Review: Getting goosed!

Title: The Goose Girl
Author: Shannon Hale

Last word first: A richly detailed retelling of a classic story. I loved every minute.

Would Joe like this? Nah, not his thing. There are zero explosions.

Description: She was born with her eyes closed and a word on her tongue, a word she could not taste. Her name was Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she spent the first years of her life listening to her aunt’s stories and learning the language of the birds, especially the swans. And when she was older, she watched as a colt was born, and she heard the first word on his tongue, his name, Falada. From the Grimm’s fairy tale of the princess who became a goose girl before she could become queen, Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original, and magical tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can lead the people she has made her own. (from the book jacket)

My thoughts: Let me tell you something I've never really considered before when reading a novelization of a fairy tale. It completely changes how I feel about the events of the plot when they're happing to a character instead of a construct. When you read an old-style fairy tale like the Goose Girl, there aren't really characters. There are roles. You have Fairy Queen, Brave Princess, Trusty Knight, Evil Handmaiden, and so on. These constructs aren't characterized to the point where they feel like real people. Terrible things happen to people in fairy tales and you (or at least I) don't really feel that badly for them. But Ani is a real person, and you know bad things are about to happen to her! It's TERRIBLE! And it's wonderful too. I was completely pulled into this story, and I love the characters. It really was a book I was sorry to see end.

I loved the way Shannon Hale managed to preserve the events of the original story, while giving it her own unique meaning and spin. Before regaining her rightful place in the world, Ani has to define herself in her own terms. And by becoming one of the lowest people in the kingdom, she finally learns how to be who she was born to be.

More info: I read the story of the Goose Girl as a child, but I had kind of forgotten about it until I read this book. If you'd like to read the original fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, check out Shannon Hale's website.

A few of the secondary characters in The Goose Girl have their own books! Enna can be found in Enna Burning, and Razo is the main character of River Secrets.

Shannon Hale's website has TONS of extras about Goose Girl, including deleted scenes, a discussion guide, and the entire first chapter.

About Shannon Hale: Shannon's mother says she was a storyteller from birth, jabbering endlessly in nonsensical baby-talk. Once she could speak, she made up stories and bribed younger siblings to perform them in mini-plays until, thankfully, an elementary school teacher introduced her to the wonder of written fiction. At age 10, she began to write books, mostly fantasy stories where she was the heroine. (read more about her at her website, her bio is so entertaining!)

Click the book cover image to purchase.