Castle in the Air

They're quite careful to reassure you that this is a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle on the cover and in the blurb, probably because you spend a good half to three quarters of the book wondering what the connection is. Then by the end, of course, you realise that it's been connected from the start, in the classic manner of fairy tales and Arabian Nights as executed by Diana Wynne Jones, and it all makes sense.

So Abdullah, who deals carpets, buys a flying carpet which transports him, when he sleeps, to a garden containing a beautiful young woman. They fall and love and vow to elope, but the young woman is carried off by a ferocious djinn and Abdullah gets the blame. With only the carpet and a very cranky and unhelpful genie, he must find show more her and rescue her, but only if he can work out what the heck is going on.

This is funny and clever and light and a pure joy from start to finish. I loved the ending, which included thirty angry princesses charging a djinn, and a series of unlikely and improbably revelations one after the other, each seemingly dafter and more contrived than the last, but such is Jones' skill and flair, they all make absolute sense and work perfectly within the logic of the story. This is the kind of fun, bravura storytelling Jones specialised in, and which we all miss. well done, o sublime and sceptred storyteller, may angels spread emeralds on your heavenly typewriter! show less

Set in the same world as Howl's Moving Castle, this book focuses on Abdullah, a carpet merchant who ends up pursuing the love of his life and engaging with a Big Bad, before eventually (at the very end) meeting up with our cast from the preceding book.

Diana Wynne Jones retains the fairytale feeling of the first book but moves it to the Arabian desert, to tell a new tightly plotted story of princesses needing rescuing. This book made me giggle repeatedly, even when it was vaguely non-PC, with the same wry observations and genre subverting that I liked in the prior book. The whole setup -- even the cover! -- is a massive setup to a terrible joke, which is so bold that I can only shake my head with disbelief. This was absolutely the right show more book at the right time for me. show less

An excellent sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, engaging and great fun. Part of why it's such a great sequel is that it's really weird, as sequels go--none of the places or people from the first volume appear until way late in the narrative, and this novel is completely allowed to take on a life of its own. Very much like Howl, though, Castle in the Air plays deep with things not being as they seem. Lots of fun reveals during the final chunk of the book.

Two things bothered me a bit. 1) The novel's awfully cheerful about various customs by which women are 'given in marriage' by male relatives. It's okay because they all end up wanting it! (The arranged, political, etc. marriages are pretty plot-central, though they could have been treated show more differently without making anything fall apart.) 2) The two fat female characters--if you can even call them characters--are obviously, comically undesirable because they're fat; the pretty women are all graceful wisps of ladies. There are lots of reasons that bothers me, including the fact that non-wisp girls reading the book really don't need even more reminders that they're supposed to hate their bodies. (This part's a tiny piece of the plot and could easily have been left out or changed.) show less

the SCREAM i SCREAMT

I can't LMAOOO I am really surprised I haven't read this before I think I was put off it bc it isn't actually howl & sophie originally but HELP I SHOULD HAVE!!! I went through like. 80 different emotions in the last 1/3. because that's what dwj does bro when the Moment hits and suddenly everything is unraveling into pure insanity and unaccountable chaos--that's what I read her for. it does take a bit to build up every book but WHEN IT STARTS IT SIMPLY DOES NOT STOP!
getting hit with hey so Sophie was turned into a black cat by Howl and also gave birth to a kid as a cat????? and then Suliman turning her back and then they go up to the fricken literal castle in the air?? the princesses were great and then it was like oh show more btw!! Howl's the FRREAKING DJINN AND THE SOLDIER IS PRINCE JUSTIN (bro cannot escape being enspelled huh lol) meanwhile it was sheer chaos because of Sophie because She Does That! AND CALCIFER WAS THE MAGIC CARPET ALL ALONG....... HELP!!!! i also liked Hasruel tbh lmao

I LOVE SOPHIE AND EVERYONE ASSOCIATED WITH HER !!
"He's the best wizard in Ingary or elsewhere . . . And he's sly and selfish and vain as a peacock and cowardly and you can't pin him down to anything" and then "what do you mean VICES" got me DYINGGG

