Gail Carson Levine

Newbery Honor author of Ella Enchanted Gail Carson Levine weaves a spellbinding tale about a clever heroine, a dragon detective, and a shape-shifting ogre. Newly arrived in the town of Two Castles, Elodie unexpectedly becomes the assistant to a brilliant dragon named Meenore, and together they solve mysteries. Their most important case concerns the town’s shape-shifting ogre, Count Jonty Um: Someone is plotting against him. Elodie must disguise herself to discover the source of the threat amid a cast of characters that includes a greedy king, a giddy princess, and a handsome cat trainer. Readers who loved Ella Enchanted and Fairest will delight in this tale of a spirited heroine who finds friendship where she least expects it and discovers that goodness and evil come in all shapes and sizes.

A Tale of Two Castles

Sarah Sammis

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine is about Elodie making her mark in the world. She leaves her farming village to cross the sea to Two Castles where she hopes to apprentice to become a mansioner (actress). Unfortunately, the apprenticeship rules have changed and she doesn't have the money to return home.

Elodie, who hates being called Lodie, quickly finds her bad luck getting worse. Like September in The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente, she ends up finding a very unusual mentor, in the form of a dragon, Meenore.

Dragons in this world are too mysterious for one to presume ITs gender. They are always referred to as IT or in the case of a mentor and student relationship, as masteress. The dragon's ambiguous gender and how it plays against traditional gender roles was an interesting aside to the book.

But things really take shape when Elodie is entrusted by the dragon to keep an eye on Jonty Um, the lord and Ogre of Two Castles. There is a threat against his life that takes the classic Puss in Boots tale and turns it on its head (in a far more clever way than Shrek 2 did).

The friendship between Jonty Um and Meenore and their interest in Elodie as a student and friend is what makes A Tale of Two Castles something special.

The only detractor to this well crafted tale is the Princess's numerous oaths. She comes off sounding like she was possessed by Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson. As much as j'adore Georgia and her unique take on the English language, it doesn't working coming out of the mouth of an otherwise refined princess of the realm.

The idea of the story was good, but for me personally I felt like there was a lot happening but it wasn’t going anywhere, for me it was a hard read.

Nadine Meyer

Jeni Enjaian

I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would. I anticipated traditional fairy tale fiction but Levine gives something rather different. I love how she turned perceptions of traditional villains like dragons and ogres (although this particular ogre still gets a bum wrap) on their head while building this rather insular world. I may actually read the subsequent book in the duology.

A Tale of Two Castles

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