Fairest (Audio)

Aza lives with her adopted family at the inn.  She is not an attractive girl, with her blood red lips, her pale skin and coal black hair, but she is an amazing singer in a country that values both beauty and singing ability.  When she is invited to the castle to be a companion to a duchess for the royal wedding, Aza befriends the new queen.  And through a series of unfortunate events find herself in a dangerous situation with the Queen.

An interesting version of Snow White where the main character is not valued for her beauty, but for her singing.  In Ayortha, where Aza lives, everyone loves to sing and often sing instead of talking.  They have group sings and sing healing songs and the wedding is even in song.  Given that, I cannot imagine reading this book.  It is definitely one of the few books that is a must in audio.  It is read, and sung, by a full cast and they do an amazing job.  Sarah Naughton narrates and plays the part of Aza.  She is truly a beautiful singer.  This is the second time I've listened to Fairest and I'll probably listen to it again. 

It was a good twist on the Snow White fable.  The queen isn't Aza's stepmother, but someone Aza befriends and tries to help.  But through the machinations of the magic mirror, Queen Ivi becomes the evil queen.  And it was interesting to see point A to point B and how it relates to the Snow White aspect of the story.  Another good twist is that Aza is ugly, but she is uglier in her own mind than in true life, I think.  She focuses so much on her attractiveness that she fails to see how people might actually view her.  I think that is the lesson of the book: that goodness on the inside will show on the outside.  Just because someone is attractive it doesn't make them a good person.