Review of Sabriel, by Garth Nix

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Sonderbooks25, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Sabriel

by Garth Nix
read by Tim Curry

Listening Library, 2002. 10 hours, 43 minutes.
Review written October 21, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
Original review posted January 20, 2004.
2004 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #3 Fantasy for Young Adults

As part of #Sonderbooks25, celebrating 25 years of posting Sonderbooks, I’m rereading many of my Sonderbooks Stand-outs from previous years and writing new reviews for the ones written before my 2006 revision of the website. The project is taking me much, much longer than I thought it would, because I’m reading more of my old reviews than planned and rereading (or listening) to more of the books – but I’m having a whole lot of fun with it, so what’s not to like?

And I don’t think I remembered just how good Sabriel is. I wish I could define why it’s head and shoulders above your run-of-the-mill current romantasy – because then maybe I could write one myself. But I’ll try to put my finger on some of the things that make the book so excellent.

First, Garth Nix does an incredible job with world-building. The world and the magic system is unlike any other fantasy novel I’ve ever read, and is incredibly complex, but he expertly pulls you along without ever a boring exposition drop. Sabriel has been brought up in a school close to the border with the Old Kingdom – full of Charter Magic – but her father has been teaching her the skills of an Abhorsen – a necromancer on the side of good who can send dead things back into Death.

But one day Sabriel gets a messenger from Death bringing her father’s bells and sword. She’s told she is the new Abhorsen. So Sabriel goes on a quest into the Old Kingdom to try to find her father’s body and free him from whatever trapped him in Death. And it turns out along the way, she is trying to save the entire Old Kingdom from the Greater Dead creature that trapped him there.

We get information about what she needs to do and how to do it as she goes – but it’s not done in a haphazard way. Sabriel starts with basic knowledge of how to use the Abhorsen’s bells against dead things – which she has to use in her journey. She finds broken Charter stones and decimated villages in her travels, and there are many terrifying moments when she is chased by powerful dead beings.

Yes, there’s a little bit of romance. The romance is shown to the reader rather than told. Though honestly, they could have said a little more about it – but I happen to like understated romance more than overstated romance.

And the story pulls you in, from Sabriel’s first small venture into death to save a friend’s pet to her frantic stand against a creature of Destruction. This book was even better than I remembered.

garthnix.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/sabriel.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy

Adventure, Fiction Review, Historical, Old Favorites, Sonderbooks25, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

The Scarlet Pimpernel

by Baroness Orczy
read by Geoffrey Howard

Blackstone Publishing, 2006. 8 hours, 20 minutes. Book originally written in 1905.
Review written July 14, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
Original review written October 24, 2001.
2002 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #4, Fiction Rereads

As part of #Sonderbooks25, my celebration of my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks, I’m rereading many of my old reviews – at least one from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs. I’ve also found that many of my favorites have an eaudiobook version with my current library – so I’m rediscovering a large number of them as audiobooks. In addition, when those books I’m rereading were reviewed in my first five years of writing Sonderbooks, I’m giving them a new review in the new phone-friendly format.

First, let me say that I love this book. Romance! Adventure! Cleverness! Strategic rescues! Outwitting the bad guys! Clever misdirection! I first read the book in high school and ate it all up. I have lost track of how many times I’ve read the book, but let’s just say that not one word of the audiobook was a surprise. It’s a novel about a band of Englishmen and their daring leader who rescue aristocrats from the guillotine during the French Revolution.

However, writing in 2025, I need to list a few caveats and warnings to other readers. The book was written in 1905. There are several issues.

The biggest one is some frightful antisemitism. A Jewish character is portrayed as despised and contemptible, and pretty much deserving of that. I do have to say that any retelling I’ve ever read and the movies I’ve seen have taken that out. But it’s in the book and is not pretty.

The author was a baroness, so it’s not really a surprise she has deep reverence for the nobility – and some veiled disrespect for the “lower classes.” English working-class are seen as maybe not so bright, but loyal and good-hearted, but French peasants are dirty and despicable for revolting against the nobility.

As for women – well, many things are said about the power of a beautiful woman. But such a woman is frail and delicate, and that power is about her beauty and wit. Yes, our heroine in this book takes action after she unwittingly causes danger to someone she loves – but she can only do so by enlisting the help of men.

