A Tale of Two Castles

Gail Carson Levine wrote Ella Enchanted several years ago, that was such a fun book to read, so I always get excited to read her new books. They are always so fun and imaginative! Elodie is a twelve year old girl, her parents are sending her, by herself, to another city in their country. Called Two Castles, because the king and the ogre each have a castle to live in, this city is where Elodie feels she will begin to live. Her parents want her to apprentice to be a weaver, while Elodie knows that she's going to apprentice to be a mansioner, an actress. But neither of their wants is going happen. Elodie learns from a kind goodwoman on her journey that the idea of a free apprenticeship has been ended. Now everyone must pay for a shorter apprenticeship instead of getting a longer free one. Elodie wasn't given enough money by her parents to pay for an apprenticeship, so now she must use her ingenuity and figure out just what to do. She thinks maybe she can apprentice for a really long time, 15 years for free. But in her first few minutes of being in Two Castles she meets the dragon and after some embarrassment on her part, he offers her a job being his assistant. She needs to induce and deduce things for the dragon and in return he will pay her a greater amount than she has ever seen in her life! This was a fun book, I thought that the characters were quirky and likable!