Friday, January 9, 2009

Book Review: Enchantress from the Stars By Sylvia Louise Engdahl


The idea of a civilization or planet more advanced than we are is a common theme in books. The way you write it is the key to its perfection. 3 character’s viewpoint, all from different worlds is enclosed in this novel. The author jumps over the hurtle of different worlds and gives her descriptions perfectly. She writes it three ways: a fairy tale from Georyn, science fiction from Jarel, and Elana’s naïve view. All are were born on different planets but they all find themselves on this on tiny planet, in one far off solar system we have not heard of. Elana and Elana’s father are trying to teach Georyn and his brother a way to defeat the mighty dragon. Jarel comes from a world that is colonizing on other planets. The Dragon that Georyn sees is just a piece of machinery to Jarel. When Georyn and Elana get to know each other they realize they are more than friends. Jarel only knows about Elana and Georyn toward the end of the book.

The book’s faith in magic and dragons keeps up perfectly with it’s ability to surprise and surpass expectations. But the real story is between Georyn and the stars. When Georyn is shown a little smidge of what it’s like to have wisdom the door is closed on him forever. This is heartbreaking. To know that if only he had been born somewhere else it would not have been this way makes me feel melancholy all over. But the rest of the story is when Elana realizes that she…loves Georyn and also realizes she can not have him. Again the sadness is horrible. But I think sometimes we all fell this way. When we too are shown a piece of the world we’ll never see. We get just enough of a glimpse to tantalize our wants and grip onto our need. Our need to see it again or this world we see every will never seem like enough. And who can fathom how deeply that will change Georyn, let alone if it happened to us. if this books sounds the least amount of interesting to you please read it. If you're anything like me than it will go straight to your heart with all it's beauty.

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