The Goose Girl

I loved this book. It reminded me a lot of the writings of Robin McKinley. It’s a good action-adventure book with just enough romance to keep you happy. It’s kind of a coming of age story for the princess, who has to go through a lot to reclaim what is truly hers.

One of my very fave fairy tales as a very young Mir was "The Goose Girl". I especially loved reading aloud the rhymes--'Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it/Sadly, sadly, would she rue it," and "Blow, wind, blow." I was horrified in that particular, sensitive way of children that someone would decapitate a lovely horse such as Falada, the beloved, talking horse of the princess protagonist. Clearly, evil was afoot if such a dastardly deed was conscionable. I imagined Curdken's chase for his cap. (In my chikdhood's version of the tale, that was his name. In other versions--and in this retelling--it's Conrad's hat that goes rolling over hill and dale, sparking his pursuit. And I delighted in the horrible, terrible justice that befell the villainess. Just thinking about it makes me feel 6 all over again, feeling the magic of the story--all the stories--and how to a child, all this was so plausible: that a horse should talk, that the lock of hair should speak (some versions have drops of blook on a hanky), that a princess should command the wind, that justice would prevail. Shannon Hale has taken that brief, bloody, magical tale that may be familiar to you and fleshed it out in a story written for a YA audience, but sufficiently skilled, lyrical, and well-plotted in the telling that an adult like me was engrossed and loath to put it down even to have supper. In this retelling, the Princess Anidora-Kiladra (Anifor short) is a misfit in her own family. Even as a newborn she evidenced a strangeness: She didn't open her eyes for three days, not until her aunt (gifted with a special "speech") spoke her into wide-eyedness. This hint of a special power of speaking is hinted at from the opening, but develops beautifully. We see the not-well-loved child, Princess Ani, grow close to her aunt, who can speak to animals. She learns the language of swans, she learns some of the bird dialects, and she senses something latent in herself, something she cannot fully enunciate. It turns out that out of political considerations (fear of war), the Queen--who has the gift of people speech, ie persuasive to humans) betroths Ani to the prince of the neighboring acquisitive, hawkish kingdom. En route (as in the fairy tale) Ani's lady in waiting, Selah, who is deceitful and potent in people speech, gains many of the guards to her side, and they mutiny. Ani must hide in the forest of this foreign land, where she is befriended by a forest widow and her son. Ani ends up, as the Princess in the original tale, working as a goose girl for the king whose son she had been fated to marry. Without a persuasive gift of speech of her own, she is at the mercy of the powers around her. From privilege to the lowest echelon of society. A drastic change of status. What will she do? She ponders how to fix what has been damaged (and it's more than just her status). And, in the process, she begins to develop her gift. She learns goose speech, which is (surprisingly) not like swan speech.

Based on one of Grimm's less well known tales about a princess who becomes a goose girl before harnessing her unique talents and ascending the throne. All the elements work together to create a beautifully told story that is difficult to put down. There's the brave and resourceful heroine, the court intrigue that causes her to lose her crown, the dark forest brimming with imminent danger, and the love interest who is not what he seems. Plus, this princess/goose girl knows the language of the animals. The words weave a magical spell, beginning with the first sentence, "She was born Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she did not open her eyes for three days." It's like hearing a long-lost, totally entrancing fairy tale for the first time; the images are familiar but the story itself is brand new.

Debut author Shannon Hale succeeds wonderfully with her first novel, "The Goose Girl." A retelling of the moderately well-known tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, she reinvents the story for a modern audience. Ani, a crown princess, learns at an early age that her special gifts are not those valued by her queen mother and her future subjects. She is eventually sent to marry a prince in a different kingdom, but along the way is overthrown by her lady-in-waiting. Ani becomes a servant, tending geese, while she searches for a way to return to the marriage and throne that is rightfully her own. Hale has reimagined the story in such a way as to give us a strong, if flawed, heroine with a conscience. In this book, the reader isn't left wondering how a princess could allow herself to be displaced so easily from her birthright. We are also given a magical reason for Ani's successful sojourn with geese. Ultimately, Hale's prose is the book's greatest asset. Ani and her world are vivid creations, ready to be shared during a long, quiet read.If you enjoy fairy tale novelizations, such as those by Robin McKinley and Donna Jo Napoli, this book will make a great addition to your bookshelf. If you simply like historical fantasy, forget the fairy tale, this novel will also please. Royalty, deception, intrigue, treason, and redemption make up a story that doesn't obviously derive from a fairy tale.

I read this book in one sitting. All 300 pages. It was that good.The language, as another reviewer wrote, is lyrical and beautiful. I always had a vague idea that a story existed about a goose girl, but I never knew it and am so glad that this book was my first introduction to the tale.It's a story with a hint of magic, a heroine you can root for who connects to the natural world in an eloquent and profound way, and an ending that leaves you satisfied and glad. I'm really not sure what else to say, since I don't want to spoil any of it for you, so I will simply say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book.My one disappointment: this author has not yet written any other books! Please publish another, Ms. Hale, because as soon as I finished this one I looked to see what else I could read by you, and there is nothing yet! Rest assured that your next book is awaited by an eager audience.

I had this book read aloud to me as I nursed my new baby. Although it's prose, it reads beautifully, like poetry. I was captivated by the multi-sensory descriptions, which drew us right into Ani's world. Towards the end, our reading sessions lengthened because we just couldn't wait to find out what was going to become of the heroine! While the story is intended for young adults, any grown up would enjoy this beatiful novel.