Fairest

Hooray, hooray, hooray! Gail Carson Levine has written a new book. This one is a take on the Snow White myth, and exists in the same world and time as her other wonderful story, Ella Enchanted. A young girl accompanies a duchess to the King’s wedding and gets caught up in a whole web of intrigue. She does end up nearly getting murdered by the queen, there is a magic mirror, and she goes and lives with the – well, gnomes, rather than dwarves, but it’s fairly close. And there is a poisoned apple.

This would have to be the first book I’ve read which is a musical. It’s really clever. Basically Ayortha is a place filled with very musical people, who spend a lot of time singing, even when they speak. There are a lot of clever little songs throughout this story, and while Ms Snow White isn’t pretty, she has a beautiful voice which she can project. This causes her trouble; she wants to be pretty, so she dabbles in spells, and the queen makes her use her voice to deceive others. Kind of like “Singing in the Rain”, actually.

Levine has a kindly humour and the ability to create a rich and detailed world. There’s centaurs and ogres, gnomes and fairies, but they’ve all got very specific characteristics which make them so real. There is of course a handsome prince and a happy ending, because after all, it is a fairy tale. This is a really nice happy little story.