Ella Enchanted
Gail Carson Levine
Trophy Newberry
Fiction, YA Fantasy
****
DESCRIPTION: When Ella was a baby, a well-meaning but blundering fairy gave her the gift of obedience, a gift that is more of a curse. Anything anyone tells her to do, Ella must do, whether it's going to bed early, giving away her money, or letting an ogre eat her alive. She is determined to break the curse, but she can't find the fairy who gave her the gift, and nobody else seems to know what to do about it. When her understanding mother dies and her cold father brings home a new lady, Ella's life takes a drastic turn for the worse. She must find a way to cast off the fairy's gift before it ruins her life and the lives of everyone she loves.
REVIEW: This book would have merited five stars had it not suddenly decided to be a Cinderella retelling midstream. Granted, the name was a hint that this might happen, but the story and the characters didn't need that crutch, and it only served to redirect and prolong the tale. Ella comes across as a strong and intelligent heroine, and I liked her and those in the supporting cast I was supposed to like. An entertaining tale with a great concept, but it could have - and should have - stood on its own.
You might also enjoy:
Bright Shadow (Avi, YA Fiction - A dying wizard gifts a girl with magical wishes, a gift that proves a terrible burden)
The Lost Years of Merlin (T. A. Barron, YA Fiction - The boy who will become Merlin must learn to cope with his terribly potent and unpredictable powers)
Things Not Seen (Andrew Clements, YA Fiction - Waking up one morning to discover he's become invisible, a boy quickly learns the pluses and minuses of his unusual affliction)
The Inkheart trilogy (Cornelia Funke, YA Fiction - A bookbinder can read characters into and out of stories, which proves more curse than gift)
Which Witch? (Eva Ibbotson, YA Fiction - A white witch tries to mimick the evil ways of her coven-mates to win the heart of a dark wizard)
The Lives of Christopher Chant (Diana Wynne Jones, YA Fiction - A boy enjoys being able to visit other worlds through his dreams, but hates the responsibility that comes with his gift)
Hatching Magic and The Dragon of Never-Was (Ann Downer, YA Fiction - A modern Boston girl's encounter with a medieval wizard's pet wyvern wakes her own latent powers, gifts she isn't sure she wants)
Merlin's Mistake (Robert Newman, YA Fiction - A boy seeks out the wizard to undo a botched christening gift)
The Circle of Magic quartet (Tamora Pierce, YA Fiction - Four children with elusive, potent gifts must learn to trust their magic and each other)
The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (Rick Riordan, YA Fiction - A modern boy learns that having a Greek god for a father isn't always a great thing, when monsters out of myth keep trying to kill him)
The Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling, YA Fiction - An orphaned boy learns of his magical heritage, a gift tied to a burden of prophecy)
A School for Sorcery (E. Rose Sabin, YA Fiction - A girl learns the scope and depths and dangers of her magical gifts at a special boarding school)
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Fairest
Gail Carson Levine
HarperTrophy
Fiction, YA Fantasy
****
DESCRIPTION: In the kingdom of Ayortha, two virtues are prized above all others: singing and beauty. Residents sing almost all the time, for themselves or with others, in joy and mourning and anywhere in between. The girl Aza sings with a voice like no other... but her face comes nowhere near her voice in terms of beauty. Big and pale and awkward, she nonetheless is loved by her adoptive family, the keepers of the Featherbed Inn. Though she can sing like a lark, mimic voices, and even throw her voice, many inn guests can't see past her homely face to the warm heart within. A chance invitation brings Aza to the king's court to witness the wedding of aging King Oscaro to a young commoner from another land: Ivi, whose beauty is beyond compare, but whose untrained voice, alas, is nowhere near the kingdom's standards. When the vain young queen learns of Aza's skills, she plots to use the girl to cover her own vocal weakness... but the simple deception soon becomes a tangled web of court intrigue and power plays - a web made all the more tangled by Aza's attraction to the young Prince Ijori.
REVIEW: This retelling of Snow White (with a little trace of Cyrano), set in the same world as Levine's Ella Enchanted, reads fast and offers some nice takes on the age-old struggle of inner versus outer beauty. Unlike Ella, I didn't feel quite as jarred by the jump to the fairy-tale formula, though like that book I couldn't help thinking that the heroine could've managed her own, non-derivative story. Some of the names started bleeding together, and a little of Levine's Gnomish speech (with reversed capitalizations and punctuations) went a long way, but otherwise I enjoyed Ayortha and the characters in it.
You might also enjoy:
Heart of a Tiger (Marsha Diane Arnold, YA Picture Book - A shy, gray kitten wants to earn a tiger's name on Naming Day)
I Was a Teenage Fairy (Francesca Lia Block, YA Fiction - Pressed into fashion in modeling at a young age, a girl deals with self-hatred and abuse with the help of a pinky-sized fairy queen)
The Throwaway Princess (Elinor Busby, YA Fiction - A princess is passed over for the throne due to a physical deformity)
Dragon's Keep (Janet Lee Carey, YA Fiction - Born with a dragon-claw finger, a princess is pressured to conceal the flaw and find a cure)
Jennifer Murdley's Toad (Bruce Coville, YA Fiction - A homely girl who longs for beauty is sold a talking told by an old man in a magic shop)
Bedlam's Bard (Mercedes Lackey with Ellen Guon, Fiction - A musician learns that his music channels magic)
The Ship Who Sang (Anne McCaffrey, Fiction - A human mind lies at the heart of an interstellar starship)
Dragon's Fire, Wizard's Flame (Michael R. Mennenga, YA Fiction - Shunned for being flameless, a young dragon boldly sets out from his sheltered homeland to "find his fire")
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Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly
Gail Carson Levine
HarperCollins
Nonfiction, YA Writing
*****
DESCRIPTION: Maybe you have a hundred stories in your head, but when you try to pin them down they never work out right. Maybe you enjoy reading books so much that you just have to try writing one yourself, but can't seem to figure out how to start. The author of Ella Enchanted and numerous other books gives advice to writers of all ages, interests, and abilities, offering numerous exercises and examples from her own life and works.
REVIEW: I'll admit I rated it with the young adult target age in mind, but it's still an excellent, clearly-written book about writing with advice that will benefit any would-be author of any age. Her short chapters cover the basics (coming up with a story, deciding on a voice, revisions, characters, etc.) and the not-so-basics (such as the overuse of adjectives and the great said/asked vs. other dialog verbs debate.) Each chapter ends in a writing exercise or two emphasising the matters discussed, with constant reminders to "have fun" and save everything, even the "junk," because you never know what you'll want to use a year or ten down the line. Regardless of whether or not you want to write fantasy (what she's best known for), you should find something of value here. Now, if only I could make myself sit down and do more of those exercises...
You might also enjoy:
No Plot? No Problem! (Chris Baty, Writing - A no-nonsense guide to writing a novel draft in 30 days, guaranteed)
The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them) (Jack M. Bickham, Writing - A book on writing)
Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life (Terry Brooks, Writing - Anecdotes and advice from a popular author)
How to Avoid Making Art (and Anything Else You Enjoy) (Julie Cameron, Nonfiction - A humorous book about ways to avoid creating)
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (Orson Scott Card, Writing - Notes on writing imaginary worlds and exploring ideas from a bestselling genre author)
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