To make this work, Aza would need to be a spunky, resistant kind of girl, ready to think for herself. By setting up the world of the gnomes as the alternative reality to the world of the Ayorthaians, Levine should be able to let her heroine redefine what beauty means to her while realistically facing the hurtful gaze of others. Ideally, this premise offers a reconsideration of what 'pretty' means, to society and to the heroine, especially to a teenage heroine. 'Fairest' falls into both these traditions, and all the elements are there for a rousing read - yet the novel struggles for liftoff, weighted down by some heavy narrative flaws.Īza believes she is ugly: 'Will I ever be pretty?' she asks a passing gnome. Darcy!) sees the true beauty of the plain spitfire and is unswayed by the physical allure of the antiheroine. (There are echoes of Snow White throughout the book - the magic mirror and evil queen, a guard at the castle who smuggles Aza to safety, a poisoned apple.) It's a favorite subject of 19th-century novelists, too. Western fairy tales have a long history of exploring just this theme - trying to make moral sense of the arbitrary rewards of physical beauty. Aza, her life in danger, must escape to the land of gnomes, find her hidden talents and discover her true identity.

The setup is exciting too: a highborn lady takes Aza as a lady's companion to the wedding of King Oscaro and the porcelain-skinned Ivi when Oscaro is struck down by an accident during the festivities, Ivi begins to dismantle the king's council and strip the Ayorthaians of their civil rights, and demands that Aza serve her as a lady-in-waiting. Gail Carson Levine's new novel, 'Fairest,' a companion to her best-selling 'Ella Enchanted,' would seem to have everything going for it: a heroine, Aza, who, though she is not pretty, is a gifted singer in Ayortha, a magical kingdom of singers a scheming nemesis, the young, beautiful and coldhearted queen-bride Ivi a love interest, the dreamboat Prince Ijori not to mention gnomes, ogres, ventriloquism and enchanted mirrors.

The plain truth book