Fairest

By: Gail Carson Levine

Narrated by: Soneela Nankani

Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Once upon a time, there was a girl who wanted to be pretty....

Aza's singing is the fairest in all the land - and the most unusual. She can "throw" her voice so it seems to come from anywhere. But singing is only one of the two qualities prized in the Kingdom of Ayortha. Aza doesn't possess the other: beauty. Not even close. She's hidden in the shadows in her parents' inn, but when she becomes lady-in-waiting to the new queen, she has to step into the light - especially when the queen demands a dangerous favor. A magic mirror, a charming prince, a jealous queen, palace intrigue, and an injured king twine into a maze that Aza must penetrate to save herself and her beloved kingdom.

©2006 Gail Carson Levine (P)2015 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"A song-filled, fast-paced fairy tale." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"Readers will instantly fall in love with the heroine, whose heart proves to be as warm as her voice." ( Publishers Weekly)

"[Readers will] sink into the fairy-tale romance, the remarkable characters, and the wild, magical adventures." ( ALA Booklist)

Beautiful Story

beautiful story and I just imagined the whole time how fantastic a musical it would make. crossing my fingers someone picks it up for Broadway or Hollywood soon

Finally!

I read this book when I was in junior high which was about 8 years ago, I could never remember the title but had thought about it often when looking for a book to read. I finally found it and read it again through audible. Just as good if not better than I remember!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS STORY!

I love the message behind this story and all the love that is encapsulated within it's pages!

Very cute and uplifting

Having only ever listened to this on audio, please forgive me if I make any egregious misspellings of character or place names. I'm actually going to skim some reviews to see if I can find how to spell these names...

"Fairest", a Snow White retelling, was the first book by Gail Carson Levine I've ever read. I'm familiar with her work because of the Ella Enchanted movie, but only now got around to picking up her books. (Seeing the movie did at least allow me to notice and appreciate the references this book made to Ella Enchanted.) Now that I have read one of her books, I see what all the fuss is about. The world she has created is charming with its many fantastical creatures and Ayortha's music-based culture, and I know Ayortha is only one small part of the world.

I enjoyed many of the characters too, Prince Ijori probably being my favorite. He loved Aza for who she was despite her "ugly" appearance, and even when she turned herself beautiful, he liked her better the way she was before because that was the real her. (A much better message to children than having her only love her, or love her more, once she was beautiful.)

Aza herself was a good character too, though I probably would have related to her more when I was much younger and still struggling with self-image issues. I admit that I didn't initially find her all that interesting, and for some reason, at the beginning of the story especially, I had trouble believing she truly was as horribly ugly as she and certain others seemed to think she was. But much like the story, she grew on me as things went along, and I was happy to see her overcome her problems in the end. I'll give some points to Aza's adopted family too. While not perfect, they did seem to love her and treat her well.

The "evil" queen (Ivi) was interesting (though not necessarily likable) because she wasn't actually that evil -- more like misguided and infuriatingly self-centered--but I did think it was an interesting and refreshing twist on the character.

That Lucinda, though. *shakes head* Need I say more?

As for some of those fantastical creatures, I adored the gnomes the most. Their whole culture and living situation fascinated me, and I'd say I finally really started enjoying the story around the time they became more prominent in the story.

The reason I've taken off a star is because the pacing in the beginning of the story could have used some improvement. It was enjoyable and all, but the story didn't truly suck me in until around the time they were headed for the gnome cavern, and that was a good 3/4ths of the way through the book. Truthfully, I probably would have enjoyed it more when I was the target age for the book, rather than in my twenties like I am now. I was also a little disappointed that we don't find out who Aza's birth parents were. She gets dropped off at the inn as a baby and is all wrapped up in these fine velvet fabrics with fancy gold embroidery, hinting that she was the daughter of someone important, and then we get to the end and are told that they just never found out who her parents were. Um...okay. Not the worst way to be disappointed, I guess, but after all those hints I really thought it would be revealed. *shrug*

Otherwise, this was a fun, charming little book and the ending left me with a smile and warm fuzzies. The narrator was very good, too, though I sort of wish she had sung the songs instead of reciting them like poetry. (I am still very disappointed that the full-cast, musical audiobook I’ve heard friends rave about does not seem to be available anywhere that I can find.)

Content Advisory for those who want to know: There are a few non-descriptive kisses. Various characters are in peril from time to time, but none of it was intense or upsetting. There is some fantasy magic. Overall, it was a very clean book, great for children and adults, but definitely aimed at pre-teens who suffer from self-esteem issues and need a good example of self-acceptance.

Wishful thinking

The story was sweet, and the voice was suitable, but I had had wishful thinking that the songs would be sung.

Beautiful retelling of Snow White fairy tale

The narrator isn’t as expressive as I was hoping after my experience with Ella enchanted. But I adore the book.

great story!

great author!! will certainly look for more books by this author!! narrator was great, too. only thing that could make the narrator better is if she actually sang the songs in the book, which would be tough because we don't know the tunes!!
reading the songs as poetry is just fine with me, too, though.

Lovely story!

I loved the story, everything about it. It captures your attention at the first page. I love that it all revolves around singing.

sweet, deep fairytale-like children's book

I remeber listening to this as a child on a CD player, and now, with the memory of the charming narrator, and the memorable, relatable and charismatic storytelling of beautiful character growth, an enviable love interest and an entertaining and new tale for children and teens, this is a story I would recommend again and again and even listen to as an adult myself.

LOTS of negative self-talk

It is a really good story but..
she talk a lot about how she's overwait, ugly and too "big" I don't recommend this for small children, just fr self convenience. there a lot of comparing to be done and self hate. just know that YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!