At this point, let me note that both retellings that I have enjoyed and reviewed did a gender swap to give a woman the swashbuckling, adventurous role of the Scarlet Pimpernel: Across a Star-Swept Sea, by Diana Peterfreund, and Rook, by Sharon Cameron.

Who is the Scarlet Pimpernel? He’s a master of disguise and a brilliant strategist for rescuing aristocrats from the guillotine. At the start of the book, we don’t know who he is, but we get to see a daring rescue executed before the book ends, with the odious French official utterly fooled.

The writing is full of sentimentality, which I didn’t mind in high school, and have to admit I still don’t mind today. But it also brilliantly begins in the middle of the action, setting up the situation by starting the book with a scene of aristocrats being cleverly smuggled out of Paris. Then we meet the pertinent characters at an inn on the coast in Dover. Even the romance is shown to us in the middle of a misunderstanding that’s six months old. Baroness Orczy knew how to take us right into the middle of the action and shows us back story as it’s pertinent and interesting.

There’s a reason this book has lasted 120 years.

Now, at the time, Baroness Orczy wrote a multitude of sequels. I’ve reviewed several. I found four in a used bookstore one day – and then since their copyright has long passed, I found several more on Amazon print on demand. Most are not as good as the original, but they reliably give swashbuckling adventure and tender romance – and I should read some more before I’m done with #Sonderbooks25.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/scarlet_pimpernel.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Sonderbooks25 – Revisiting 2005 Sonderbooks Stand-outs!

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I’m still celebrating #Sonderbooks25 – my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks! In fact, in a couple months – in August – I will hit the actual 25th anniversary.

My original plan was to reread my reviews of the Sonderbooks Stand-outs for each year, choose one of the books to reread, and blog about one year’s Stand-outs each week or two.

Ha!

I began this project in January 2025, and now in June 2026, I have just finished going through my 2005 reviews.

Let’s just say the project expanded, because I was having so much fun.

First, I’m redoing the Stand-outs pages so that they are in phone-friendly form. This was much harder with years 2001 to 2005 (or so I’m telling myself), which were in a completely different form and had to be almost rewritten from scratch. I’m hoping it will be easier from here on out. But meanwhile: Here’s my new 2005 Sonderbooks Stand-out page.

But beyond that, once I got to reading reviews, I started reading ALL the reviews. And the first five years of that is also a bigger job, because at the time I was working half-time and had more time to read. Those early reviews were posted in Sonderbooks “Issues” with books from each category in every issue, and issues came out every three weeks or so. Those reviews are not on this blog, but you can find them on the Back Issues page. 2005 covered Sonderbooks #91 through Sonderbooks #104

And while I was doing that, it was fun to read about what happened in my life when I was reading those particular books, on my Project 52 posts.

But 2005? That was the year my life fell apart as my husband left me. So It took five Project 52 posts: Heartbreak, Please, Let Me Fix It!, Into the Wilderness, I’ll Always Have Paris!, and Separation and Spain.

[And – as it happens, the day after I reread those posts – on vacation in France – I just revisited the Abbaye de Royaumont in a full circle moment. It was at the Abbaye in November 2005 that I decided to become a librarian and keep writing and gained hope about my life, even though it was falling apart at the time. It was awesome to go back and say to my past self – The librarian thing and the writing thing? They turned out even better than you dreamed!]

I should add that this is the first year the two lists have changed slightly. Last year, because of reading Sheila Wray Gregoire’s work, I took down my reviews of two 2005 Sonderbooks Stand-outs on marriage, Love and Respect and For Women Only. I’ve got links as to why on the pages, but I did leave them out of the new Stand-outs page.

As for the individual books, there were some incredibly good books among the 2005 Sonderbooks Stand-outs.

The one that most changed my life, that was absolutely the most crucial for my well-being was The Script: The 100% Absolutely Predictable Things Men Do When They Cheat, by Elizabeth Landers and Vicky Mainzer. That was the book that finally helped me realize that despite what my husband said (even though I still believed him he wasn’t having an affair) – it was not all my fault that he was divorcing me. I was not, in fact, impossible to live with. That was all part of The Script. I won’t be rereading that book. Rereading my detailed review was enough.

