Customer Reviews

Two Princesses of Bamarre, The

5 star:		(179)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Two Princesses of Bamarre is about two completely different princesses. The older one, Meryl, is courageous, brave and valiant, always wanting to fight dangerous creatures, such as: Vollys the dragon, specters, monsters, and even ogres! The other one, Addie, is the opposite. She is afraid of everything, starting with spiders, and will not let Meryl leave her side until she is happily wed. One day, the most terrible thing happens. Meryl was sick with the Gray Death, the most feared illness of them all. Many hundreds die of it every year. Addie, inspired by Drualt, her hero, realizes that she must go find the cure, to save her beloved sister and lots of others. Along with the help of her friend Rhys, the young sorcerer and many gifts from Bella and her late mother, she sets out on her quest. She comes across ogres, dragons, specters and many other dangers. Will Addie be able to save her sister? Will she survive? What will become of Rhys? What will become of Meryl? You'll have to read the book to find out! I recommend this book to children ages 9 and up. I rate it five stars because it's the best book in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gail Levine returns to the terrain that she does best, strong and intelligent princesses -- only here she expands her terrain. After the so-so outing of "The Wish" and the delightful but all-too-short Princess stories, fans of "Ella Enchanted" will not be disappointed!

The bubonic plague of Bamarre is the Gray Death, killing anyone it touches. While shy Princess Addie merely wishes to remain where she is, brave Princess Meryl is determined to save Bamarre from the Gray Death. Though the sisters are as different as day and night, they love each other a great deal.

But as hard as Meryl tries to save Bamarre, she falls ill with the dread disease. Addie must set off on a quest to save their kingdom -- and her beloved sister. Her innate shyness and retiring nature must be overcome before the exciting end of the adventure. Her characterizations are spot-on, especially Addie. She manages to portray a quiet, retiring young girl in a sympathetic light, without making her seem pathetic or weak. The male lead, Rhys, is strong but not overbearing, kind and very, very cool.

Levine's evocative writing style has matured further from "Ella Enchanted," becoming more flowing and poetic in the dialogue and descriptions. But, like "Ella," we are given very human kingdoms mixed with otherworldly beasts and creatures, dragons and spectors and griffins and so forth.

If you are one of the many girls (women, men, boys...) who cheer for strong heroines, then pick up this book immediately!

In the country of Bamarre there live two Princesses, as different as night and day. One of them Addie is timid and shy but loves no one more than her sister Meryl. Her sister Meryl is strong, stubborn and brave. Meryl's life mission is to one day find the cure for the grey death, a plague that kills people very quickly. Addie only wishes to stay safe inside her palace but her wish is not granted. When her sister is sticken with the grey death she knows she has to do something. But when this something turns out to be leaving her home and finding the cure, facing specters and dragons she finds it hard to deal. Even with the help of a sorceror. Can she save her sister? Or will she be too timid to follow through.

I found this book to be very impressive. It was entertaining to see Addie's transfomration through the book from timid little sister, to something more. I reccomend it to fans of Levine's 1st book Ella Enchanted. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. The only complaint I has was some parts where a tad bit predictable. Other than that it was great. Enjoy!

After writing a Newbery Honor-winning book called Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine has done it again in this excellent tale! Gail Carson Levine writes of two princesses who live in Bamarre. One of the princesses is Addie (Adeline) who is shy and fearful and her sister, Meryl is brave and bold. They had made a promise that when Addie is married and safe, Meryl could begin her adventures through the world. Unfortunately, after Addie's chambermaid Trina and their mother had caught the Gray Death disease and died, Meryl is sick with it as well. Addie gathers all her courage to seek the cure to save her sister with the gifts she recieve from the young sorceror Rhys and her friends. Addie takes her seven-leagues boots and her spyglass left by her mother and the enchanted tablecloth and cloak from Rhys also with a some shy love. Addie begins her dangerous adventure meeting tricky spectors, a clever interesting dragon, and many more creatures. Also adding a bit of romance for Addie and a magical ending. Any fans of magical creatures and princesses will fall in love with this book!!

