Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

I was pleased to see Diana Wynne Jones' name pop up on the list, because I haven't read anywhere near enough of this wonderful writer. I read at least one of the Dalemark series when I was a kid (Cart and Cwidder, spent ages trying to work out exactly what a cwidder was too), and then I read The Dark Lord of Derkholm and Year of the Griffin, followed by the work that inspired them; The Tough Guide to Fantasyland.

I'd seen the film of Howl's Moving Castle, but not read the book. I don't remember the film particularly well, mostly Billy Crystal's performance as the fire demon; Calcifer, although I do remember liking it. I had been told the book was very different.

What Diana Wynne Jones has done in Howl's Moving Castle is take many of the elements from a classic fairytale (rather idealised medieval setting, an evil witch, a good wizard, a plucky heroine, a magical assistant and various magical items including seven league boots and a moving castle), mixed them up and added in some elements of her own, then bound them all in to a totally delightful and thoroughly enjoyable confection of a story.

One of Jones' strengths is her heroines; and Sophie Hatter is a great one. She's a practical and intelligent young woman who strangely enough seems more at home in the appearance of a crotchety old lady than she ever was as the young woman who ran her late father's hat shop, in the process raising her younger sisters and ensuring that her stepmother had a decent life. She goes from doing that to finding herself in the company of the fearsome wizard Howl, who despite his power and reputation is really rather like a teenage boy that never properly grew up. In the course of the book Sophie will have to sort out Howl's love life and that of his young apprentice Michael, lift curses from Calcifer, a dog who is an enchanted man, and herself, all while trying to defeat the Witch of the Waste and restore order to the fairytale kingdoms in which Howl lives and operates in.

The idea of making the castle itself a sort of inter dimensional portal which enables Howl to easily move between kingdoms on Sophie's world, that are really many miles apart and in between that world and our own. Howl is actually a young Welshman, and while this was never covered in the film I really wish it had been, because it was one of the most enchanting parts of the book.

Howl's Moving Castle, like all good fairytales, has a happy ending, but there were a couple of sequels written. I don't believe they're necessary to read, but Jones was a wonderful writer and any of her work is hugely readable by all ages. Classic fairytales, if you hadn't already read them are in a very similar vein, and part of the fun of reading Howl's Moving Castle is trying to work out where Diana Wynne Jones got many of the elements in the book from. The aforementioned Tough Guide to Fantasyland, The Dark Lord of Derkholm and Year of the Griffin also deal with the concept of people from this world going to a magical world. Frank L. Baum's classic Oz series has the same idea at it's heart, too. Some of Enid Blyton's work (The Faraway Tree and Wishing Chair series) also does this, although for much younger readers.

Red Hood's Revenge

Red Hood’s Revenge is the 3rd of Jim C. Hines Princess books. As the title implies this time the fairytale that Hines has elected to explore is that of Little Red Riding Hood. In the style of the series the author has altered the character from the story. Her name is Roudette and she goes by the professional name of Red Hood, so called because of the magical cape she wears. She’s no innocent child either, Roudette is a cold blooded assassin. The only one of her marks who ever got away was the Princess Talia Malak el-Dahshat (better known as Sleeping Beauty),and she is now one of Princess Danielle Whiteshore (Cinderella) of Lorindar’s best friends.

After Danielle, Talia and Snow (White) manage to bust Rumpelstiltlskin, break up his kidnapping racket, free the kids and send the nasty little creature, under heavy guard, to Fairytown to face trial for his actions, they receive a message from Roudette. She’s intercepted the prisoner, killed him, his human accomplice and his guard and sent a message to Danielle with her one remaining step sister’s Charlotte’s toes. The assassin knows that Danielle’s nature won’t allow her to harm anyone, even someone who was as nasty to her as Charlotte, and offers to deal with her alone for the return of the step sister. Naturally Talia and Snow aren’t about to let that happen, so go along with her. Roudette is taken into custody, but activates the spell she’s placed on Charlotte before she can be charged with anything, and the girls end up being transported with her to the eastern kingdom of Arathea.

Arathea is Talia’s home. She was meant to be it’s ruler, but then the spell that was placed on her plunged the kingdom into a long civil war. Rather than be used as a pawn by the new rulers, who had allied with the fairies that cursed Talia in the first place, and then ‘rescued’ Talia and forced her into a union with their prince, using her sons as insurance, Talia killed her husband and took off. She’s still wanted for that murder in Arathea.

Readers find out Roudette’s story, what made her into a killer and about the revenge she hungers for, she does a 180 from villain to hero. There is also the struggle for the kingdom of Arathea, and how the girls are determined to put things right. Someone from Talia’s past alters the relationship between she and Snow. This is likely to carry over into Book 4 (The Snow Queen’s Shadow).

I liked Jim Hines’ take on the Red Riding Hood legend, he gave it some more depth, she also carried a very interesting weapon. Talia has her zaraq whip and Roudette favoured a hammer. I love Arabian Nights flavoured tales and I’ve always hoped that Hines would use the girls to visit one of them, given Talia’s eastern origins. Arathea was right out of 1001 Nights with it’s deevs and peris and desert dwelling nomads. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get at least one djinn or flying carpet.

It’s a fitting addition to what is a fun series and I have to confess a bit of a guilty pleasure. The only misgiving I have with the books is the overwhelming female bias. I know that the author is male and the books are all about girl power, but I think at times it’s a little heavy handed and has been taken to extremes. All the major villains and heroes are female, most of the societys are matriarchal, while Lorindar is ruled by Theodore, and his reign will go to his son; Armand, everyone is aware that Queen Beatrice is the power behind Theodore’s throne, and I’ve rarely seen a prospective ruler as hen pecked as Armand. As a male reader I occasionally get the feeling that nearly all the male characters (good or bad) are either inconvenient or incompetent, quite often both. The only exception I can think of is the fairy ambassador; Trittibar, and he plays a fairly minor role. It doesn’t spoil my enjoyment of the books overall, but it does occasionally make me pause. You can write about strong female characters without having to marginalise or belittle the male ones.