Of course what do I have except glowing praise for a nostalgic, childhood favourite?

This book is so effortlessly humorous and charming. It had me cackling out loud so many times. Miyazaki's movie adaption is equally brilliant in its own way, but the characters in the original book are so much messier, meaner and chaotic, and all the more endearing and funny for it. Howl & Sophie's endless bickering and bantering makes you root for them all the more. Howl is so charmingly pathetic and ridiculous (in a babygirl way) & Sophie's blistering self-deprecation and deprecation-of-Howl makes her so complex and funny.

The plot can be really, really chaotic. New characters and plot points run in and off the pages constantly without so much as a "how do you do." Somehow, the chaos works and creates the most magical hodge podge, just like the moving castle itself. I love that the book just throws you into its magical fantasy setting (and also throws at you the hilarious plot pipe bomb that is modern Earth casually existing alongside it, and Howl's decidedly ordinary origin as a mediocre university rugby player with too many useless degrees) and just keeps marching onwards. The book's just like, well duh magic is real and lives in all of us and in every setting -- now it’s up to you if can you keep up with it or not.