There are several books that are going in my I-definitely-plan-to-reread-these pile:
Confessions of Super Mom, by Melanie Lynne Hauser
Q & A, by Vikas Swarup,
The Folk Keeper, by Franny Billingsley (met her at Royaumont!)
Once Upon a Midlife, by Allen B. Chinen
Writing About Your Life, by William Zinsser
Walking a Literary Labyrinth, by Nancy M. Malone (I brought this one along on my France trip and already finished rereading it. Review will post soon.)

2005 was a tough year to live, but it was a great year for reading!

I hope 2025 readers may discover some of these gems.

Review of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Sonderbooks25, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

by Susanna Clarke
read by Simon Prebble

Macmillan Audio, 2006. 32 hours, 30 minutes.
Review written November 24, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Originally reviewed October 26, 2004.
Starred Review
2004 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #1 Science Fiction and Fantasy

I reread (via listening) this book as part of my celebration of #Sonderbooks25 – my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell was my favorite new book for adults that I read in 2004.

I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t as enamored with the book as when I read it the first time – it’s definitely not my favorite book of the year this year, or even close. But I still thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the story and getting caught up in Susanna Clarke’s highly detailed alternate world. Let me talk about the good things, but also why I’m not raving about it this time around.

The book is long. The first time I read it, the only way I could bring myself to tackle it was one chapter per day while I read other books – until I got about halfway through and was more obsessed. This time around, it required two separate checkouts of the eaudiobook, with a wait in between. 32 hours! But the length is also a strength. The incredible detail – with footnotes! – of the alternate-reality England during the Napoleonic Wars is an incredible feat of world-building. Simon Prebble feels like the perfect reader for the book, reading it with the voice of a scholarly old gentleman that just suits the story perfectly.

The story takes you through first Mr. Norrell and then Jonathan Strange being the first practical magicians that England has seen in hundreds of years. We’ve got hints about the Raven King, who used to control magic in England. We’re warned about the Faery realms and see the drastic consequences when Mr. Norrell messes with fairies – but consequences that he keeps secret from everyone else. We watch those consequences play out, and we watch Jonathan Strange do magic to win the war with Napoleon – and then diverge from his teacher. And eventually, we watch the prophecy happen about the two of them bringing magic back to England. And always a nefarious fairy causing trouble behind the scenes.

The book is immersive, and listening was a great way for me to tolerate the great length. So why was I not as enraptured this time around?

First, I already knew about the amazing world-building, so I took it more for granted this time. I did notice this time the blatant racism and anti-Semitism. It probably accurately reflects attitudes in England at that time, but was still unpleasant to read about. And there was a “historical” story told about the magic of Native Americans – including footnotes – that felt like a demeaning caricature. So I do feel like I should warn about that.

But I also realized that I didn’t remember how it ended – and was kind of let down when it did. Yes, many threads come together, but I didn’t think the ending was terribly satisfying. And then I realized that I didn’t really like any of the characters much. So the world-building and the delightful scholarly tone is the best part of the book. And they do carry the book the entire 32 hours, but it wasn’t quite as wonderful as I had remembered.

All the same, if you’re ever in the mood for a great big doorstopper of a fantasy novel that is not a romantasy but does present an amazing alternate world of magic – Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is worth reading. And, yes, rereading.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/jonathan_strange_and_mr_norrell.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Forgive Everyone Everything, by Gregory Boyle, art by Fabian Debora

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Forgive Everyone Everything

by Gregory Boyle
Art by Fabian Debora

Loyola Press, 2022. 112 pages.
Review written January 2, 2026, from my own copy.
Starred Review
2025 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #5 Christian Nonfiction

When I discovered Fr. Gregory Boyle had written a new book, Cherished Belonging, I rushed to Amazon to order my own copy and discovered another book of his I hadn’t read – Forgive Everyone Everything.

It turns out that this book doesn’t contain new writings. It takes short selections from his past three books, Tattoos on the Heart, Barking to the Choir, and The Whole Language, and pairs them with poignant paintings from Fabian Debora, Executive Director of Homeboy Art Academy.

The result is a book that’s perfect for meditative devotional reading in the morning, one spread per day.

I’ll be honest – Father Greg’s books can get a little rambly. Sometimes it’s hard for me to pick out punchy quotations to post on my Sonderquotes blog. So this book full of bite-sized powerful quotations was a delight. Reading one page inevitably gave me something to mull over during the day.

I did, of course, mark up more quotations for Sonderquotes. It’s going to be interesting to see, when I go to post them, how many are already there.

