Castle in the Air (Howl's Castle Series #2)

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Castle in the Air (Howl's Castle Series #2) Pub. Date: 4/28/1991 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

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Castle in the Air (Howl's Castle Series #2) (NEW GREENW) Pub. Date: 8/28/2001 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

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Overview

Young merchant Abdullah leads a humble life. Or he did until a stranger sold him a threadbare—and disagreeable—magic carpet. Now Abdullah is caught in the middle of his grand daydreams. Waking one night in a luxurious garden, he meets and falls instantly in love with the beautiful and clever Flower-in-the-Night. But a wicked djinn sweeps the princess away right before Abdullah's eyes, leaving the young man no choice but to follow. This is no ordinary quest, however, for Flower-in-the-Night isn't all the djinn has stolen. Abdullah will have the so-called help of the cantankerous carpet, a cranky genie in a bottle, a dishonest soldier, and a very opinionated black cat. Will this motley crew be able to find the djinn's mysterious dwelling and rescue a castle full of princesses?

Having long indulged himself in daydreams more exciting than his mundane life as a carpet merchant, Abdullah unexpectedly purchases a magic carpet and his life changes dramatically as his daydreams come true and dangerous adventures become daily fare.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Abdullah the rug merchant leaves his humdrum life far behind when he purchases a threadbare magic carpet from a mysterious stranger. Almost immediately, Abdullah is whisked off on a series of adventures that bear an uncanny resemblance to his own daydreams. He meets the love of his life only to have her kidnapped by a fierce djinn. With the help of the magic carpet--and an ornery genie--Abdullah sets out to rescue his bride-to-be. His travels take him to the fairy tale land of Ingary, the setting of this novel's predecessor, Howl's Moving Castle. As usual, Jones has constructed a wonderfully complicated plot, chock-full of magical mayhem. However, while her other interconnected novels ( Charmed Life , The Magicians of Caprona and The Lives of Christopher Chant ) can be read on their own, the final third of Abdullah's story is likely to confuse readers not already acquainted with the characters introduced in the first book. Those familiar with Ingary will welcome the chance to return and catch up on the doings of its exuberant inhabitants. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)

Children's Literature

Although called a companion book to Howl's Moving Castle, this story is more rightfully a flight of fancy inspired by The Arabian Nights. Abdullah, the likeable young hero, is a rug merchant, a spinner of extravagant words, and a dreamer who finds himself in possession of a magic carpet capable of fulfilling his wildest fantasies to a point. The always on-the-cusp desire-fulfillment is the point of Wynne-Jones' teasing fable. Constantly pressed and stretched, Abdullah is given the opportunity to grow into the sort of hero who finally deserves his excellent destiny. The cast of characters includes good/bad djinns, a sardonic cat-loving mercenary soldier, a wish-subverting genie, a truly frowzy dog and, of course, Abdullah's princess, Flower-in-the-Night. Wynne-Jones takes evident delight in playing the puppet master tugging all the strings of her story till they finally manage to include not only her Sophie and Howl, but also their stolen castle. The end result is a charming, fluffy romance surely capable of prolonging the life of the unnamed Scheherazade narrating the tale. Reviewer: Kathleen Karr

More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up-- In this sequel to Howl's Moving Castle (Greenwillow, 1986), Jones once again exercises her talent for humor in a lively fantasy adventure. It is not necessary to read Howl first; the story stands strongly on its own. In fact, fans of Jones' earlier book may be puzzled at first as to what the connection could be . . . until they glimpse hovering on the horizon a castlelike cloud . . . or is it a cloudlike castle? At any rate, the story begins as Abdullah, a humble carpet merchant in the marketplace of Zanzib, acquires a flying carpet and lands in the midst of a series of fantastic adventures. The cast of characters includes an evil djinn, beautiful princesses, a genie in a bottle, women-turned-cats, and soldiers-turned-frogs. This is the Arabian Nights with a twist. Readers may be breathless from the rapid changes of scene and quick pace of events, but they won't put down the book until they figure out all its secrets. --Ruth S. Vose, San Francisco Public Library

