recurring characters, too. I liked this better than Castle in the Air, though I'm not sure why, just a gut feeling. It wasn't too complicated, either: straight-forward, easy to read fun. Which is exactly what I wanted/needed. ( )

Cute. It was nice, but Howl's Moving Castle was definitely better. I'd recommend both, but do yourself a favor and read House of Many Ways as soon as you can upon finishing [b:Howl's Moving Castle|6294|Howl's Moving Castle|Diana Wynne Jones|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165560187s/6294.jpg|2001]. I have a feeling it would have been better that way, instead of having to wait 3 months for the House of Many Ways to get to my library. ( )

You can see this review and more like it on my blog - Written Permission

House of Many Ways was my favorite of the "trilogy". It was immensely engaging, and I find myself wanting to findd more of Diana Wynne Jones to read. It also saddens me that there will be nothing new from this author, ever. I feel like her writing just kept getting better and better.

Like her previous works, House of Many Ways is chock full of flawed characters. You don't always want to like them, but sometimes you find you can't help it. It is wonderful. This is what I strive for my characters to be like when I write. The ones you just can't help but love. I felt drawn to Charmain, who just wants to curl up with a good book, and doesn't care to learn how to do housework. And the dog, it was just too adorable.

One note of criticism was that I felt like Charmain didn't really get the same attention and growth as some of the characters in the previous novels. In the grand scheme of the plot, she was rather insubstantial, and could almost be pulled out entirely without affecting anything. Not a good thing for the main character.

Once again, the small book is fairly densely plotted. Either I am dense too or the complaints I have seen are the minority. I didn't find the plot to be all that predictable. I was on high alert after Castle In The Air, but then I felt like Diana Wynne Jones pulled out all new tricks. It was a delightful surprise.

Bottom Line: Continues in the vein of the other Howl books with delightful writing and characters you can't help but love. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book. The writing was excellent, and it was certainly almost a sequel to [b:Howl's Moving Castle|6294|Howl's Moving Castle|Diana Wynne Jones|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165560187s/6294.jpg|2001], although calling it the sequel is perhaps unfair to Castle in the Sky.

Vague spoilers follow:

It did rather fail as a traditional novel for two reasons. First, there was nothing much holding it together thematically. Charmain's character development was interesting and coherent, but it had no real bearing on the endgame of the plot, beyond the fact that it allowed her to be in the right places at the right time. And all the other plot things that were going on were interesting in their own right, but their relationships to one another were questionable. Really, the story had all the randomness of real life, but this made it less of a story.

Secondly and relatedly, the plot was undermined by the fact that one of the characters was, of course, Howl, and the bad guys could not possibly be any match for him. Once certain facts were established and certain events unfolded, he simply saved the day. This is totally realistic, but again, makes the story feel less important. Califer's part in saving everyone did add some tension, but not enough. Ultimately the plot and tension would have been enough for, say, an episode of a television series, where an interesting premise need not be accompanied by really high stakes, but it didn't feel like a fully-formed standalone novel.

However, I still entirely enjoyed reading it. Sure, tightly-constructed, high-stakes novels are ultimately preferable, but if DWJ wants to publish fun little stories like this one involving everyone's favorite foppish wizard, I'm not complaining. ( )