Review: Howl's Moving Castle

5 stars. I am completely unclear as to how this managed to escape my attention earlier in life - but I’m actually quite glad I waited till adulthood to read it. It’s obviously an instant fairy tale classic, full of unconventional adventures, silly characters, fantastic settings, flawed magic, and deep wit, and I’ve fallen in love with the completely unique nature of the story. Especially thanks to recent events, J.K. Rowling can walk off a cliff as far as I’m concerned. This is the real deal. This is wonderfully whimsical and fun.

Howl’s Moving Castle is about a young, demure girl named Sophie who, through a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, is cursed by the Witch of the Waste to become an old woman. Embracing her new identity and leaving her old life behind, Sophie finds shelter in a moving castle inhabited by the wizard Howl, his apprentice Michael, and a feisty fire demon named Calcifer. Together this team of misfits fight battles small (the dust and spiders MUST go!) and large (the Witch of the Waste’s curse looms over them all) to reach a happy ending full of surprises. 

Things I loved: Calcifer - hands down, favorite character. I also loved the way things just happen, without rhyme or reason or explanation. There’s a sort of “just go with it” vibe that I found very refreshing. Also: the unexpected twists and turns that had even me guessing. The fact that the heroes and heroines of this story are flawed and imperfect and guaranteed to make many mistakes along the way. The way our ragtag group of friends bicker and banter as a way to show each other love and support. The sheer creativity of it all. Wales Rugby! Flowers! Hats! Drying Power!

Normally this is where I’d list the things I didn’t love, but for once, I have no complaints. Interestingly, the writing style takes some getting used to - it’s a bit … well, genius/unique? That’s the best I can come up with. I can’t wait to read it again, though, because I want to dig for hidden details and clues. I want to carve away the layers and get beyond the first blushes of love and dive deep into what makes this story tick. I know there’s buried treasure within these words. 

This is the type of book best enjoyed with a swish, savor, and swallow. I’d consider it foundational fantasy and a must-read for kids and adults alike. I want to jump into this world and never come back. I’m currently in a cabin with no Wi-Fi, or I’d be doing research on what is sure to be a very passionate fandom right now. I believe I saw the adaptation once many, many years ago and look forward to watching it again, even if it washes away my own interpretations. The soul of this story is what’s important.

Quick note: the edition I read included an interview with the author in the back, and she said that many, many, many young female readers have declared a desire to marry Howl. Um, what. No. Howl is a nightmare. Howl is my WORST nightmare. Howl has a heart of gold but he’s a DIVA KING! Just, no. He’s so extra. (Still, I’m pretty sure he and Sophie would have super hot make-up sex.)

Howl’s Moving Castle on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: Time to Smell the Roses (The Hermux Tantamoq Adventures #4)

5 stars. *sniffle* Man, I'm really going to miss these characters. Hermux, thanks for the adventures, the laughs, the memories and the snacks. (These books ALWAYS make me hungry - the food is cheesy and quaint and so delicious-sounding!) This one wraps up nicely, just like the first three, with a satisfying crack that reminds me of reading Nancy Drew and Sammy Keyes as a kid. 

Hermux, Terfle and Linka are at last ready to start their new lives together when a Mystery Appears! This one involves a murder, perfume, competitive business rivals, and a few deep family secrets. It's scandalous, twisted, tangled, and of course Tucka's right in the middle of it all. Expect a lot of clever rose puns, bee stings and new friends :)

I do enjoy that each of these books features a "theme" - art, history, the theater - although this was probably my least favorite. But I loved the story. There are breathtaking action sequences along with some really heartwarming moments. I'm so bummed the books haven't continued - I would've loved to hear what sort of doughnuts were served at the Tantamoq/Perflinger wedding. 

This is a random detail, but I really enjoy - beyond just her nature and narrative presence - how everyone else treats Hermux's pet. It's a sign that a character is "good" when he or she treats Terfle with respect, and a sign that a character is "bad," or villainous, when Terfle is ignored. There are many lessons embedded in these pages, and this to me is one of the most charming and important.

