I don't remember how I found this book, I may have like the cover, I may have been intrigued by the back cover, it wasn't the author because I didn't know who he was yet, but regardless I've had this book for a really really long time. The book is
Enchantment by
Orson Scott Card. Yes the Orson Scott Card that wrote
Enders Game, and the
Alvin Maker series. I have come to know and love Mr. Cards work, but this one will always be my favorite.
The book is a retelling of
Sleeping Beauty, which has always been one of my favorite fairytales. The story is told with a historical spin on it. A young man Ivan finds a mysterious spot while running in the forest deep in the Carpathian mountains. In this spot is a "lake" of leaves in the middle of which is a stone pillar with a young woman sleeping. Around this pillar is a moat like trench filled with leaves and guarded by a huge talking bear. Ivan outwits the bear and leaps to the pillar and realizes how much like the story of Sleeping Beauty it seems to be.
He kisses her, which of course wakes her up. This all happens pretty early in the story and then it gets really good! "Sleeping Beauty" turns out to be a princess of a borderline primitive country that no longer exists, and by kissing her awake Ivan is now her betrothed. The princess, Katrina, was placed under the spell by the evil witch
Baba Yaga in a bid to take over her kingdom. Way too much happens to do it justice in a post that is under 100 pages and the pair end up going back to modern times to Ivan's parents. Ivan discovers that the time spent in Katerina's era matches up with several of the "original" myths and tales leading him to realize that the stories all started
with at least a kernel of truth. Baba Yaga follows them back to modern America and continues to try and keep Katrina from inheriting the throne. Ivan and Katrina with the help of his parents and the people of her kingdom come together in an EPIC (what a wonderfully overused word) battle of good and evil, culminating with the defeat of Baba Yaga. In the end Katrina and Ivan end up splitting there time between the two worlds, raising there children in both times and places.
This is a very quick and dirty synopsis of a very detailed engrossing book. Mr. Card does his homework and puts in plenty of historical facts without ever wandering into boringville. The back and forth between the two times give both the main characters a chance to shine
and a chance to feel awkwardly out of place. The story mixes magic and epic struggles, with the everyday mundaneness of living life contrasted with the viewpoint of a person who has never lived our mundane life (does that sentence make sense at all?). Another thing I love about this book (I love it when books do this) is it made me want to go look up some of the old tales and stories, too really get into some research on the lesser known characters in mythic history it's kind of a way to keep the story going. I have read this book multiple times and recommended it to several people, all of whom (who?) have loved it. I give this book 10 out of 10 sparkling tiaras.
What do you think of known authors branching out into something different? Do you like it when a story mixes several old tales together, or do you prefer yours a little more pure? Do I know how to write a long meandering post or what?
He kisses her, which of course wakes her up. This all happens pretty early in the story and then it gets really good! "Sleeping Beauty" turns out to be a princess of a borderline primitive country that no longer exists, and by kissing her awake Ivan is now her betrothed. The princess, Katrina, was placed under the spell by the evil witch Baba Yaga in a bid to take over her kingdom. Way too much happens to do it justice in a post that is under 100 pages and the pair end up going back to modern times to Ivan's parents. Ivan discovers that the time spent in Katerina's era matches up with several of the "original" myths and tales leading him to realize that the stories all started 
with at least a kernel of truth. Baba Yaga follows them back to modern America and continues to try and keep Katrina from inheriting the throne. Ivan and Katrina with the help of his parents and the people of her kingdom come together in an EPIC (what a wonderfully overused word) battle of good and evil, culminating with the defeat of Baba Yaga. In the end Katrina and Ivan end up splitting there time between the two worlds, raising there children in both times and places.
This is a very quick and dirty synopsis of a very detailed engrossing book. Mr. Card does his homework and puts in plenty of historical facts without ever wandering into boringville. The back and forth between the two times give both the main characters a chance to shine and a chance to feel awkwardly out of place. The story mixes magic and epic struggles, with the everyday mundaneness of living life contrasted with the viewpoint of a person who has never lived our mundane life (does that sentence make sense at all?). Another thing I love about this book (I love it when books do this) is it made me want to go look up some of the old tales and stories, too really get into some research on the lesser known characters in mythic history it's kind of a way to keep the story going. I have read this book multiple times and recommended it to several people, all of whom (who?) have loved it. I give this book 10 out of 10 sparkling tiaras.
No comments:
Post a Comment