Mysteries abound, especially in Two Castles.
A handsome cat trainer, black-and-white cats, thieves on four legs and two, suspicious townsfolk, a...
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reviews
Feb 28, 2011
Vinaya
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There is only one word to describe Gail Carson Levine’s books, and that is ‘charming’. The beauty of her writing lies in her ability to create enduringly endearing characters. And in Two Castles, she manages to weave her magic, yet again.
Strangely enough, although A Tale of Two Castles has a much younger protagonist than Ella Enchanted, I found the writing style in this book infinitely less juvenile. In Ella Enchanted, her prose is breathless and fast-paced. In Two Castles, her words More...
Strangely enough, although A Tale of Two Castles has a much younger protagonist than Ella Enchanted, I found the writing style in this book infinitely less juvenile. In Ella Enchanted, her prose is breathless and fast-paced. In Two Castles, her words More...
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Jun 12, 2011
Julie (Klickitat)
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Update: 3.5 stars.
Two Castles is sure to please Levine's fans. Several people have asked me if it is "as good" as Ella Enchanted, Levine's best-known title and winner of a Newbery Honor. That's a hard question to answer. Ella Enchanted is such a unique and clever book that I'm not sure Levine will ever top it. It was the equivalent of a lightning strike: unexpected, dazzling, and not something that can be replicated easily. However, lucky for us, Levine is an imaginative a More...
Two Castles is sure to please Levine's fans. Several people have asked me if it is "as good" as Ella Enchanted, Levine's best-known title and winner of a Newbery Honor. That's a hard question to answer. Ella Enchanted is such a unique and clever book that I'm not sure Levine will ever top it. It was the equivalent of a lightning strike: unexpected, dazzling, and not something that can be replicated easily. However, lucky for us, Levine is an imaginative a More...
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Aug 02, 2011
Valerie
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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 d More...
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 d More...
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May 19, 2011
Erica (daydreamer)
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Gail Carson Levine, I must say, is one of my favorite authors (at least when I need a cute, light fairytale type read). Her books are sweet, and enchanting, and just purely fun little fairytales. A Tale of Two Castles was no exception. It had that special magical quality that Levine’s other books all possess, simple in its light fairytale esque feeling, yet beautiful with its engaging writing and endearing characters, complete with an intriguing plot, at first perhaps simple, but at the end, qui
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Dec 29, 2011
Laura
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I liked this, but it's no Ella Enchanted. Lodie (sorry, Elodie) is from a poor family on the island of Lahnt - so poor that they don't have money for her to purchase an apprenticeship. They scrape together enough to buy her passage to Two Castles, the capital city. There, Elodie will try for a free apprenticeship, a 10-year stint, as a mansioner (what this society calls a traveling actor). During the journey, she meets Goodwife Celeste, who appears to take an interest in her well-being. On
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Jan 18, 2012
Samantha
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Wasn't sure what I was expecting from this book, but it was better than I expected. Apparently I'm the only person in the world who never read Ella Enchanted, so I read this without associating it with that.
This is the tale of a young girl setting out on her first adventure with the dream of becoming a mansioner (actor) in the big city of Two Castles. Of course that doesn't work out as planned and she is instead taken in by a dragon and soon finds herself trying to solve the mystery More...
This is the tale of a young girl setting out on her first adventure with the dream of becoming a mansioner (actor) in the big city of Two Castles. Of course that doesn't work out as planned and she is instead taken in by a dragon and soon finds herself trying to solve the mystery More...
Jan 02, 2012
08emmak
rated it: 
A Tale of Two Castles
This story of a young girl on an amazing adventure is a fun and exciting one. It is written by Gail Carson Levine just last year and is nicely written. However, it was written for girls younger than I, and I didn't like it very much because it was too easy, but the originality of this story, based in the midevil times, really was great.
Elodie is a 12 year old girl who hopes to become an actress when she moves to the country Two Castles, and Island so More...
This story of a young girl on an amazing adventure is a fun and exciting one. It is written by Gail Carson Levine just last year and is nicely written. However, it was written for girls younger than I, and I didn't like it very much because it was too easy, but the originality of this story, based in the midevil times, really was great.
Elodie is a 12 year old girl who hopes to become an actress when she moves to the country Two Castles, and Island so More...
Sep 30, 2011
athena
rated it:
A Tale of Two Castles is by Gail Carson Levine, a favorite author of mine (and also the author of Ella Enchanted, also reiewed on my blog). Elodie is but a poor farmers daughter with grand ambitions, to be a mansioner (Which I think is an actress). She travels to Two Castles, a town over shadowed by, you guessed it,...two castles. One is run by the greedy king and his strange daughter, the other by a feared and hated ogre. When her dreams are crushed by the mansioning leader, Elodie is taken on
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Sep 03, 2011
Pamela
rated it:
I vividly remember reading Ella Enchanted and being absolutely floored by ... well, everything! Levine's later books, like Ever, never lived up to the perfection of EE. But here is a tale, perhaps aimed at slightly younger readers (although I was heartily grateful for the lack of the obligatory love story you get in a YA novel), that's funny, imaginative, charming, and infectious. The characters are pitch-perfect, which I really think is Levine's strong point. Lodie is the now-rather-typical
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Jul 12, 2011
Willa
rated it:
This was a charming book. Lodie of Lahnt tells people she is 14, even though her mother has told her to be truthful, and she wants to be a mansioner, a sort of actor or bard, though her parents have sent her away to be apprenticed to a weaver. Basically entering the world on her own resources, like Dick Whittington or many another protaganist of a fairy tale, she finds herself as assistant to a dragon who is referred to as IT because dragons do not reveal whether they are "he's" o
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Jul 05, 2011
Rex Robot Reviews
rated it:
Reviewed by Shannon for RexRobotReviews.com
I was excited to read this book because I really like Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted and Two Princessess of Bamarre. She generally writes of heroines overcoming obstacles and exceeding expectations. A Tale of Two Castles is no exception.
Our heroine, Elodie (or Lodie), is a poor farm girl who travels to the big city of Two Castles to become an apprentice. Her parents want her to become a weaver, but she wants to become a man More...
I was excited to read this book because I really like Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted and Two Princessess of Bamarre. She generally writes of heroines overcoming obstacles and exceeding expectations. A Tale of Two Castles is no exception.
Our heroine, Elodie (or Lodie), is a poor farm girl who travels to the big city of Two Castles to become an apprentice. Her parents want her to become a weaver, but she wants to become a man More...
Jun 27, 2011
Annie
rated it:
This book starts out like a normal, fantastic Gail Carson Levine novel. A girls from the country goes off to the capital city to become an apprentice. The city is adjoined by two castles--one inhabited by a greedy king and the other by a kind but ill-thought-of ogre. She wants to be a mansionier (actress); her parents want her to be a weaver; she ends up being neither because the king has recently decided that all young people hoping to learn a trade have to pay for their apprenticeship, and our
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Jun 05, 2011
Amanda
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 27, 2011
Merideth
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What You Need To Know: This charming middle grade fantasy combines unique characters with Levine's trademark world-building skill.
Summary: Elodie is a poor farmer's daughter, who leaves her impoverished, but loving, home for the city of Two Castles. Under orders to become an apprentice weaver, Elodie instead seeks to become a mansioner, or actor. Broke, unused to city life and desperate, Elodie soon attracts the attention of Mastress Meenore, the dragon who lives in Two Castles. More...
Summary: Elodie is a poor farmer's daughter, who leaves her impoverished, but loving, home for the city of Two Castles. Under orders to become an apprentice weaver, Elodie instead seeks to become a mansioner, or actor. Broke, unused to city life and desperate, Elodie soon attracts the attention of Mastress Meenore, the dragon who lives in Two Castles. More...
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May 17, 2011
Dot
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Elodie wants more than anything to be a mansioner and perform before crowds, and she leaves her farm in Lahnt to pursue an apprenticeship with the mansioners in Lepai’s capital town of Two Castles. When she gets, there, however, she learns that things are very different than they were on her farm. Cats are trained to steal and stalk ogres, people are not always to be trusted, ogres are not always to be feared, and dragons can be very prickly creatures, who never reveal their gender to anyone and
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Apr 30, 2011
Bonnie at
rated it:
Gail Carson Levine is one of THE authors fairy tale readers turn to and list as a Master Writer. In fact, the only children’s book on my Top Five Favorites list is Ella Enchanted. Granted, I’m sure a lot of that is the nostalgia talking, but there it remains. When I heard that Levine had a new middle-grade novel coming out, I leapt to read it and saved it for the final Fairy Tale Fortnight Stop. While the novel wasn’t the best of the fourteen I’ve read, it was adorable and took me back to my fai
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Apr 12, 2011
Sharon
rated it:
A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine is due to be released on May 10 2011. Twelve-year-old Elodie journeys to become an apprentice, only to discover she cannot afford it. Suspicious town’s people, a dragon, an ogre, flighty princess, greedy king and thieves all play their parts in altering her path. Instead of apprenticing as a weaver, as her parents expect, or as a traveling actress as she desires Elodie is offered a chance to become a dragon’s assistant. The dragon teaches common sense,
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Nov 24, 2011
Nora
rated it:
In the book a girl named Elodie that says she is 14 years old goes on a boat to learn an apprenticeship. Her family is poor. She asks to be an apprentices as mansioner but because she is poor and can't pay is not taken. On her way to the house where she asked to be a mansioner she met a dragon. The dragon offers her to be it's helper. Elodie works for him but the ogre feels unsafe and his dog is missing so she lives in the castle for a while to search for the dog and find the thief that is putti
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Sep 11, 2011
Briana
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A Tale of Two Castles comes as Levine’s first completely original book after a few years of penning fairy books for the Disney Pixie Hollow line, and it does not let readers down. There are problems with the story, certainly, which one is tempted to think an editor would have suggested Levine change if she were not quite so famous, but overall the work is highly creative and engaging. Like Ella Enchanted or The Two Princesses of Bamarre, A Tale of Two Cities keeps the reader turning pages to f
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Feb 25, 2011
Seanean
rated it:
http://librarytalker.blogspot.com/2011/0...
At just twelve years old Elodie leaves home and sets off aboard ship to the town of Two Castles where she hopes to become a mansioner (actor). But fate has other plans for her. She instead becomes the assistant to the town dragon who is an expert in inductive and deductive reasoning. By paying close attention to her new masteress's teachings and to the world around her, can Elodie figure out who has betrayed the town ogre and poisoned the More...
At just twelve years old Elodie leaves home and sets off aboard ship to the town of Two Castles where she hopes to become a mansioner (actor). But fate has other plans for her. She instead becomes the assistant to the town dragon who is an expert in inductive and deductive reasoning. By paying close attention to her new masteress's teachings and to the world around her, can Elodie figure out who has betrayed the town ogre and poisoned the More...
Jun 08, 2011
Stephanie
rated it:
This one would probably have been more fun if I weren't used to other mysteries. It's a pleasant read, but (as other have mentioned) more predictable and less complex than I'm used to in a mystery. Everything was neat and easily wrapped up in situations that should have been very, very messy. The characterization is a tad shallow, though I basically liked Elodie and Meenore. The story did the characters a disservice, perhaps, when it cutified the dragon and the ogre to the point that the reader
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Apr 18, 2011
Karissa
rated it:
Previously I had read Levine's book Fairest and really did not enjoy it. A number of people told me to give Levine another chance, so when I saw this book up at NetGalley.com I decided to give it a read. It was an okay book. While I liked it a little better than Fairest I still thought it was pretty boring, that the plot was over-simplified, and the characters very two-dimensional.
Elodie is twelve years old and is sent to the city to start her apprenticeship as a weaver. Of course More...
Elodie is twelve years old and is sent to the city to start her apprenticeship as a weaver. Of course More...
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May 09, 2011
Penelope
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This review was originally published on my blog, The Reading Fever.
I grew up on a healthy diet of Little House on the Prairie, Dear America, and Gail Carson Levine. I have loved her books since I first read The Two Princesses of Bamarre (which continues to be my favorite), and Ella Enchanted (a very close second). I was worried that when I read this new book of hers, I would either love it too much, or not like it enough. That's the problem with being successful in life; people come More...
I grew up on a healthy diet of Little House on the Prairie, Dear America, and Gail Carson Levine. I have loved her books since I first read The Two Princesses of Bamarre (which continues to be my favorite), and Ella Enchanted (a very close second). I was worried that when I read this new book of hers, I would either love it too much, or not like it enough. That's the problem with being successful in life; people come More...
Jul 08, 2011
A new book from Gail Carson Levine!
Elodie has left her family's farm to become an apprentice in the capital city that has two castles. One castle houses the king and the other houses the giant ogre, Count Jonty Um. Though her parents sent her off to apprentice to a weaver, Elodie dreams of becoming a mansioner. Once she arrives though, she learns that things are not going to plan. Most of her money is stolen, she has no food with her and the mansioners will not take her on as an More...
Elodie has left her family's farm to become an apprentice in the capital city that has two castles. One castle houses the king and the other houses the giant ogre, Count Jonty Um. Though her parents sent her off to apprentice to a weaver, Elodie dreams of becoming a mansioner. Once she arrives though, she learns that things are not going to plan. Most of her money is stolen, she has no food with her and the mansioners will not take her on as an More...
