Book 2 of the Howl’s Castle series.
Though this book is the sequel to Howl‘s Moving Castle, the main character is not Sophie Hatter (she makes an appearance though). The protagonist is a handsome young carpet seller called Abdullah from Zanzib, a land far from Ingary. He spends a lot of his time day dreaming he’s a lost prince. One day a mysterious traveler bring him a threadbare carpet and claims it’s a magic carpet and it can fly. Abdullah asks for a demonstration and the carpet does fly, so after a lot of haggling, he agrees to buy the carpet. That night, he ties the carpet up so it doesn’t return to his old master.
The next night, he decides to sleep on the carpet, which is something he does with his most valuable merchandise as well. When he wakes, he finds himself in the garden of a palace, and there’s a beautiful girl there as well. The princess mistakes him for a woman because Abdullah doesn’t look like her father and she has never seen another man. After chatting for half an hour, she tells Abdullah to leave after telling him to come back the next day. Because she doesn’t believe he is a man, he promised to bring drawings of various men. He returns the following night and Flower in the Night declares her love for him and they plan to elope the following night. However, when Flower in the Night is running towards him, she’s abducted by a Djinn. Abdullah returns home and is heartbroken. The next morning the sound of the Northern Guard wakes him and he’s brought before Flower in the Night’s father, the Sultan of Zanzib. The Sultan is enraged that his daughter is missing and blames Abdullah… and he’s thrown in jail and the Sultan threatens to impale him on a 40 foot stake if Flower in the Night is not found. Thankfully, his magic carpet saves him!
He ends up in the desert and eventually ends up in Ingary. He learns that the Djinn has stolen Howl’s Moving Castle and sets out to free his beloved Flower in the Night with the help of a cat and her kitten, who turn out to be Sophie Pendragon and her baby boy Morgan.
The first time I read this book, I was confused for the first half of the book until Sophie finally appeared. Nevertheless I really enjoyed reading the book – and listening to it again today (I’ve read it as a paperback, kindle book and audiobook).
Read for the ShelfReflection Reading Challenge 2025
Prompt 19: A book with a new mom
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
