Fairest

Fairest
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Series: ---
Publisher: HarperCollins
How Received: library

I was born singing. Most babies cry. I sang an aria. Or so I believe. I have no one to tell me the truth of it. I was abandoned when I was a month old, left at the Featherbed Inn in the Ayorthaian villiage of Amonta. It was January 12th of the year of Thunder Songs.

The Fairy Lucinda has once again given a dreadful gift. This time it's a mysterious magical mirror. The gift is disastrous when it falls into the hands of Aza, who never looks in a mirror if she can help it. In the Kingdom of Ayortha, Aza is most definitely not the fairest of them all. Many spurn her. Many scoff at her. She keeps out of sight.

But in the land or singers, Aza has her own gift, one she's come by without fairy intervention: a voice that can do almost anything, a voice that captivates all who hear it. In Ontio Castle, merry Prince Ijori is drawn to it, and vain Queen Ibi wants to use it for her own ends. Queen Ivi would do anything to remain the fairest in the land.

I love a good fairy tale. Though I have yet to read Enchanted, Levine's first novel, the world she has created is a brilliant and vivid one. The kingdom of Ayortha is a place that I would love to live (regardless of my lack of singing ability.) The story she has created here is interesting and fun. The characters are well rounded, and, as you read, you see what Ava sees.

However, for so many important plot points - Ava and her relationship with the prince, Skulni (the mirror), Ava's relationship with the gnomes and just her ability to illuse in general - the book was awfully short. I rather wish that Levine had spent some more time connecting everything together rather than just taking all the different plots and smooshing them together like a half made sandwich.

However, the book was still very enjoyable - and can we have Ayortha as a new vacation spot, please?

Overall Rating & Final Comments: A very solid 8/10 - with a songbird or two thrown in.
Fairest or Song of the Sparrow?: Both books involve song. However, I don't remember much from Song of the Sparrow - whereas I already know I'm going to carry Ayortha and the idea of a place like that around with me for a while. Read Fairest.

Happy reading!

~ Nicole