The Enchanted Castle - Edith Nesbit

Title: The Enchanted Castle Author: Edith Nesbit Genre: Classic Rating: 9/10 # pages: Audiobook Date read: February, 2008

Summary: Pretending a castle they've discovered is enchanted, three children come upon a "sleeping princess" in the garden (It's Mabel, the housekeeper's niece, who is also doing some pretending). When Mabel shows them a secret treasure room with a magic ring, enchantment becomes a reality.

Review: Like her other books, a very sweet tale for kids. I wish my parents had introduced us to these when we were younger, I think we'd have LOVED them. This one reminded me a lot of "Five Children and It" in that you need to be careful what you wish for.

A charming book, and even though I'd guessed the ending at a very early stage, I still hugely enjoyed it.

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Pretties - Scott Westerfeld

Title: Pretties Author: Scott Westerfeld Genre: Dystopian, YA Rating: 8/10 # pages: 370 Date read: February, 2008

Summary: Tally has forgotten almost all that she did as an Ugly and has completely embraced the mindless life of a New Pretty, going to parties, drinking heavily, and thinking of nothing more than the next bit of entertainment. It is not until one of the Uglies from New Smoke comes and delivers a message for her that leads her to two pills, that she begins to remember the real reason she is Pretty: to see if the cure will work. Tally and her new boyfriend, Zane, each take one of the pills and both begin to stay focused for longer periods of time. Then he has a bad reaction to the pill, and Tally has to make a desperate attempt to get him to the only doctors who can help him–the ones outside the city.

Review: Now that I know how closely the three books of the trilogy are connected, the cliffhanger'ish ending of Pretties didn't seem as annoying as it did in Uglies. But that may also be because I never got quite as emotionally involved in this one. Not that it wasn't excellent, but it had a very transitional feel, which I find is often the problem with the middle book in just about any trilogy (right now I can't think of any that are the exception to the rule).

I was very impressed at how Scott Westerfeld wrote the mentality of the pretties. The distinction of how they thought and how uglies though was very distinct and very well done.

I'm looking forward to seeing how he'll wrap this all up in the final book.

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