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sqeeker's review
4.0
- This was a charming tale with a bit of mystery!
- Gail Carson Levine is a very practical writer, and I enjoy her style. She hasn't done a mystery before, and this was a fun new tale from her!
- I enjoyed the made up French names.
- I liked Elodie a lot. She was a very fun and believable character. I liked how she sought acceptance and approval from her Masteress. I feel that way about some people at times.
- There were a lot of suspects in this mystery. I really had no idea who the culprit would be. It was fun to guess.
- Jonty Um was one of my favorites. He was gentle and humorous. It was a new twist to an ogre's character. I also loved that he loved dogs.
- The ending is wide open for another story, and I'm excited to read more about these characters.
- Gail Carson Levine is a very practical writer, and I enjoy her style. She hasn't done a mystery before, and this was a fun new tale from her!
- I enjoyed the made up French names.
- I liked Elodie a lot. She was a very fun and believable character. I liked how she sought acceptance and approval from her Masteress. I feel that way about some people at times.
- There were a lot of suspects in this mystery. I really had no idea who the culprit would be. It was fun to guess.
- Jonty Um was one of my favorites. He was gentle and humorous. It was a new twist to an ogre's character. I also loved that he loved dogs.
- The ending is wide open for another story, and I'm excited to read more about these characters.
mari_escapeinabook's review against another edition
4.0
My summary:
Elodie has reached the age where she has to go out in this world and get work. Elodie has a secret dream; she wants to be a manisoner, an actress. Things don’t quite work out the way Elodie would have wished but she finds herself accepting to be a dragons’ assistant instead.
We follow Elodie and Menoree, the dragon, as the are hired by the towns ogre to solve a mystery of a disappearing dog.
My thoughts:
I've never heard anything but good about Gail Carson Levine's writing and when the opportunity to read one of her books arrived I knew I had to read it.
A Tale of Two Castles is such as sweet story and it can be enjoyed by people of almost all ages, all though I do believe that it is aimed for the youngest teens and tweens perhaps. Elodie is a smart and enjoyable main character, Menoree is a wise old dragon and the ogre has a heart of gold.
My only complaint would be that I wanted more when I've finished the book, but I discovered that there will be another adventure with these characters :D
Elodie has reached the age where she has to go out in this world and get work. Elodie has a secret dream; she wants to be a manisoner, an actress. Things don’t quite work out the way Elodie would have wished but she finds herself accepting to be a dragons’ assistant instead.
We follow Elodie and Menoree, the dragon, as the are hired by the towns ogre to solve a mystery of a disappearing dog.
My thoughts:
I've never heard anything but good about Gail Carson Levine's writing and when the opportunity to read one of her books arrived I knew I had to read it.
A Tale of Two Castles is such as sweet story and it can be enjoyed by people of almost all ages, all though I do believe that it is aimed for the youngest teens and tweens perhaps. Elodie is a smart and enjoyable main character, Menoree is a wise old dragon and the ogre has a heart of gold.
My only complaint would be that I wanted more when I've finished the book, but I discovered that there will be another adventure with these characters :D
librariandest's review against another edition
5.0
It took me awhile to get into this book, but I finished it two days ago and I'm still thinking about it, wishing there were more (Ms. Levine, I request a sequel, please!). As she did in [b:Ella Enchanted|24337|Ella Enchanted|Gail Carson Levine|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1308737674s/24337.jpg|2485462], GCL gives us a fairy tale with complicated, lovable characters and a lot of intrigue. Here are things I loved about it:
1. The dragon Masteress Meenore's lack of gender. It probably wasn't GCL's intention, but I thought creating a character that's neither male nor female was a very progressive move. Not only does it leave room to explore what's "masculine" and "feminine" but it adds a twist that I don't think I've ever seen before. (Also, don't expect it be resolved neatly.)
2. The audiobook narrator, Sarah Coomes. What a genius! She did about 12 distinct voices and had to fit her style to GCL's weird descriptions of how people talked and what their accents were like. I especially loved the voices she did for Princess Renn, Count Jonty Um and Masteress Meenore.
3. Combining fantasy and detective genres. I'd been craving a good mystery, and this certainly hit the spot. Elodie wants to be a mansioner (an actress) but ends up the assistant of a dragon who is basically a detective/street vendor. Together they take up the job of finding out who is plotting against an ogre who also happens to be a count. It sounds crazy, but it totally works.
I heartily recommend the audiobook version of this. I smell an Odyssey Award...
1. The dragon Masteress Meenore's lack of gender. It probably wasn't GCL's intention, but I thought creating a character that's neither male nor female was a very progressive move. Not only does it leave room to explore what's "masculine" and "feminine" but it adds a twist that I don't think I've ever seen before. (Also, don't expect it be resolved neatly.)
2. The audiobook narrator, Sarah Coomes. What a genius! She did about 12 distinct voices and had to fit her style to GCL's weird descriptions of how people talked and what their accents were like. I especially loved the voices she did for Princess Renn, Count Jonty Um and Masteress Meenore.
