Early Review - A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine (2.5/5 stars)

Reading level: Middle Grade

Genre: Fantasy
Size: 336 pages
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: May 10, 2011

ISBN-13:  978-0061229657
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 2.5/5 stars

 
Previously I had read Levine's book Fairest and really did not enjoy it.  A number of people told me to give Levine another chance, so when I saw this book up at NetGalley.com I decided to give it a read.  It was an okay book.  While I liked it a little better than Fairest I still thought it was pretty boring, that the plot was over-simplified, and the characters very two-dimensional.

Elodie is twelve years old and is sent to the city to start her apprenticeship as a weaver.  Of course Elodie has ideas of her own and instead of being a weaver wants to apprentice as a mansioner.  Things never go as planned and Elodie finds herself instead serving as an assistant to the brilliant dragon Meenore.  Together Elodie and Meenore must solve the mystery of who is out to get the shapeshifting Ogre that is the lord of the castle.

More than anything this book is a mystery; the dragon and the ogre give some fantasy elements to the story but not much.  Elodie is a plucky twelve year old who thinks she can do whatever she wants.  She does a pretty good job of it, but comes across as a bit two-dimensional.  Her story does not seem at all realistic and things tend to go her way more often than not.  Elodie never dwells on the bad aspects of things that happen to her and doesn't seem to fully realize the implications of anything that happens to her.  While this gives the book a positive feel; it also sends a false message that if you wander blindly into situations you will be rewarded.

The dragon Meenore starts off as a intriguing character but in the end doesn't have any more depth than Elodie.  In fact all of the characters in this book seem to be more like character sketches than actual thinking, feeling characters.  They are all a bit blah.

The plot is simplistic and the outcome easy to predict.  None of the characters are ever in very dire situations and I didn't feel all that engaged in the story at any point in time.  The writing style itself is also very simplistic:  characterization, vocabulary, plot, and world-building are all kept to a minimum.  This gives the book a very child-like feel.

Levine is trying to create a whole new world in this book, yet as the reader I had trouble grasping it.  Some of the things added into the book made the world feel a bit contrived; like they were put in there just to make the world different and for no other reason than that.  For example the characters always exchanging food and the way the characters (especially the princess) like to use "la" as a an exclamation.  Things like that didn't really have a deeper purpose and didn't really add to the story.

The story ends well enough.  It looks like there is potential for future adventures between Meenore and Elodie.  The story is suitable for all ages; but seems targeted at a middle grade or younger audience because of the simplicity.

Overall the book was an okay read, but definitely nothing special.  Everything about this story is boring and oversimplified.  This could be a good read for young girls who are interested in mystery with a fantastical element to it. 

Personally I think there are much more interesting, complex, and rewarding middle grade fantasy novels out there.  Princess Ben is one that was better and has some meat to it, Princess Academy is another great read.  For middle grade readers other series such as Fablehaven, Harry Potter, and Percy and the Olympians create wonderful worlds with complex characters that actually assume that middle grade readers can handle complexity.  I will not be reading anything from Levine in the future; I have concluded that I just don't get along with her writing style.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 100+ Reading Challenge
- E-book Reading Challenge
- Fantasy Reading Challenge

 

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine (2/5 stars)

I was excited to read a novel by Gail Carson Levine; but this book turned out to be less than I was hoping for. It make work out better for young girls, but I seriously doubt young adults or adults will find it all that engaging. On a side note I listened to this as an audio book and that was definitely...well...an experience. They used a full casting for the audio book and all of the songs were sung in all of their full operatic glory. I was riding my bike when I started listening to this book and I almost fell off of it when all the sudden music started pelting out in the middle of my audio book....

Aza thinks that she is ugly; she is too big and has different coloring from other people in the kingdom. Her parents run an inn and love her dearly, but they are not her birth parents (they found her on the steps of their inn as a baby). When Aza accompanies a Duchess to the wedding of their new king she feels drawn to the new Queen. The Queen ends up asking Aza to be her lady-in-waiting and from there Aza gets embroiled in a dangerous plot to help Queen Ivy save face.

This book is supposed to be a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. It has some similarities to that story but more differences. If you think Disney took the grim out of Grimms Fairy Tales well then this book is Disney sugar coated with a cherry on top. There is so much happy ever after it is almost sickeningly sweet. The dire circumstances of the heroine are never really dire at all; the book is completely predictable.

Aza makes an unlikely role model for young girls. Aza (who is wed at 16 years old, I might add) is fifteen going on sixteen but has the mentality of a ten year old. Her obsessiveness with her ugliness is really...well...obsessive. She easily tosses morals aside to be beautiful. At the end she says she can't believe how much she has changed throughout the book; when not a few seconds earlier she was *again* whining about her ugliness. At times the author tries to excuse Aza being ugly because she sings so beautifully. Is it a requirement that everyone do one thing outstandingly wonderful to make them a good person?

All of the characters pretty much have this shallow level of depth. All the characters are type-cast. Not one single character does anything surprising.

Is there good in this book? If you read it knowing what to expect it is an okay book. It was actually what I expected, but not what I was hoping for. It is super cute, and super sugary. I as said it is a Disney film with heaps of sweetness added. That is not all a bad thing. The book ends how you expect and all the characters are just so good that you can't help but smile at times. Of course at other times you want to slap them for being so stupid, but I feel that way about Disney films too.

If you love Disney and you love cutsey and you want to be a princess then this book is for you. I think it will probably find appeal with younger girls who still dream of being a fairy princess. I think anyone over ten years of age will have trouble finding much to love here. This book did not make me eager to read more of Levine's books. Maybe if I am in the mood for more brainless sweetness I will check other out. Instead of reading this I would recommend "Princess Ben" by Catherine Murdock; this is also a sweet fairy tale but with more guts and more interesting characters.