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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Review of Bad Badger, by Maryrose Wood

Audiobooks, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Bad Badger

by Maryrose Wood
read by Chris Devon

Dreamscape Media, 2025. 2 hours, 41 minutes.
Review written April 24, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Maryrose Wood is good at writing straight-faced stories that gradually get sillier and sillier. This one is perfect for kids ready for chapter books.

Bad Badger is about a badger named Septimus who is afraid that he’s not very good at being a badger. Instead of stripes, he has spots. Instead of living in the forest, he lives in a cottage by the sea. He loves listening to operas in Italian on his phonograph, collecting shells, making omelets, watching the sunset, and other activities not at all usual for badgers.

But then Septimus makes a friend. A seagull comes to his house every week on Wednesday. Gully doesn’t say much besides “Caw,” but Septimus feels their friendship grow and become tremendously important to him – so they share things they each enjoy most.

But when Gully goes missing, Septimus doesn’t know how he will find him, simply that it must be done.

This sweet story is about true friendship and not letting others define who you are.

maryrosewood.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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Review of East, by Edith Pattou

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

East

by Edith Pattou
read by a Full Cast

Listening Library, 2005. 10 hours, 48 minutes.
Review written May 21, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Original Review written December 6, 2003.
Starred Review
2003 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #2 Young Adult Fantasy

As part of #Sonderbooks25, celebrating my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks, my plan was to choose one book to read from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs. But then reading all the reviews, I remembered how much I love these books… And then I discovered several of my favorites available or with a short wait as eaudiobooks with my library… And I’m rereading a lot more than one book per year.

And I love East as much as ever! It’s still a weird fairy tale – “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” – but I love the way the author fills the book with family and friends who help Rose along the way. It ends up being a book about relationships with family and friends and about not giving up despite impossible odds.

I’m also pleased that after I finished this, I’m able to start right into listening to the follow-up, West, for more about Rose and her White Bear. I read West the year I was on the Newbery committee, so I didn’t have the luxury of rereading East before I did. This time, I get to read them one after the other.

I’m not going to write new reviews for every book I reread during #Sonderbooks25. But I like having a pretty new review in place of the ones I wrote before 2006, before I made the new format and added the blog. So here’s a new review for East, but I’ll let the old one stand for West.

If you love fairy tale retellings, as I do, pick up this atmospheric tale about a girl who’s prone to wander, and who goes with a white bear to help her family. After her curiosity causes disaster to strike, she’s determined to make things right for the white bear – and ends up helping other people, too.

Oh, and this is a lovely Full Cast production audiobook, with separate voices for each character who gets viewpoint chapters – Rose, her brother Neddy, her father, the White Bear, and the Troll Queen.

edithpattou.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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Review of Bird of a Thousand Stories, by Kiyash Monsef

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Bird of a Thousand Stories

by Kiyash Monsef

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025. 340 pages.
Review written March 20, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Bird of a Thousand Stories is a sequel to Once There Was, which was a Morris Award Honor Book in 2024, the year I was on the committee, so of course I was delighted to hear about a sequel. The Morris Award is for best young adult debut books, and this book is shelved in our library’s juvenile section, but it walks the line between both. Our protagonist, Marjan, is in high school and lives on her own after her father’s death, but the plot and situations fit well with middle grade novels. There’s not even any romance in this book, more of an adventurous chase around the world to find and free the Bird of a Thousand Stories.

You don’t have to have read the first book to enjoy this one, but my advice is not to miss it! I do think that the author’s craft is a bit better in this, his second novel. It feels more unified, as the main story is about the same quest throughout the book.

As with the first book, folk stories are woven through the book, and this time there’s a continuing story about the Bird of a Thousand Stories – the bird Marjan feels compelled to find. An Author’s Note shows us that he seriously researched this story to include it.

Filling in a little bit, in the first book, Marjan’s father died, and she discovered he had a business helping magical creatures – which were very real. Marjan discovered she’d inherited the gift of being able to communicate with them mind-to-mind with just a touch. However, she also gained the attention of a powerful family who made a business of selling off magical creatures for money. As this book begins, she has an uneasy alliance with them.

