House of Many Ways - Book Review

Hello

안녕하세요 

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは 

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

Whoops it's took me a total of 3 years to actually finish the Howl Series, from me buying them back in 2015 to read. House of Many Ways is the 3rd and final instalment in the Howl series, following Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air. The series is written by Diana Wynne Jones with House of Many Ways being published the 7th of June 2008.

"You are rather lost, my dear. Turn round once, clockwise. Then, still turning, open the door with your left hand only. Go through and let the door shut behind you. Then take two long steps sideways to your left. This will bring you back beside the bathroom."

Charmain Baker is in over her head. Looking after Great Uncle Williams tiny cottage should have been easy, but he is the Royal Wizard Norland whose house bends space and time. It's single door leads to any number of places: the bedrooms, the kitchen, the caves under the mountains - even the past!

In no time at all. Charmain becomes involved with a magical stray dog, a muddled apprentice wizard and a box of the king's most treasured documents, as well as irritating a clan of small blue creatures.

Caught up in an intense royal search, she meets a sorceress named Sophie. Can Wizard Howl and Calcifer be far behind?

As I said at the start it's took me 3 years to read this book, I read Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air back in 2015. As I predicted House of Many Ways followed the same format of Castle in the Air, in that we met new lead characters and come across Howl, Sophie and the gang a little later. I really enjoyed the story but I couldn't help at times taking a dislike to Charmain and how she treated and reacted to Peter, at times it came across to me that he infuriated and irritated her because she thought she was better than him, she'd lose her temper with him over the stupidest things, even when he was trying to be a helpful friend. Other than that I enjoyed Charmain's journey into the unknown and discovering not only new things about herself but also about her family. I think it has the perfect ending and I like that Charmain eventually becomes an independent young lady, instead of following the route of what her mother thinks is proper, following her own dreams and desires.

If you're a fan of Studio Ghibli and a fan of Howl's Moving Castle and haven't read the books then I highly recommend checking them out.

Check out other titles by Diana Wynne Jones:

Chrestomanci Series:

Charmed Life

The Magicians of Caprona

Witch Week

The Lives of Christopher Chant

Mixed Magics

Conrad's Fate

The Pinhoe Egg

Howl Series:

Howl's Moving Castle

Castle in the Air

House of Many Ways

Archer's Goon

Black Maria

Dogsbody

Eight Days of Luke

The Game

The Homeward Bounders

The Merlin Conspiracy

Power of Three

Stopping for a Spell

A Tale of Time City

Wilkins' Tooth

For Older Readers:

Fire and Hemlock

Hexwood

The Time of the Ghost

For Younger Readers:

Wild Robert

I'm definitely interested in checking out her other books and seeing how different they are to the Howl series. I've read some of the synopsis of some of the above books and they've definitely got me interested, hopefully there will be posts on these books in the future.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye