Castle in the Air, by Diana Wynne Jones

I thought I would try a new approach to writing a blog post in honor of starting a blog on The Patch. I usually write the way I think; I always have a thousand different ideas clashing in my head at the same time and write the first one I can grasp on to, usually leaving out a bunch of things I was hoping to write and forgot about in the process.

I think it might be a good idea to have a blog post structure that I always use. I don't know, it might make all of the posts rather similar, but I think it will help organize my ideas and also be easier to compare books to each other. I'll at least try it a few times, and if it fails, it will be sent away, never to return.

On to the book!

Novel: Castle in the Air, the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle

It's like: Aladdin (The movie, not the one in One Thousand and One Nights) with the writing style of Howl's Moving Castle (Duh, same author).

Summary: To anyone who hasn't read one of my book reviews before: fair warning. I am horrible at summarizing, like, everything. It's a flaw I've had from a young age and one I have never been able to conquer... My fatal flaw, if you will. Castle in the Air is more of a loose sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, with no mention of Sophie or Howl until more than half way through. It follows Abdullah, a carpet salesman who dreams of a different life, a better life. Odd things begin happening that come straight from Abdullah's daydreams, turning an imagined life into a reality and bringing him on the adventures he always wanted.

If you want to know what actually happens in the book, please look up a summary on the internet. Here's one: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47520.Castle_in_the_Air. Now there's a good summary! Sigh...

What I thought of...

• The Plot: I loved the plot! It's fast-paced (the book, or at least my copy of it, is less than 200 pages long), easy to follow (because there aren't really any side plots), and entertaining. A lot of the books I have read recently have had holes or odd extra parts that seem unnecessarily added, so that might be why I think so highly of Castle in the Air's plot.
• The Characters: It may just be me, but I don't find the characters in Jones's novels that likable. They are all very stubborn and over-the-top. I usually find it hard to like a book if the characters are hard to relate with or unpleasant, but Castle in the Air is an exception. I may not like the characters themselves, but they work well with the plot and are somewhat endearing in their own way. It's rather hard to explain unless you've read the book!
• The Style: Diana Wynne Jones's style is very different. And brilliant. She writes fantasy novels, very fairy-tale like and almost like a children's book, so her writing is simple and up-beat, but she adds intelligence and a little darkness in order to make her style perfect for the type of books she writes.

Miscellaneous: Usually there is something that sticks out to me in a novel that I really want to write about, but I cannot think of anything that was horribly bad or absolutely fantastic I wish to discuss. So ummmmm... moving on!

Recommendation: I highly recommend this book! It's not the kind of sequel where you have to read the first book. If you have read Howl's Moving Castle, you should definitely read Castle in the Air as well because it gives you the "Where are they now?" view of the main characters in Howl's Moving Castle. It might not be as enjoyable to a reader who does not like fantasy novels, though. 

But who am I kidding, everyone loves at least a little fantasy :)