A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

A Tale of Two Castles
by Gail Carson Levine
Pages: 352
Date: May 10 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Series: A Tale of Two Castles (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 31 2016

A Tale of Two Castles is the fifth book that I’ve read by Levine.

The book stars a young girl of 12; though she tells everyone she’s 14 (apparently being 14 would make her old enough to do things like cross a sea to go be an apprentice). Specifically the book opens with this 12 year old girl heading across the sea to be an apprentice. Her parents wish her to be a weaver. She wishes to be an actor (manisoner or some word like that is used in place of actor).

Her plans are to be a 10 year apprentice – since she wouldn’t have to pay for that. During the crossing, though, she learns that that type of apprentice is no longer legal. And all she has is a copper. This won’t be enough. She has it because, apparently, that’s how much she is expected to need to pay for meals before becoming an apprentice. Then she loses the copper to a cat. So, she’s a 12 year old girl wandering a large city with little prospects.

Pay attention, kind readers of this review, to those Elodie crosses the sea with. Three at least will turn up several times in the story. Well, technically three, though only two appear to have ‘lines’.

The city with two castles has an ogre and a dragon. Oh, and a king. I’m not actually sure if this is considered the capital of the kingdom – that word, I don’t think, is actually used, but the king lives in one of the two castles. The ogre lives in the other. He’s actually a Count. The dragon? The dragon is a commoner and sells food from a stall. Uses his fire to heat up the food.

The girl, who I last left with little prospect, wanders the city. She, on her first day, encounters both the ogre and the dragon – the ogre first, who walks past with a large dog by his side; the dragon second when she happens to turn a corner and spots a food stall. With a dragon owner.

Naturally, one thing leads to another and . . . the girl continues hunting for these manisoners to try to get an apprenticeship. Maybe they’ll go for 15 years?

I suppose I can’t really talk about the rest of the book without revealing certain things. Well, considering this information is in the book description, I’m not really ‘revealing’ anything – the girl goes to work for the dragon. Together they deduce, induce, and other duce words. Introduce? Bah. Together the two investigate things. The girl even goes undercover on the largest mission in the book.

This was a good book. I liked it. It’s the first in a series and I’ll likely try the next (and last?) book.

March 31 2016