Books of Bayern wrap-up

     Well, this November of blog reviews actually went really well for me - I was busy with NaNoWriMo, trying to write 50,000  words. But I had the idea of writing all these reviews in October, so I just posted them whenever I remembered to in November. Worked really well, and gave me enough time to complete my NaNoWriMo challenge. Yay!

     The Books of Bayern have been really fun to review, and they're a favorite series of mine. Each one is different and still satisfying and enjoyable. My two sisters, M and Jo, have read them all as well, and I thought it would be interesting to figure out which book each of us liked best, since it reflects our tastes as readers.

     M is fourteen. She likes to have a good time, loves laughing, and fun action. The three top things she likes in a book are humor, well-developed characters, and a believable villain. Her favorite of the Books of Bayern is River Secrets. Razo fills the humor category, and all the characters are well-developed, as in all of Shannon Hale's books. The villain of River Secrets was believable, but I won't tell you how, since that would spoil the story for you.

     Jo is thirteen. She enjoys dramatic stories and interesting adventures. The top three things she likes in a book are villains with a real purpose, not people who are bad for the fun of it. She also likes good, sound romance, not the fluffy, fake kind. Finally, the characters have to work - and maybe suffer - in order to achieve their goals, otherwise she's not impressed. Her favorite is Enna Burning, and that book fits all her top 3's very well - particularly the characters working and suffering.

     I'm seventeen. I like fantasy stories, a varied cast of interesting characters, and a plot with many layers. The top three things I want to find in a book are strong plots, good themes to add an extra, subtle dimension to the story, and finally I like for the characters to make personal journeys. My favorite of the Books of Bayern is Forest Born, and I would say it reflects every one of my top 3 very well.

     Anyway, those are our top favorite Books of Bayern, and some of our favorite things to find in books. Hopefully this was a useful addition to the Books of Bayern series review. As you can see, we all preferred a different book out of the series, but we all agree that the series is very, very good. At the risk of repeating myself, it's well worth looking into and reading.

Forest Born - 5 stars

     Forest Born, the last book in The Books of Bayern series, is my personal favorite. It is the story of Razo's sister Rin, the only girl in a large family from the Forest. Rin is a quiet girl, and everybody thinks of her as her mother's shadow. But Rin has secrets of her own that no one has ever guessed at.

     Rin has a connection to trees that goes beyond the ordinary understanding that all people who live in the Forest have. Rin can feel them in a way that is beyond her understanding. But after she does something terrible, something which makes her ashamed to be herself, the trees turn against her and she can find no comfort in the Forest. If Rin is ever going to feel right in her own self again, she must find out how to fix what is wrong inside. 

     But she can't do that at home in the Forest among her family, so she goes with Razo to the capital city to be a waiting woman for Queen Isi. Rin admires Isi's quiet strength and her confidence and wishes she could feel that way herself. When Isi learns that there are hostile fire-speakers in Bayern again, attacking her husband's soldiers, she sets out to stop them forever, taking Enna and Dasha with her. And Rin, who is determined to stay near Isi, follows them. 

     But it's not fire-speakers who pose the greatest threat to Bayern and to Isi. Selia is back, the girl who tried to have Isi killed when she first came to Bayern so that she could become the queen. Selia escaped from her death sentence and now she's revealed herself once again. Isi and her friends are her prisoners, and it's up to Rin to somehow break them free so that Selia can be defeated once and for all. That will be harder than it sounds, because Selia has Rin's brother Razo and Isi's little son Tusken in her power. Rin will need all the courage she has to be brave enough to do what needs to be done. And in doing so, she will realize why she feels broken inside.

     Forest Born resonated strongly with me. It's a story about a girl who feels lost inside herself and doesn't know who she is. Rin is afraid of what she could become, and doesn't realize the greatness of the gifts she has been given. I found myself identifying with Rin as I read this book because she reminded me of myself. One of Shannon Hale's greatest talents as a writer is to be able to create characters who the readers can identify with as if they were themselves, and that's something to be admired in an author. When Rin is afraid of herself and when she tries to be like other people to feel more right inside, I feel her pain. 

     Forest Born was written incredibly well. Particularly captivating to me was Rin's voice as a narrator. Growing up in a rustic, backwoods family who have a blunt, down-to-earth way of speaking, Rin describes things in a way that always harks back to her roots. She is a character who is more strongly rooted in her family than even she realizes, and it's those roots that make her strong. And once she finds the balance in her gifts, Rin can find peace and contentment within herself, something that she has been missing. 

     Its hard for me to describe how much I love Forest Born. As I said, its my favorite of The Books of Bayern series. I suppose I identify with it so much right now because of where I am as a person, but no matter what age you are it's still a rewarding, compelling story. Also, like all the other books in this series, it can stand alone, although it's a bit easier to understand if you've read the other books first. And since they're all worth reading, why not?

