Mirror, Mirror on the wall...
This book is a twist on the fairy tale Snow White. I've really enjoyed this trend in young adult literature i.e. taking a fairy tale and expanding it. So many of us can connect with these stories because the fairy tales are familiar, but also because the authors do a great job (in most cases :D) of making the characters seem human and real. But that is just my opinion. You might recognize Gail Carson Levine's name from her book Ella Enchanted. I really liked Ella Enchanted, but I think I liked Fairest even more.
Aza, the main character, is someone I think a lot of us can relate to. She feels ugly (her skin is "too pale" and her lips are "too red") and is all too aware that her larger body shape doesn't match that of the kingdom she lives in (If you escaped your childhood/teenage years unscathed by thoughts like Aza's, you should write a book to let the rest of us (and the rising generations for that matter) know how you did it. You could make millions. You should dedicate the book to me for giving you the idea :D).
Aza's parents are not her biological parents. They are innkeepers and baby Aza was left by a mysterious woman on a rainy night. Aza loves her father and mother and they love her as if she were their own, but Aza often wonders who her biological parents are and why they abandoned her.
Because the kingdom in which they live revers elegance and beauty, Aza often works behind-the-scenes at her family's inn. This is more by Aza's choice than her parents demands. She feels she is bad for business because of the way she looks. But one of Aza's gifts is her singing voice. Aza's kingdom revers singing even more than they revere beauty. She discovers that she can "illuse", meaning she can "throw" her voice and mimic other people's voices.
A duchess comes to stay at the family's inn and through a series of events, Aza is asked to accompany the duchess to the palace to attend the King's wedding (his first wife died). The new queen discovers Aza's gift of illusing and threatens to punish Aza's family if she does not become her lady-in-waiting and illuse for her (the vain queen can't sing worth a dime). Aza feels she has no choice but to comply. This leads Aza down a tangled path and ends up having to flee for her life in some incredible plot twists. Along the way, she discovers true friendship, self-worth, and love.
Gail Carson Levine did a fantastic job getting inside the mind of a self-conscious teenager. The plot is fast-moving and I think readers will relate to the beauty-obsessed society that Aza lives in.