Also in the first book, Marjan acquired a roommate who’s a cheerful runaway and a witch – a witch who’s spells are hit-or-miss. In this book this friend has some kind of powerful spirit helping her – but is it really help? Something new in this book is that Marjan discovers an uncle who kept himself separate from the family is an heir to the same magic, but gave it up to trust it to her father. So Marjan isn’t alone in her quest, but there are questions throughout about trusting the right people to help and not trusting the wrong people. And who is which?

It all adds up to a magical adventure traveling to many different parts of the world, trying to do right by magical creatures.

kiyash.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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Review of The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley

Audiobooks, Award Winners, Fantasy, Old Favorites, Sonderbooks25, Stand-outs, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Blue Sword

by Robin McKinley
read by Diane Warren

Recorded Books, 1992. 12 hours, 16 minutes.
Review written May 13, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Earlier review written July 2002
Starred Review
2002 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #1 Young Adult and Children’s Fantasy Rereads
2010 Sonderbooks Stand-out: Wonderful Rereads
1983 Newbery Honor Book

(I’m writing new reviews for the books that had reviews in the old not-phone-friendly format, and that don’t have a blog post. After 2005 in my #Sonderbooks25 celebrations, I may just add to or repost the original reviews.)

I’m cheating just a little bit in my #Sonderbooks25 plan, celebrating 25 years of writing Sonderbooks. My plan was to choose *one* book from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs and reread them. Having reread this book in 2010, for my 2001 choice, I picked Gillian Bradshaw’s The Sand-Reckoner to reread – but then my eaudiobook holds queue was filled up, and I found an available copy of this book – and I simply had to try it in audiobook form.

And yes, I still absolutely love the story. Horses! Magic! Slow-burn Romance! (And, okay, I’m afraid it’s apparent I like books where the heroine gets abducted by a king – an honorable king with good reasons for it.)

I’m afraid I didn’t like the narrator. (But I love the book so much, I listened anyway.) She reads it with a motherly voice as one talking about children, rather than as the young adult teenage girl our main character Harry Crewe is. I also wish they’d used a narrator with a British accent, since the “Homeland” of the story mimics British imperialism, in a fantasy world setting. What would the British have done if the “natives” had magic? You find out in this book.

Speaking of that, the use of the word “native” and the attitude toward them stung my ears a little, reading in 2025 – but it is reflective of the time it was imitating – and Harry definitely learns there’s a deep and rich culture – and magic – among the Hillfolk.

Listening to it now from a writer’s perspective, I hadn’t noticed before how often Robin McKinley flits into other people’s thoughts. It works in this case, as she shows King Corlath’s worries that he has done a cruel thing by kidnapping Harry and perplexity as to why his magic had him do that. She shows us both of their thoughts hovering around the other – both slow to realize they’re falling in love. But it’s a testament to how much I love the story that this perspective-jumping (other characters, too) doesn’t bring it down.

For decades now, I’ve said that The Blue Sword and The Blue Castle are my two favorite books, and that still may be true, though if pressed, I know by now I’d come up with a dozen more titles on any given day. But I do know this: revisiting the story was an absolute delight. And yes, this will always be a book I will highly recommend.

robinmckinley.com
robinmckinleysblog.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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Review of Watership Down, by Richard Adams, read by Peter Capaldi

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

Watership Down

by Richard Adams
read by Peter Capaldi

Blackstone Publishing, 2019. Novel first published in 1972. 17 hours, 31 minutes.
Review written May 3, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Earlier review written in 2001.
Starred Review
2002 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #2 Fiction Rereads

Ah, it was so good to revisit Watership Down! This wasn’t the one book I chose to reread from my 2002 Stand-outs as part of my #Sonderbooks25 celebration of my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks – but that motivated me to notice that my public library had an available copy of an eaudiobook – and then I couldn’t keep myself from again enjoying the epic adventures of Hazel and Fiver and Bigwig and all the rest.

It’s funny – I’ve always thought of it as an adult novel. The library has it in the adult section. But my ex-husband did read it to our kids when they were young, and Overdrive has the audiobook listed as Juvenile. I’m going to fall back on the fact that it’s truly for all ages. There is plenty of life-and-death violence, and the reading level is adult, but I think that for listening to the story, this is a perfect family adventure.

