Diana Wynne Jones

[NightIntent]

Yeah, Castle in the Sky really doesn't read as a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. It has a few of the characters from Howl's Moving Castle in it, but you don't know that they're the characters until the very, very end. I do like that Howl's castle is being used for evil, though. It's quite funny to me. n.n

Harbone, did you read the sequel to Dark Lord of Derkholm? Year of the Griffin. It's pretty good, but I do prefer the first. It's just kinda nice to see all the characters again. I wish Lyda would've been in it more. Lyda's the best. Though I think Kit's my favorite griffin out of them all.  

[Harbone]

Nope. Didn't even know it existed, actually. I just now tracked down Howls and Castle at the library. More research I guess, but it's way down on the ol' book list. I have three non-fics and a couple reviews to finish first, as well as Howl's and Castle.

Ping.  

[Bookwyrme]

NightIntent

I haven't read The Merlin COnspiracy yet. I haven't decided if I'm going to or not.

It's ok.

Worth reading, but not buying, IMHO. It's about the same quality as Deep Secret.  

[nanti]

i love the Christomancy series....they are for children, but hey, they're still good. unfortunately my library doesn't support a sci-fi section, and i'm always broke sad  

[Bookwyrme]

Several of my favorite books are shelved in the children's section. I'm so glad I've grown back into them again! smile

Nanti, try asking your librarian about interlibrary loan and/or request forms.  

[NightIntent]

I've been meaning to post in here for a few days.... I keep forgetting. n.n"

Anyways, I re-read Howl's Moving Castle a few days agp, and I'd completely forgotten how good it is. I rented the movie, and wanted to see what had changed, so I borrowed my friend's copy. I'd entirely forgotten about the scene after Howl's hair was dyed, and he threw the temper-tantrum with green goo. That was my favorite scene in the movie. It's good in the book, but there are better parts. Like Sophie freaking out and almost having a heart attack 'cause of the scarecrow. All in all, I must say that I much prefer the book. The movie completely changed everything except the characters' names, really. Kind of annoying. I'm doing my best to convince myself that they're entirely seperate and have nothnig to do with on enaother, but it's hard. Though the movie was really entertaining. Howl's character is so much better in the book. He's more vain, selfish, and funny. And at least in the book Sophie has no misleadings about how pretty she is. That bugged me in the movie. And that's enough babbling.  

[fairywaif]

The Dark Lord of Derkholm trilogy, The Chrestomani series and Howl's moving castle are all my favorites Also, I'm currently reading Unexpected Magic a short story collection. I actually read on of the stories before in the Friebird collection, which I also enjoyed (both the collection and the story. I don't think I've read half of what she's written...  

[Harbone]

The Dark Lord of Derkholm is a TRILOGY?!?

I had trouble seeing how she could get the premise past the first book!

I'm still looking for Year of the Griffin.  

[NightIntent]

Harbone

The Dark Lord of Derkholm is a TRILOGY?!?

I had trouble seeing how she could get the premise past the first book!

I'm still looking for Year of the Griffin.

Not as far as I know. The books fairywaif mentioned are all seperate books. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci is a series, Howl's Moving Castle is its own book, with Castle in the Sky as a sorta-kinda-sequel, and the Dark Lord of Derkholm and the Year of the Griffin are entirely seperate from any of those.  

[laaalalalalalalalalas]

you guys know that they made howls moving castle into a anime movie right? i never read that book but i read the merlin conspiracy and the chrestomanci books and the first two in the Dalemark books i really enjoyed them  

[NightIntent]

Ladyknight1991

you guys know that they made howls moving castle into a anime movie right?

Yes, we did. I posted about it. The book's much better than the movie, in multiple ways.  

[laaalalalalalalalalas]

but nyaaaaaah Howls sexy!!(although im sure the book is better)  

[Hiitachin Kaoru]

The book is def. better!  

[laaalalalalalalalalas]

oh...i must read it!!!* goes fanatically to the library and cant find it WAAAAAAAA... crying ....yea im not insane i swear  

[Harbone]

Well, I finally got around to reading Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air. As usual, I picked them up last night intending to only read a few chapters and go to sleep and, nearing the end, I looked up at a sudden bright light to realize it was dawn. Urgh.

Quite a few differences between Howl's the book and Howl's the movie. For instance, Howl is Welsh, of all things, in the book. It's kind of nice to see the Person From The Fields We Know be a wizard in a magical land. And he's an incredible a**.

Howl and Sophie do show up again in Castle in the Air, but it's more of an Arabian Nights tale about a young carpet merchant who's fated to have all his dreams all come true, even the unpleasant ones. I found I liked Jamal's horrible dog the best, especially when he gets angels like fleas.

I'm certain I haven't given away too much, so I'll just end with a little critique of Jones and her work:

She truly loves fantasy, that's clear from her writing, but she also truly tends to skip over some of the Lifelike Grit that might give her stories broader appeal. Perhaps that's a selling point. For instance, she seems to see kings as a kind of mystic pocketbook, a fount of wealth for the deserving and the well-born. I've never really liked that attitude.

On the other hand, she seems to grap an important fact about love that's been reiterated elsewhere: While we like people for their strengths, we actually love other people for their faults. Howl and Sophie are a good example of this- Abdullah and Flower-of-the-Night are not, but their romance wasn't really the point of this story, anyway.

Thanks for reading this rant.