Castle in the Air (Howl's Moving Castle, #2) in Into the Forest

Feb 25, 2018 Kirstie rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, fairy-tale, strong-female-characters

Abdullah is a carpet merchant in the far off city of Zanzib who daydreams he's a lost prince promised to a beautiful princess. When he manages to buy a magic carpet and it flies him to a castle in his sleep he understandably assumes its all a dream, especially the fair princess. When he wakes with his night cap missing though he starts to believe it's real. especially when he returns and she is abducted by an evil djinn.

Like it's predecessor Howl's Moving Castle, this novel takes a lot of tropes Abdullah is a carpet merchant in the far off city of Zanzib who daydreams he's a lost prince promised to a beautiful princess. When he manages to buy a magic carpet and it flies him to a castle in his sleep he understandably assumes its all a dream, especially the fair princess. When he wakes with his night cap missing though he starts to believe it's real. especially when he returns and she is abducted by an evil djinn.

Like it's predecessor Howl's Moving Castle, this novel takes a lot of tropes from fairy tales - though this time more Middle Eastern ones - such as magic carpets, djinn, and sultans. Sadly the tropes are less frequently turned about as they were in Howl's(though this is not t say they aren't at all, just less regularly at the start). The story plays much more like the standard 'lowly prince' style fairy tale for quite a while. When it finally jumps away though, boy does it. (view spoiler)

I must admit to being disappointed at not seeing Howl or Sophie until the last quarter of the novel. I would have thought nothing of it if not for the fact this book is touted as a sequel. It feels more like a story that occurs in the same universe.

Speaking of Howl and Sophie, I loved the glimpse into their future and a few others of the cast of the first book.

Both Zanzib and Ingary are beautiful fantasy realms which are given lovely descriptions (view spoiler) and are easily visualised.

The characters are good fun, though a few feel a little more cardboard cut out than in Howl's (for example, in Howl's Sophie's step mother fluctuates between being a good woman, to an exploitative one who doesn't care about anything but washing her hands of her daughters(step and real), then back again. On the other hand Abdullah has a cabal of wicked relatives bent on making his life excruciating but still keeping him in the family. They undergo no character development, though I suppose that's not a big issue for minor antagonists - again my expectations were raised by the first book ;p ).

I loved Flower-in-the-Night, she was my favourite. Despite all she put up with she was tough and in charge wherever she could be.

At the end I was a bit irritated by how (view spoiler)

A very good continuation from Howl's Moving Castle, though don't expect a lot of Howl and Sophie. ...more

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Oct 31, 2017 Laura Cunha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

http://leiturasdelaura.blogspot.com.b...

Outro dia estava tentando arrumar meus livros digitais para facilitar a vida e percebi que eu já tinha comprado, sabe-se lá quando, em algum momento aleatório esse ano, as continuações de Castelo Animado, e deu vontade e comecei a ler.

Daí percebi duas coisas, minha memória é péssima para nomes até em livros, pois confundi todos os nomes do volume anterior, apesar de ter lido o livro em março desse ano (são só 7 meses de distância, mas isso se traduz em 38 ...more

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Jun 09, 2024 Kathleen Newton rated it really liked it

Shelves: z-2024-katie

I love her writing, but this one had trouble holding my attention. Additionally, I wondered the entire book what this had to do with the first book until it was all revealed at the very end. Overall, it was not my favorite, but it was good for a few chuckles.

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