Category: Fantasy

Howl’s Moving Castle

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Pub. Date: Apr. 1986 (read Jun. 2022)

Since I’ve never written a review for this one before, let’s start by saying I’ve probably read Howl’s Moving Castle a dozen times since childhood and it remains one of my all-time favourite books. No matter how many times I’ve read it, it still surprises me every time with its intricate plot and the whimsical characters always bring a smile to my face.

What I think makes this so special is that it’s both a beloved book and movie, each with its own fan base. From what I’ve read, the movie is more popular than the book (some people don’t even know it’s based on a book), but that they should be viewed as two separate pieces of art because they are quite different. I wouldn’t know because I haven’t actually seen the movie. I’m tempted, but Howl and Sophie have lived so completely in my imagination since I was a child that I decided never to watch it to forever preserve the way I envisioned this world it as a child. I’ve read a ton of Diana Wynne Jones, but Howl’s Moving Castle will always be my favourite (though I do hold a soft spot for The Lives of Christopher Chant).

So what to say about Howl. Howl’s Moving Castle is a middle grade fantasy set in the land of Ingary, where there are floating castles, vain wizards, fire demons, vengeful witches, and seven-league boots. Sophie Hatter is the eldest of 3 sisters and as such, destined to fail miserably should she ever set out to seek her fortune. However, when a nasty run-in with the Witch of the Waste lands her under a curse that turns her into an old woman, she decides it’s time to set out anyways, fortune or not. She finds herself in Howl’s castle, an evil wizard who entraps young girls and eats their hearts, and rashly enters a bargain with a fire demon to try and break her curse.

As it turns out, wizard Howl is neither evil nor a heart-eater, and we slowly get to know this vain and brash wizard as Sophie settles in at the castle with Howl, his assistant Michael, and his fire demon, Calcifer. From there, the book is filled with hijinks and adventure as Sophie sets out to change the lives of everyone around her.

So let me elaborate on all the reasons why I love this book. First of all, it’s fun. Diana Wynne Jones has written some darker novels to be sure, but humour always features in her books and she is in fine form in Howl’s Moving Castle. All of her characters are spunky and find themselves in serious, yet ridiculous situations. All of the characters are over the top, but you can’t help but laugh out loud and Jones never takes herself too seriously. Howl is brash and Sophie is brazen, but they have such chemistry! 

Which brings me to my second point – it has heart. Each character in this book is expertly crafted and they all have so much characterization! Sophie is a young mousy girl, but when she is transformed into a 90 year old woman, she realizes nothing matters anymore and throws all caution to the wind. Instead of being upset about her severely shortened lifespan, she just embraces being an old lady and lives life more than she ever did as a young woman. In contrast, Howl is an avoider, but Sophie’s new found outlook holds him to account like no one has ever been able to do before. On the surface, these are two characters that don’t like each other, but if you delve just a little bit deeper, you’ll find two extremely kind hearted people in orbit of one another.

But in addition to Sophie and Howl, there’s a vibrant cast of secondary characters that will warm your heart just as much! I adore an author that can create side characters that are just as well developed, and Jones is a master. We fall in love with both Michael and Calcifer, but even Lettie, Martha, and Fanny have their own roles to play. There are no throwaway characters and no throwaway interactions.

Which brings me to my last point – this book is smart. It’s subtle, but it has a very clever plot and no ideas are wasted. It’s something that a lot of my favourite literature has in common. Jones has taken the time to understand and craft this world and this plot and while a lot of it may seem random, each scene has its own place in the story. It’s the reason I can read this book over and over again, because I honestly forget half the plot each time, even though I never forget the characters. It really is full of magic and adventure and whimsy, while also being genius at world-building. Ingary exists so completely and fully formed that I don’t feel like I’m discovering it so much as walking off the page into it, and that is the mark of a truly talented writer.

So I will continue to return to this world time and time again and I encourage you to visit it too. It is absolutely the kind of middle grade that can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone. A very special place in my heart!

All the Young Dudes

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Author: MsKingBean89
Genres: Fantasy, Fanfiction
Pub. Date: 2017 (read Dec. 2021)

I debated whether I would take the time to review this, but I spent such a lengthy time reading it and I enjoyed it so much, that I have to give it the praise it deserves.

Let’s say off the bat – this is fanfiction. All the Young Dudes is not a published book, though you can buy 3 volumes of it on the Book Patch, I opted to read it for free on Archive Of Our Own. It’s over 500,000 words, which works out to somewhere around 1700 pages. I have never read fanfiction before, but started hearing about All the Young Dudes and was really intrigued, so I decided to read it. I know there’s a lot of bad fan fiction out there, but this was an eye opening experience to me that there’s also some really quality fan fiction and that there shouldn’t be anything embarrassing about reading it!

All the Young Dudes is Harry Potter fanfic about the Mauraders. It’s set primarily in the 1970’s, though it spans some 25 odd years, and is told from Lupin’s point of view. It is totally canon compliant, with the exception being that it is Wolfstar, which features a relationship between Lupin and Sirius. While there’s no indication in Harry Potter that either of these characters is gay, I didn’t find it a stretch or unbelievable. Every other part of the fiction complied with original harry potter canon and I thought the addition of this relationship actually brought a lot of depth to the story.

All the Young Dudes is a substantial piece of work and honestly felt like an extension of the HP universe to me. Every character is well crafted and acted exactly in the way I would expect them to. It was so fun to revisit this world through the eyes of the Marauders and I loved returning to Hogwarts with them. The first part is largely fun, with lots of childish antics and pranks, like what you would expect from a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds, but as the children age, so does the story. 

In some ways I thought this was maybe even a more accurate portrayal of teenagers at Hogwarts than JK Rowling. The writer includes a lot of 1970’s pop culture into the story, which I liked because it created a more integrated world with both Muggles and Magic. In retrospect, it’s hard to believe wizards wouldn’t be just as crazy for pop sensations like Bowie and the Beatles and the boys get participate in classic teenage shenanigans, like partying and messing around with alcohol, pot, and girls.

There’s just as much depth to the side characters and I loved seeing so many other familiar characters from the series. Lily and Snape also feature in the story, though I would have loved to get a bit more about both Lily’s relationships with Snape and James. Because this is Lupin’s story, he and Sirius are the primary focus – my ideal fiction would probably have a more well rounded telling of the Marauders, with multiple character perspectives, but this was still great and incredible in its scope. 

There’s A LOT of character development and angst and I loved that this focuses on Lupin’s struggles with being a werewolf (and how the wizarding world treats werewolves parallels how the rest of the world also treats gay men, especially in the 70’s). We also get a lot of time dedicated to Sirius’ family and how he struggled with being the black sheep in a family full of dark wizards. It’s a bit of a brutal read in that it’s heartbreaking to spend over 1000 pages falling in love with characters that you know are going to be devastated before the end. The first volume is a fun romp while the second volume is a really meaningful coming of age story during a dark time. I read the first two parts back to back, which covers the boys 7 years at Hogwarts, and then took a break before attempting the third, which I knew would be filled with heartbreak.

The third volume spans from the end of school all the way up to the start of the 5th Harry Potter book, so it has the largest time period and is by far the most depressing. I found the war really interesting, but I kind of wish it had ended when Voldemort was defeated the first time. I understand why the author dragged it out until Sirius got out of Azkaban, but I didn’t find a lot of value in the in between time and would have just preferred an epilogue about Sirius and Remus being reunited. It’s still a great story, but while I would definitely re-read the first 2 volumes, I don’t think I would ever re-read the 3rd. Either way, the whole thing was a really fun experience for me. I’m not sure whether I’ll be back for more fan-fiction, but it was fun to give a try! Let me know in the comments if you’ve read fan-fiction and what you thought, I’m genuinely interested to know!

The House in the Cerulean Sea

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Author: T.J. Klune
Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade
Pub. Date: Mar. 2020 (read Aug. 2021)

The House in the Cerulean Sea is definitely a book that came to me very heavily hyped. I feel like this book is all over goodreads and tiktok it’d been on my TBR for a while before I finally picked it up with my book club.

It’s a middle grade read that is highly accessible to an adult audience and features themes that are relatable to any age group. It’s set in a fantasy world similar to ours, but with magical beings. Linus works for the department in Charge of Magical Youth as a case worker for orphaned children. Everything is highly regulated by the government and he checks in on children to make sure they are receiving proper care. Then one day, he is approached to go a highly unusual assignment where he meets some of the department’s most high risk children.

These children all live on an island with their caretaker, Arthur. At first Linus is extremely weary of the children and their abilities, as are the villagers in the mainland town next to the island. However, as Linus gets to know the children, he sees that he may have been unfairly prejudiced against them and recognizes the unfairness of how these children are treated by everyone around them. 

It’s very much a feel good novel about belonging. The ways we treat and perceive those who are different than us and how much we stand to gain and can learn from them if we only treat people with respect. It draws so many parallels to our society and the way some people view and treat others who are gay, or immigrants, or a visible minority. There’s nothing groundbreaking in this novel, but it is a heartwarming book if you’re looking for a pick-me-up. I don’t think I liked it quite as much as most people seem to be loving it, but I did think it was a solid 4 star read and the majority of my book club enjoyed it.

