Diana Wynne Jones

House of Many Ways - Folio Society Edition

Celeste Richardson

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I adore Howl’s Moving Castle, and decided for years to treat it as a standalone, for fear that no other installment would measure up. But then I read Castle in the Air, and was delighted to find that it was just as charmingly whimsical as the story that spawned it. So I went into House of Many Ways with understandably high hopes. Unfortunately, the trilogy ended on a bit of a low note. While this book wasn’t bad in any sense of the word, it simply didn’t live up to its predecessors. 

I think my disappointment is in large part due to the fact that House of Many Waysdidn’t have a likable protagonist. While Charmaine Baker did grow throughout the course of the novel, she started out a bit insufferable and never found her way all the way out of it. She starts off spoiled, coddled, and lazy, never mind willfully ignorant when it comes to tasks she finds distasteful, and those traits are still definitely present by the story’s end. And our main side character, Peter, wasn’t much more likable. He had some work ethic, yes, but he was a world-class bumbler who never seemed to learn from his mistakes. Even the returning characters I love so much were irksome on occasion. My favorite character in the entire book was Waif. Who is a dog. And not even a talking one. 

On paper, the idea behind the House of Many Ways itself was a fun one. However, it didn’t quite hold up in comparison to the Moving Castle that I’ve so grown to love. The House was meant to be confusing and unknowably vast, but sadly it also came across as vague in its construction. There’s something very concrete about Howl’s Castle, even though it’s mysterious and fantastical. The House of Many Ways didn’t share that trait, feeling unfortunately ephemeral and thus impossible to love as fully as the Castle. There were some wonderfully charming magical elements, but it ultimately felt two-dimensional next to the Castle.

While I wasn’t as enraptured by House of Many Ways as I had hoped I would be, I still loved Jones’s writing style and world building. There’s just something utterly delightful about her work, even when I have complaints. This series is one I would without hesitation press into the hands of any child who loves whimsy and is delighted by the fantastical. Or any adult who loves the same, and still has a soft spot for more innocent stories like are typically found in middle grade works. This final book might’ve been a bit of a let down in comparison to the first two in the trilogy, but it was still a fun story that I didn’t at all regret reading.

House of Many Ways - Folio Society Edition

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