kacidean's review against another edition
4.0
I loved how the characters from the first book played a part in this story. And it all wrapped up in a nice little bow at the end. Couldn’t ask for a better “in between” book.
kchen96's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
once sophie and howl showed up the book got much better, haha. i am once again impressed by jones' ability to weave the threads of seemingly unrelated events together in a way that doesn't become a clear tapestry until the very end.
diax's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
aotora's review against another edition
3.0
I finally got around to reading the second book in this series and it was a chore. The first half of the book took about forever to get through but then the second half finally picked up and I started enjoying it.
I guess that I had two main issues with this book: Abdullah's speaking - it got so annoying so fast. I get that he is from a fancy part of the country where they all speak like that but my gosh did it start to get annoying really really fast when every time he wanted to say something he would add a ton of fluff before he finally got to the jist of what he wanted to say- heck the characters even start acknowledging that by the end of the book and start asking him to get to the point already. His whole love story with Flower- he fell in love with her after seeing her twice and they were suddenly madly in love and married after knowing each other for what, three days? They worked together to beat the main villain yeah but that romance still felt really rushed and like they were married purely on looks not really knowing each other - and same with Justin and Beatrice- he was supposed to marry her, he instantly rejected her because reasons then they meet in the castle and they somehow instantly fall in love and are married soon after without really getting to know each other.
The story is somewhat similar to Aladdin- we have Abdullah, a young carpet merchant that acquires a magic carpet and genie and goes on a journey to rescue the princess - I started reading her name as Flower because Flower-in-the-night got really annoying after a while.
Most of the characters from the first book are in this but they are enchanted throughout the majority of it so you don't really know who they are - genie is actually Howl which is super obvious by the end of the book because he is just as vein and childish as he was and Calcifer becomes the rug, and Sophie becomes a cat- she also gives birth to her and Howl's baby as a cat then they both get turned back to humans- I did like the part where Morgan was getting irritated because he could already walk as cat then he suddenly became a human baby that wasn't able to move on his own - I hope that we see Howl as a dad in the third book though!
The ending seemed a bit rushed to me- the final battle went by really fast and the villains that were build up for the entire book were insanely easily defeated, I liked the final battle of the first book much more, it was fast paced, full of action and the villain didn't get defeated that fast.
Overall it's still a good book and I enjoyed the story and the journey, but I still prefer the first book over this one. This one is okay but I don't plan on picking it up again any time soon.
I guess that I had two main issues with this book: Abdullah's speaking - it got so annoying so fast. I get that he is from a fancy part of the country where they all speak like that but my gosh did it start to get annoying really really fast when every time he wanted to say something he would add a ton of fluff before he finally got to the jist of what he wanted to say- heck the characters even start acknowledging that by the end of the book and start asking him to get to the point already. His whole love story with Flower- he fell in love with her after seeing her twice and they were suddenly madly in love and married after knowing each other for what, three days? They worked together to beat the main villain yeah but that romance still felt really rushed and like they were married purely on looks not really knowing each other - and same with Justin and Beatrice- he was supposed to marry her, he instantly rejected her because reasons then they meet in the castle and they somehow instantly fall in love and are married soon after without really getting to know each other.
The story is somewhat similar to Aladdin- we have Abdullah, a young carpet merchant that acquires a magic carpet and genie and goes on a journey to rescue the princess - I started reading her name as Flower because Flower-in-the-night got really annoying after a while.
Most of the characters from the first book are in this but they are enchanted throughout the majority of it so you don't really know who they are - genie is actually Howl which is super obvious by the end of the book because he is just as vein and childish as he was and Calcifer becomes the rug, and Sophie becomes a cat- she also gives birth to her and Howl's baby as a cat then they both get turned back to humans- I did like the part where Morgan was getting irritated because he could already walk as cat then he suddenly became a human baby that wasn't able to move on his own - I hope that we see Howl as a dad in the third book though!
The ending seemed a bit rushed to me- the final battle went by really fast and the villains that were build up for the entire book were insanely easily defeated, I liked the final battle of the first book much more, it was fast paced, full of action and the villain didn't get defeated that fast.
Overall it's still a good book and I enjoyed the story and the journey, but I still prefer the first book over this one. This one is okay but I don't plan on picking it up again any time soon.
paholau's review against another edition
4.0
Otro refrescante libro de Wynne Jones. Sin duda fue agradable reencontrarme con algunos de los personajes de El Castillo Ambulante.
snchard's review against another edition
3.0
Cute story in its own right, but not great as a "sequel" to Howl's Moving Castle. I was waiting for any reference to HMC for about 80% of the book, and while the story of Abdullah and his misadventures was entertaining, I think I would have liked it more if I hadn't seen the title listed as HMC book 2. Decent Aladdin story, did enjoy the marketplace language, not a great deal of depth. Would have been a fast read if I were more interested in the story instead of waiting around for Howl to appear.