House of many ways

Ever gotten lost in a house? You will be if you went to live in a wizard's house that has many ways. Charmain loves to read and hopes to enjoy her summer reading more and more books. She also wrote a letter to the King to offer her help to sort out his library. She was expecting to have a fun summer but her Aunt Sempronia signed her up for a small task which is to look after Great Uncle William's house while he is away. The reason for him being away was he is sick and the elves took him away to heal him up. Great Uncle William is the Royal Wizard Norland and what's special about his house is that it bends space and time. One door can lead to different rooms.

As Charmain got there she wasn't given any instructions and she arrived just to see Uncle William getting carried away by the elves. Luckily the wizard prepared for a stay and there is a voice who answers to her questions such as How to get food, where is the bedroom and such. Uncle William's voice will be there to answer her questions to help guide her around. Certainly when she got lost in the house she would just ask and get the directions. In the house lives a magical dog and which became attached to her and along came a young boy Peter who was suppose to be the apprentice of the Royal Wizard. 

It seems like a disaster where they had many troubles in the house. Charmain also manage to get an offer from the King to help sort out the library. At the same time, the princess of Norland seeks Sophie's help in searching for the missing gold of the royal family. Sorting the documents, letters and books in the library helps the King find a clue in the missing gold. Uncle William also left a bag for Charmain which contains directions and instructions on moving around in the House. 

Somehow or rather Charmain is involved in helping to find the missing gold along with Sophie and family's help. The truth about the gold and the relatives of the Royal family is also revealed. Howl has also transformed himself to hide his true self for the investigation.

House of many ways by Diana Wynne Jones sure has many ways just to get to the bedroom in a small little house. This sequel to Howl's moving castle isn't as exciting as Castle in the Air where there was many roadblocks for Abdullah. This book had more of what happened inside the house and a bit on Sophie's family involving in searching for the missing gold and resulted to an ending that you can quite expect it to be. Throughout the book you read up on Charmain and Peter on how they manage in the house. How they did things and how they discover routes in the house which connects them to certain places. I think this story is just fine in the adventure department because not everything that happens is exciting. But when it comes to the last few chapters it gets a bit more interesting. Definitely not her finest work but good enough for me to finish the book as I wanted to know how Howl and Sophie is involved. I really hoped the writer would have sequel on the couple itself as they both have interesting personalities and also magical abilities. My favourite is still Howl's moving castle.