Saturday, March 07, 2009

Shannon Hale Books

I realized that I've never written anything about Shannon Hale's books on this blog before. And seeing how they're so awesome, I thought I would say a little about her YA books here:


The Goose Girl is probably my example of a perfectly-written book. It has all the elements of a perfect story- adventure, magic, and romance, and I just could not put it down. Ani's story was really distinctive for me (having never read the fairytale version of this story), and I loved how she could interact with the wind. The best part of The Goose Girl is that whenever I reread it, I always take away something new and discover things I didn't notice before.

Enna Burning wasn't as good as The Goose Girl for me, but it was enjoyable all the same. Enna's character is so different from Ani's, and it was interesting to read from her point of view. (Go fire!) I just loved the whole story and I reread this book over 20 times. :)



Isn't this cover just luscious? It's probably my favorite Allison Jay cover. River Secrets is just as good. Finally from the point of a male character, Razo, the story tells the tale of the young boy's travel to a neighboring city, where there is a mystery to be solved... For the first time in the Books of Bayern, River Secrets had a hint of mystery in it as well, which I really liked. It was fun to read about Razo's coming-of-age and becoming a man (I loved when he accused Enna of shrinking his pants), especially since he really didn't believe it. :P

Very intriguing book, written in diary formatting. Unlike most other diary books I've read, this one was very serious. Surprisingly, it was the most realistic Shannon Hale book for me, because it seemed to encompass different cultures, lifestyles, and people. Gosh, I should've written this review when I actually remembered most of the book. :-/ But anyways, I had fun reading it, and you probably will too.


Now we come to the Newbery Honor book. And my first Hale book too. It didn't look very interesting from the back summary, but I'm glad I read it, because it was very good. Shannon Hale took the concept of a academy for princesses and transformed it into a school for "mountain girls." Miri was an interesting character as well as Katar, Britta, Olana (she reminded me of Umbridge), etc. etc. Very nicely written and definitely deserves the Newbery.

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And I have a question for everyone:




Which of these covers do you like the best? I say The Goose Girl, but most people seem to go with Enna's.

13 comments:

anilee said...

I like the new GG, but the model so does not look like Ani to me. I've gotten used to the new EB, and I think the girl is close enough to my vision of Enna.

Have you seen the cover for Forest Born? It's very pretty. Not exactly right, in my opinion, for a BoB, but I do like it.

Priya said...

The cover for Forest Born is out??? Where can I see it?

Nikki Carson (Katie) said...

I acutally like the third picture best. :-D

Nikki Carson (Katie) said...

What about, "Rapunzel's Revenge?"

Priya said...

I completely forgot about RR. Maybe I'll post another review on it sometime later, but for now, you can read my brief review on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/47168339

Maya Ganesan said...

Enna! ENNAAAAAAAAAAA!

Q said...

I think the paperback EB is the only one that really works.

Beth Kephart said...

This is a beautiful beautiful post. What spellbinding books they seem to be.

Nikki Carson (Katie) said...

I requested RR at the library, but never got a chance to pick it up!

H said...

The Goose Girl cover all the way! I like all of her Bayern books, but the others I haven't enjoyed so much.

Anonymous said...

My all time favorite book is The Goose Girl. I adore it, it's perfect in my opinion, just hands down I can say it is my favorite book. That's not to say however that I don't have other favorite books ;)

And I prefer the old covers, but if I had to choose a favorite from the new ones I would say that I like the Forest Born best. Which is good cause unfortunately that seems to be the only cover I'm going to get for a while :P

Sometimes I think Bloomsbury is just daft. They honestly should provide an Alison Jay cover for FB. I shall have to try and cope some how :P

Priya said...

I just saw the Forest Born cover. I like it too (it's so purple!), but I wish that there was an Alison Jay cover too.

Holly said...

Yess! *Shan-fan dance*

Hm, I'm not sure about the new ones...they're nice but I try not to look at them, to keep them from spoiling my head pictures. If that makes sense.