Fairest

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Fairest is a 2006 novel by Gail Carson Levine. It is based on the story of Snow White and set in the same world as Ella Enchanted.

1 Plot summary
2 Characters
3 Snow White Parallels
4 Ella Enchanted Connections
5 External links

[edit] Plot summary

15 year old Aza of Ayortha is large for a human and has unusually pale skin, which makes her feel unattractive ("an ugly ox... a blemish"). However, Ayortha is a place that values the ability to sing and Aza's voice is beautiful. Not only can she sing impressively, but she is an excellent mimic and can "illuse", a sort of way of making her voice come from anywhere, to some extent.

Her simple life living at the "Featherbed" inn with her adopted parents changes forever when a duchess from the Kingdom of Olixo arrives and takes Aza away with her to the wedding of the King of Ayortha. Her life seems to have taken a turn for the better, but soon goes downhill from there.

The new Queen of Ayortha, Ivi, proves to be a poor singer. To protect her own reputation, Ivi forces Aza to secretly provide the Queen's singing voice when she is to sing in public by threatening Aza. Aza's refusal would mean that Ivi will send her to jail and take away her family's license to have an inn. As the queen's treachery deepens, Aza is astonished when the handsome prince initiates a friendship. From plotting queens to beauty potions, Aza grows up both physically and mentally. Aza finds out that Queen Ivi takes potions to make her pretty, and she has a potion that can disguise her to be whatever she wants. Aza also finds some potions in the library that suposibly will make her "pretty". When she tries it, it turned her into a stone statue, and in the morning, she becomes regular again, but her toe remained stone.

[edit] Characters

Aza – A 15 year old girl from Ayortha, who was adopted by an innkeeper when she was left in the lark chamber of his inn as an infant. She is insecure about her appearance and is convinced is ugly, but has a beautiful voice to compensate. She was suspected to be part ogre but is actually part gnome. She can illuse, or throw her voice without moving her lips and is also an extremely talented mimic. When she was found, she was covered in a velvet blanket with gold trim. She is the adoptive sister of Areida, a friend of Ella of Frell's from Ella Enchanted.

Ivi – The new Queen of Ayortha, who blackmails Aza into becoming her singing voice in order to preserve her own reputation. She is self-absorbed and selfish, as well as simple-minded and concerned with beauty. When her new husband is injured, she uses Aza's voice in order to gain dictorial control of Ayortha. She comes from Kyrria, the land set in Ella Enchanted. Although selfish, Ivi becomes wonderful friends with Aza. She is sent to the summer castle at the end of the book for being too power hungry.

Ijori – The Prince of Ayortha, the king's nephew and heir to the throne. He becomes friends with Aza, and ends up marrying her in the end and having three children.

zhamM – A gnome that stayed at The Featherbed and heard Aza singing. He becomes friends with Aza and helps her a lot near the end of this book. It is suspected that he could be Aza's cousin. He is a judge and can read into the future to a certain extent.

Skulni – Perhaps the main antagonist of the book. He lives in a mirror given to Ivi by Lucinda (the same fairy who granted Ella of Frell's "gift" of obedience). Skulni is the master of the mind and can convince anyone to do anything. He is described as bearing physical resemblance to a spider. He is responsible for making both Ivi and Aza (temporarily) pretty. After Aza smashes the mirror, he is never heard of again.

[edit] Snow White Parallels

Aza is described as having pale skin, blood red lips, and dark black hair, which are Snow White's defining physical characteristics.
A magic mirror is a major plot device in both this novel and the fairy tale.
Ivi sends a guard to kill Aza, but the guard found that he could not bring himself to kill her; instead, he helps lead her to the caverns of the gnomes and returns back to the castle, claiming to the Ivi that he killed her and using fabric torn from her clothing as false evidence. The guard is the Snow White counterpart for the huntsman, whom the queen sends to kill Snow White but instead lets her go and brings back a deer's heart as false evidence for killing her.
The gnomes are very hospitable and are willing to take Aza into their home, just like the dwarves in the original story.
Ivi is a queen who is so vain and insecure that egged on by Skulni, the presence in her magic mirror, she attempts to kill Aza, whom she fears has become more beautiful than she is. She attempts to kill Aza by disguising herself (with a magic potion) and giving her a poisoned apple, just like in the original fairy tale. Also on the tray with the apple were combs and laces in the origional story.
The storylines are nearly identical in their endings; the prince and the girl fall in love, marry, and the two take their thrones as rulers of their kingdom.