Castle in the Air Author: Diana Wynne Jones | Language: English | ISBN:
B008LUYXCM | Format: EPUB
Castle in the Air Description
Abdullah was a young and not very prosperous carpet dealer. His father, who had been disappointed in him, had left him only enough money to open a modest booth in the Bazaar. When he was not selling carpets, Abdullah spent his time daydreaming. In his dreams he was not the son of his father, but the long-lost son of a prince. There was also a princess who had been betrothed to him at birth. He was content with his life and his daydreams until, one day, a stranger sold him a magic carpet.
In this stunning sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones has again created a large-scale, fast-paced fantasy in which people and things are never quite what they seem. There are good and bad djinns, a genie in a bottle, wizards, witches, cats and dogs (but are they cats and dogs?), and a mysterious floating castle filled with kidnapped princesses, as well as two puzzling prophecies. The story speeds along with tantalizing twists and turns until the prophecies are fulfilled, true identities are revealed, and all is resolved in a totally satisfying, breathtaking, surprise-filled ending.
- File Size: 753 KB
- Print Length: 404 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0061478776
- Publisher: Greenwillow Books; Reprint edition (September 25, 2012)
- Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
- Language: English
- ASIN: B008LUYXCM
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,155 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
Having a favorite obscure British children's fantasy author is a bit like having a favorite obscure British band. At first, they're your own private secret. The kind of thing you try to get all your friends into. You get all their best work. You belong to their fan club. And you wonder why no else has ever been as intelligent as you are in finding them. Then, one day out of the blue, they hit it big. At first you're elated. FINALLY, the world has come around to your point of view. You feel utterly vindicated. This feeling lasts for about three days, then comes crashing down around your ankles as you come to realize that now everybody and their mother wants a piece of YOUR discovery. Such was the case with me and Diana Wynne Jones. I was perfectly content to keep a large Diana Wynne Jones section in the children's library where I work. I'd recommend her to any child who was suffering from Harry Potter withdrawl. Then "Howl's Moving Castle" was made into a film and everything changed. Now she's the hottest item since sliced bread and everyone wants a piece of her. I wouldn't be surprised if "Archer's Goon" gets turned into a mini-series and "Dogsbody" ends up animated on Saturday morning cartoons. Until that happens, however, I'll continue to read and recommend her works. "Castle In the Air" is actually the sequel to "Howl's Moving Castle", and is in many ways more readable than its predecessor. There's nothing quite as delightful as discovering a new book by your favorite author. Even if everyone else in the world thinks that author's cool too.
Abdullah leads an unremarkable life. He's one of many carpet dealers in the city of Zanzib and he does what he does rather well.
One of Diana Wynne-Jones' less impressive works, "Castle in the Air" is nevertheless a funny and entertaining read, full of memorable characters and tight plotting. A little too tight in places, but never quite becoming irritating. Mediocre Diana Wynne-Jones is still exceptional.
Abdullah is a dreamy young carpet merchant with a slew of nosy, overbearing relatives and a prophecy made at his birth; they see him as wasting his life, which is quite humble to say the least. But his fortunes change when he is sold a magic carpet by a mysterious stranger. The carpet takes him as he sleeps to a secluded garden, where a naive, beautiful young woman called Flower-in-the-Night is. Unsurprisingly, Abdullah and Flower-in-the-Night fall deeply in love. Unfortunately, her rich father wants to marry her off to a prince.
Abdullah tries to elope with Flower-in-the-Night, only to see her carried off by a hideous djinn. He ends up on the run from her father with a mercenary soldier, the flattery-hungry carpet, a malicious genie who makes every wish go wrong somehow, and a mother cat and her kitten. Soon they end up enmeshed in a bizarre tangle involving wizards, djinns, demons, genies, dogs smelling of squid, and a slew of princesses with minds of their own.
Though this is a sequel to "Howl's Moving Castle," the characters from that book take over half the book to show up. Instead, we are treated to Wynne-Jones' entertainingly skewed version of the "Arabian Nights," with the hapless and sweet-spoken Abdullah slogging to the castle. Jones manages to affectionately poke the Middle-Eastern setting and its various customs, while spinning the story outward to encompass "Howl's Moving Castle" as well.
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