If only life felt more like a Studio Ghibli movie! Wouldn’t it be sweet if all you had to worry about was how best to befriend the giant cuddly cat-bear-thing that took up residence next to your quaint countryside home? Instead, you’ve just got taxes. While life can’t be all Miyazaki-brand fantastical all the time, these 10 fantasy books that feel like Ghibli movies will help spread some movie magic into your literary life – since I’m sure you’ve seen all of the studio’s films already.
Howl’s Moving Castle
Does the idea of a solitary sorcerer in a perambulatory palace sound like a Ghibli movie already? That’s because it already is! Diana Wynne Jones’ novel Howl’s Moving Castle was famously adapted into a Miyazaki flick of the same name – though I’m sure you already knew that. If you’re looking to relive the magic of the film in literary form, you simply must check out the source material. Young Sophie Hatter’s quest to break her old lady curse and romance a wizard in the process is rendered in splendid detail, albeit with no giant mucus covered bird transformation sequences – Mr. Miyazaki took a few liberties there. Sadly, Christian Bale never recorded an audiobook reading of the original text, so you’ll just have to imagine his hot guy delivery of Howl’s dialogue in your head.
Uprooted
Inspired by Polish folktales, Naomi Novik’s Uprooted is the story of Agnieszka, a young woman who has an uncertain relationship with both her wizard employer and the untamed natural world around her – how very Ghibli-esque! Agnieszka has been chosen to serve a cold sorcerer called Dragon in his quest to stave off the encroachment of a malevolently magical forest that threatens to swallow up human settlements. Like Nausicaa attempting to hold off the slow advance of the toxic desert in Nausicaa And The Valley of The Wind, Agnieszka must figure out a way to create an equilibrium between humankind and nature – lest a Princess Mononoke style war break out between these two opposing forces. Thankfully, her own budding magical abilities should help her accomplish the task.
The House In The Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune’s The House In The Cerulean Sea will leave you feeling as warm and fuzzy as Totoro’s bellybutton. The story centers around Linus Baker, a burnt out bureaucrat working for the Department In Charge of Magical Youth – a job that sounds far more whimsical on paper than it is in reality. Life changes for Linus when he’s sent to investigate a small orphanage for magical children at a seaside manor, along with their handsome but enigmatic adult caretaker. As Linus gets to know the children and their surrogate father, his cold caseworker heart is warmed up by the growing fires of paternal love. It’s a novel about finding your chosen family, much like those two little kids from My Neighbor Totoro found a surrogate uncle in the shape of that titular cat-bear-thing.
The Book of Lost Things
John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things is the story of a young boy who is spirited away to a dark fantasy world, where he must confront his own emotional traumas in order to heal. Gee, I wonder what Studio Ghibli film that sounds like? While processing the death of his mother, 12 year old David is taken to a decrepit kingdom through the pages of his books – where he must contend with the realm’s strange king and the mysterious, titular tome the ruler keeps close at hand. Aside from the obvious Spirited Away comparison, The Book of Lost Things feels tonally similar to the more recent The Boy And The Heron – albeit Connolly’s narrative is a bit easier to follow (I still don’t understand where all those canaries came from, Miyazaki.)
The Bear and The Nightingale
Katherine Arden’s The Bear and The Nightingale is about a young woman who walks the razor’s edge between humanity and nature – Princess Mononoke style. Young Vasilisa was born with the ability to see the spirit world, a realm that the Orthodox Church spreading throughout medieval Russia would rather keep secret. While peering through the veil, she spots a handsome frost demon who is currently going through a bit of family drama. The demon’s brother is a malevolent bear spirit that has corrupted Orthodox Church leaders in an effort to bring endless winter and death to the land, and he needs some human help to stop it. Looking for a slow burn romance between two opposites working together to maintain balance between mankind and the wild? You’ve got another option besides Princess Mononoke now.
Summer In Orcus
T. Kingfisher’s Summer In Orcus is the story of eleven year old Summer, who recently discovered that the mythical witch Baba Yaga has parked her chicken-legged house into the family’s backyard. In order to escape her overprotective mother, Summer tells the Baga Yaga her deepest wish, and is transported to the magical land of Orcus. Summer must now survive in a realm full of shape changers, talking animals, and mysterious plants with no adult supervision whatsoever. Shame, because an adult could certainly help her avoid the monster that is hunting her, and the evil queen that wants her captured. If you’re looking for the spiritual successor to Spirited Away, you’ve found it.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Patricia A. McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld gives Ghibli vibes from title alone. It’s the story of sixteen year old sorceress Sybel, who spends her days cavorting with magical creatures in her solitary mountain home. While Sybel is content to live life managing this menagerie, everything changes when a strange man brings a new creature for her to tend to: a human child. Now surrogate mother to a squalling infant, Sybel finds herself drawn into the human world that she spent her halcyon days avoiding. With human connection comes human drama, and Sybel is soon swept up into a political plot when the young child’s father returns to claim him. Sybel wants to humans to leave her and her animal friends alone, just like Princess Mononoke, but just like in Princess Mononoke the movie, the humans don’t listen.
The Tea Dragon Society
Adapted from a webcomic into a full graphic novel, Katie O’Neill’s The Tea Dragon Society is for anyone who found themselves wishing that they could spent their time hanging with the dragon from Spirited Away. This is the tale of blacksmith’s daughter Greta, who rescues a mysterious little creature seconds before it would have been devoured by hungry critters. After taking little guy home, Greta’s father tells her that the creature is called a tea dragon – and that it belongs to a tea shop owner nearby. After returning the tea dragon to the shopkeeper, he offers to teach her how to properly care for the botanical beasts. A whimsical story that will leave your heart warmer than a piping cup of chamomile.
A Pslam for the Wild Built
A Pslam For The Wild Built by Becky Chambers is a blending of science fiction and fantasy not unlike Studio Ghibli’s Castle In The Sky. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic utopia, one where a robot uprising caused the world’s machines to disappear into the woods, leaving humanity to rebuild an agrarian society on the technological ruin the robots left in their wake. Nonbinary acolyte Dex is training to become a tea monk – essentially a tea pouring therapist – but a disastrous first session with a potential client causes them to go wandering into the woods in search of existential answers. Instead, they find a robot named Mosscap, who also happens to be looking for solutions to life’s spiritual problems. If you’ve ever dreamed of hanging with the forest robots from the flying castle in the aforementioned certain Ghibli flick, A Pslam For The Wild Built will serve as the beginning of that beautiful friendship.
The Cat Who Saved Books
Sosuke Natsukawaka’s The Cat Who Saved Books tore a page straight out of Ghibli’s book to tell a tale about magical felines that could be the official sequel to Whisper of the Heart or The Cat Returns. It’s the story of young Rintaro Natsuki, a teen left alone to tend to the family bookshop after his grandfather’s recent passing. One day, the lonely lad is visited by a talking cat who pleads for his help. This cat doesn’t want kibble, or an opportunity knock delicate objects off of high countertops, no, this cat needs a companion to accompany it into a literary labyrinth – where the pair will work together to save mistreated books. If only there was a cat bus to help them navigate the twists and turns of the maze, but alas, they’ll have to make the journey on their own paws.
(Featured Image: Studio Ghibli)
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