I have to say I prefered the film, it was a lot more cohesive and had a better flow and sense of magic. To me, the book felt a lot like a dream which had been written into book form, which isn’t a particularly good thing- A lot of stuff didn’t feel like it had any real purpose or place, felt like it was just “there” The whole Wales thing, for instance, was not missed when left out of the film. I have to say that definitely, had I read the book first I would not have watched the anime, which would have been a waste as it’s one of my favourite movies ever.

Like a previous reviewer, I found it hard to keep track of which “she/he” referred to which “she/he” in conversations and often found myself actually having to count backward through the remarks until I found a name. Plus the ending was slightly ridiculous (SPOILER) the whole “everyone laughs and holds hands” thing was ridiculous, there was no sense of a building romance until suddenly at the end they’re all “LET’S GET MARRIED OMG!” the movie handled this much better.(END OF SPOILERS)

While I’m happy this book spawned such an awesome film (and apparently inspired Neil Gaiman for Stardust, another plus), I doubt I’ll read anything else by her- sorry, it was just ok.