When I first heard about Gail Carson Levine's new book, I was bouncing off the walls. You have to understand that Ella Enchanted is my favourite book of all time! When I first bought it I was skeptical about whether or not it would live up to Ella Enchanted's or my standards. And yes it does and it surpasses them. I absolutely loved the plot. I am a lot like Meryl or Ella, from Ella Enchnted, in characteristics. So I absolutely loved getting to know Addie and her fears and triumphs. I just bought this book yesterday morning and I finished last night. It is the best! The plot kept me hooked the whole way through and the ending was a total surprise which I loved. Thanks for writing such a fantastic book Gail, keep up the good work. This book is so good it should win the Newberry Medal! And I hope it does. If you haven't read this book already you should definetly read it right now!

Sixteen-year-old Addie and her sister Meryl are the two daughters of the king of Bamarre, a magical kingdom. Years ago, they lost their mother to the Gray Death, a horrible disease that strikes suddenly and with no hope of recovery. Now brave, adventurous Meryl hopes to grow up to have great adventures and, most especially, to find a cure for the Gray Death. Unlike her older sister, shy Addie is timid and afraid. Yet it is Meryl who falls ill with the Gray Death. When their father does little to help Meryl, Addie decides that although she may never be brave, she must do all she can to save the sister who always swore she would be the one to become a hero. With the help of Rhys, a young sorcerer, Addie sets out on her quest, which will take her through forests of specters and ogres, across rivers and deserts, and to the lair of a deadly dragon. Addie must summon every ounce of courage within herself if she is to save her sister and her kingdom before it is too late. This was a wonderful fantasy novel. Although born to be timid, shy, and fearful, Addie was a character with hidden strengths that her love for her sister was able to bring out in her. I highly reccomend this book.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre

Gail Carson Levine

HarperCollins Publisher Inc.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine, is about the page-turning adventures of Princess Addie, who is on a quest to save her sister and the people of Bamarre from a terrible sickness. Princess Addie is the complete opposite of her sister, Princess Meryl, she is a coward and is afraid of many little things. Princess Meryl on the other hand is always hoping for an adventure to come along. She is brave and willing to fight, but a terrible sickness comes over her and she is going to die if Princess Addie can't overcome her fears and find where the fairies live to save her sister. There is a prophecy that reads that one day when a coward becomes brave then the rain will fall over Bamarre and save them from the sickness. Anyway Addie sets off to find a dragon and runs into many dangerous creatures. Ogres, Dragons, Griffons, and many other creatures....Fortunatly she has a pair of seven league boots which allows her to walk very far in one step. She endures a great battle will she win and save Bamarre? Or will she lose not only the battle but her sister and the people of Bamarre?

There are many characters in this book, but the main character would definitely be Princess Addie. She is about 15 years old and is afraid of almost everything...especially spiders. She is not brave and has no desire to fight dragons, as her sister does. Some of the subordinate characters are Drault, who is dead at the time but is in many prophecies and was the hero of Bamarre. The sorcerer Rhys, who Addie later falls in love with. Rhys is a friendly person that is loved by most, he pleases people by showing off his magic tricks. Princess Meryl, is Addie's sister and is dying. Addie is trying to find the cure throughout this whole book to save her sister from the Gray Death. Meryl is a very strong person and doesn't believe that the Gray Death will kill her. She has more hope and personality then most, and everyone seems to adore her. Vollys was the old dragon that Addie had gone to find the cure from, the dragon is a very tricky creature though, so Addie is faced with the challenge of outwitting Vollys when she is captured by her. The problem with Vollys is that she is lonely and terribly depressed because she has no one to talk to and everybody is afraid of her. When in reality she isn't that mean and only eats the people that bore her and can't entertain her. Not a lot of these characters are very believable, actually all them are not believable at all besides Addie and Meryl. This reason is because all of the rest of the characters are magical in some way, they are either sorcerer's, or fairies, or some other fantasy creature.

I would definitely recommend this book! I loved it so much! The way that Gail Carson Levine writes this book is amazing. She throws suspense, adventure, magic, and love into the story, which makes it unforgettable! I couldn't put this book down, it was such a pager turner. You never knew what was going to come next, one moment Addie would escape from danger and the next she would get herself back into some kind of trouble. You don't really know what is going to happen in the end until you read it. I already love fantasy, but this book wasn't like many other fantasy books I've read. Sure it had the typically princess needs a savior plot, but all of the different magical creatures there were was amazing. It wasn't just the typical dragon, but it was also some other very powerful creatures that I had never heard of. To find out how this great book ended read it, you might just be surprised!