This would be a fantastic introduction to Father Greg’s writings. I do think it will leave you wanting the more in-depth stories. But it’s also a nice way to review his powerful and loving teachings, leaving you with one thought to carry with you through the day.

homeboyindustries.org

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/forgive_everyone_everything.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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2025 Sonderbooks Stand-outs

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Happy New Year! My 2025 Sonderbooks Stand-outs are up!

I can hardly believe it myself, but this is my 25th year of posting my favorite books read in the previous year! That’s a long run, and I’m not planning to stop any time soon.

Because of celebrating #Sonderbooks25, I did much more rereading than usual this past year, but I decided to limit the 2025 Sonderbooks Stand-outs to books I’d read for the first time. (Since most of the rereads were already Sonderbooks Stand-outs from a previous year.)

Here are my stats: I read a total of 528 books this year. But before you get too impressed, a large percentage of those were picture books. Here’s the breakdown:

Fiction for adults: 39
Nonfiction for adults: 34
Fiction for teens: 66
Nonfiction for teens: 9
Fiction for children: 45
Nonfiction for children: 87
Fiction Picture Books: 248

Total: 528

In the totals above, I reread 29 picture books from previous Stand-outs and reread 23 other books.

A lot of the children’s nonfiction are picture books, so you see that’s not as dramatic as if I were reading 500 adult books.

Some comments about my reading year:

I’ve really transitioned to audiobooks as my main way of consuming books. It’s a big switch for me, but now I have a habit of writing reviews ahead of time, and then every evening I do the mechanical task of posting a review while listening to an audiobook, getting a nightly story fix. I also listen while driving and while doing housework.

I’m not sure if I remembered to note them all, but my spreadsheet says that 92 of the above books were audiobooks.

I do still read as part of my daily devotional time – so you’ll see an abundance of Christian nonfiction among my Stand-outs. And this year I did some rereading of Sonderbooks Stand-outs from years 2001 to 2004, as part of #Sonderbooks25. That was a delight! The original plan was to reread one book from each year’s stand-outs, but I got pulled in way too quickly to too many others. I’m still hoping to go through all the old reviews before 2026 is done – and the official 25th anniversary in August. So I expect to get pulled into rereading far more favorites.

Alas! 2025 brought the end(?), at least for now, of the CYBILS Awards, at least in their prior form, so I was not a judge for Teen Speculative Fiction – and read fewer teen books because of that.

I am still a member of Capitol Choices, a DC-area group of librarians who make a list of our picks of the 100 best children’s and young adult books of the year. That membership has helped alert me to many wonderful books. I’m also co-chair of the Mathical Book Prize committee, which does influence some of my reading. (This year’s picks announced in February!)

And this is the time to state that my Stand-outs and their rankings do NOT attempt to reflect literary merit or quality in any way! Do NOT try to figure out how I will vote for the book on any committee from my reviews or rankings! What I try to do with Sonderbooks is go with my gut: Which books did I personally most enjoy reading in 2025?

I will say that I read and even reviewed some wonderful books in 2025 that did not make this list – after all, I only review books I like. Many of them were of exceptional literary quality. But this list is about books that make me smile, and books that stand out in my mind after a year of reading. I confess that some powerful books were well-written and wonderfully crafted – but on such an uncomfortable topic, they just weren’t among my personal favorites.

I always wait to post my Stand-outs until at least New Year’s Day – and indeed, yesterday I spent a good hour finishing a book because I knew it was going to make this list. This means that I haven’t posted all the reviews just yet – but the next books I’ll post this week will be those Stand-outs that still need to be posted, and while I’m doing that, I’ll update the webpages for the reviews of the other Stand-outs. Eventually, each book gets the Sonderbooks Stand-outs seal on its review page.

Bottom line, it’s all about the books! I hope you will enjoy some of the books I loved reading this year!

Review of Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine, read by Eden Riegel

Children's Fiction Review, Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Old Favorites, Sonderbooks25, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Ella Enchanted

by Gail Carson Levine
read by Eden Riegel

Listening Library, 2000. 5 hours, 42 minutes.
This review written August 25, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Original review posted February 25, 2002.
1998 Newbery Honor Book
Starred Review
2002 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #4 Young Adult and Children’s Fantasy Rereads

To this day, I am proud that I discovered Ella Enchanted *before* it won Newbery Honor. I have a first edition, without the sticker. I don’t know where I got it, but in 1997 I lived in Germany, and I wanted to be a children’s writer. Somehow I got some copies of some publisher catalogs. I was taken with the description of Ella Enchanted – I always love fairy tale retellings – and must have ordered my copy from Amazon. I loved it and was delighted when it won Newbery Honor.

