Goose Girl
Author:
Shannon Hale
Illustrator:
N/A
Published by:
Bloomsbury Children's
First Published:
25 Jul 2017
Ideal for readers aged
15+y
My Review
Shannon Hale is a brilliant storyteller; weaving compelling, relatable and memorable characters - wonderfully strong female heroines, and excellent male role models - into her original and gripping plots, full of twists and turns, she offers something really special in the world of teen fiction. Set in a fictional, medievalish fantasy land called Bayern, the story in this first book of the series begins with a princess, called Anidora, who is undervalued, heartlessly sent by her mother the Queen to a neighbouring country to marry their underage prince as a pawn in a political manouevre to avoid war between the two nations. Betrayed by her lady in waiting on the journey, Anidora finds herself alone and abandoned, in fear of her life. As she lives in hiding, waiting for the opportune moment to reveal her true identity and foil her betrayer's plans, she begins to discover the ability that has lain dormant and oppressed in her through years of being kept imprisoned in her home palace; wind speaking. As she grows in her ability, she grows in confidence, and also, along the way, finds people who love and accept her for who she is, making true friends for the first time in her short life. Her trials and struggles grow her gifting, her awareness of her own strengths and weaknesses, her friendships, and ultimately enable her to find love too. And, of course, see her enemies brought to justice.
There are lots of things I love about this series:
The characters are really well developed; we know their strengths and their weaknesses and the plots are driven by their personalities. Each main character has internal struggles, particularly as they work out how to use their abilities for good in the world, and now for harm or selfish gain (particularly in 'Enna Burning', which is, consequently, the darkest of the four books). These moral internal battles make the books really stand out. I like the way this transfers into thinking about how we use our gifts - although not magical - in the world around us for good.
There is plenty of romance, but it's clean and beautifully done. Friendships grow organically in each case into romantic attachment, and even Austen would approve, I feel, of the physical restraint of the male characters in the book! Hale portrays romance in a really lovely way - one which I am happy for my teens to read and aspire to.
The theme of loyalty and fidelity in friendship runs through all four books. Strength is found when characters stand by one another, sacrifice for one another, and forgive one another. I like this a lot.
Lastly, Hale's storytelling is totally gripping, beautifully paced, and she reveals just enough at each stage to keep the reader guessing what is going to happen next. She masters brilliantly the art of a story arc that see good triumph decisively over evil, but encompasses characters who are three dimensional and very human in their struggles.
My eldest daughter has read and re-read this series, and they take pride of place on her bedroom bookshelves. I have loved reading them, and hope your teens do too!
Heads Up!
The books in this series centre around four characters (one book per character, although all the stories are interlinked) who each develop an ability to communicate with natural elements - wind, fire, water, and lastly, trees. In the fantasy land of Bayern, these skills have been long forgotton and enshrined in legend, but are rebirthed in four friends. I read the books carefully as my instinct is to be wary of recommending books where humans have magical powers. If you, too are reticent about this kind of content, you will want to know that in the second book, 'Enna Burning', the main character, Enna, is called the 'fire witch' by her enemies as she uses her ability to control fire in the war against Bayern's enemies. In 'Goose Girl', witches and sorcery are mentioned as features of the market place frequented by the workers in the city, but Isi, the heroine, makes it clear that these are sham performances.
The arc of the story through the four books follows a war between Bayern and its enemies - consequently they do contain scenes of violence and some gory bits (in 'Enna Burning', some of the story centres around burnt and blackened corpses that are being deliberately planted in prominent places by Bayern's enemies in order to try provoke war) - but Hale says she deplores gratuitous violence for its own sake, and I see this in the books. Violence only ever drives the story forwards. Some predatory behaviour by men is also implied in the second book, but doesn't not result in any physical harm, and is presented in a very negative light. In the light of all this, I would say that the books are best left until readers are 14+, although if your teens have read books like 'The Hunger Games'or 'Maze Runner' they will have encountered much worse!!
Having read the books with care, I still think they are well worth recommending for teens - read my review to find out why!