Althea M. (althea) reviewed on 9/11/2008 + 774 more book reviews

I read this after seeing the Miyazaki movie recently - which, I have to admit, made it really hard to judge the book on its own merits. The cartoon is very visual and memorable, and I couldn't help "seeing" all the characters as I read the book - even when it diverged quite drastically from Miyazaki's take on the story... and there are quite a lot of differences...
for example, in the book, there's no war going on, and no mention of all the wonderfully creative steampunk-type of technology that Miyazaki created... the magical land of Ingary bears no particular resemblance to Germany. The Witch of the Waste is actually attractive, not horrific.... Sophie herself is a natural witch, and has magical powers! And the wizard Howl is actually Howell Jenkins, from Wales!!!!!! ohmy.gif
I wasn't surprised, however, to find that Howl's apprentice is given a background (an orphan, of course) in the book (the movie gives no explanation); and that in the book, the folks of the castle do NOT adopt the senile Witch at the end (that is just way too Japanese for a British writer to have come up with...)

I have to admit, although this is a VERY good fantasy, I think that overall, I liked the movie better. The visual details and characters were just so appealing....

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