#DWJMarch: Howl’s Moving Castle

I’ve read Howl’s Moving Castle at least twenty times, but this time it was on audiobook! Now it’s my new favorite way to reread this book too many times.

Jacket Blurb: Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl’s castle. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there’s far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye.

I haven’t heard this narrator, Jenny Sterlin, before, but she did an outstanding job. When I read this book I usually hear the voices from the Ghibli film (even though that makes no sense) but Sterlin’s voices for Sophie, Howl, and Calcifer especially were spot-on based on their descriptions in the book.

I was absurdly pleased by Howl’s Welsh accent, even though obviously he should have a Welsh accent and if he didn’t it would be INCORRECT. Concept: Welsh Howell Jenkins reading the dictionary. We could make billions. 

The other standout audio moment was when Sophie is yelling “Be daffodils!” in a rage (Sometimes you just have to work out your anger through botanical experiments resulting in weedkiller). Sterlin’s delivery cracked me up.

I’ve talked about my favorite quotes from this book in another post. “What a stupid way to treat a building!” is my current favorite exclamation. But there are just so many good one-liners that it’s ridiculous, and hearing them was so much fun.

 

In other March Magics news, I’ve started listening to Year of the Griffin and I’ve started rereading Fire and Hemlock, but I’m not sure if I’ll finish either/both of them this month. I’ll most likely do another post later this week on Hexwood (which I finished) but I’m not sure what, if anything, else.

#DWJMarch: Dark Lord of Derkholm

Happy Day 9 of Social Distancing. The locals are very restless, but Diana Wynne Jones’ books are keeping them from rioting. For now.

Kit is looking fine.

I listened to the audiobook of Dark Lord of Derkholm, thanks to hoopla, narrated by Gildart Jackson. I’ve previously listened to Dracula by the same narrator, so that was a little jarring at first, but I really like his narration and voices.

The only exceptions were some of his creature voices. The narrator chose a sort of nasal, bird-like voice for the griffins, which I understand in principle, but in practice it can be unpleasant to listen to after a while. He gave the dragons and demons very gravelly, scrape-y voices, so those could be a little tiring too.

Jacket blurb: Everyone – wizards, soldiers, farmers, elves, dragons, kings and queens alike – is fed up with Mr Chesney’s Pilgrim Parties: groups of tourists from the world next door who descend en masse every year to take the Grand Tour. What they expect are all the trappings of a grand fantasy adventure, including the Evil Enchantress, Wizard Guides, the Dark Lord, Winged Minions, and all. And every year different people are chosen to play these parts. But now they’ve had enough: Mr Chesney may be backed by a very powerful demon, but the Oracles have spoken. Now it’s up to the Wizard Derk and his son Blade, this year’s Dark Lord and Wizard Guide, not to mention Blade’s griffin brothers and sisters, to save the world from Mr Chesney’s depredations.

I know I keep saying this about all the DWJ books I’ve read this month, but it’s been a few years since I first read and loved this one, too. The most surprising parts for me this time were how Dark it is (even though that’s literally in the title) and how upsetting the Derk/Mara subplot is! Fortunately, all works out in the end. Sort of. Except for all the bodies. There are a lot of bodies.

I honestly can’t believe how MUCH is packed into this book. It’s simultaneously a) deconstructing the entire post-Tolkien epic fantasy genre; b) introducing at least 8 main characters; c) giving each of those characters subplot growth arcs; d) introducing and explaining all of the different fantasy races and their subplots; e) satirizing the modern world and modern colonialism; f) criticizing modern habits like the glorification of violence, subjugation of peoples for their own good, racism, classism, etc etc etc.

Somehow Dark Lord of Derkholm succeeds juggling all of its many balls. And it’s fun and magical, too.

***

I hope March Magics is going well for you all!

I’m currently listening to Howl’s Moving Castle (via Library2Go), and then I’m going to listen to Derkholm’s sequel, Year of the Griffin (back to hoopla).

#DWJMarch: wandering through Hexwood and other bits and bobs

I’m rereading Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones for the first time in years. I’m about a hundred pages in and trying to a. remember everyone of importance that’s been mentioned, and b. figure out all the other people they are.

