Ella Enchanted

4:00 pm 21 June 2013

-- Originally reviewed at Here There Be Books. (Goes live 7/19/13.) --I haven't read Ella Enchanted for a while, but it remains one of my favorite fantasy books nonetheless. Every time I read it, I fall more and more in love with the characters and the setting and the writing! The best part is, I think, the fact that Ella saves herself. She isn't a damsel in distress; she has a prince, but she doesn't need him to come rushing in with sword drawn. Multiple times throughout the book, Ella figures out a way to get herself out of danger using her wits and her talents. She's heroic and wonderful and yay for Ella! Besides Ella, I also love how different traditional fairy tale elements are woven effortlessly into the story. Fairy godmothers, glass slippers, trolls and curses and princes! It's not so much like in Enchanted, where the stories are stuck into the main plot. More like story elements, instead. The whole book, then, feels very familiar and magical without ever ending up on the "boring" side of things. Reading books like Ella Enchanted reminds me of how AMAZING fairy tale retellings can be! I like how the retellings give voices to people who might not otherwise be heard, and how they can "fix" (nowadays) problematic plot points. The best ones, though, keep the magic and charm of the original stories while letting the characters become more and more real. Ella Enchanted does just that, and you really need to read it SOON if you haven't already done so.

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Ella Enchanted

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