Title: The Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern #1)
Author: Shannon Hale
Publisher: Bloomsbury 2005
Genre: Fairy tales
Pages: 400
Rating: 5 / 5 stars
Reading Challenges: Telling tales; Mount TBR; Fall into Reading
How I Got It: I own it!
She can whisper to horses and communicate with birds, but the crown princess Ani has a difficult time finding her place in the royal family and measuring up to her imperial mother. When she is shipped off to a neighboring kingdom as a bride, her scheming entourage mounts a bloody mutiny to replace her with a jealous lady-in-waiting, Selia, and to allow an inner circle of guards more power in the new land. Barely escaping with her life, Ani disguises herself as a goose girl and wanders on the royal estate. Does she have the pluck to reclaim her rightful place? Get ready for a fine adventure tale full of danger, suspense, surprising twists, and a satisfying conclusion. The engaging plot can certainly carry the tale, but Hale’s likable, introspective heroine makes this also a book about courage and justice in the face of overwhelming odds. The richly rendered, medieval folkloric setting adds to the charm. Anne O’Malley
I was wary at the beginning of this book. I haven’t had much luck with retellings of fairy tales. They’ve been way too shallow with uninteresting characters and predictable storylines. I just wasn’t loving them at all. And then Shannon Hale comes along and renews my faith in fairy tales. She crafts a beautiful growing up story of a shelter princess betrayed and left to fight on her own. I loved Ani (or Isi) and her fight to survive. I grew to love the other workers. I especially loved Finn and Enna. Great characters! Even though I figured I knew the ending, the story still kept me on my toes until the very end. I’ll be sure to grab the other books in the series for next year’s reading.
- The Goose Girl
- Enna Burning
- River Secrets
- Forest Born
Wading Through the Ocean of Life 
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