So far this reading is making more sense than previous readings, but we’ll see how it goes. I know there’s layers and layers of shenanigans and I’m only on the top layer.

How is March Magics going for you all? I’m on a social media break so I’m sure I haven’t seen lots of fun DWJ-related things, but I recommend this Howl’s Moving Castle-inspired poem by krobats. I also found this thoughtful post from Emerald City Book Review on A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett and The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones.

#DWJMarch: Everard’s Ride

At last he heard murmurs of “The Prince,” “His Highness, the Prince,” “Your Highness,” and looked up at the dais. The boy he had fought on the island was standing there, with his hands on his hips, looking down at him in astonishment.
“You again,” the Prince said. He had the most beautiful black eye. Or rather, by this time it was not black any longer, but blue and purple and yellow, with red around the edges. “My goodness,” Alex thought, “I did hit him perfectly.” Most of his fear and embarrassment vanished. He was so pleased with that eye that he smiled broadly, and put his hands on his hips too. “Yes,” he said. “Me again.”
“Good!” said the Prince. “Good.” To Cecilia he sounded quite murderous. He stared at Alex in a dreadful, satisfied way, which turned Cecilia cold and faint. Alex stared back, admiring that black eye, cocking his head sideways, almost as if he had painted it on the Prince’s face with the finest of brushes.
The Count of Gairne stepped up onto the dais and interrupted their looking at one another. “Your Highness, these people were discovered riding about the countryside in direct contravention of your decree.”

Diana Wynne Jones writes a lot of portal fantasy. She grabs children from our world and time and drags them into some other fantastical world, where they are forced to save themselves by doing some magic or starting a revolution or saving Time.

Everard’s Ride is one of these, although a lesser-known Diana Wynne Jones novella. It often feels like a much older book than it is, and it reminds me very much of The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope (1974), which does a beautiful mix of historical fiction, Faerie, and intense claustrophobia. Everard’s Ride is vaguely historical, vaguely Faerie, and all of the characters are extremely trapped, whether it’s physical imprisonment, class differences, or something else that is limiting their autonomy.

Everard’s Ride feels like even more of a throwback to portal fantasy like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, because the kids are from Victorian England rather than our own time, and the rules are sometimes confusing (rather than systematically laid out as in current portal fantasy). When they go to the island, where are they? WHEN are they? What exactly keeps people from going back and forth? Why is harming Outsiders so taboo?

Additionally, many of DWJ’s most-used tropes aren’t present. For example, the weirdest part for me is the lack of a terrifying matriarch (whether good or evil). The closest we get is the mother of our outlaw hero Robert, and although she is a Countess, she is trapped more than any of the other characters. The timeline (TIME ZONES) can be tricky to figure out, but not anywhere close to the thorny tangle of, say, Hexwood.

This novella is one of Diana’s darker stories, too, with a lot of blood shed before it’s through. Most of the characters who suffer the most in this book don’t deserve it (although the villains certainly get their comeuppance), and while injustice is a very common theme in DWJ, it is more brutal in this story than some of her others. Honor/dishonor is the big binary between the villains and heroes here, but it takes some time to figure out who is behaving with honor, because SURPRISE motivations are complicated. it takes a while for the heroes to find each other and connect, because of the lens each of them is bringing to bear on the situation, and none of them have the full vision of what’s going on.

Not to worry, there is still plenty to keep us entertained in spite of the darker bits. Both the children from England and the children from the island are likable, empathetic characters, and the suspense over their fates is well-paced. There’s a romance, and a bromance, and Hugo Arbard’s subplot in this book is the perfect mix of hilarity, horror, and relief that Diana does so well.

This was my second time reading Everard’s Ride, and while it isn’t as classically Diana as some, it didn’t let me down and is a really fun ride in its own right.

#DWJMarch: Eight Days of Luke

Reasons Eight Days of Luke is the best Loki story ever:

• shapeshifting to make life more convenient
• mortals are much more reasonable than gods
• or do i mean more adorable
• fire is pretty
• woden is the smartest dumb person
• what is gender
• exploitation goes in all directions
• unintentional consequences because i was distracted by the fire
• amoral doesn’t equal evil
• it doesn’t equal good either
• yay fire
• this escalated quickly

I am not taking questions at this time.