May 31, 2011
Read the full review here
I really enjoyed reading A Tale of Two Castles. Fun and lighthearted while staying engaging, it stayed glued to my hand for most of Saturday, and I finished it before the day was over. I was a little worried when it arrived because the inside cover recommends the book to ages 8-12, but I was delighted and refreshed at the story. I tried to explain to a friend just why I liked it, and I didn't quite manage it, but I ended up with that it has the innocence and More...
I really enjoyed reading A Tale of Two Castles. Fun and lighthearted while staying engaging, it stayed glued to my hand for most of Saturday, and I finished it before the day was over. I was a little worried when it arrived because the inside cover recommends the book to ages 8-12, but I was delighted and refreshed at the story. I tried to explain to a friend just why I liked it, and I didn't quite manage it, but I ended up with that it has the innocence and More...
May 05, 2011
Shanella
rated it:
Elodie left home for Two Castles to become a weavers apprentice - or so her family thought. She wanted to be a mansioner (actor) instead. Elodie finds out, only after she has left home, that there are no free apprenticeships anymore and the story follows her as she tries to figure out what do in a foreign place with no family.
On her way we meet an assortment of interesting characters. Goodwife Celeste and her goodman Twah, who cannot help her while she is in Two Castles. Master Dess More...
On her way we meet an assortment of interesting characters. Goodwife Celeste and her goodman Twah, who cannot help her while she is in Two Castles. Master Dess More...
May 15, 2011
Christina (A Reader of Fictions)
rated it: 
My only prior experience with Gail Carson Levine was Ella Enchanted, which, honestly, I did not like. I had seen the movie first and thought it was better (if not necessarily good). Still, I wanted to give Levine another chance because I know so many people who adore her books. Plus, I love fairy tales and she does tons of those.
A Tale of Two Castles fits into that mold; it is a revisionist, postmodern telling of Puss in the Boots. The ogre who can change into any animal is there, More...
A Tale of Two Castles fits into that mold; it is a revisionist, postmodern telling of Puss in the Boots. The ogre who can change into any animal is there, More...
May 10, 2011
Andrea
rated it:
The Little Bookworm
Elodie is a spirited girl who only wants to become a mansioner, an actor, but is thwarted in her ambitions by her lack of money. So she becomes the assistant to Meenore, a dragon skilled in logic and deduction. When the ogre hires the dragon to find out who is behind a strange turn of events at his castle, Meenore sends Elodie to be ITs eyes and ears. And Elodie learns about using her mansioning and logic talents for other purposes.
Gail Carson Levine can More...
Elodie is a spirited girl who only wants to become a mansioner, an actor, but is thwarted in her ambitions by her lack of money. So she becomes the assistant to Meenore, a dragon skilled in logic and deduction. When the ogre hires the dragon to find out who is behind a strange turn of events at his castle, Meenore sends Elodie to be ITs eyes and ears. And Elodie learns about using her mansioning and logic talents for other purposes.
Gail Carson Levine can More...
Apr 17, 2011
Gaby
rated it:
Posted at http://oh-my-books.blogspot.com/2011/04/...
A Tale of Two Castles is the classic fairy tale full of fantasy and adventure.
Elodie is a twelve years old girl who is brave and intelligent. She's going to become a mansioner (an actress) at the town of Two Castles, but when she can't do tt, she has to accept a job being the assistant of a dragon.
I liked Elodie. It's obvious she's young and inexpert, acting as she was older, but I liked her attitude. She was More...
A Tale of Two Castles is the classic fairy tale full of fantasy and adventure.
Elodie is a twelve years old girl who is brave and intelligent. She's going to become a mansioner (an actress) at the town of Two Castles, but when she can't do tt, she has to accept a job being the assistant of a dragon.
I liked Elodie. It's obvious she's young and inexpert, acting as she was older, but I liked her attitude. She was More...
Mar 10, 2011
Alice
rated it:
Whether or not you've read Gail Carson Levine before, you are still probably familiar with her work. Levine is probably most known for being the author of "Ella Enchanted", which is, of course, a cute movie starring Anne Hathaway.
If you enjoyed "Ella Enchanted" (the book or the movie), you'll enjoy "A Tale of Two Castles."
Young Elodie is sent from her home and across the sea to Two Castles, where her parents hope she'll train to be a weaver, but More...
If you enjoyed "Ella Enchanted" (the book or the movie), you'll enjoy "A Tale of Two Castles."
Young Elodie is sent from her home and across the sea to Two Castles, where her parents hope she'll train to be a weaver, but More...
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