The Goose Girl

I'm not the ideal audience for this book, but I love fairy tale retellings. Really I'd give this a 2.5. The story is entertaining but incredibly predictable. I read Thorn awhile back and thought it was a much better retelling. This was just too far fetched for me. I know it's a retelling of the Goose Girl tale but there are ways to improve upon a story and ways to just rewrite it.

If you love books with cheesy plotlines, and predictable endings this book is for you. I consider myself a realist (then why do I read fairy tales? I love the deeper message behind them). I didn't take away much of anything from this except the whole story is impossible. Thorn was about learning to trust people, and overcoming violence. I felt like it was a book about a girl finding herself, standing up for herself, learning to love and live. The Goose Girl just felt like it was fluffed with all too familiar plots. I can't say i took anything away from it. Parts of it were entertaining, but it just felt wrong. Everything seemed too forced, and the ending made me wish I spent my time reading something else.

I quite enjoyed Shannon Hale's Goose Girl. I was expecting a sweet story, but it isn't really, though it does get sweet in places. And in fact, as you might expect as it is based on (or at least inspired by) a Brothers Grimm story, it gets quite grim in places. There is treachery, violence, murder, and other nastiness aplenty. To balance that, there is also courage, friendship, steadfastness, and kindness. The main character, Ani, has to deal with tough times and grow up fast. Hale crafted a plot which twists and turns and several times went where I did not expect (which I like).
To sum up – good story, well told.

3.5

Having just finished the book, I can say that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It initially reminded me a lot of Ella Enchanted, yet the further into the story I got, I found that it truly stands on its own as an original tale. My favorite components are the characters, who are all vivid and lifelike, and the plot twists, most of which I did not see coming and found quite gripping. At times the story did drag a bit and I found myself losing interest, but on the whole I enjoyed The Goose Girl as a charming young adult fantasy.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!!!!!! IT IS WONDERFUL!!!
This is one of my favorite books of all time!!! The story plot and how the envirment and charecters interact as well as the sweet romance and hidden identities make it the greatest! The 2nd and 3rd books in this series were almost as good as the first one as well! I highly reccomend them!

The 4th book however, was very bad in my opinion. The main girl was always feeling sad and guilty for what she did in the past and I just felt the book was lacking in good story.

PLEASE READ THE GOOSE GIRL!!!!!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!!!!

“... If we don't tell strange stories, when something strange happens we won't believe it.”

It's a sweet story and I'm sure I would have loved it 20 years ago, however this reading experience was not great for me. Except for a few chapters in the middle when I was hooked, I couldn't wait to reach the end.

3.75 is the precise rating. The first time I tried to read this book I ended up DNFing it, but then I gave it a second chance and the second half was so much better! The writing is beautiful and fairy tale-like, but I had some issues with the main character that fortunately were solved by the end of the story

The cover caught my eye and the blurbs drew me in. I found this in the Young Adult section while looking for something else. This fantasy story is a retelling of a Brothers Grimm tale (one I was not aware of beforehand). It's told in simple and poetic language and it's a fast read. Anidori-Kiladra, “Ani,” is a crown princess from Kildenree sent on months-long journey to the kingdom of Bayern to be a bride for that kingdom's crown prince. But along the way, her scheming lady-in-waiting overthrows Ani's loyal guards with her own and assumes Ani's identity. Ani barely escapes with her life and eventually becomes a goose girl in Bayern while she tries to figure out a way to reclaim her name and position. I read the last 100 page all in a rush late into last night. This well-told story has a very exciting denouement and I'm looking forward to reading some of the author's other tales set in the kingdom of Bayern. In an appendix, the author has a Q & A and I learned she wasn't setting out to write a “young adult” novel. That whole genre can be a tricky label. Ofttimes I'd have no idea a book was intended for a younger audience if it wasn't stamped with that label. This would make for a good real aloud story.