River Secrets

In this sequel to The Goose Girl and Enna Burning, we return to Bayern. Just because the war is over, doesn't mean there is peace between Bayern and Tira. Isi's going to the Tiran capital on a peace mission and Enna is as well. But really, this is Razo's book. He's always considered himself rather useless because of his small size, so he's more than surprised when he's asked to be part of the elite band of soldiers accompanying them. He's going to be a spy. Once in Tira, someone is burning people and Enna is being blamed. It's up to Razo to figure out who's framing his friend and trying to restart the war. I am always surprised by Hale's amazing skill to paint an entire landscape, people and culture perfectly in a mere few sentences. Her lyrical language and voice is back and this latest installment, while shorter, is just as strong as her earlier works.

The City of Rivers is what River Secrets was orginally going to be called. But Shannon Hale (the fantastic writer of the book) changed it to River Secrets instead. Even though the title was changed, I still call it City of Rivers in my head. Sounds better. River Secrets is Shannon Hale's newest book, and she did not disapoint her readers with it. It's finally Razo's turn to have a say in the series, and Hale portrays his feelings awesomely (is that a word?!). I won't give too much away, because then you won't want to read it, and Shannon Hale is VERY particualar about spoiler's (which she has every right to be!), but the book is about Razo, Isi and Enna's friend, who goes to Tira to guard the ambassador. He doesn't quite understand why, in his eyes and many other's he is just an average soldier. But then he discovers something he is good at, and that something takes him to a new excitement and importance he never knew... I was so surprised when I read this book at how well Shannon adapts to each of her charaters. With Isi (in the Goose Girl), she shows a quiet very reserved girl. With Enna (In Enna Burning), there is a firey (forgive the pun...), stubborn, head-strong girl, who never quite cools off. And then finally there's Razo, a short average lovable guy, who thinks not too highly of himself. I think it's a wonderful thing when an author can switch roles like that, and Shannon did a fantastic way of doing so.

Look, no one is ever going to say that Shannon Hale isn't one of the finest writers living today. Her books are firmly entrenched between older child readers and young teens. They are also, for the record, full of magic and mystery and wonder and power. We all know this. If you happened, like myself, to read her award winning "Princess Academy", then you have seen what she is capable of. In my quest to read the best children's books of 2006, however, I found myself with a copy of "River Secrets" in my hands. Now please bear in mind that I had not read any Hale books aside from "Princess Academy" up until this moment in time. Moreover, I discovered fairly soon that this was the third book in a series that began with "Goose Girl" and carried on into "Enna Burning". All righty. I like a good challenge. So the question became this: Does "River Secrets" stand as a magnificent novel entirely on its own without your average child joe having read its predecessors? The answer is yes and no. Yes, it is rather magnificent. Hale doles out her humor, compassion, and cleverness in spades. But no, it doesn't stand entirely on its own. If you know of a kid that enjoyed the first two books in the series, "River Secrets" is going to strike them as an answer to a prayer. If, however, they (like myself) just picked it up because of the pretty pretty cover, they'll have to be prepared to wade through a lot of exposition and characters they don't care all that much about for one hundred pages or so. It definitely picks up after a while, but I think to get the full effect you need some background first. In the past, Razo has never thought of himself as amounting to much. Sure, he's one of Bayern's Own, the highly skilled soldiers of the Bayern realm. And he has friends in high places, like Queen Isi, King Geric, and the powerful fire-speaker Enna. But compared to everyone else, Razo sees himself as a goof and the butt of many a joke. Now the country of Tira is attempting to set up diplomatic relations with Bayern since the war between the two countries is over. That means that Enna and Razo are going to accompany their country's diplomat into the city of Ingridan. This would be all well and good except that A) The Tirans hate the Bayerns and B) Someone is trying to sabotage the peace talks. Now it's up to Razo to do some heavy duty spying, to figure out who it is that he can trust, and to discover how to get a people to like you when what they want most of all is your head on a pike. As Hale mentions in a note to the reader, "Razo was a very minor character in The Goose Girl, and though he didn't even appear in the outline for Enna Burning, he somehow wormed his way into a significant part of that story". An endearing fellow, Razo's the kind of goofy nice guy that never got the girl in Molly Ringwold films. Fortunately, Hale makes a special effort to right that wrong. Now admittedly when I first picked up "River Secrets", I found myself facing what felt like a slight

I love the two previous books in Shannon Hale's Bayern series, The Goose Girl and Enna Burning, so I was excited to read the third. I was not disappointed. Hale's writing is beautiful, lyrical, and descriptive. The characters are well-drawn, the settings familiar. This masterfully-crafted book is packed with action, romance, and humor. Razo, who was a minor character in the two earlier books, is a terrific main character. Lovable and funny, he grows throughout the story in ways that are both entertaining and inspiring. Some of Razo's old friends from the previous two books play important roles in this tale, and following their stories is one of the great joys of this book. Razo makes new friends as well, and enemies. Shannon Hale is truly one of today's best story-tellers. This compelling mystery evokes both laughter and tears. River Secrets is best appreciated if you first read The Goose Girl and Enna Burning, but I highly recommend it to anyone who has a taste for action, adventure, romance, and mystery.