A fun read. Howl's Moving Castle is about a cowardly wizard, his frazzled apprentice, and a girl trapped in an old woman's body. If that doesn't grab your attention, nothing will. ( )

Wizard Howl's Castle has arrived at Market Chipping, skulking around the hills outside the town, and scaring the young girls into walking in pairs. After all, he eats the hearts of young girls.

Meanwhile Sophie, the eldest daughter of three and so destined to be a failure or lead a boring life, finds that things have got a little more complicated than she imagined, as the Witch of the Waste turns her attention onto her. Needing help, Sophie ends up in the moving castle, seeking the dreaded Howl.

This was a really fun fantasy story with layers of hilarity and humour throughout, as well as the well-realised fantasy world I have come to expect from this writer. Throw a disgruntled and moody fire demon, a nervy apprentice who is learning magic, some seven-league boots and a one-legged scarecrow into the pot and you get a fast paced and surreally funny story.

Sometimes it felt that there were perhaps too many elements within this, but then I'd get swept along into the next twists and turns of Howl's love life, or Sophie's battles to get the Castle and its inhabitants under some form of control and forget that I was slightly bewildered by what was going on.

In the end, it's discovered that no one should be taken at face value, and perhaps things aren't always as they seem, including the evil Howl himself. And if that message can be achieved with some fun and adventure along the way, who's going to complain?

A whirlwind of colour and fun in this fantasy adventure. ( )

Hold on to your magic hat, your wand, your broomstick and your potions and take a wild ride in the spinning, floating, swiftly moving castle with a magician who sometimes has different monikers, but always is a clever young man.

Along the way you will meet a young woman named Sophie Hatter who, like the magician and the castle, is changeable and once was young but now is old; you will laugh at the antics of apprentice Michael as he struggles to make sense in a swiftly turning world, and you will learn to like the "evil" Calcifer who is a fire demon.

While fantasy writing is usually not my pot of brew, I enjoyed this book. There are three sisters, one step mother, a scarecrow, a King, a Princess, a magician and his apprentice, some spells, a wicked witch of the waste and many adventures along the journey.

This is a clever book!

This story features Sophie Hatter a young girl who is turned into an old lady and moves into a moving castle that is somewhat less impressive on the inside than on the exterior. Aspects of the book were absolutely delightful -- I especially enjoyed the way it plays with fairy tale expectations. But somehow I found some of the wandering left me a little confused. ( )

I’ve fallen for Howl’s Moving Castle. Sophie Hatter is turned into an old woman by the Wicked Witch of the Waste, and goes to work as the cleaning lady for Wizard Howl (who lives in a moving castle, as one gathers from the title) in the hope that she’ll find a way to remove the spell.
If you had asked me when I first read it, I would have said I loved it but it wasn’t at the level of Dark Lord of Derkholm or Fire and Hemlock brilliance. Now I’m not so sure. It’s quirky, original and clever – and upon rereading it, I notice it is more complex and subtle than I first realised.
Some of its complexities are obvious - there's a moving castle whose doors open onto very different places. It also plays around with fairytale conventions about curses, people transformed under spells and general confusion concerning identities. Sophie is a young heroine who has been turned into a crotchety old woman, and while Howl is definitely handsome, he’s also vain, fickle and prone to tantrums. Other complexities stem from the story being from Sophie’s perspective… I was lulled into taking her interpretations of events at face value, and there’s a bit more going on than she realises.

I just love it. The moving castle. Calcifer (Howl’s fire demon). Michael (Howl’s teenage apprentice). The curse! But mostly I love Sophie, who finds being an old woman both limiting and liberating, and Howl, who is simultaneous more and less heartless than one is led to believe… ( )