She Who Became the Sun

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Author: Shelley Parker-Chan
Genres: Fantasy
Pub. Date: Jul. 2021 (read Nov. 2021)

I used to read so much fantasy. I loved getting lost in other worlds and getting to return to the same characters over and over again – it made for such an enjoyable reading experience for me. Unfortunately over the last few years, I feel like I’ve almost completely lost my ability to read fantasy. Learning about new worlds seems exhausting and the thought of having to follow a storyline over multiple books daunting. But every couple months I try a new fantasy book to see if I can overcome the slump.

I’ve been hearing a lot about She Who Became the Sun and I wanted to try at least one book nominated in the Goodreads Choice Award fantasy category, so I decided to go with this one. It started off great and I was really invested in Zhu’s character and thought her growth while at the monastery was really interesting. Then something dramatic happens between 15-20% and I was catapulted into a completely different story – it was engaging, but something about the storytelling and pacing just seemed off throughout the rest of the novel.

She Who Became the Sun takes place during the Ming Dynasty in 1345 China and centers around a poor, starving, young girl who steals her older brother’s fate and seeks refuge in a monastery – hiding her true identity and gender. Parts of this book are excellent – primarily the author’s exploration of gender roles, identity, and dysphoria. Initially I got strong Mulan vibes, but Zhu definitely becomes her own character throughout the course of the book. The premise was great and I was invested in Zhu’s character and journey. I found it a bit confusing keeping track of who was who, but there’s some really interesting history in here and it’s a time period I don’t know a lot about, so I really enjoyed that aspect.

Where I struggled is that the author never builds any momentum in the story. She would pick up the pace and energy in the narrative in each chapter, only to have it completely ramp back down in the following chapter. For some reason she chooses to skip over major events, often focusing more on the political side of things than the action. I love a book that has both, so I found this an odd choice. It was just lacking balance and it caused me to keep losing interest in the book whenever I would put it down.

This is the first book in a series – I’d like to think I will continue on with it, but I honestly suspect I won’t. Given that the second book doesn’t have a name or release date yet, I’m sure I will have forgotten all the major plot points by the time it’s released. I get the hype, but unfortunately it just wasn’t enough to raise me out of my fantasy slump. 3.5 stars – good premise and nice writing, but suffers pacing issues.

Elatsoe

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Author: Darcie Little Badger
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pub. Date: Aug. 2020 (read March 2021)

I’m not sure how I stumbled upon Elatsoe, it may have been on Booktube, but I was immediately intrigued by the plotline. Elatsoe is a young adult story about 17 year old, Lipan Apache member, Elatsoe. She is one of a long line of women who can raise the ghosts of dead animals and is inspired by her six-great grandmother for whom she is named.

When her cousin, Trevor passes after a car crash and his ghost visits her in a dream, warning her that he was actually murdered, Elatsoe is catapulted on a mission to bring her cousin’s murderer to justice. She travels to his hometown with her parents to comfort his widow and immediately starts searching for the truth of Trevor’s untimely passing. In the process, she encounters more ghosts and makes a worrisome journey that causes her to seek advice from her elders.

I loved this book. It is such a wholesome story – it deals with heavy themes, yet it always feels like a light and fun read. I thought it read a little more like middle grade than YA, but that is really what made this feel like such a wholesome read. Instead of the teenage angst you usually find within the pages of a YA novel, Elatsoe is an individual who is very much comfortable with who she is and maintains good relationships with her friends and family. In a way it’s a coming of age story, but one in which she is respectful of her family members and seeks guidance from them. It is mentioned in passing that she is asexual and I loved that it’s just accepted by all the characters and we move on from there. Her best friend is male, but there is no love story between them and their friendship is very much built on trust and respect. It’s refreshing to read a book with such well balanced and respectful characters.

The author, Darcie Little Badger, is also Lipan Apache and she brings a very interesting fantastical element to the story. Elatsoe lives in a similar world to us, but her world is filled with monsters both seen and unseen. Personally, I thought the monster idea could have been a bit better developed and overall could probably have done without it, but the inclusion of ghosts in the story is really what makes it shine. She integrates Lipan Apache culture into the story flawlessly and I loved how she wove the verbal storytelling of Elatsoe’s ancestors into the book. I found it very engaging and it added so much depth to the story.

This was really close to a 5 star read for me. I thought it got a little plot heavy towards the end, and while we do see character growth throughout, I would have liked to see a little more character development at the end instead of going heavy on a ghost showdown. But it’s really a minor comment and I would still absolutely recommend this book to everyone. The writing is lovely and it reads very quickly. I think it’s a story that can be enjoyed by all ages and am so happy to see more indigenous voices and indigenous stories being published. 4.5 stars!