3. Combining fantasy and detective genres. I'd been craving a good mystery, and this certainly hit the spot. Elodie wants to be a mansioner (an actress) but ends up the assistant of a dragon who is basically a detective/street vendor. Together they take up the job of finding out who is plotting against an ogre who also happens to be a count. It sounds crazy, but it totally works.
I heartily recommend the audiobook version of this. I smell an Odyssey Award...
staarcharmed's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
jillselwyn's review against another edition
5.0
RTC, this was a reread from over a decade ago and damn this was good
rebeccazh's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. really enjoyable. i finished this one really quickly. gail carson levine's books are always such a pleasure to read. i like the deducing/inducing and the mansioning. masteressse meenore is so cute. i really like that ITs gender was never revealed and IT was neither clearly masculine nor feminine.
teffin's review against another edition
4.0
Gail Carson Levine's books are the literary equivalent of hot chocolate. I loved Ella Enchanted when I was younger and was delighted when I discovered recently that there were more GCL books for me!
onewinternight's review against another edition
3.0
Cute, well told story. Great reading for the 7-12 year old bracket. However, some of the writing was a bit annoying (particularly capitalizing IT) every single time the Dragon is referred to. This is minor, but it was obnoxious.
abigailrosalynn's review against another edition
3.0
It was charming, like all of her books, but I didn't connect to the main character like I've done in all the rest. The main character's personality was kind of unpredictable to me, and I didn't really get a grasp on her. The Count was a nice character, when he was a monkey. Which I totally understand that he feels like he can't be himself because of the whole ogre thing, but shouldn't he have gotten over it sometime with us? I semi-expected him to just turn into a monkey and stay that way for the rest of the book.
Other than that I loved Meenore and the "IT" used, though a singular "they/them" would have been nicer, to maybe slide in the idea of nonbinary genders to the audience? Meenore and Lodie made a cute pair and I enjoyed them a lot! It was a book that I enjoyed reading but probably won't pick up again.
Other than that I loved Meenore and the "IT" used, though a singular "they/them" would have been nicer, to maybe slide in the idea of nonbinary genders to the audience? Meenore and Lodie made a cute pair and I enjoyed them a lot! It was a book that I enjoyed reading but probably won't pick up again.
scribesprite's review against another edition
4.0
A girl working for a Dragon to solve a mystery to save a nice ogre. Add that with the unique magical writing of Levine. Well what are you waiting for!
If that is not enough than I'll write more.
There is a great heroine who has a big heart and a vibrant spirit. Elodie (or Lodie depending who you ask) is on her own now and she wants to be a mansioner which is an actor (took me a few pages to figure that one out). She was turned away though; fate has bigger plans for her. A dragon offers her an apprenticeship. But this is not all, there is unrest in the city of Two Castles. The people don’t like the noble ogre that passes though their city and sure enough Elodie and her master become involved in what could be a threat to the ogre himself. But how can a new apprentice save an ogre, a noble ogre to boot? That is what you find out.
There are only two irks I had with it though because they peeved me. The first was that the dragon gender is not told, no one knows it except the dragon itself. Come on just tell us! I thought more than once because the IT pronoun bothered me. Also some of the sentences sounded weird to me. I’d have to look over the sentences sometimes. It might’ve been because there were words that I didn’t know, which I didn’t expect from a juvenile book but I don’t have a big vocabulary like our dragon does. I know these peeves are probably just me but still, I was peeved.
Elodie’s relationship with the dragon, the ogre, and the princess are all unique you could say. The dragon is kind of like a grouchy old man. The ogre has a very vulnerable side that was so unexpected and the princess is ‘flighty’ (as Elodie says).
I always like going to good old fashioned fantasy, there is just so much imagination in it. Looks like there will be a sequel, if not I'll be even more peeved.
If that is not enough than I'll write more.
There is a great heroine who has a big heart and a vibrant spirit. Elodie (or Lodie depending who you ask) is on her own now and she wants to be a mansioner which is an actor (took me a few pages to figure that one out). She was turned away though; fate has bigger plans for her. A dragon offers her an apprenticeship. But this is not all, there is unrest in the city of Two Castles. The people don’t like the noble ogre that passes though their city and sure enough Elodie and her master become involved in what could be a threat to the ogre himself. But how can a new apprentice save an ogre, a noble ogre to boot? That is what you find out.
There are only two irks I had with it though because they peeved me. The first was that the dragon gender is not told, no one knows it except the dragon itself. Come on just tell us! I thought more than once because the IT pronoun bothered me. Also some of the sentences sounded weird to me. I’d have to look over the sentences sometimes. It might’ve been because there were words that I didn’t know, which I didn’t expect from a juvenile book but I don’t have a big vocabulary like our dragon does. I know these peeves are probably just me but still, I was peeved.
Elodie’s relationship with the dragon, the ogre, and the princess are all unique you could say. The dragon is kind of like a grouchy old man. The ogre has a very vulnerable side that was so unexpected and the princess is ‘flighty’ (as Elodie says).
I always like going to good old fashioned fantasy, there is just so much imagination in it. Looks like there will be a sequel, if not I'll be even more peeved.