So if you’ve never read Watership Down – it’s an epic adventure of a band of rabbits. Hazel’s runt brother Fiver has a vision of death and destruction, so they leave the old warren with a few others and set off across the dangerous countryside to a sunny place on a hillside. Along the way, they meet dangers from predators, but also from other rabbits, encountering two troublesome rabbit societies. And once they arrive, they have the problem that they need some female rabbits, or the new warren can’t survive.

And especially wonderful about this book are the tales told about El-ahrairah, the mythical rabbit hero and trickster. His exploits inspire their own adventures in life-or-death situations.

And, yes, this book about rabbits is full of tension and heroism, and you come to love the very rabbity characters. They feel like real rabbits with authentic rabbit interests.

And I was so happy to revisit this tale! It was fun to hear it told with a British accent. Yes, there’s some sexism, but since it’s about rabbit does, it feels like something I can overlook. Other than that, it completely stands up to the passage of time and I was simply happy to spend time with Hazel and company again. I decided to write a new review so I’ll have one in the new phone-friendly format. This is a book I will recommend all my life long.

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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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Review of Holy Terrors, by Margaret Owen, read by Saskia Maarleveld

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Holy Terrors

by Margaret Owen
read by Saskia Maarleveld

Macmillan Audio, 2025. 16 hours, 15 minutes.
Review written April 11, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’ve said how much I like the recent trend of duologies – but this trilogy conclusion to the story begun in Little Thieves reminds me just how grand and wonderful a trilogy can be. Yes, you definitely need to read these books in order. If you haven’t started yet, do it! You are in for a treat! I want to reread them to freshly appreciate all the nuances built into the story, and if I read the print version (I’ve purchased my own copies.), I know I’ll hear Saskia Maarleveld’s voice in my head – she’s become the voice of these characters I love.

This book opens more than a year after what I thought was a terrible choice Vanya made at the end of the last book. But something fun about this book is that each section begins with a story of what would have happened if Vanya had made a different choice – and the first story told is about that one. Things don’t exactly turn out better.

But in her actual life, Vanya has been living as the Pfennigeist – robbing the rich to help the poor, or at least helping people get justice who are otherwise overlooked and oppressed. She’s dated some men, but is single right now.

And then someone starts murdering powerful people – and leaving Vanya’s calling card behind – a red penny. So of course the prefects come after her. And wouldn’t you know it, Emeric Conrad is the prefect in charge of the investigation – and he’s engaged to be married, to someone Vanya can’t help but like, much to her chagrin.

That’s the beginning. When more deaths happen, it’s obvious Vanya didn’t do them, but she’s starting to gain powers because of what the people believe about the Pfennigeist. And when the actual assassin begins stopping time to carry out their murders, it doesn’t work on Vanya because of her time as a child with her godmothers, Fortune and Death. So Vanya becomes an important part of the investigation as Electors gather to choose a new Emperor – but more and more keep dying.

The book continues to explore past choices Vanya has made – so you really do need to have read the earlier books (You’ll be glad you did!). And those books also laid the groundwork for how low gods gain power from what people believe about them.

The final crisis is a bit confusing, because besides magic, gods, and time manipulation, alternate universes are involved (and the different lives Vanya would have had with different choices). I’ll be honest – Normally that would have been a dealbreaker for me, but I’m too crazy about this series to let that stop me here – I just want to read it again. And it turns out, that all helped to explore questions about identity and how that’s affected by our choices, and what it takes to make a great relationship, too.

I was also delighted with characters coming back that I loved, and not as delighted about several coming back whom I’d hated – but that history added all the more power to the story.

And it all reminds me how truly great a trilogy can be.

margaret-owen.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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Review of Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales, by Heather Fawcett

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales

by Heather Fawcett
read by Ell Potter and Michael Dodds

Books on Tape, 2025. 11 hours 44 minutes.
Review written April 2, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Oh, I love the Emily Wilde books more with each volume! You’re going to want to read these in order, especially to watch Emily’s relationship with Wendell develop, but it was okay not to remember every detail of the previous books. I love these books so much, I decided to purchase my own copy and preordered it, but listening has been such a delightful experience, I still put the audiobook on hold.

