A review by heididt19
The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

4.0

The Fairy Godmother is a book about Elena Klovis. The "Tradition", a magical force that wants to fit people with the right circumstances into a fairy tale category, has decided Elena will be the Cinderella of the kingdom. Indeed she lives a similar life until she is eighteen. At that time a fairy godmother named Bella, comes and teaches Elena about the tradition. While the tradition had tried to categorize everything, sometimes it just didn't work. With the Prince of her kingdom being a child, she started training as the Godmother's apprentice instead. She learns to work with the household elves, how to use her magic, and how to help questers. Soon she takes over for Bella and immediatly starts helping a group of princes on a quest. Their job is to rescue a princess locked in her tower. Elena diguises herself as an old woman and tests them. The first, Eldest, prince arrives and fails, but she lets him pass knowing he will fail her other tests. The next prince comes and is extremely rude, even charging his horse at the old lady Elena has disguised herself as. She turns him into a donkey when she loses her temper, but recovers in time to let the youngest and kindest son pass. She takes the prince turned donkey home to teach him a lesson. For a time, she forces him to work as a donkey, hoping he will learn kindness and compassion. Eventually Elena turns him back into a human and they fall in love. They help the prince's youngest brother, who had gotten past the trials and developed his kingdom, to save his kingdom from an invading band of ogres.

I think this was an okay book, but the introduction could have been shorter. I think girls would like this tale more than boys, because it is mostly a romance and a life lesson teacher. I did not like that it was long but had a pretty short story idea.