Monday, January 26, 2009

Fairest



Author: Gail Carson Levine
Back-of-the-Book Description: In a world in which elegance, beauty, and singing ability are revered, Aza is bulky, awkward, and homely. Her saving grace is that she can sing and has a gift of voice manipulation that she calls illusing. Through a chance meeting at her family's inn, a duchess invites Aza to act as her companion and accompany her to the palace to attend the King's wedding. When the beautiful new queen discovers Aza's gift for throwing her voice and for mimicry, she sees a way of protecting her reputation and disguising her own lack of talent. Pressured by the woman's threats upon her family, Aza deceives the court into believing that Ivi is a gifted singer. When the ruse is discovered, Aza is forced to flee the castle in order to save her life. Through her adventures, she discovers her own strength of character, learns about her true heritage, and decides that her physical appearance is not worthy of the stress and worry she has wasted on it.
My Description: I enjoyed the first part of this book; it was quite interesting... but the rest fell a little flat. It never really 'climaxed', and I expected more out of it. I was also a little disappointed that we never found out who Aza's birth parents were.
Another issue I had was with Queen Ivi (the villain); she attempted to kill Aza--twice--, threatened to harm her family if she didn't do her bidding, was terrible to her subjects, Aza was accused of terrible crimes and Ivi just went along with it... the King heard of this, and did nothing more than send her to a different castle and abdicate his throne so he could be with her. WHAT?! I was not satisfied with that. Not in the least.
Aza forgave Prince Ijori too quickly... I understand her forgiving him, but she shouldn't have done so so quickly.

All in all, it was okay. The beginning was interesting, but it just didn't do it for me.
Recommendations: To those who like books by Gail Carson Levine...? (I'm not sure who to recommend this one to--I don't mean this book isn't good for anyone, just that I don't know who to recommend it to)
Pages: 352
Writing Rating: 7
Story Rating: 7
Overall Rating: 5

Book #4 of '09, Book #54 of all

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