January 16 feature: Fairest

Gail Carson Levine is arguably best known for Ella Enchanted, but I thought I'd check out one of her lesser known books first. Some people say that Fairest is loosely based on Snow White. The moral of the story is a good one: don't focus on your outward appearance, but focus on your inner beauty. The problem for me was that I didn't find the story as compelling as I'd expected. Heroine Aza is the adopted daughter of an innkeeper, with a lovely voice. She develops a talent called illusing, which is the ability to "throw" her voice to make it seem as if it's coming from another object--or person. Aza is pressured into illusing for a scheming queen. When the deception comes to light, Aza is forced to flee the country. It's a fairytale, so the story does end well for Aza, but I wasn't fully captured by either Aza or her special ability.