Ogre Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Fantasy. 352 Pages. 4 Stars

Synopsis:

In this prequel to Ella Enchanted, which can stand on its own, young healer Evie is transformed into an ogre by the meddling fairy Lucinda. She’ll turn back only if someone proposes and she accepts!

Returning to the land and many of the characters from her beloved Newbery Honor–winning Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine has written a delightful tale about a clever and endearing heroine who is determined to defy expectations.

Evie is happiest when she is healing people, diagnosing symptoms, and prescribing medications, with the help of her devoted friend (and test subject) Wormy. So when Wormy unexpectedly proposes to her, she kindly turns him down; she has far too much to do to be marrying anyone. And besides, she simply isn’t in love with him.

But a certain meddling fairy named Lucinda has been listening in, and she doesn’t approve of Evie’s rejection. Suddenly, Evie finds herself transformed from a girl into a hideous, hungry ogre. Evie now has only sixty-two days to accept another proposal—or else be stuck as an ogre forever. 

My Review: 

Ah, and Levine returns to the magical, nostalgic world of Ella Enchanted yet again. <3 Y’all Ella is classic. And when I heard Levine was going back to do a prequel, I got SO excited! I mean Fairest, the companion novel, was fantastic, so I fully expected this to be, too. Then I saw the cover and it was beautiful. Then I saw the title, and it made me giddy! I loved the spin off of Ella Enchanted and I was intrigued by the ogre aspect. And then I heard it was going to be a bit of a Beauty and the Beast retelling/reimagination, and I was even more excited!

Then it took me a year to buy it and another two years to read it cause life is crazy sometimes.

And, honestly, I was a little disappointed at parts of it. But after taking some time to process, I realize it wasn’t all as bad as I first thought. Yes, there were bits I thought could have been done better and things that just didn’t live up to the expectations. But Ella is a lot to live up to, y’all! And it was still fun to step into her world again, and truthfully, there were some parts that I really did enjoy and got excited about, too!

First, what I didn’t love. The main character grated on my nerves. I didn’t love Evie. And that made following Evie’s story hard. She was so…unfeeling in a lot of ways. I liked that she was a healer and I liked that she obviously cared about her mother and her friend, Wormy. But she was so calculated in how she approached everything–and maybe that was the point. But I didn’t really feel like she grew out of that much. Her character “growth” felt forced to me, like she just chose love because that’s what the story needed her to do, not because it was within her character.

That said, I did love the juxtaposition of human Evie and ogre Evie. It was fascinating to dig into the ogre’s mind. (Though I don’t understand why she couldn’t see the Master’s secret by just looking at him. That was one of the things ogres could do in Ella Enchanted. Maybe that part didn’t work for her just like persuasion didn’t at first?? Either way, that thread seemed ignored or dropped altogether in this, and that was sad. Though the way she coaxed the secret out of the Master was really beautiful to watch and the way she related to that and was motivated to do it endeared her to me a little more.) But I loved the war within Evie to heal or eat. I loved watching her struggle to maintain her humanity and to be the best ogre she could be since she was stuck with being an ogre. She didn’t let that obstacle stand in her way of pursuing her goals, and that was really fun. She was creative in how she chose to live as an ogre and that really drove the story in the best sense. (It also perfectly showcased Lucinda’s foolishness and I LOVED that!! It was amazing to see her at her schemes again!)

Speaking of the story and plot, I didn’t love the pacing. The first third of the book kind of bored me. It felt, much like evie, kind of dull and calculated. But the second third really drew me in. Peter showed up and I felt a simultaneous rush of excitement and dread. Then Evie started falling for him, and I was yelling at her (for which she couldn’t have known, of course) cause I knew exactly who and what Peter was from the beginning. Then, when Jerrold showed up, my jaw hit the floor. I had no idea what Levine was up to and I loved that. (Jerrold was definitely the best part of the book for me. I adored him.) I questioned just what she was getting at and how things would turn out. Would Evie be renamed to rid herself of her ogre past and become the queen we love so much? But what about Wormy? I didn’t really love him as a character, and I questioned his motives and true feelings, but it would be cute if Evie ended up with him. Or was she going to stay an ogre in the end and avoid marriage altogether? She’s proven herself useful in a number of ways as an ogre, so I could see that. I tried to puzzle all the pieces out and I loved following the trail of breadcrumbs to unravel the mystery.

