Castle in the Air

I started reading Castle in the Air as soon as I woke up this morning, and was about done when my dad called and said my brother and I had to go mow before it rains again. Everything's been so wet here!

Anyway about the book: here's the book flap description> Far to the south of the lands of Ingary in the Sultinates of Rashpuht, there lived in the city of Zanzib a young and not very prosperous carpet dealer named Abdullah who loved to spend his time daydreaming. He was content with his life and his daydreams, until one day, a stranger sold him a magic carpet. That very night, the carpet flew him to an enchanted garden. There, he met and fell in love with the beauteous princess Flower-in-the-Night, only to have her snatched away, under his very nose, by a wicked djinn. With only his magic carpet and his wits to help him, Abdullah sets off to rescue his princess...

Now I didn't think that the book flap made this book look all that interesting, but I read it anyway cause it's the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle (which is my absolute Fave book!) and it's by Diana Wynne Jones - she hasn't let me down yet. The story actually was really good. (No surprise there!) Howl and Sophie don't show up until about half way through the book, so if your reading it for the same reason I did - be patient ! You won't recognise them for a while after you meet them anyway!

Abdullah is an interesting character, and when the sultan blames him for the disappearance of his daughter, his friend, who owns a dog and food booth next to Abdallah's carpet stall is in almost as much trouble as he is. So they both go running. Abdullah ends up out in the desert surrounded by the bandit straight out of his daydreams' men. That is when he meats the genie that helps (Even though he does his best to hinder) Abdullah in his quest.
The genie takes him to the land of Ingary (Which is where Howl and Sophie live) to find his princess. On the way he meats a soldier of the recent war between Ingary and a neighboring kingdom. This stranger finds a cat and kitten while he and Abdullah are on their way to Kingsbury to find the help of the royal wizard. When they arrive there they find one of the royal wizards, Howl has gone missing along with his castle which was stolen by a djinn. To make matters worse, the four year old princess of Inguary has also been stolen by the same djinn that took Flower-in-the-Night. Then it's time for the real action to start.