I did only rate this 3* bc I am NAWT a fan of the way Abdullah (DWJ) talks about a number of things not the least being fat shaming that was crazy and completely uncalled for. and like that's something that can be pinned on the author bc of the narrative which is huge yikes (and also is seen in other works of hers). and, unfortunately, one of the things about reading this as part of the hmc trilogy is that Abdullah gets shunted out of his own story in a way because, i mean, he simply is not a wizard and Howl and Sophie are impossible personalities and where magic comes in, it's ofc them. it's also in a sense the whole instalove thing between Abdullah and Flower - y'all Do Not know each other enough hope this helps! Abdullah is. most definitely not on my list of favorite dwj protagonists.
(i also do not know what to think about the Princess Beatrice bit)

but yes like all dwj books that was truly off the rails bonkers show less

This is the "sequel" to Howl's Moving Castle, though the characters from the first book don't appear until pretty close to the end (there is a third book that's apparently a sequel in the more traditional sense).

I'd heard from a lot of people that Castle in the Air wasn't as good as Howl's Moving Castle, but I actually enjoyed it more. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this book renewed my faith in Diana Wynne Jones. She was one of my favourite authors as a child, but recent attempts to read her books had left me a bit disappointed. Conrad's Fate, The Game, and even the popular Howl's Moving Castle left me feeling that something was somehow missing, and even a reread of my old favourite The Lives of Christopher Chant couldn't show more recapture the magic. I'm not sure what changed here--possibly just the fact that I read it in pieces on the subway rather than going straight through--but I came away very satisfied.

Castle in the Air is reminiscent of Aladdin, which is a good thing in my eyes. Abdullah starts out as a carpet merchant in a crowded bazaar and goes through plenty of adventures with a wish-granting genie in a bottle and a magic carpet, all in pursuit of the Sultan's daughter. There are bandits in the desert and evil djinns and all that good Arabian Nights stuff. The best part, though, is that the author doesn't take these themes (or herself) too seriously; she sometimes plays up the familiar concepts to the point of the ridiculous, and I found myself laughing on more than one occasion. If you like the Arabian Nights or DWJ's other work, I would definitely recommend this one. show less

Several days to the south of the fairy-tale land of Ingary, as the carpet flies, lies the fabled land of Zanzib, where Abdullah the carpet seller ekes out a living at the edge of the bazaar, and dreams of being a long-lost prince. One day, he buys a rather thread-bare magic carpet, and then his daydreams start coming true! Between the quirky carpet, an unreliable genie in a bottle, a djinn, who might or might not be wicked, not to mention a magical cloud castle in the air, Abdullah has to rescue his beautiful princess and save the world.

I was initially surprised to find that this sequel to Howl's Moving Castle didn't start where that book ended - but don't worry; all the beloved characters do feature in this book. As with the first show more book, the twists at the end caught me by surprise, and turned a good ending into an even happier ending. As ever, the story is well written, engaging and amusing, and clips along at a good pace. I'm glad I succumbed to all the LT recommendations! show less

Something I'm learning about Diana Wynne Jones novels: she doesn't always know how to end them, or at least, that's how it feels. When I read Howl's Moving Castle several years ago, I thought Jones devised a brilliant scenario, fun characters and a vivid world. It was engaging and funny and easy to read. However, the longer the book went on, the more it seemed to rush toward its ending. Something about the pacing felt off - as if Jones wasn't quite sure when or how to end it. Now I feel the same way about the "companion novel" to Howl, Castle in the Air.

The setup is great. I love the idea of a magic carpet that reacts to commands you don't know you're giving, taking the protagonist to meet the girl of his dreams without his knowing why. show more I really enjoyed the flavor of Abdullah's life, family situation and work environment. I even liked the parts of his quest. As the book traipsed toward its conclusion, though, it felt like it was wrapping up a little too easily, and the introduction of characters from Howl's Moving Castle felt incidental and almost unnecessary.

That's not to say that Castle in the Air wasn't a fun book - it was, tremendously. It just felt, ultimately, a little unsatisfying. I'm interested to read the final book set in this world (I hesitate to refer to it as a "series"), and I'm curious if it will continue the pattern established by the previous two. With luck, that one will have a conclusion that feels just a bit more natural. show less