Fairest

Levine, Gail. Fairest. New York: Harper Collins, 2008. 326 pages. (Fantasy)

Fairest is the story of a young girl named Aza. She lives in the kingdom of Ayortha, where beauty and singing are the most important qualities that one must have to be “acceptable”. Aza has the most beautiful singing voice, but is not at all attractive. Because beauty is so important in there, people are scared of her without even knowing her or listening to her singing. Aza lives in an inn with her parents who had adopted her a long time ago when an old woman abandoned her at one of the inn’s rooms. Aza has been helping out with cleaning the inn all her life. One day, Aza looks through a mirror while cleaning a guest’s room. The mirror was the queen’s mirror. Suddenly, Aza was beautiful. She had light peachy lips, dark blue eyes, silky brown hair, and her ragged clothes turned into an elegant gown. Aza was perfect, but the only question now is: Can Aza still sing as beautifully as she used to?

This is one of my favorite fantasy books. The book really got me into it with its suspense, mysteriousness, and charm. The story does not have only one theme going through it, it has tons! There is war, romance, drama, and hatred. My favorite part of the book was when Aza looked through the mirror. With the author’s description of how she looked, I could almost see Aza in my bedroom mirror. Her dreams had come true after so much tragedy and sorrow. This scene has definitely had the greatest impact on me when I was reading this book.

Reviewed by: Kambat