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780064473453
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 8/28/2001
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 304
Sales rank: 52,804
Age range: 10 - 14 Years
Lexile: 0890L (what's this?)
Series: Howl's Castle Series , #2
Product dimensions: 4.18 (w) x 6.75 (h) x 0.76 (d)

Meet the Author

In a career spanning four decades, award-winning author Diana Wynne Jones wrote more than forty books of fantasy for young readers. Characterized by magic, multiple universes, witches and wizards—and a charismatic nine-lived enchanter—her books were filled with unlimited imagination, dazzling plots, and an effervescent sense of humor that earned her legendary status in the world of fantasy. From the very beginning, Diana Wynne Jones’s books garnered literary accolades: her novel Dogsbody was a runner-up for the 1975 Carnegie Medal, and Charmed Life won the esteemed Guardian children’s fiction prize in 1977. Since then, in addition to being translated into more than twenty languages, her books have earned a wide array of honors—including two Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honors—and appeared on countless best-of-the-year lists.

Her work also found commercial success: In 1992 the BBC adapted her novel Archer’s Goon into a six-part miniseries, and her bestselling Howl’s Moving Castle was made into an animated film by Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki in 2004. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 2006, and became one of the most financially successful Japanese films in history.

Diana Wynne Jones has also been honored with many prestigious awards for the body of her work. She was given the British Fantasy Society’s Karl Edward Wagner Award in 1999 for having made a significant impact on fantasy, received a D.Lit from Bristol University in 2006, and won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Fantasy Convention in 2007.

Born just outside London in 1934, Diana Wynne Jones had a childhood that was “very vivid and often very distressing”—one that became the fertile ground where her tremendous imagination took root. When the raids of World War II reached London in 1939, the five-year-old girl and her two younger sisters were torn from their suburban life and sent to Wales to live with their grandparents. This was to be the first of many migrations, one of which brought her family to Lane Head, a large manor in the author-populated Lake District and former residence of John Ruskin’s secretary, W.G . Collingwood. This time marked an important moment in Diana Wynne Jones’s life, where her writing ambitions were magnified by, in her own words, “early marginal contacts with the Great.” She confesses to having “offending Arthur Ransome by making a noise on the shore beside his houseboat,” erasing a stack of drawings by the late Ruskin himself in order to reuse the paper, and causing Beatrix Potter (who also lived nearby) to complain about her and her sister’s behavior. “It struck me,” Jones said, “that the Great were remarkably touchy and unpleasant, and I thought I would like to be the same, without the unpleasantness.” Prompted by her penny-pinching father’s refusal to buy the children any books, Diana Wynne Jones wrote her first novel at age twelve and entertained her sisters with readings of her stories. Those early stories—and much of her future work—were inspired by a limited but crucial foundation of classics: Malory’s Morte D’Arthur, The Arabian Nights, and Epics and Romances of the Middle Ages.

Fantasy was Jones’s passion from the start, despite receiving little support from her often neglectful parents. This passion was fueled further during her tenure at St. Anne’s College in Oxford, where lectures by J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis increased her fascination with myth and legend. She married Medievalist John Burrow in 1956; the couple have three sons and six grandchildren.

After a decade of rejections, Diana Wynne Jones’s first novel, Changeover, was published in 1970. In 1973, she joined forces with her lifelong literary agent, Laura Cecil, and in the four decades to follow, Diana Wynne Jones wrote prodigiously, sometimes completing three titles in a single year. Along the way she gained a fiercely loyal following; many of her admirers became successful authors themselves, including Newbery Award winners Robin McKinley and Neil Gaiman, and Newbery Honor Book author Megan Whalen Turner. A conference dedicated solely to her work was held at the University of West England, Bristol, in 2009. Diana Wynne Jones continued to write during her battle with lung cancer, which ultimately took her life in March 2011. Her last book, Earwig and the Witch, was published by Greenwillow Books in 2012.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

In which Abdulla buys a carpet

Far to the south of the land of Ingary, in the Sultanates of Rashpuht, a young carpet merchant called Abdullah lived in the city of Zanzib. As merchants go, he was not rich. His father had been disappointed in him, and when he died, he had only left Abdullah Just enough money to buy and stock a modest booth in the northwest corner of the Bazaar. The rest of his father's money, and the large carpet emporium in the center of the Bazaar, had all gone to the relatives of his father's first wife.