Link to author website: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/main.html

River Secrets - 5 stars

     River Secrets, the third book in The Books of Bayern series by Shannon Hale, is a strikingly different book from the two previous ones. This book is narrated by Razo, unganly, awkward Razo, boy from the Forest and one of Isi's closest friends. Although he is not a very good warrior, for his heroic deeds on Isi's behalf in The Goose Girl he is part of Bayern's Own, a group of elite troops. And in this book, the kingdom if Tira and the kingdom of Bayern are slowly trying to mend their old alliances after the devastating war between them which took place in Enna Burning. And Bayern's Own is going to Tira as part of a diplomatic mission to help make peace.

But when they get to Tira, things are not all as they seem. The people of Tira are not particularly happy to see the representatives of Bayern, and to make things even more serious, bodies have been found. Blackened, burnt bodies. The leader of the Bayern representatives in Tira asks Razo to find out who is doing the burning, but it may turn out to be more than Razo can do alone. He may need to ask for help from some unlikely people, such as the Prince of Tira, and Dasha, a noble Tiran lady. A lady that he might be falling in love with. And there's also the danger that it could be Razo's friend Enna. Is her gift out of control again? Is she killing without even realizing it?

River Secrets is a much more jovial story than the rest of the series. Razo is a light-hearted character with a sense of humor that never shuts up, and you can count on a laugh every page or two. He's also irresistibly charming and endearing as a narrator. I couldn't help but root for him, even if I did find him annoyingly clueless and thick-headed from time to time. Razo is one of those characters you just can't help but like.

     Once again, River Secrets brings back some old characters and includes some new ones. Enna and Finn are important returning characters, and Dasha and the prince of Tira are new ones that I particularly liked. Although this book was far less serious in tone than Enna Burning and even The Goose Girl, it was far from trivial, and I definitely enjoyed this addition to the series. It was a meaningful story about loyalty and love that was fun and entertaining to read.

Link to author website: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/main.html

Enna Burning - 5 stars

     Enna Burning is the second book in The Books of Bayern series by Shannon Hale. Unlike the first book, it isn't based off a fairy-tale, but is just as intriguing and captivating a story as The Goose Girl.

     Enna Burning centers around Enna, the best friend of Isi, formerly Anidori-Kiladra of Kilandree and now the new princess of Bayern. Enna is from the Forest, one of a practical people who live a harder life than those in Bayern who dwell in cities. To be from the Forest is to be a survivor, and that aptly describes Enna. She's a blunt, quick-thinking and -speaking person who can stand up for herself, and she's fiercely loyal to her friends and family. But things are about to change for Enna, and her loyalty and strength will be tested to the limit.

     Bayern is at war with the neighboring country of Tira. Enna's brother Liefer has mysteriously learned to control fire, and he hopes his new gift will be able to help Bayern win the war. Instead, his new gift overpowers him and burns him to death. Enna discovers how he learned to control fire: a scrap of vellum he found in the forest tells how to learn to speak to fire. Enna is now gifted like her friend Isi, who is able to speak to the wind and understand the language of birds. But Enna's gift is strong, almost stronger than Enna herself. The need to burn and burn is more than she can bear sometimes. She's afraid she'll lose control and hurt the ones she loves. Can she find a balance? Or will she burn like her brother, mastered by a gift too powerful for her?

     Enna Burning was probably the most suspenseful of The Books of Bayern. The whole struggle Enna goes through, not just because of the war, but because of her new power, is very intense, and thanks to Shannon Hale's writing it's impossible not to feel Enna's pain. Enna Burning was also the book that took me the longest time to digest, and I'll admit to actually disliking it when I first read it. Enna Burning was very different from other Shannon Hale books I'd read, and took me completely by surprise. 

     First of all, Enna Burning is more sober than the other books in this series. There's less of the fun and light-heartedness that can be found in the other ones, and although there are happy moments, there are also many, many scenes that are very sad and terrible. When I first read it, I was actually a bit frightened by it, because it was more dark and intense than anything I had read from Shannon Hale, and was completely unexpected. It took me a reread and a week to contemplate the story before I could really decide what to think, and at that point I realized it was an amazing story. It was much less intense than many stories I've read, but because it came from Shannon Hale - who has always been a writer who quietly thrills me with gentle, heart-felt scenes - I had all my barriers down and Enna Burning made a terrific impact.

     The other reason I initially thought I disliked Enna Burning is because this book also happens to be one of the edgiest of Shannon Hale's books, which is saying something, since Enna Burning is barely edgy at all. That should speak for the quality of Shannon Hale's stories. It's mostly because of Enna's character that this story feels edgy to me. Enna is a sharp contrast to the quiet, reserved Isi of the previous book, and Enna's bold actions lead her into situations Isi would never have found herself in, and there was a particular scene where I was afraid the story would go downhill. But thankfully, although Shannon Hale pushed the extent of edginess from her other books, Enna Burning is clean and safe, and isn't really any worse because of what happened.

