Arty -- The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

Since we're now going into the third week of RAMFAP Month (time has flown), I haven't read anything but favorites, so you're going to get to hear me rant!

(Actually, I did read Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare and the first volume of Ultimate Spider-man, but Angel had me severely depressed, what with the whole Jem thing [WHY IS HE IN LOVE WITH TESSA HE'S SO INTELLIGENT AND AWESOME OTHERWISE WHY JUST WHY], and I'm not qualified to judge comic books.)

Moving on.

Two Princesses starts out with, yes, two princesses.  Princess Meryl is bold and adventurous - a fearless princess with great plans of great adventures.  Princess Adelina, or Addie, is her sister's exact opposite, a girl afraid of everything; she embroiders beautifully, but relies on her sister to do everything else.  In fact, she's made Meryl promise never to go adventuring until Addie is wed, and has someone else to look after her.

Meryl's plans include finding the cure for the Grey Death, a horrible disease that always ends in, well, death.  The princesses' mother was taken by it.  And when it once again visits the royal house of Bamarre, Meryl's determination to find the cure strengthens.  That is, until it strikes Meryl down as well.

There's no way Addie can survive without her sister.  But to keep her sister, Addie is going to have to find the cure for Grey Death herself.

Levine's most popular book by far is Ella Enchanted, but this book has always been my favorite of hers.  She captures Addie's fearful voice perfectly, without making her overly annoying but never excusing her cowardice.  I love Addie.  She's one of the best princesses ever.

The story may be a little slow - the action doesn't pick up until a good ten or twelve (shortish) chapters in - but it's not boring.  Until then, you have lovely character and world building that's always interesting.  You learn of the different creatures in Bamarre - specters that will lead you to your death but can tell the future if you catch one, fierce dragons that steal both treasure and prisoners to entertain them, elusive fairies that haven't been seen for years, and the elves that sometimes serve humans - as well as some of the customs.  Drualt is the great Bamarrian epic, telling the tales of 'the laugher,' Drualt, who is Addie's hero.  I just love Bamarre.  One of my favorite worlds ever.

And the side characters are awesome.  Rhys is a sorcerer - he's in his seventies, but since sorcerers are actually a whole different race (they're born when lightning strikes marble) and live for five hundred years, he's actually only in his early twenties in human time.  Naturally he becomes Addie's love interest, but he's so cute.  He has a habit of bowing; he has white eyelashes and unattractively large, bony feet; and he actually helps Addie in her quest as much as he can.  One of the best love interests ever.

Meryl, as the spunky princess, is amazingly tolerable, and I can see why Addie is so devoted to her; you can tell she really does care for Addie.  Milton and Bella, servants of the princesses, have smaller roles but are equally fun to listen to.  And Vollys, the dragon Addie meets, is... interesting.  Very, very interesting.  One of the most interesting dragons ever.

And the ending.  Oh, man, the ending.  I can't give anything away, but... one of the best endings ever.

Okay, by now, you may think that Princesses is one of my favorite books ever.  And it is.  It's not brilliant, maybe, and it's a very quiet sort of awesome - not an in-your-face, screaming sort of awesome, like the Books of Umber or Harry Potter.  But it is awesome, and I can find very little fault with it.  The whole love issue between Addie and Rhys was a bit abrupt?  Whatever, it's a fairytale.  They're adorable anyway.  Everyone's adorable.  And awesome.  Like the book.  Read it.  Seriously, go read it now.

Arty -- Ever by Gail Carson Levine

Ah, a good old-fashioned fairytale... or is it?

Kezi is a beautiful young woman, an only child in her average family in the kingdom of Hyte. Typical heroine in a fairytale, yes? Now meet her knight in shining armor: Olus, the Akkan god of wind.

Think Jepthah's Vow in the book of Judges, plus Greek immortal-and-mortal love story, plus elements of Middle-Eastern religion. And you have Ever.

Olus, at seventeen years old, is the youngest Akkan god. He's not comfortable around the other millennia-old deities, so he decides to spend some time with the mortals on earth. He travels to Hyte, where he buys some goats from a farmer and settles down to watch mortality.

There he watches the daughter of the farmer who sold him the goats: Kezi, a fifteen-year-old girl with a talent for weaving and dancing. Olus falls in love with her from afar, and soon he contrives a meeting with her. They (of course) fall in love instantly. But, when her mother falls ill, Kezi's father promises their god Admat that if Admat will spare his wife, he will sacrifice the first person to congratulate him. Kezi's mother recuperates - but, to save the life of her aunt, Kezi bursts out with congratulations to her father. Her death sentence issued, she begs Admat for thirty more days to live.

Olus, naturally, can't bear the thought of Kezi's death. He whisks her away on his winds and tells her he wants her to become immortal. She can still be sacrificed, but she'll live again. Kezi agrees, and they set out to become heroine and champion.

For the most part, I'm a big fan of Levine's work. This idea is a fascinating one, and I was sure she would be able to pull it off. But the story fell flat about a third of the way through. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I think part of the problem was lack of originality. As I mentioned above, most of us have probably heard the story a hundred times from Greek legends. With originality the idea could work, but it doesn't feel like Levine tried too hard.

Another bothersome thing was the characters. Kezi and Olus had very little depth to them. Kezi seemed nice and, in some ways, heroic. But there were times when she came over as petty, or weak, or downright rude. Olus was better (I generally like the male half of a pair more), but I had to question his intelligence at falling in love with a rather mediocre girl like Kezi.

The book is written in present tense, in first-person perspective from both Kezi and Olus. The chapters alternate between Olus and Kezi. This bothers some people, I know, but to me, it was an interesting way to write the book. The style, however, couldn't fix the disappointing ending, which, though certainly not a happily-ever-after ending, felt almost random and much too easy.

It probably sounds like I didn't enjoy Ever. I did. As a fast 'beach' read when I don't want to use too much brainpower. But if you're looking for a more substantial fairytale, I would suggest Levine's The Two Princesses of Bamarre, or Shannon Hale's Bayern series, beginning with The Goose Girl.