“Abdullah was forced to admit that the carpet did appear to be up in the air without any means of support that he could find. “Very nearly,” he shouted back. “The next part of the demonstration is for you to dismount and for me to ride that carpet.'”

Abdullah is a carpet seller and dreams of castles in the air and princesses. But when he accidentally stumbles on a magic carpet he indeed meets a lovely princess, Flower in the Night. He falls head over heels for this princess, but then she’s kidnapped and Abdullah is convinced he can rescue her.

Castle in the Air is the sequel in the Howls Moving Castle series. When I started the book and read about a completely new main character instead of Sophie and Howl, I did wonder if this wasn’t more a sort of companion book. But Abdullah did conquer my heart, as hè is funny, smart and heroic. However, he resembled much of the Aladdin stereotypical characteristics, like flying carpets, genie in a bottle, bandits, djinns and animal, in this case a huge cat, companionship. I needed a moment, though, to adjust a little to the new narrator style in this book. But after a while I could appreciate it more as it gave the book a new and unique feel. Besides, it had amazing plot twists and nice surprises. In short, Castle in the Air was a magical and whimsical story about friendship, love and betrayal which makes you curious for more.