Character Analysis
Neil is Howl's teenage nephew. Like his little sister, Mari, he seems to share a bond with Howl, though he is initially pretty rude and unpleasant when Howl stops by to ask him about his English teacher's poetry assignment.
Howl gives Neil a magic video game in exchange for his information about Miss Angorian:
Inside, Neil was reading aloud. "You are in an enchanted castle with four doors. Each opens on a different dimension. In Dimension One the castle is moving constantly and may arrive at a hazard at any time […]." (11.42)
We're pointing this out because we wanted to mention that Jones's wording of this passage reflects classic 80s roleplaying games.
Remember how this book was published in 1986? Some of us are lucky enough to have older siblings who spent a lot of time in the eighties playing games that addressed their users as you and described the setting of the game's action in exactly these kinds of ways. For comparison, check out this flash version of the classic text game Zork. Clearly Jones knows her nerd culture well.