Engdahl, Sylvia Louise. Enchantress From the Stars.New York: Atheneum, 1970.
So, the premise for this story is pretty simple at first. It’s a futuristic story about a girl, Elana, who stows away on her father’s spaceship to observe an anthropological mission. This group, the Imperial Exploration Corps studies the “Younglings” on less technologically advanced planets. They also “protect” weaker planets from being exploited by stronger ones. For this particular mission Elana is called into service (once she has been discovered as a stowaway) to trick the natives of an exploited planet into helping themselves fight a “dragon.” The natives think their woodland is being haunted by a tree-eating dragon when really it’s intruding strangers hell bent on taking over their planet by clearing their land. Elana uses psychic powers to argue with her father and help the natives, as well as fight the intruders. The most interesting thing about Enchantress From the Stars is the different points of view. Engdahl switches from the first person perspective of Elana to a third person approach with the natives and the intruders giving the story more depth and interest.
Favorite line: “Two minds that don’t have anything in common in the way of background, and then all of a sudden they have everything in common, because they’ve found that essential, real things are for them the same” (p 121).
Reason read: This is going to be a stretch but I wanted to read something a 14 year old would read in honor of a kid named Matt who, at age 14 in 2006, saved someone’s life.
Author Fact: Engdahl has her own website. It’s a little bland looking and a bit tough to navigate but has some interesting information.
Book Trivia: Enchantress From the Stars has been compared to Star Trek.
BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Best for Teens” (p 23).
~*LunaSea*~ 