Abdullah had never been told why his father was disappointed in him. A prophecy made at Abdullah's birth had something to do with it. But Abdullah had never bothered to find out more. Instead, from a very early age, he had simply made up daydreams about it. In his daydreams, he was really the long-lost son of a great prince, which meant, of course, that his father was not really his father. It was a complete castle in the air, and Abdullah knew it was, Everyone told him he inherited his father's looks. When he looked in a mirror, he saw a decidedly handsome young man, in a thin, hawk-faced way, and knew he looked very like the portrait of his father as a young man, always allowing for the fact that his father wore a flourishing mustache, whereas Abdullah was still scraping together the six hairs on his upper lip and hoping they would multiply soon.

Unfortunately, as everyone also agreed, Abdullah had inherited his character from his mother-his father's second wife-who had been a dreamy and timorous woman and a great disappointment to everyone. This did not bother Abdullah particularly. The life ofa carpet merchant holds few opportunities for, bravery, and he was, on the whole, content with it. The booth he had bought, though small, turned out to be rather well placed. It was not far from the West Quarter, where the rich people lived in their big houses surrounded by beautiful gardens. Better still, it was the first part of the Bazaar the carpet makers came to when they came into Zanzib from the desert to the north. Both the rich people and the carpet makers were usually seeking the bigger shops in the center of the Bazaar, but a surprisingly large number of them were ready to pause at the booth of a young carpet merchant when that young merchant rushed out into their paths and offered them bargains and discounts with most profuse politeness.

In this way, Abdullah was quite often able to buy best-quality carpets before anyone else saw them, and sell them at a profit, too. In between buying and selling he could sit in his booth and continue with his daydream, which suited him very well. In fact, almost the only trouble in his life came from his father's first wife'srelations, who would keep visitinghim once a month in order to point out his failings.

"But you're not saving any of your profits!" cried Abdullah's father's first wife's brother's son, Hakim (whom Abdullah detested), one fateful day,

Abdullah explained that when he made a profit, his custom was to use that money to buy a better carpet. Thus, although all his money was bound up in his stock, it was getting to be better and better stock. He had enough to live on. And as he told his father's relatives, he had no need of more since he was not married.

"Well, you should be married!" cried Abdullah's father's first wife's sister, Fatima (whom Abdullah detested even more than Hakim). "I've said it once, and I'll say it again -- a young man like you should have at least two wives by now!" And not content with simply saying so, Fatima declared that this time she was going to look out for some wives for him-an offer which made Abdullah shake in his shoes.

"And the more valuable your stock gets, the more likely you are to be robbed, or the more you'll lose if your booth catches fire. Have you thought of that?"nagged Abdullah's father's first wife's uncle's son, Assif (a man whom Abdullah hated more than the first two put together).

He assured Assif that he always slept in the booth and was very careful of the lamps. At that all three of his father's first wife's relatives shook their heads, tut-tutted, and went away. This usually meant they would leave him in peace for another month. Abdullah sighed with relief and plunged straight back into his daydream.

The daydream was enormously detailed by now. In it, Abdullah was the son of a mighty prince who lived so far to the east that his country was unknown in Zanzib. But Abdullah had been kidnapped at the age of two by a villainous bandit called Kabul Aqba. Kabul Aqba had a hooked nose like the beak of a vulture and wore a gold ring clipped into one of his nostrils. He carried a pistol with a silver-mounted stock with which he menaced Abdullah, and there was a bloodstone in his turban which seemed to give him more than human power. Abdullah was so frightened that he ran away into the desert, where he was found by the man he called his father now. The daydream took no account of the fact that Abduffah's father had never ventured into the desert in his life; indeed, he had often said that anyone who ventured beyond Zanzib must be mad. Nevertheless, Abdullah could

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JoriWinter

Posted July 20, 2010

Up to Par

Many of the other reviewers seem to have discovered Diana Wynne Jones only after watching the animated version of Howl's Moving Castle, prompting complaints about this being insufficient sequel material.

