How to Ditch Your Fairy

How to Ditch Your Fairy, by Justine Larbalestier, is crazy and eccentric. It is a very odd look at the future by mixing Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Wife of acclaimed author, Scott Westerfeld, Larbalestier has a very different futuristic world from her husband that make her novel quite...odd. It took a while for anything really to set in with this novel and I've finally come to the conclusion that it was very nicely written, but a little hard to place in the age categories.

Charlie has an interesting life in a world where everyone who's anyone has a "fairy". Each fairy enables you to be excellent in one particular area in your life (e.g. boy fairy, clothing fairy, trouble avoidance fairy, etc...). Everyone generally loves their fairy but Charlie does not. You see, Charlie has a parking fairy. Wherever she goes in a vehicle, there always seems to be the perfect parking spot. Sound great? Not for Charlie because, fact is, Charlie hates cars, is fourteen--therefore can't drive--and just wants to get get rid of her "burden". You follow Charlie as she goes to great lengths just to rid herself of her fairy, including teaming up with her worst enemy, all while trying to get the attention of her exciting neighbour, Steffie.

Larbalestier uses her own vocabulary that is, indeed, quite "doos" however, the words feel quite childish. Her style of writing is odd and makes the novel not quite mature but not quite child-worthy. All in all, her work is not for the older youth audience but it is a perfectly delightful story for the early teen years!

Rating: 7.5/10