3 posts tagged “fantasy”

Abdullah just can't seem to keep his head out of the clouds. Though he has his own livelihood --- buying and selling world class carpets --- he can't get enough of daydreaming. One day, a mysterious stranger sells him a magic flying carpert, and through it, Abduallah meets the lovely Flower-in-the-Night. They fall in love and plan to elope, but their plans go awry when Flower is captured by a djinn. It's now up to Abdullah to rescue his lady love --- or be killed by her beloved's angry father.

The story of CitA is quite independent of that of HMC, though towards the end of the book, you'll encounter familiar characters that were introduced before. However, knowledge of these characters and what happened to them in the previous book is not neccessary, as the events then do no affect the events here.

I found CitA less enjoyable than HMC, but found it a good read as well. I wasn't really taken by the characters of Abdullah and flower, but the other supporting characters were interesting enough. I suppose I truly began to enjoy the book once the chracters from HMC started to appear. Plus, it's rather entertaining the way they came out of their, er, hiding places. Howl, Sophie, Lettie, Wizard Suliman and Calcifer all play a role here, and the once enchanted Prince Justin will again experience magic, but this time with a more favorable ending.

I'm still highly recommending this book. It's got adventure, romance, magic, fantasy and comedy packed all together. Definitely an enjoyable read.

I was supposed to write about Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones, but as I recently purchased Howl's Moving Castle, I decided to go with that first.

I first came across Howl's Moving Castle through Hayao Miyazaki's anime adaptation. At that time, I wasn't aware of the author or that the story was really a book. I watched the movie, throughly enjoyed it and raved about it to friends and family and everyone who would care to listen. Perusing the DVD cover, I found an item that read, "Based on the book by Diana Wynne Jones."

If I were to make a list of "things that I love", anime and books would be included. Seeing that Howl's Moving Castle would, well, be technically a hybrid of both. So you can imagine my happiness in discovering my new favorite anime movie is a book. Thus began The Search for Howl's Moving Castle.

I found several othe Diana Wynne Jones books. I found the Chrestomanci Chronicles. The two Derkholm books. The Dalemark Quartet (though I didn't buy them, darn!), and Elfwood. When I found Castle in the Air in Booksale, I knew I was going to get Howl next. And I did. I finally came across the only copy in Fully Booked Gateway, as all the other stores I went to before didn't have it.

As I've seen the animation first, the images of the characters in my head looked like them, though sometimes they'd look like hazy anime characters. Especially those that didn't make an apperance in the movie, they just sort of became a somewhat realistic looking character interacting with anime characters.

I enjoyed the story of course. Diana Wynne Jones has easily become one of my favorite writers. I can see why Miyazaki wanted this book to be his, so to speak. It's fun book, with lots of magic going around that even those who know that they don't have magic do. It's also adventurous, with the handsome wizard Howl fighting for his life alongside the fire demon Calcifer against the evil Witch of the Waste. World hopping is easy as if you're just opening a door to a room (beats lining up for the MRT hehe). And the characters are people who can (well, I can at least) remind you of someone in real life.

I'd consider this my favorite DWJ book. I found the characters amusing, and the story fun. Maybe the animation helped, but I know I'll like this book even if I read it first.

We start the story with Hoyt Mac Cionaoith (read as "McKenna") facing the vampyre Lilith, after the latter has killed his twin brother Cian and turned him into a vampyre. Barely alive, Hoyt meets the goddess Morrigan, who tells him that he has to bring together six people (him included) from various times and worlds, in order to defeat Lilith and her minions. Hoyt then travels to present time New York City, and meets the witch Glenna. They then team up with Cian, two people from the world Geall --- Moira the scholar and Larkin the shapeshifter, and a Mac Cionaoith descendant, Blair, the warrior.

As with her other trilogies that have magic or the supernatural, the Circle cast is brought together by fate, often with the need to finish a task set to them by a higher, usually powerful being; or the need to immediately vanquish the evil threatening mankind. The circle plays a role here. First, bringing together six people of different beliefs, different worlds and the need to maintain a solid kinship in order to effectively fulfill their quest, completing the circle. Secondly, there is the actual Dance of the Gods, or a stongehenge, which acts as a portal in between worlds. It also serves as the only place that the vampyres cannot enter, being creatures of impure intent. The only exception to this rule is Cian, giving us the idea that somehow he's not really that changed as he thought he was.

Ms. Roberts has already done the demon hunter and time/world travelling bit with one of her shorter stories ("Worlds Apart"), and uses the same technique here. It effectively brings together the characters, and acts as a major role in the story itself.

I feel that this trilogy is different as it doesn't seem to concentrate much on the relationships. With the other trilogies, each book concentrates on the story of each pair: overcoming personal struggles, gaining each other's trust and building a future together while fulfilling the task that has been set for them. With the Circle Trilogy, specifically with the first book Morrigan's Cross, the focus mainly on the battle, with the story of Hoyt and Glenna acting as sort of a side dish. The first book gives almost equal "screen time" to all the characters, thus making the story of the pair feel a bit hurried. Books 2 (Dance of the Gods) and 3 (Valley of Silence) gives more room for the other pairs to establish their characters and their relationship with each other.

Despite that, I greatly enjoyed this trilogy. First and foremost, it's a romance story. The characters --- despite what I said earlier about development --- like most of Ms. Roberts' characters, are real and memorable. Their pairings are good, and each character is charming. Cian, for all his years as a vampyre, retains a huge part of his human-ness. Hoyt cares deeply for his brother and carries the guilt of not being there for his brother when he was turned to a vampyre. Larkin's a happy go lucky shape-shifter with a sense of humor and a huge appetite. Blair is a tough, independent chick with a soft heart, as with Moira and Glenna.

Second, it's fantasy. Magic, time travel and world hopping, mythical beasts and creatures, far off lands --- the Circle Trilogy has all that. And Ms. Roberts makes it all work effectively. It's amusing to see Blair and Glenna try to explain the modern world to Larkin and Hoyt (Moira learned it mostly by reading, taking a shine to the Internet while Larkin getting the taste for Coca-Cola), and it's also interesting to see Blair's reaction to Larkin's changing into a dragon. There's a heavy reference to Irish mythology, as Ms. Roberts is famous for. But it works, and gives us a delightful tale of adventure, with a bit of the macabre thrown in.

I wouldn't say that The Circle Trilogy is my favorite from one reading. I'll probably take me two or three more times before I would love it. It is definitely an enjoyable read, and even those who don't really read romance would find these stories entertaining.