Fourth Quarter 2020 Reading

[The Marquis de Leech]

8 hours ago, Plessiez said:

I read this myself last night, after I decided to try something a bit lighter than the first few chapters of The Ministry of the Future.  Possibly I reread it: I believe that I read at least a couple of Diana Wynne Jones' books when I was eleven or twelve, but I can't remember which ones. 

If I had read it before, any memory I'd retained of the plot had been pretty thoroughly overwritten by the Studio Ghibli film.

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And so I found the reveal that "Wizard Howl" was actually a man from modern(ish?) Wales called Howell to be pretty surprising: not so much for the twist itself as for the very matter-of-fact way in which all the characters react.

If I did read it when I was younger, I wonder if I found that twist equally surprising then or whether it's only lots of exposure to other secondary-world fantasy that has conditioned me to think that this is somehow breaking the rules.

Yes, it's a massive divergence between book and film. Jones apparently didn't mind though.

The two follow-ups in the Howl trilogy are significantly weaker. The second is not actually bad, but really should have been as stand-alone. The third is just bad.

[Isis]

On 12/28/2020 at 10:13 AM, Teng Ai Hui said:

I was really frustrated by The Paper Magician. It started off well. The magic system was very interesting, and I liked the two main characters and their interactions. Then, about a third of the way in, it fell off a cliff. The apprentice fell in love with the mentor. Also, there was a long travelogue, and I despise fictional travelogues. I only finished it because I wanted to complete one more book before the end of the year.

I thought it was paper thin and trashy.

Howl's Moving Castle is one of my favourite books. I remember being confused and disappointed when I went to see the film. Agree that the book sequels were weaker.