Sigh. I just love these cozy, nostalgic, amusing mysteries. 

Time to Smell the Roses on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: No Time Like Show Time (The Hermux Tantamoq Adventures #3)

5 stars. Precious in the best way. I know that the Hermux Tantamoq Adventures were popular upon publication, I have no idea why they didn't stay popular beyond that. To me they are up there with Roald Dahl, Eva Ibbotson, the Redwall books... they're wonderfully clever and entertaining.

This, the third book in the series, takes Hermux and his charming pet Terfle to the theater. We meet old favorites, like Linka, new heroes, like Hermux's hilarious best friend Nip, and vicious villains with multiple identities and evil plans! It's all very charming - a solid mystery, characters you can root for, and even a little bit of romance...

I've been reading a lot lately about mythic folklore and children's literature, and talking animals, shockingly, comes up quite a lot. Beyond the analytical and psychological reasons, for me personally it's just very comforting to take a break from humans. The lessons in these books are just as clear without us. 

And lessons there are many - good ones, too! Michael Hoeye always injects classic good vs evil themes and his hero shows true bravery, honor, loyalty and courage. Hermux always does the right thing, and he is rewarded for it. And of course there's Tucka, who is literally the most Extra before Extra was a thing. Love her. 

I had the fourth book marked as read, but I don't actually think that's true - I have no memory of reading it and had to buy it used recently. I look forward to finishing (mourning) the series and - recognizing it's one of the least-known in children's literature right now? - my reviews will go totally unnoticed. But that's okay. That's not the point.

Team Pinchester for life. 

No Time Like Show Time on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: Abarat: Absolute Midnight (Abarat #3)

(No Rating.) Okay. I went in prepared. I did my research, I looked at reviews, I knew what to expect. But can we put all that aside for one tiny second and celebrate because I DID IT! I read it, I finished what's available, I completed what I started. Phew, I'm good for something after all (I joke. I'm good for nothing. I'm utterly useless during these weird times and also during normal times.). But I can finally cross a series (incomplete though it is) off my list and say that I'm banging along my 2020 reading challenge. Yay.

For reference - my review of Abarat and of Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War. For those too lazy to click - they are glowing, rave reviews of what I considered to be one of the most creative, imaginative, vivid, mindblowing fantasy series of all time. So there's some context for you: these books are super important to me and and actually quite beloved in terms of reading memories from my younger days.

On to the book. I don’t think I can summarize without spoilers bleeding through, but let’s just say: Mater Motley’s evil plan is revealed and executed to devastating results. Candy and her friends attempt to navigate the catastrophe while she sorts through the mess that is her very identity/sense of self. Abarat is, well, changed forever. It's not like he didn't warn us. The first two books are full of warnings and foreshadowing about nightmares to come. 

"There was worse to come, much worse. Whatever the fear-flooded mind might have imagined when it thought of Midnight - the unholy rituals performed there in the name of Chaos and Cruelty, the blank-eyed brutalities that took the sanity or the lives of any innocent who ventured there; the stink out of its gaping graves, and the dead who had climbed from them, raised for mischief's sake, and left to wander where they would - all this was just the first line in a great book of terror that the two powers who had once ruled Gorgossium, Christopher Carrion and his grandmother, Mater Motley, had begun to write."

About a hundred pages in, in the middle of a certain fight/chase scene, I sat back, closed the book and sort of went phew, how did we end up here?! Yup, the gloves came off, the claws came out and Clive Barker really let things run wild. And you know what? I kind of enjoyed it.

Okay, so this book starts with one of the weirdest rug pulls I've ever experienced. I kind of LIKED THAT! 

Okay, so the plot train went careening off the rails and into the Lovecraftian abyss. Almost literally. BRING IT ON! 

Okay, so the feel-good fairy tale turned out to be a lot darker, and weirder. SO WHAT? MOST OF THEM ARE!