Although characterized by the same lively prose that made Ella Enchanted such a delight, Gail Carson Levine's newest, The Two Princesses of Bamarre is unfortunately seriously flawed. It remains a quick, readable fantasy, but often fails to hold up under scrutiny.

The basic premise of the book is a flip flop of the traditional heroine found in fantasy novels-- you know, the one who is invariably impetuous, brave, handy with a sword, and ready to cut down any monsters that stand in her path. Addie is altogether different (she's even good at embroidery), but although it is nice to have a less courageous heroine, she never comes alive for me as a real person. Her sister Meryl, who does fit the stereotypical heroine, is even less convincing. Quite honestly, my favorite character in the novel is the dragon, who with her moral ambiguity-- first roasting her prisoners out of boredom and then regretting their deaths and remembering them fondly forever afterwards-- is actually the most realistic and well-rounded character.

The characters, however, are not the major problem. The most severe failing of The Two Princesses of Bamarre, particularly as it is written as an epic high fantasy with dragons and fairies and sorcerers, is its continual failure to ask *why* things are the way they are. Why do specters persist in misleading humans? Haven't they got anything better to do? Why do they have to prophesy when commanded? Why did the fairies stop interacting with humans, particularly given their need in the plague? Why does the Gray Death choose the victims it does? Does it consciously choose? How is it spread? Why is the king such a coward? (He is characterized throughout only by his cowardliness, which misses a great opportunity for an interesting three dimensional character.) Little questions that I didn't think about until I finished the book and realized that nothing is explained; everything just *is.* Patricia C. Wrede uses many of the same steretypical elements in her Enchanted Forest Chronicles (dragons, princesses, sorcerers) more successfully because of her ironic tone: she mocks fantasy conventions where Levine tries to follow them without really expanding or explaining very much. A pity, since she did such a good job in lending plausibility to the story of Cinderella.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre also suffers from a sudden and rather incongruous ending, two seriously unconvincing romances, and some fairly unsubtle messages about the various forms of heroism. However, to make up somewhat for its shortcomings, the plot moves quickly, and the lore about the sorcerers is particularly creative. There's also a bit of humor as Addie contemplates the difficulties that might be had in attempting to extract an invisible splinter obtained from an invisible table and the dangers of traveling with seven league boots (dangerous road blocks, for one). But it all still remains a little shallow, a little generic.

Probably a good coming-of-age choice for younger fantasy readers who may not be bothered by the lack of plausibility, but better choices for those who like their high fantasy well doused with wit include Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain, Vivian Vande Velde's A Hidden Magic, and Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

Ailanna

This wasn't such a bad novel, and I kind of enjoyed it. Not great, but easy to read and the story chugs along briskly. However, the ending really killed it for me. It's too unnecessarily long. Once the major conflict is resolved, the story is over and yet we must hear a treatise on what it means to be a faerie and the price paid and the virtue of love and heroism and blah blah blah. I wish I'd just put the book down after the rain because I would've left with a feeling of at least entertainment. But after reading on and realizing that there were no further complications, only pages of explanations, I just lost much of my enthusiasm for the book. Would've been three stars if it'd just known when to end.

Gail Levine wrote this beautifully. I t is about two sisters who are also princess' in the land of Bammare (hence the name.) Princess Meryl is adventurous, a feminine Superman. Her goal is to vanquish many of the monsters of Bamarre, and find a cure for the dreaded Grey Death, which kills all that catch it, first suffering the weak satge, then the 9 day deep sleep. Finally, the three day fever, followed by, the most dreaded, death. This plays an enormous role in this story. Then there is Princess Addie, who is shy, timid, and unsure of herself. She relies on Meryl to be her protecter. But indeed, it is strong Meryl who catches the dreaded Grey Death. While she fights it, Addie can only think of one way her beloved sister can survive- if Addie finds the cure of the Grey Death. And so she sets out, with only a few cleverly created magic items, to find herself in a dangerous world, filled with cannibal-like flying monsters, dragons, and ogres. And once this book is over... she has ...found a brave, stronger version f herself, and had an adventure. My personal favorite part was when she got caught by the dragon Vollys, who was a wonderfully created character, a dragon who befriends her prey, being entertained for up to months before feeding on her guests, only to regret her doings, and mourn for her lost companions forever. And the end really hits you, and makes you want to cry. It is not a sad ending, but not a very happy ending. That is my only down point. But, I still see this book as one of my most cherished [story]. You won't be disapointed!