The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale review

'Hale's writing is beautiful, with a vivid eye for detail' Daily Telegraph Anidora-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kilindree, spent the first years of her life listening to her aunt's incredible stories, and learning the language of the birds. Little knowing how valuable her aunt's strange knowledge would prove to be when she grew older. From the Grimm's fairy tale of the princess who became a goose girl before she could become a queen, Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original and magical tale of a girl who must understand her own incredible talents before she can overcome those who wish her harm. Shannon Hale has drawn on her incredible gift for storytelling to create a powerful and magical grown-up fairytale.

While reading The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, I felt I was in the middle of a fairy tale. I should admit right now, I am a very big fan of re-told fairy tales, doesn’t matter if it’s the 100th re-telling of Cinderella or an off-beat tale, like the twelve dancing princesses. If it’s a re-told fairy tale, chances are pretty huge that I am going to read it.

Shannon Hale’s writing style leant perfectly to the retelling of a fairy tale. It was simple, but not to the point of being condescending. I liked that she didn’t try to put in a bunch of awkward bells and whistles, but just let the story come naturally. Honestly, I think the simplicity sucked me in. After reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, I needed something with less nuance (wouldn’t want my brain to explode), this was the perfect book for that.

In case you can’t tell, I really loved The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. I have to say, I cared so much about the main character, Ani, that I wound up becoming very enraged at certain parts. Let’s just say I don’t like when certain characters don’t get their just desserts. I’m not about to give away spoilers, but I couldn’t stop turning the pages because I wanted justice to be done. I mean, I guess I knew what was going to happen, since I had read the spoil-tastic amazon review, but I sort of forgot all of that and let myself be transported to Bayern. Personally, I find that to be a great standard to judge a book by. If I can get so into a book that I forget it’s a hot day in hell, NY, then to me, that is a fantastic book.

I would recommend Grey Goose if this was an adult book, but it’s not. I think a glass of apple juice would be perfect for reading this book, since apple-juice makes me think of story hour at the library and in elementary school, where the teacher or librarian would read a book to you and then afterward there was apple juice and cookies. I think part of the reason I will treasure The Goose Girl is that it hearkens back to story hour days, it brings me to a simpler time when I didn’t have bills or anything to worry about and could just lose myself in a story.

Other reviews of The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale:

Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog – “This book? The Goose Girl? Is magnificent.”

Reading For Sanity – “Ani’s tale is captivating”

Liberating Libris – “It’s not often that I find myself squeeing over the love interest in a YA novel, but this was an exception.“

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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