Okay, so from a technical perspective the tone was REALLY different and the writing felt like a bad Jackson Pollack painting - borderline nonsensical at times - and the characters were not themselves and there were a lot of wait what moments that felt sloppy and forced (like a certain love story). I still couldn't put it down!

I've decided not to give this book a star rating because I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist in a universe where that would even be relevant. Read this fever dream if you dare. 

Abarat: Absolute Midnight on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War (Abarat #2)

5 stars. Happy/melancholy sigh. I wish I could jump into a glorious ocean and leave Chickentown-I-mean-Earth forever for a magical land full of colorful creatures and vivid wonders and honorable people and layered villains (lol). I wish I could start fresh with a found family of loyal friends and fierce warriors and lovely souls. Luckily, the second book in Clive Baker’s Abarat series, Days of Magic, Nights of War, beautifully offers that opportunity in a truly exciting sequel to the first.

Candy Quackenbush is busy exploring her new home with her best friend Malingo when it becomes horribly apparent she’s being hunted. Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight, has plans for her - mysterious, dangerous plans. When she daringly escapes from his clutches by using magic, her new friends (and her enemies) begin to wonder if they’ve seen this girl before - and if she has a deeper purpose in coming to their land.

While the plot here is again a vehicle for the worldbuilding (which I didn’t mind in the first book and I don’t mind here), this book to me is BIGGER and WIDER and WILDER and DEEPER. It’s truly exciting and full of sequences that left me breathless. Abarat is so FULL and I couldn’t get enough. The stories, the myths, the dreams, the monsters, the beautiful illustrations merge into what is a truly captivating reading Experience-uppercase-E.

Also like in the first book, Barker circles some fascinating Big Themes, like morality and character and victimhood and intent and loyalty and abuse and cycles of abuse and most painfully/beautifully, love. I’m not normally one for love (or sentimentality of any kind lol), but I love his messages here. Love is love is love is love and it’s worth fighting for. Hate is hate is hate is hate and it can be super complicated, actually.

And there’s fun stuff too, like carnivals! And a battle! With ships! And dragons!

I wish these books had gained the notoriety/audience/longevity of other fantasy series from the 2000’s, as I truly believe they’d speak to readers of all ages, types and sizes. I guess they’ll just be iconic in my own mind, like my reviews ;) Anyway, onto the third - which I’ve never finished - and then I’ll cry big fat tears because the goddess Izabella will never take me away...

Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Wet Magic

5 stars. Well, I keep looking for a palette cleanser. Although instead of a bad taste, I want to scrub away reality. And the palette is in fact my anxious, exhausted brain. I keep looking for books that will, like, move me physically from this space to another. Books that will wash everything away.

Edith Nesbit did that for me so much when I was a kid, so I sort of had the idea to return to something reliable rather than try something new? And it sort of worked. I love her witty writing and clever characters. I adore the worlds she builds and her approach to writing about magic and the occasional meta details about stories and fairy tales. I love her ability to craft delightful, utter nonsense.

This one was always my favorite - a story about four children (and a tagalong friend) who rescue a captured mermaid. They are taken to her underwater kingdom and accidentally start a war with other oceanic creatures, which is a lot more delightful and a lot less scary than it sounds. I loved this one when I was a kid because I loved the sea and always secretly hoped I was actually a mermaid and would return home one day, like the well-adjusted super-reader that I was. 

Here's the thing: it didn't really hold up to my adult eyes. I still love it, and always will, but I enjoyed it more now from the perspective of: oh wow, she didn't just write tropes - she developed them. She originated them. Instead of feeling the pull of escape the way I did as a kid, I felt appreciation for her craft and for the influence she had on the fantasy genre. Which is not to say it was a bad reading experience, or a disappointment (not at all!), it was simply different and unexpected.