Well, if you are a fan of her work, you should know that her sequels are not the sequels of other authors- they fall into the same universe, and cameos of previous characters appear, but it's hardly a chronological storyline. Each new book focuses on new main characters with elements of the old. Consider it as similar to the Discworld series, or Kushner's Swordspoint.

As for the book itself, you follow along the not-quite-intrepid carpet-selling hero as he escapes death, bandits, and the sultan, and finds himself caught up in an international struggle to save all the world's princesses from an evil djinn. Meanwhile, he's obsessed with marrying his own princess, the sultan's daughter. She starts out sheltered but beautiful, but along the way both manage just enough character development that you are glad to see their happy ending, which is- again- exactly DWJ's style.

Bonus: daydreams can be embarrassing, cats are evil but cute, and the main character develops taste.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted April 4, 2006

This is ALMOST as good as the first!

It was fantastic! I love they ending, it is very suprising. I read it in TWO DAYS!! I wonder what will happen next? I really want a third book to add! Go Diana Wynne Jones!!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted May 6, 2009

I Also Recommend:

Not as Good...

While Castle in the Air is a good book I can't help but feel that Howl's Moving Castle is the best of the three novels. I only wish she would write a sequel focused only on Sophie and Howl.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Ashlbee

Posted April 27, 2009

more from this reviewer

I Also Recommend:

Castle in the Air is a very unique book in and of itself, and even more so as a sequel.

What other author would first take you through a war with wizards, witches, and a medieval setting, then whisk you away to a land of deserts and sands where cranky sultans and magic carpets are the norm? And further more, what other author could get away with it?

This book is certainly unique. You must approach it with an open mind because if you are looking for a direct sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, then you may be disappointed. While they do tie into each other, it is not until much later in the novel and very little.

As s reader I do not enjoy Jone's particular writing style, however I do appreciate it for it's difference and the creativity with which she crafts her plots and stories. Her books are very much event stories. If you enjoy reading a book purely for the events and adventures that take place, you will thoroughly enjoy this! If, however, you are like me and like lots of character development, you may be unhappy.

Overall this book is very entertaining, humorous, and completely unbelievable in the most whimsical and enjoyable way!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted July 20, 2006

Utterly Disappointing

To be honest I trully believed that this book was dull and was hardly a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. How these two books can co-exist seems highly unlikely. The first book was marvelous and full of great characters with believable drama and spirit. In this sequel, I was left wondering why it was published as a sequel and not an entirely seperate book. Since it was a sequel it failed to meet the standards placed so high by Howl's Moving Castle yet, as a book on its own it would not be rated so low by me, for in truth it was an interesting story (just not as a sequel).

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted August 29, 2006

shouldn't even be considered a sequel

ok so i loved Howl's Moving Castle, but Castle in the Air should not even be considered a sequel.....it nowhere near earns the right to be called so .... i mean come on, if it was going to be a sequel the main characters would be main characters again.....not supporting characters......this book was an utter disappointment for Howl lovers.......it was a good story though thats why i gave it 3 instead of 2 stars......but i was expecting a sequel where it started where HMC left off not a whole new story......but i would have to say if you wanted to find out what happened go ahead and read the book 'cause it is a good story....just not sequel material

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted October 2, 2000

A 7th graders own thoughts

I thought that this book, was a great, and adventurous story. If you like fantasy, you will absolutely love this book. It wisks you away to a land of magic carpets, genies, and princesses. It is a love story too, what with Abdullah searching for lost love, Flower In the Night. So, I would absolutely recommend this book, for any child or adult who is willing to read it!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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jamespotterwasntaseeker

Posted April 13, 2012

A fun read

It was an interesting book. I would definitely read it again.
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MissPrint

Posted February 27, 2012

more from this reviewer

filled with charming twists and enjoyable characters throughout

"Castle in the Air" is Diana Wynne Jones' sequel to her amazingly awesome novel "Howl's Moving Castle." It was originally published in 1990 (four years after "Howl's Moving Castle"). At first glance, this novel doesn't sound like a sequel--it sounds more like a companion book at best--but I promise it does explain more about Howl and Sophie, just not right away and not, perhaps, in the most obvious way.

