“She was born Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she didn’t open her eyes for three days.” That is how The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale starts its story. It takes place mostly in the kingdom of Bayern, but starts off in Kildenree, Ani’s kingdom. She is a princess who is going to be queen, but as a child she attaches to her aunt. She learns the language of the swans and also of her horse, Falada, who was born in her arms. But many mistrust the way she can talk to the birds, so her mom figures that it is best to send her away to marry the prince of Bayern.

Hale does a wonderful job of making her characters believable. It is really hard to not get attached to them. The characters are lovable and fun, making me want to interact with them. My favorite character is Razo, a sheep caretaker. He plays many fun pranks, but is also a great friend. At least, unlike others, he didn’t die or have gross gory scenes.

That was the one thing I didn’t like about the book. The gory scenes. Much blood was spilled within this book, so I would not recommend it to people with weak stomachs. There are only around three parts that are pretty bad, but they are probably the best and most interesting parts of the book. They hold all the fun twists!
The Goose Girl is definitely a typical fairy tale. The land there is very believable, being made-up, and it has all the normal problems our world does. It has the princess and prince and the many trials of the people to get where they want to be. In the end, like every book, everything works out and everyone is happy. This book is actually based on a fairy tale written by the Grimm Brothers.

In all, Bayern and Kildenree sound like great places to be. I got very attached to this book and was glad to learn that there are three more in this series. With the many twists and turns of this book, it kept me don the edge of my seat the whole time. It was a great book and I was not sorry when I read it for the first time and you won’t be either.