So, I'll keep looking. I'll poke around Dahl and Eager and Ibbotson and Keene and Hoeye and see if I can find a doorway that'll open enough for me to escape my current reality. Wish me luck. But ALSO - I do recommend this, especially for little ones, especially to be read aloud at bedtime, maybe on a trip to the beach. Don't forget to bring shiny pails and shovels and maybe, as the sun sets over a glistening expanse of ocean blue, you can whisper, just to see... "Sabrina fair..."

Wet Magic on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Abarat (Abarat #1)

5 stars. Every couple of years, I crave these books. I get nostalgic for the pure and colorful escape, for the deftly-named characters and the creative world-building. I get excited to travel to new places and meet old friends and face clever, layered villains. I get eager to pour over the brilliant and vivid illustrations, to dive into a true reading Experience-uppercase-E.

But here's the thing: for as many times as I've read and re-read the first book, I've never made it through the third. ACK. I know that Clive Barker intended this to be a quintet, but we've settled for three, and I can't even finish them all! My vague reading challenge for 2020 was to finish what I start (meaning: series) and I totally burnt out on The Expanse by Book 5. So here we are. Should I try to get something right for once? Should I actually cross something off the list?

CANDY QUACKENBUSH. A girl from Chickentown, Minnesota who finds herself in Abarat, a magical land - archipelago, actually - where each island occupies a single hour of the day. Candy meets creatures and monsters and animals beyond her wildest dreams - but something feels off. She's being hunted by Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight, whose interest in her borders on obsession. And as she immerses herself more in Abaratian ways, it all starts to feel ... familiar.

Tasty stuff.

Beyond the basic story (which is essentially just a vehicle for the world-building, which I don't mind at all?), I love the lessons here: Candy's an admirable Alice with a fantastic attitude. She demonstrates compassion and empathy and characters who don't are heartily and happily called out. There's exploration of fate and destiny and bravery and surrender. It's fantastic.

I recall very fondly going online (a slow, loud thing when I was a child in the 90s) and pouring over the Extremely Sophisticated Online Flash Animation on the website for these books. I believe there was an interactive map of The Beautiful Moment, fan art, and more. I painstakingly copied the illustrations with my colored pencils, I even tried to write my own pseudo-fanfiction-y version of the story in a pink spiral notebook involving a protagonist named Kandi and several fierce old women ... lol. 

But enough embarrassing shit about me. My point is just to say that these books are/were formative and foundational and special to me.

Fans of fantasy: read this. Fans of world-building: read this. Fans of art: read this. Fans of myths: read this. Fans of fun, creative villains: read this. These books make me fucking emotional, and not just because they offered so much comfort and so much inspiration when I was a kid. This series holds up as something truly unique - something beautiful - something with the potential to be important for generations to come. REMEMBER ABARAT, book world. Let's return together.

Abarat on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: The Ten Thousand Doors of January

3 stars. Charming! The Ten Thousand Doors of January is about a young woman in the early 1900's who lives in a mansion full of strange artifacts. Her father comes and goes on mysterious missions and she is stuck under the charge of a strict but seemingly supportive caretaker. Until one day, she discovers a door. And a book.

A magical and enchanting story weaves itself beautifully as January makes friends, learns about her past, and runs into trouble. Sure, it's about excitement and adventure and facing misfortune, but it's also about a woman finding herself - loving herself - doubling down on her very sense of self - when everyone else fails. 

If this was a straight up professional-ish review, I'd rate it higher - it's a good book. Well-paced, well-written and it hits certain spots that many readers are nostalgic for after HP and Wayward Children and Narnia. I adore portal fantasies and felt the familiar "man I wish I could find my door" feeling. I also couldn't put it down!

But since this is more of a reaction than a review, I'll call it trope-y, and I'm docking a star, as I always do, for a UDD (Unnecessary Dog Death - even if it's a fake one). The writing comes across as quaint to me, maybe a little cute. I also don't believe in True Love, and sometimes this felt like a romance disguising itself as a fantasy. And the plot contains IMO many impossibilities, which may kind of be the point, but I like writing that solves its problems with a little more finesse. 

