Books of Bayern: The Goose Girl

The newest cover (:

I'm spotlighting the Books of Bayern this month! The first book, the book that started it all, the Big Daddy (okay, maybe notsomuch the Big Daddy...) THE GOOSE GIRL! *insert children cheering here*

The Goose Girl is, as I said in my original post about the Books of Bayern, the story of Ani (who changes her name to Isi) who was the princess of Kilindree but was sent to marry a prince, then betrayed by her close friend and lady-in-waiting. She then had to disguise herself as a goose girl--tending to the palace geese--to save her own life.

Goose Girl is actually based off the Grimm fairy tale of the same name. If you're planning on reading it (WHICH YOU VERY WELL SHOULD) then you shouldn't look it up... it kinda spoils the ending (: Shannon Hale has taken a fantastic tale and woven it into the land of Bayern... a place so believable and cultured that I'd love to live there. Actually, I'd like to live in Tira... but that's in River Secrets and I'll get to that later.

This books is one of my favorite books for a couple of reasons. Isi (although in this book she goes by Ani, but she's Isi to me) is amazing. And she's blonde. I just have this thing about strong female heroines never being blonde. Is that just me? It probably is. But I adore Isi! And the way Shannon Hale writes... the language is GORGEOUS. It's positively WHIMSICAL. I could go on forever about how fantastic the way she writes is. It's a certain style that totally fits the fairy tale feel. The book is most definitely a fairy tale.

The original cover (my copy)

I also love how Shannon Hale mixes magic into the story. The interesting thing about how she did it is that it's not flat-out magic--it's more subtle magic. Basically, it's learning the language of things. I'm not sure how to explain it, but the first book focuses on how Isi learns to communicate with the wind. It helps her out many, many times but in the later books it becomes a problem... but more on that later.

This book also has one of my favorite love stories. I can't give away too much, I don't want to spoil it, but I seriously loved watching the love interests develop. I had my own guess the entire time as to who he was and such, and I actually squealed out loud at the end when there was a revelation about a certain character... it makes me giggle even thinking about it (: (: (: 

Although it's a relatively calm story, there is action and drama. Lots and lots of drama. Ooh, Selia, OOOH. She's one of those people who you just want to punch in the face. You have NO IDEA. OOOOOOH. That's all I'm going to say. I mean, she's such a horrid, nasty... well, I think I'm done. But honestly? I can't put into words how fantastic this book is! SO GO READ IT!