They're quite careful to reassure you that this is a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle on the cover and in the blurb, probably because you spend a good half to three quarters of the book wondering what the connection is. Then by the end, of course, you realise that it's been connected from the start, in the classic manner of fairy tales and Arabian Nights as executed by Diana Wynne Jones, and it all makes sense.

So Abdullah, who deals carpets, buys a flying carpet which transports him, when he sleeps, to a garden containing a beautiful young woman. They fall and love and vow to elope, but the young woman is carried off by a ferocious djinn and Abdullah gets the blame. With only the carpet and a very cranky and unhelpful genie, he must find her and rescue her, but only if he can work out what the heck is going on.

This is funny and clever and light and a pure joy from start to finish. I loved the ending, which included thirty angry princesses charging a djinn, and a series of unlikely and improbably revelations one after the other, each seemingly dafter and more contrived than the last, but such is Jones' skill and flair, they all make absolute sense and work perfectly within the logic of the story. This is the kind of fun, bravura storytelling Jones specialised in, and which we all miss. well done, o sublime and sceptred storyteller, may angels spread emeralds on your heavenly typewriter!