That said, this story is set in the Sultanates of Rashpuht a land far to the south of Ingary (where Howl and Sophie make their home). Instead of a land akin to King Arthur and Merlin, Rashpuht is much more likely to harbor Aladdin and other desert-dwellers. This change in setting, along with a new protagonist, make for the most dramatic differences between "Castle in the Air" and its predecessor.

Abdullah works as a carpet merchant in the city of Zanzib. Abdullah's stall may not be as prosperous as his father's first wife's relatives would like, but Abdullah can't stand most of them so he doesn't worry too much. What really bothers Abdullah is the fact that he's selling carpets at all. Abdullah is convinced there is more to life and spends a good deal of his time daydreaming about what his life could be like if, say, he were a prince who had escaped bandits and disguised himself as a carpet merchant before he found his true love.

All in all, the young man doesn't give his daydreams much thought until he is sold a mysterious carpet. With the carpet, Abdullah finds that all of his dreams seem to be coming true with alarming accuracy. Whisked to a magical garden, Abdullah meets and falls in love with the beautiful and intelligent Flower-in-the-Night only to have her abducted by an evil djinn. So begins Abdullah's adventure as he and his carpet set off to rescue his true love.

This being a novel by Diana Wynne Jones, the plot is filled with charming twists and enjoyable characters throughout. The other great thing about this novel is how much Jones fleshes out the world she introduced in "Howl's Moving Castle." As the novel progresses, readers learn more about the relations between Ingary, Rashpuht, and Strangia (a land that becomes important later, trust me). At the same time, Jones also creates a completely new set of customs and even a new diction for her Rashpuhtian characters which gives the novel an impressive depth.

I don't know if this was the intended effect but, even though both novels are written in English, this change in diction also creates the effect that the characters here speak a different language and that, on some level, their customs would be very foreign to those found in Ingary. One of Jones' best inventions is that buyers and sellers in Zanzib always speak to each other "in the most formal and flowery way." This habit creates a lot of conversations that function on a variety of levels much in the same way body language can add to an exchange. At the same time this type of double talk suggests that Abdullah is a shrewder narrator than Sophie might have been at the start of the novel. Abdullah doesn't always know exactly what's going on during the novel, but he always tries to make sure he comes out on top (or at least not on a forty foot pole).

On its own, "Castle in the Air" is a lot of fun as far as fantasies go. Read in combination with "Howl's Moving Castle" and "House of Many Ways" (Jones' latest novel feat
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SherlinKazi

Posted January 17, 2012

Recommended-very interesting!

Castle in the Air is an adventurous novel about a young man named Abdullah. He lives his normal life as a merchant which all changes one day when he bought a magic carpet. When he falls asleep at night the carpet leads him to where ever his dreams want. When he went to sleep the next day his carpet placed him in a land where he met a beautiful maiden named Flower-in-the-Night. At first he believes it is a dream but then he realizes it is reality. All of this seems like a dream come true for Abdullah who just wishes for a beautiful bride and a loving family but it all ends when the djinn stole his beloved Flower-in-the-Night. From there his all adventures start. From my point of view this is a great book for anyone who enjoys adventures and fantasies.
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Anonymous

Posted March 31, 2010

I Also Recommend:

One of my favorites!

