Review: Enchantress from the Stars

I have read this book at least 5 or 6 times, I imagine. I'll probably continue to read it every year or every other year for a long time as it is one of my favorite books of all time. It is a Newbery Honor Award from 1971, coming out the same year as "Summer of the Swans" (which won the Newbery Medal and had better be a very good book).

The storyline, as taken from my End of Year Book Review 2010: Elena is a girl who sneaks along with her father’s mission to save a less-advanced planet from being taken over or knocked off their natural course of progression by a different human space-faring civilization (i.e. there are three different human civilizations). Soon however, Elena is forced to play a key role, one that she isn’t fully prepared for.

This is a low sci-fi/fantasy story that is easily accesible to all. The story is told from three different narrators who give insights into their own groups; each viewpoint is very well thought out and compelling. The story is a bittersweet coming of age story makes you think and feel. This is one of those books that changes your perspective both on history and the universe.

Now, all I'm going to do is list some good quotes from the book just to whet your appetite:

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“The human mind is incredible. It can do nothing without belief, yet practically anything with it."

“People who love each other can no more keep from communicating than from breathing. "

“If nobody believed anything except what they understood, how limited we'd be.”

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I hope everyone could read this book and truly appreciate it.