Buy Book "Howl’s Traveling Castle" in Ukrainian

I came across this book by chance in a bookstore. A girl consultant sincerely recommended it to me. Although the book is placed on the shelf of children’s literature, an adult should read it as well.

I’ll start with the design – it’s bright and immediately striking, which is what bribed me personally. Holding it in your hands is a complete aesthetic pleasure.

As for the story, it is interesting and exciting, the struggle between good and evil, magic and enchantment, and my special favorite is the fire demon Calcifer.

I devoured the book in three days.

Humor, an interesting plot, and what impressed me was the detailed description of the landscapes. Reading the novel, I found myself in extraordinary gardens where I could even smell the flowers; in a small seaside town and even in good old England.

Only after reading the book, I watched the cartoon, and it became my disappointment, because the book is many times more interesting and colorful.

Definitely, this book should be in every library – this book is about the most valuable feelings – kindness and friendship. I laughed, empathized and even cried. And I lived this story together with the main characters.

I don’t know, maybe I had high expectations for this book. This edition, well, very beautifully designed, beautiful book, very successful design, stylish. I have long watched the anime “Howl’s Walking Castle” and as a fan of Japanese cartoons, of course I wanted to buy a book by Diana Wynne Jones. The beginning of the tale made me very happy and intrigued. The story is about the three sisters Letty, Martha and Sophie. I won’t dwell on the first two in details, and let’s speak about Sophie, Sophie is the older sister who after her father died had to help her stepmother Fanny in a hat store and she devoted herself completely to this boring business, sewed, decorated and increased the family capital, until one day she met Howl the Witch in the street, though she didn’t know about it, he just had a word with him and it made the Witch of the Badlands angry. The Witch was very jealous and has bewitched Sophie, turning her into an old woman! Sophie has no choice but to abandon the store and go in search of Howl’s castle. There, in the castle, she meets the Demon of Fire – Calcifer and he promises her if she breaks his connection to Howl he will help her break the spell of the Witch. As I said, the beginning of the story hooked me, read easily, but somewhere in the middle of the story, I lost interest, there were so many unnecessary characters that distracted from the relationship with Sophie and Howl, what a mess began, I do not know how this story can be for children, boring. Of the things I liked, this is a very interesting and well drawn Fire Demon and the controversial Sorcerer Howl, who unfolds throughout the tale. Read it or not, you decide for yourself, but this story differs from the anime

“Howl’s Traveling Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a truly wonderful book that can be enjoyed by both children and adults alike – everyone will find something of their own in it.

The story takes place in Ingaria, a magical land where wizards and witches live alongside ordinary people. And one of these ordinary people is our main character, a girl named Sophie. She believes that nothing special is going to happen to her in life, and she just lives the life that others have chosen for her, sewing hats and helping her family business.

However, it turns out that fate has something else in store for Sophie – the Wicked Witch of the Wasteland turns her into an old woman. And in the body of an old woman, Sophie sets off on an interesting journey, because what else can she do?

This is a kind, bright, beautiful story full of magic and all kinds of miracles that can make even an adult believe in a fairy tale. I read it without looking up. I am very pleased that such stories exist and are not forgotten. The publication by VSL is a real beauty! The book can be a great option for a gift. Actually, this is only the first part of a trilogy. It was also adapted into an animated movie, but the story is slightly different. I liked the book much more.

The very first and best part of the series.

“The Traveling Castle” fascinates with its characters and their characters.

The most interesting thing for me personally was to watch Sophie, the manifestations and changes in her character, the acquisition of new traits. I really liked the way Diana Wynne Jones played on the worldview of some people to be dissatisfied with everything and to “complain” about everything. Being herself, a young girl, in the first pages of the book, Sophie appears as a submissive and obedient daughter, she easily accepted the socially expected role of the older unhappy sister. But everything changes with the Witch of the Wasteland’s trick. The old Sophie is a completely different person, as if the curse has unleashed her hands and let out everything that was hidden somewhere deep inside. From now on, the girl is not ashamed to be bold, determined, inquisitive, and always sticks her long “old woman’s” nose into everything.

Another interesting aspect of Sophie’s character is her magical ability to enchant by speaking and sounding out something. Even after she realized her abilities, the girl still periodically voices her complaints about the hard life of old people, how her bones break, how everything hurts, and so on, which is how she continued to maintain her state of mind. For an additional effect, the author uses turns of phrase, such as: “as an old woman, she did not care that…”, “Sophie discovered another disadvantage of old age…”, etc.

The Traveling Castle is written in easy language, the book captures readers of all ages and takes them into its own separate universe. The characters of Diana Wynne Jones know how to make a good joke, sometimes with a touch of accurate sarcasm.

I fully recommend it for reading 🙂

“Howl’s Traveling Castle” is a wonderful book with a rather unusual and rather confusing plot, in which many curses and the fates of those who fell under these curses intersect. In the center of the tale is a strange traveling castle, under the roof of which the main characters with their stories and secrets have accidentally settled together, whose paths are closely intertwined by various and also non-random circumstances, so it is very interesting and not boring to follow the development of events and further relations between these characters. The book is certainly light, kind, and optimistic, but at the same time a bit philosophical. Sophie’s main “life credo” “do not seek happiness, because you will fail” can be turned around and turned the other way – no matter how much you run away from happiness, it will still catch up with you, albeit through failure. Who knows how Sophie’s life would have turned out if she hadn’t been so unlucky to fall under the spell of the evil Witch, which almost pushed Sophie into the unknown and an uncertain future, so it was the fate that decreed it, which is higher than the Witch of the Wasteland, since this Witch herself is also a chess piece in the game This book made a great impression on me both with its real fairy tale and with this very realization that nothing in life – good or bad – happens just like that, and that you never know where you will lose and where you will find; that everything, one way or another, works out as it should and even through a series of failures you can get to your happy ending… So, as for me, the main conclusion of this fairy tale is – just live and enjoy life, read such inspiring fairy tales and believe in miracles no matter what