I love this author, and this is definately one of my favorite books by her- and one of my favorite books ever! It had me so entertained the entire time, and I read more per day than I think I ever had! You should definately check this book out, it was amazing.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted March 9, 2009

Okay

Seriously, this is NOT a 'sequel'! I wish it really were a sequel, because I love Howl's Moving Castle. But It's more about this other guy. Though it does have familiar faces. Howl, and Sophie. And the new addition to the family! Eh, it was OK. But I would love to see a real sequel writen, about Howl, Calcifer, Sophie, and Mogan. I think Jones a an amazing writer, regardless of this OK 'sequel'.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted March 20, 2008

Amazing!

I loved the new characters that appeared alongside Howl and Sophie in this sequel. It shouldn't really be called a sequel though cause it was a whole different story. A whole different FANTASTIC story! It had a surprisingly delightful plot and kept you guessing until the very end. I could barely put it down because the continuous action made it impossible. Never a dull moment. Loved it.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted November 8, 2007

A reviewer

I loved Howl's Moving Castle and i very much loved reading the sequel. Though it was a little disappointed that the main characters were not the same the parts with Howl and Sophie were worth it.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted January 1, 2006

disappointed 'howl' lover

Although this book is a magnificent funny read, it doesn't quite match the excellence of its prequel, Howl's Moving Castle. For one thing, I was so attached to Sophie, Calcifer, Howl and Michael that I wanted to hear much more about them than I did. This wasn't as funny as the first, and for me, it didn't have the same spirit. By itself, I would have given this book 4 or 5 stars, but as a sequel, I was highly disappointed.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted July 25, 2004

A GREAT SEQUEL TO HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE!

Howl's Moving Castle was great, so I had to read the sequel. At first I thought, though it was good, it didn't really have anything to do with Howl's Moving Castle. But then it got even better when Howl, Sophie, and Calcifer came in too, better than ever! It was really exciting and would be great for fantasy lovers!
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Anonymous

Posted January 1, 2004

A breathtaking sequel!!!

I do admit that I partially picked up the novel because it was the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle,but all the same it was an amazing novel that could have held up on its own! I love the fact that I can relate to Abdullah on so many levels because he's a big daydreamer which gets him in so much trouble.At first I couldn't see how it was the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle,but towards the end it all came together.Diana Wynne Jones wrote an amazing,witty novel which deserves far more stars than I'm allowed to put!!! For anyone who's looking for a novel with humor,a flying carpet,& humor;you can't do any better than Castle in the air unless of course you prefer Howl's Moving Castle!
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Anonymous

Posted March 20, 2002

Wonderful Funny Book

This book is definetly worth reading if you like like humorous fantasy writing.
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Anonymous

Posted November 10, 2001

Castle in the Air

Abdullah is a content carpet merchant in Zanzib. The only exciting part of his life is a mysterious and fantastic daydream, which he has spent years creating. In the dream, he is really the son of a prince, not a carpet merchant, betrothed to a lovely princess at birth. He was kidnapped by a terrible bandit and left to die in the desert until the man he calls his father found him and took him home. Abdullah is quite happy daydreaming away and selling carpets, until one day he chances upon a magic carpet, which transports him to the lovely princess of his daydream! Then, unfortunately, the princess is kidnapped by a djinn, Abdullah is imprisoned, then kidnapped himself, all on a quest of adventure and courage to find his lovely Princess Flower-in-the-Night. This stunning sequel to Howl's Moving Castle won't let you put it down!
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Anonymous

Posted August 6, 2010

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Chapter One

In which Abdulla buys a carpet

Customer Reviews

Rating Distribution

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Up to Par

This is ALMOST as good as the first!

Not as Good...

Castle in the Air is a very unique book in and of itself, and even more so as a sequel.

Utterly Disappointing

shouldn't even be considered a sequel

A 7th graders own thoughts

A fun read

filled with charming twists and enjoyable characters throughout

Recommended-very interesting!

One of my favorites!

Okay

Amazing!

A reviewer

disappointed 'howl' lover

A GREAT SEQUEL TO HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE!

A breathtaking sequel!!!

Wonderful Funny Book

Castle in the Air