House of Many Ways

Another introduction...  I'm also a member of the YLG national committee and will be contributing to this blog.  I'm Vicky Jewitt and I'm based in the north east.

Currently, I've just finished House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones, so I thought that was a reasonable book to start with as there are few children's authors I enjoy more, which tells you a little about me at any rate.  (So a completely unbiased review this once. )

House of Many Ways is a second sequel to Howl's Moving Castle and a much more satisfactory one than Castle in the Air, IMO.  Both Sophie and the wizard Howl make a more significant appearance (Howl being very characteristically himself and not himself) and there's a properly twisty plot and it's all good fun.  (Not as good as Howl's Moving Castle, but then that would be a tall order.) 

 I'm a little bit tied without giving away plot spoilers for either Howl or House, but Charmain, a rather anti-social bookworm is sent to house-sit for her wizardly great-uncle, whose house, as it turns out, is as unusual in its own way as Howl's castle.  Plus, there's Waif, the dog who always gets her own way, an unwanted (and not very good) apprentice, trouble with the Kobold gardener and mountains of laundry.  Needless to say, Charmain has to untangle it all, save the kingdom, and in doing so uncover her own destiny (as well as finally get the washing done).

 The cover's disappointing, though.  They've done some really lovely work on brightening up the covers of her reissued titles and this one, while it's quite clever when you look at it after you've read the book, I always thought a cover was there to get you to read it in the first place.