If you’re a big fan of Studio Ghibli’s animated movie Howl’s Moving Castle, you may be interested in adding a gorgeous new edition of the novel it’s based on to your bookshelf. Diana Wynne Jones’ beloved 1986 fantasy novel will be reissued in hardcover on September 9. Howl’s Moving Castle Deluxe Limited Edition is available to preorder at Amazon for $23.24 (was $25). Fans can also preorder a new paperback box set containing the entire World of Howl Trilogy for only $32.
The Deluxe Limited Edition and World of Howl Box Set would look great displayed next to the Steelbook Edition of Howl’s Moving Castle. The 2004 adaptation written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki strays considerably from the source material, but both the film and novel are magical in their own ways.
Howl’s Moving Castle Deluxe Limited Edition (Hardcover)
$23.24 (was $25) | Releases September 9
The Deluxe Limited Edition of Howl’s Moving Castle features beautiful new jacket art, full-color endpapers by artist Devin Elle Kurtz, black-and-white illustrations throughout the novel, and more premium flourishes. The publisher recreated a starry night sky by digitally printing the blue page edges. Bright white streaks resemble shooting stars.
If you remove the dust jacket, you’ll find gold foil-stamped text and shooting star graphics on the front/back covers and spine. The front cover features a well-known line from the novel: “Howl’s quite heartless, you know.”
As this is a limited-edition release, Howl’s Moving Castle fans may want to preorder their copy of the new 352-page hardcover soon. The $25 list price is lower than many standard hardcover fiction releases.
If you’ve never read the novel, Howl’s Moving Castle follows Sophie Hatter after she accidentally attracts the attention of the Witch of the Waste. Transformed into an old woman, Sophie’s only chance at breaking her curse lies within the Wizard Howl’s castle, a mobile base ruled by an infamous heartbreaker who is tormented by dark secrets from his past.
World of Howl Trilogy Box Set (Paperback)
$32 | Releases October 7
Just a few weeks after the Deluxe Limited Edition’s release, Greenwillow Books is publishing Diana Wynne Jones’ complete trilogy as a paperback box set.
Howl’s Moving Castle is the first book in the World of Howl Trilogy. It was followed up by Castle in the Air in 1990 and House of Many Ways in 2008. All three books are standalone stories with different protagonists, but Howl appears in both of the follow-ups, so you should definitely read Howl’s Moving Castle first.
Castle in the Air follows unsuccessful carpet salesman Abdullah as he daydreams about a more adventurous life. House of Many Ways focuses on Charmain Baker as she explores a family home that can bend time and space.
All three novels are also available individually in paperback, and standard edition hardcovers with durable library bindings of the first two books are in print, too.
World of Howl Series:
Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle on Blu-ray
As mentioned, the 2004 Studio Ghibli film deviated quite a bit from the book, as it featured a different aesthetic, certain characters stuck around for much longer, and even the dynamic between Sophie and Howl plays out in an unconventional way.