In honor of my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks, I’ve been celebrating #Sonderbooks25. My plan was to reread my reviews of all my Sonderbooks Stand-outs over the years and choose one book to reread from each year. Well, that was a good plan! Instead, I’ve started rereading *all* my reviews and have found the old favorites that my library has on audio and have revisited many. I started at the beginning of 2025, and am still working on 2003. I tell myself it will go more quickly when I don’t have to convert those older pages to phone-friendly format (after 2005) – but hey, the only deadline is my own, and I’m having lots of fun.

It was a delight to enter the world of Ella Enchanted again. At last, we understand why Cinderella let her step family boss her around so horribly – she was cursed at birth with the “gift” of obedience – when someone gives her a direct command, she has to obey.

Gail Carson Levine added many other delightful details as well. It’s a magical kingdom where ogres can charm humans and make you do whatever they want. And it’s also inhabited by kindly gnomes and giants. Ella has a gift of languages, and she gets to know Prince Charmant well before the ball – but he doesn’t recognize her because it’s a masked ball. Besides the romance, the plot involves Ella trying to break her curse.

I put my original review in Young Adult Fiction, but this time around, I have to bow to the fact that despite Ella being a teen who’s old enough to marry, the book is really written for children in the middle grades. The romance isn’t about physical attraction so much as it is about making each other laugh. It all adds up to a sweet story that will make you smile, whatever age you are when you discover it.

gailcarsonlevine.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Sonderbooks25 – 2003 Sonderbooks Stand-outs

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I did it! I revised my 2003 Sonderbooks Stand-outs to a phone-friendly format!

I’m celebrating my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks with #Sonderbooks25.

My original plan was to reread *one* book from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs, revise the early years’ Stand-outs pages to the new, phone-friendly format, and blog about all the other books in this series.

Well, my plans are changing. First, I can’t resist reading *all* the reviews I posted each year. In the early years, they were “issues” of Sonderbooks – and 2003 went from Sonderbooks #45 to Sonderbooks #69. (You can find all the back issues on the Back Issues page.) And I’m rereading my Project 52 posts. 2003 was the year I was 38 and 39. We still lived in Germany, still thought I had a happy marriage, my kids were 15 and 9, and we took a family vacation to Scotland. I still worked half-time at Sembach Base Library.

Another thing that’s slowing me down is it turns out I made a *lot* of books Stand-outs. (I read and reviewed even more – I was only working half-time.) And it takes a very long time to revise the webpages because I pretty much have to do it from scratch. This will get easier after I finish 2005, when I can do more simple copying and pasting.

So – I did reread and review Beyond the Limit, by Joan Spicci, as part of this project, but I also found some other old Stand-outs available on eaudio and listened to them. And I’m finding I want to reread everything! It won’t happen – but I read some wonderful books back then.

So instead of blogging about all the books I didn’t reread – I’m trying to post on social media most days about those old Stand-outs. That way I can think about them one at a time and present them to people one at a time. But meanwhile, do check out my new webpage for the 2003 Sonderbooks Stand-outs!

I do love that Fairfax County Public Library still owns a copy of almost all the picture books I named as Stand-outs in 2003. I maintain this is not because our picture book collection is too old but because those picture books were and are truly wonderful.

I’m having lots of fun celebrating #Sonderbooks25. I hope some of the fun will spread to readers!

Review of Beyond the Limit, by Joan Spicci

Fiction Review, Mathematical, Sonderbooks25, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Beyond the Limit

The Dream of Sofya Kovalevskaya

by Joan Spicci

Tom Doherty Associates (Forge), 2002. 490 pages.
Review written June 8, 2025, from my own copy.
Originial review written September 1, 2003.
Starred Review

I’m celebrating my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks with #Sonderbooks25. My plan was to reread one book from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs and post about the process. Well, things got complicated because I couldn’t confine myself to that – but the fact remains that Beyond the Limit was the one book I chose from my 2003 Sonderbooks Stand-outs to reread. And I’m writing a new review, not because that one isn’t still valid, but to include a blog post and have a review in the new phone-friendly format, while reflecting on the book after a reread.

