Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine is a middle grade fantasy Cinderella retelling. It is about a girl named Ella who was cursed at her birth with the “gift of obedience”, meaning she must obey any command given to her (intentionally or not).
This was a reread for me and I gave it 5 out of 5 stars. I love this book. It is a fantastic and creative Cinderella retelling. It is easy to read and has good pacing. My only complaint about the style of writing is that it would help the reading go smoother if all thoughts were distinguished by some element (like in italics, etc.). Sometimes I would stop and go “oh, that was a thought, okay”, and then continue on. However, the details of this story are lovely. It is clear that a great deal of time, thought and effort went into the world building. It felt like this world came to life as I was reading.
I love the characters in this book. They are very well developed, interesting, and inspire strong emotions (of like, dislike, anger, affection, etc.). My only issue, that I noticed for the first time in this reread, is that Ella and Char are so young. It took me a bit by surprise to realize that she is only 16 at the end of the book. To me they felt a bit older (in behavior and thought), especially by the end of the story.
This book is by no means perfect and I have noticed more issues with it in going back to reread it after so many years, but the nostalgia and love are still there. It is a wonderful read and I hope that one day I can share it with my daughters.
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