     In the end, I would recommend Enna Burning just as highly as I would recommend The Goose Girl. It's full of powerful feelings and meaningful characters. It's more intense and less funny that The Goose Girl, but it can still make me laugh. It's also a great sequel to The Goose Girl, bringing back many of the old characters as well as including some new ones.

Link to author website: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/main.html

The Goose Girl - 5 stars

     The Goose Girl is the first book in Shannon Hale's Books of Bayern series. It's actually a retelling of the classic 'Goose Girl' fairy tale, but Shannon Hale has done a marvelous job of expanding the story into a wonderful story about a girl who can speak the languages of animals and elements, a girl with an inner strength she never knew she had. 

     Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, has listened to her aunt's curious tales about a time when people could understand the languages of animals and even speak to the wind since she was a little girl. Ani possesses this gift of languages which has been almost lost, and she learns to speak to the swans in the royal pond and a lovely colt called Falada born in the royal stables. But as she grows, so does her gift, and there are murmurs about the oddities of the Crown Princess. Ani's mother feels she has no choice but to send her away in marriage to a prince of a distant land: Bayern.

     Who would have guessed that along the road to Bayern, Ani is betrayed by her lady-in-waiting, Selia? Selia has pretended to be her friend, but all along she has planned to murder Ani and take her place as the Queen of Bayern. Luckily Ani escapes, and with the help of a forest woman and her son, finds her way to the capital city of Bayern, the city that was to be her home after she was married. But instead of being received as a princess and a bride-to-be, Ani is a stranger in a strange land. Selia has beaten her to the capital city and fooled everyone into believing she is the real Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee. Ani makes a living as a goose girl and tries to hide from Selia's hired mercenaries as she develops a new gift: a connection with the wind.

     But it's not just Ani's life that's at risk. Her homeland of Kilandree is suddenly in peril when the much larger Bayern begins to muster troops for a surprise attack. Selia intends to destroy everyone who could possibly give away her real identity and take away her new title of Princess. And Selia can do all this because she has people-speaking, a gift like Ani's understanding of animals and the wind. This gift gives her words special weight, and she can convince people to do anything she wishes, no matter how vile it is. It's going to be up to Ani to save her native country from Selia, with only the help of her unlikely animal-herder friends and a wounded captain of the guard.

     The Goose Girl is a book I admire for a variety of reasons. It has a wonderful plot and a captivating, magical story premise because of the idea of languages. It also has amazing characters, and the characters are what make Shannon Hale's stories so enchanting. Ani became so real to me after reading The Goose Girl. She's kind and gentle and not particularly brave - unlike some of the more macho heroine's that I regularly find in other recent publications. This is refreshing and makes the story all the more beautiful. Enna, Finn, Razo, Conrad, and other characters are also fresh and distinct, all of them with a rich background that flavors their actions and even the words they say. I love how Shannon Hale draws you in with her words. She writes in a way that feels as natural as breathing to me, and it makes her books comfortable to read and read again. 

    Shannon Hale also incorporates very deep meanings into her stories - this isn't just a casual novel, but a story with meaning. Ani has the qualities of a queen, and The Goose Girl tells the story of how she realizes this and becomes a leader of a people she has made her own. Selia has chosen to do what's wrong to get what she wants, and she has allowed herself to hate Ani because she has what Selia wants most: a title and a throne and a country of obedient subjects. The contrast of these two characters and their goals are part of what make The Goose Girl shine as a story.

     I cannot recommend The Goose Girl highly enough. For people who enjoy a high-quality retelling of a classic fairy tale, this books is one of the best I have ever read. For readers who enjoy a good fantasy, this is that book. I found The Goose Girl to be a highly entertaining, captivating story full of meaning and characters who feel like family. It's definitely a must-read.

Link to author website: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/main.html

Books of Bayern ~ Series review

     This post is not a review itself, but a notice to all my readers. I'm going to be spending the month of November reviewing the Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale.

     I've been dying to review The Goose Girl, the first book in this series, for a long time. For a variety of reasons I never did, but now I've decided to just review the entire thing. My plan is to review it one book at a time, partly for variety, and partly because the books are all incredibly different. Also, I'd like to review every one of them separately. They're all good books, but for different reasons.

     That means that for the month of November there will be only reviews of the Books of Bayern. I enjoy my Shannon Hale, and I feel like sharing the love this month.

    But before I start posting reviews, I just want to say that the Books of Bayern deserve 5 stars. So don't wait for my reviews, get the books and read them yourselves. I'm going to review them anyway because I love them that much, but you won't regret reading them as soon as possible.

     You can find these blog posts here:

• The Goose Girl
• Enna Burning
• River Secrets
• Forest Born