This is still my absolutely favorite novel about a mathematician. Okay, I haven’t read a lot of novels about mathematicians – but it’s still the book I bring up any time anyone asks about mathematical books for adults, and it’s always been included on my Sondermath page.

The crazy thing about this historical novel is that it’s all true. Joan Spicci learned Russian and translated books and letters by Sofya Kovalevskaya before writing this book – and then she put what she learned into a novel. And okay, it’s not a work of nonfiction and we can’t promise she got everybody’s motivations and words correct – but oh my goodness, it’s a compelling story. And checking the Wikipedia page suggests that all the big dramatic events of the story actually happened.

The story tells the quest of Sofya Kovalevskaya to be the first woman to get a doctorate in Math. She was born in 1850, and the book begins with her a teen in Russia, studying with tutors, but not allowed to go to university at all in Russia. And she can’t leave the country without permission from her father or a husband. So her sister and a group of friends start looking for a man who will enter into a fictitious marriage with one of them, intending to sponsor the other friends as well. They find Vladimir Kovalevsky, and he agrees to enter into such a marriage with Sofya – but realizing that a fictitious marriage was considered criminal sacrilege in Russia at the time. Vladimir himself was a scientist and a publisher, having published Darwin’s books in Russian.

And then the novel shows Sofya and Vladimir falling in love. But she doesn’t dare live as his actual wife, because if she were to get pregnant, that would end any chance for studying at a university. And she faces all kinds of prejudice anyway, eventually finding a mentor who has to tutor her privately in her PhD work.

But along the way, the historical backdrop is amazing. She goes with Vladimir to London and meets Darwin and his wife. And later, her sister gets involved in the Paris commune portrayed in Victor Hugo’s work, and Sofya herself gets involved working in the hospital in besieged Paris – and her sister and her husband get arrested. This was another thing that, if it were known, could have ended her academic career.

On this second reading, I got pretty annoyed with her sister. She scorned any idea of Sofya falling in love with Vladimir – and then later married a man for love herself. But the whole novel shows us Sofya trying to please her sister, no matter how her sister treats her.

The whole story is gripping and makes me appreciate my own education much more fully – and gets you cheering for Sofya and the many obstacles she faced simply to get to exercise her brilliant mind and do mathematics. I still highly recommend this amazing historical novel.

joanspicci.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/beyond_the_limit.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale

Audiobooks, Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Stand-outs, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Goose Girl

by Shannon Hale
read by Cynthia Bishop and the Full Cast Family

Blackstone Audio, 2012. 10 hours, 16 minutes.
Review written June 3, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
Original review written November 24, 2003.
2003 Sonderbooks Stand-out: My favorite book of the year

In honor of #Sonderbooks25, my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks, I’ve been revisiting my earlier reviews. My plan was to reread one book from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs, and I’d decided to reread one for 2003 that I hadn’t read again in all that time – and then I did a search of the library’s eaudiobook collection – and found I simply had to give this favorite a listen. I’m also writing new reviews for the ones I reviewed before my “new” format in 2006 and when I added the blog.

And what a treat! This audiobook is a lavish production of a wonderful story. Every character who speaks gets their own voice actor, and there are musical cues throughout, reflecting the mood.

I’ve always loved fairy tale adaptations, and this is one of my all-time favorites. It makes sense of the original fairy tale and answers some questions. Why did the princess allow her lady-in-waiting to steal her identity? Why did they hang her horse’s head over the city gate? How did she make the wind drive the goose boy’s hat away so he wouldn’t bother her?

I love the way Shannon Hale shows growth in the princess Ani’s character. She starts out overawed by her mother and all too aware of her own inadequacies. Both Ani’s mother and her lady-in-waiting have a magical gift that helps them persuade people – a gift that Ani completely lacks. But over the course of the book, Ani learns the gifts she does have and the power she holds. When out of necessity she lives as a goose girl – she gets to know the working people of her new country – and gains a reason beyond herself to speak up and win back her crown.

This book began a whole series of the Books of Bayern, and so many reviews of Shannon Hale books that I gave them a webpage of their own. It still has a special place in my heart as the book that helped me discover the magic of Shannon Hale’s writing.

shannonhale.com
fullcastaudio.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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