And then Eleanor and Mandy and all of the things and I was just downright giddy to see them again. And that whole line with Peter and Eleanor was so heart-wrenching! Really cool the way that was done, even though I was still yelling at Eleanor the whole time. I wished…well, no spoilers, but I just wished there had been some part of that that was true for Eleanor’s sake at some point. But the whole bit with Lucinda was just genius. I loved Eleanor’s friendship with Evie, and the allusion to the unicorn hairs was cool. (The dragon pee was a little weird, not going to lie. Like, why did it have to be urine? Why not saliva or tears or something else??) Mandy was an absolute treat! She didn’t change a bit and I loved that.

But then the last forty or fifty pages or so, things started getting wonky again. The king made a 180 in the last few pages that just wasn’t in character at all. (Also, I love Ella’s necklace, but throwing it in the way Levine did didn’t sit right with me. Maybe because of all of the deception around it, but it tainted the necklace’s meaning and felt more like it was forced in as an easter egg rather than a natural part of the story.) Though the line with Peter was cool for sure, Jerrold also moved into his proper position way too fast to feel realistic. He just took charge and started being who his title said he was (though without losing any charm of his character, which I loved. I liked how he used his position to further display his depth of character, caring, and grace), but it felt odd he just accepted the knowledge so easily like his father did. Lucinda’s part in the end also sort of felt weird. That was never a thing that fairies could do before. It felt convenient and, again, not really a natural part or well-planned out resolution. The whole thing with Wormy was a cute thought, but it just wrapped up so quickly that it didn’t really feel plausible that the characters could change so quickly. Evie’s declaration, as mentioned earlier, just didn’t feel like it fit with her character. It felt like a “we’re running out of book, cram this ending into three pages and call it a day!” I missed the thorough development and natural flow of character, and even pacing.

A few other things felt a little out of place, like Evie’s thoughts and views on marriage and youth, which just came across as kind of inconsistent or convenient. It was dropped for most of the book and only surfaced in the beginning and end. But I can’t say I hated the book. I liked it. I enjoyed a large chunk of it, primarily the middle.

All in all, the parts I loved best were the parts that hearkened back to the former genius of Ella Enchanted. Much of the new bits and the new characters, I didn’t actually love. Though I liked the Master quite a bit and that whole line was really fun. I liked the meat sticks and seeing the ogres inside and out again. It’s sad that Evie and Wormy were my least favorite parts of the book, but that’s just what it came down to for me. Would I recommend it? I mean, maybe at least once. It’s on my shelf. I don’t regret reading it. But I wouldn’t rush to reread it either. And I’d likely ignore most of it when revisiting Ella and Fairest in the future just because.

Content: it’s clean, middle grade. The story centers on a girl forced to accept a marriage proposal, so she thinks a lot about who she could potentially love (or who would love her), but there isn’t anything that dives deeply into the threads of romance. No foul language, and some mild violence with the ogres and knights and such, but I’d be fine giving the book to a pre-teen.

More: 

Ogre Enchanted is a prequel to the novel Ella Enchanted (5 Stars)

Fairest (5 Stars) is a companion novel to Ella Enchanted 

I would recommend reading Ella Enchanted first, and then Fairest. They’re both far better than Ogre Enchanted was, in my opinion. Honestly, most of what I enjoyed about Ogre Enchanted were the elements that originated in Ella Enchanted. But, I still think it should be read in publication order (rather than chronological order), even though it’s technically a prequel of sorts. Fairest is a companion novel, but I’d still read it after Ella Enchanted to enjoy it to the fullest. 

I’ve posted a review of Ella Enchanted on Goodreads, but I haven’t posted one for Fairest because I haven’t reread it since joining Goodreads.