Anyway, I do really love the energy here. It's quirky, fun and a great debut.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: The Sands of Time (The Hermux Tantamoq Adventures #2)

2019 CHALLENGE: 1 RE-READ PER MONTH 12 / 12

5 stars. Ah, what a pleasure to return to the world of Hermux Tantamoq and his exciting adventures. I really loved re-reading this not just for the nostalgia but for the details I missed as a young person. There's so much witty humor here to enjoy!

In The Sands of Time, our view of Hermux's world expands wonderfully. His artistic friend, Mirren, has regained her sight and attempted to capture what she saw during her years of darkness. Unfortunately, the citizens of Pinchester have no stomach for the mythical creatures she paints: CATS. 

Luckily, or unluckily, an old friend of hers returns claiming to have discovered proof that cats existed in a kingdom in the desert. With a little daring and a lot of cheese, Hermux and his special lady Linka embark on a quest to find the kingdom and save Mirren's show! 

It's adorable - just as adorable as the first book. The plot is a bit more complicated but Hoeye deftly keeps the pages turning and the tone intact. Each character maintains a distinct voice and motivations, and, perhaps more profoundly here than in the first, we encounter a range of "villains" instead of black-and-white good versus evil. Tucka has her moments, but she'll always be Tucka after all.

And just like the first book, there are astoundingly deep themes for such a seemingly superficial book. It's for young people, but it embeds some amazing lessons within its pages that'd be just as suitable for adults. 

My brain is SUPERFRIED from the holidays, so I'll leave it at that. I just really, really, really recommend these books. Also, they make me hungry for cheese.

The Sands of Time on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Time Stops for No Mouse (The Hermux Tantamoq Adventures #1)

2019 CHALLENGE: 1 RE-READ PER MONTH 10 / 12

5 stars. I wish I could convey how much I adore this book without coming across a bit obsessive. One of my purposes in conducting a re-read challenge for 2019 was to revisit some of the books I enjoyed as a young person - knowing that I wouldn't always experience a gutpunch of nostalgia in a positive way. I wanted to read these books with new eyes and a fresh perspective and see if they held up! And this one, most positively of all my re-reads so far, hugged my heart fiercely.

Time Stops for No Mouse is the first Hermux Tantamoq adventure out of four (far too few, in my opinion!). Hermux, a plucky watchmaker from Pinchester, accidentally stumbles into an evil plot involving an attractive-but-missing aviatrix, a terrifying cosmetics tycoon, hideous modern art, dreadful machinery, disguises, and a short and strange stay at a wellness center. It's an absolutely solid mystery with fantastic, distinct characters, high stakes and clever humor that will appeal to readers of all ages.

I suppose some here reacted negatively to the rather "cute" tone of these books, the names specifically. I actually LOVE the writing. I love the names and the flavor and the cozy undertones. I love the detailed descriptions of the mundane - it's often in these details that the author is his most amusing. Side note: I actually bought apples and cheese at the grocery store after reading about Hermux's delightful snacks. Where can I find some honey fizz?

For such an apparently superficial novel, this book packs some incredibly touching, emotional moments between its pages. I specifically remember being traumatized by a chapter in which Hermux discovers that his pet ladybug, Terfle, is missing. It broke my heart at 12, and it broke my heart again this time. And the ending - well, let's just say it's happy in some deeply meaningful ways. Happy in a way that will, honestly, stick with me for a long time.

But enough about the deep stuff. This book is just plain FUN! And I can't help but note how perfectly put together it is visually - the font is perfect, and each chapter has an amusing, clean clip art picture placed under its title (however: a chapter called "Get the Picture," notably, does not). There are tons of treats between these lines to discover and smile at, and I actually can't wait to re-read the sequel, and maybe this one again, in a weird never-ending cycle because the world is hard right now.

Time Stops for No Mouse on: Amazon | Goodreads