House of Many Ways

House of Many Ways is the second sequel to Diana Wynne Jones's novel Howl's Moving Castle.

It is set a couple of years after its predecessor. Again, a new protagonist is introduced as the book follows the story of Charmain, a sheltered bookworm who is assigned to caretake a cottage for her Great Uncle (who is also the Royal Wizard) but soon discovers the cottage is a magical labyrinth in disguise. The cast of the first book are given more involved roles than their cameo appearances in Castle in the Air, but still stay secondary to Charmain's plot.

See Howl's Castle for the list of tropes common to all of the books in this franchise.

""Yes, but I want to help you with the books!""
 * Bizarrchitecture: Wizard Norland's house.
 * Body Horror: In the description of how lubbocks reproduce. They normally tear up a human being and eat them for food, however in breeding season, they lay their eggs inside someone. After twelve months — the delay makes the process more horrifying as hosts think they are safe — they claw their way outside of their human hosts. Females give birth to them, like they give birth to children, and males straight up die. What's more horrifying is that the offspring lubbockin is very easy to mistake for a human, and one can have a child with the offspring.
 * Bookworm: Charmain and Princess Hilda.


 * Deliberately Cute Child: Twinkle, who.
 * Exactly What it Says on the Tin: The spells in Great-Uncle William's The Boke of Palimpsest (yes, it's spelt Boke), with things like "A Spell to Start a Fire" and "A Spell to Become Invisible".
 * Exact Words: Charmain's letter she writes to the Royal Library, applying for a position of being an assistant. She says she is of age, which should be interpreted as someone being over twenty-one or at least eighteen, but Charmain has never specified what age she is of. She also left out the fact that she has no qualifications.
 * Charmain told the kobolds to not cut down Great-Uncle William's flower bushes, so they cut down the flowers growing from the bushes instead. Why? Because they believe that the only valid colour for flowers is blue.
 * Exclusively Evil: Lubbocks and lubbockin.
 * Face Full of Alien Wingwong: How lubbocks reproduce. If you're male, then you'll have the mercy of dying. If you're female... *shivers*
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture: High Norland, in which House of Many Ways is set, is quite Switzerland-like--with the rolling, snowy mountains and meadows, the cuckoo clocks/sleds, tiny impish creatures, and all.
 * Gambit Pileup: Reading the last chapter, it's amazing how, and how everything connected so well.
 * The Illegible: Howl's handwriting is frankly horrible -- Charmain wonders to herself if he uses a pen or a poker when he's writing.
 * Large Ham: Howl, and Melicot.
 * Lethal Chef: Peter is a terrible cook. Charmain gets so desperate, she asks her father, a baker, for a cookbook for him.
 * She is an even worse cook and still likes his food better than her own. She didn't even know how to cook.
 * Little People: The kobolds such as Rollo. "Charmain flinched away and nearly screamed again when the hydrangeas bent aside to let a small blue man hop out onto the path. "Are you in charge here now?" this small blue person demanded in a small hoarse voice"


 * MacGuffin Girl:
 * Mama Bear: Sophie. Do NOT harm Morgan Jenkins if you know what's good for you. Howl also has a Papa Wolf moment when  threatens Morgan, leading Howl to punch him in the face. Twice.
 * Our Elves Are Better: House Of Many Ways has a few brief appearances of elves of the "very tall, very beautiful" variety. They're also the best doctors! So although they're aloof, they aren't entirely stuck-up.
 * Portal to the Past: Among the house's many ways.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: The King of High Norland. Not only is he willing to listen to Charmain and consider her opinions, but he respects her and is thankful to her for offering to help him in the library. Plus, he's just a generally good person.
 * Redheaded Hero: Charmain.
 * Samus Is a Girl: Waif the dog is originally thought to be male. Notable in that the third person omniscient narrator also makes the mistake until Peter points out that Waif is female.
 * Not a mistake. Waif pulled a Gender Bender after meeting (and effectively imprinting upon) Charmain.
 * Stable Time Loop: So, Wizard Norland specifically wants Charmain to watch his house because
 * Spell Book: Great-Uncle William's The Boke of Palimpsest, containing instructions and ingredients needed to cast various spells. The book is Charmain's first introduction to magic.
 * Trash of the Titans: Just like Howl's castle from the first instalment, Great-Uncle William's house is absolutely messy, with dishes piled high in the kitchen, and a squalid bedroom. Charmain dumping her stuff when she arrived does not help.
 * The X of Y: In universe, with the book Memoirs of an Exorcist, which Charmain stumbles upon while finding a book to read.