The charm of the book is found especially in the character of Emily Wilde, the foremost dryadologist in the world – at least in this alternate world where faeries are real and studying them is a serious academic discipline. Her encyclopedic knowledge of faery lore means she has what it takes to now survive becoming a queen of faerie – or so we hope. For his stepmother is dead, and Wendell is ready to take his throne in the Faerie Kingdom of Where the Trees Have Eyes.

Except – it turns out that Wendell’s stepmother isn’t actually dead yet, and she’s found a way to poison the realm so that it is dying as she dies. Now it’s up to Emily to find the tale that applies so she can defeat the old queen’s plans. Though she does get plenty of help from characters we’ve met in the earlier books.

Something I love about these books is what a serious academic Emily is – even compelled to cite sources and include footnotes. The reader Ell Potter does an excellent Footnote Voice, so I wasn’t surprised to see that’s what’s found in the text. Wendell, on the other hand, tries to get her to lighten up and enjoy his beautiful kingdom. And it’s all completely delightful.

Even though Wendell and Emily are now king and queen of a faerie realm, they’re still traveling together, and Emily is still doing research, so I hope there will be more books to come. I’m sure Emily Wilde’s adventures – and publications – are not over.

heatherfawcettbooks.com
randomhousebooks.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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Review of A Far Wilder Magic, by Allison Saft

Fantasy, Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

A Far Wilder Magic

by Allison Saft
read by Jesse Vilinsky

Macmillan Young Listeners, 2022. 14 hours, 36 minutes.
Review written December 10, 2022, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review

A Far Wilder Magic is an atmospheric and amazing young adult fantasy novel about a world slightly removed from ours, but not all that different. It’s not a medieval world, but a country from about a hundred years ago, where alchemy is the road to political accomplishments in the country of New Albion.

Margaret lives alone, cutting wood, doing chores, keeping their manor going while her mother is off on a quest for alchemical supplies. She’s been gone months longer than usual, and Margaret’s not sure if she’s coming back. Then at night she sees the magical white fox, the hala, and knows the Hunt will be coming to her small town.

But first, a young man comes to her isolated manor. He’s looking for an alchemical apprenticeship with her mother, and he won’t take No for an answer. This is Wes’s last chance to get a sponsor and make something of himself. He’s not good at studying, but he does have a talent for alchemy, if someone will give him a chance. He’s a hard person to turn away, however much Margaret doesn’t like him.

And then Margaret realizes that Wes might be her only chance to enter the hunt, kill the hala, and win back her mother’s attention. She is a crack shot, but she needs an alchemist. And Wes needs a chance with her mother, too. So they start an uneasy alliance.

But both Wes and Margaret are outsiders, not welcomed into this New Albion tradition. They first must compete to win their place in the top tier, and even that is fraught with danger.

And yes, we’ve got an enemies-to-lovers plot going on. But it’s skillfully done, as we see deeply into the characters of both Wes and Margaret — both their insecurities and their kind hearts. By the time they come together, we’re completely on their sides. The spell is woven gently and believably, and it all builds to danger and difficult decisions at the time of the Hunt.

Fair warning is there are a couple of fairly intense sex scenes. The skillful building of the romance makes the intensity seem right for this book.

A marvelously woven novel about two teens figuring out what they want out of life and how to get there.

allisonsaft.com
wednesdaybooks.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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Review of Rebel Witch, by Kristen Ciccarelli, read by Grace Gray

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Rebel Witch

by Kristen Ciccarelli
read by Grace Gray

Listening Library, 2025. 13 hours, 44 minutes.
Review written March 4, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Fabulous news! The Crimson Moth series is a duology! So we don’t have to wait for another volume!

And she pulled off a very satisfying conclusion to the story.

Once again we’ve got the conflict of a witch and a witch hunter in love with each other, but on opposite sides. In fact, the book starts out with Gideon planning to assassinate Rune on the distant island where she fled. He’s jealously watching her at the party where her engagement to a prince is being celebrated. But Gideon hesitates…

And one thing leads to another, and they end up traveling together back to their home island – with neither one in good graces with their ruler. They’re basically each planning to betray the other… or are they?

Who’s in danger and what they’re planning seems to go back and forth in this book, but I appreciated that it was all in a way that made sense to me as a listener. The trouble is that both sides in the conflict have a ruthless, terrible leader, so we don’t root for either leader to succeed – but we do root for Gideon and Rune’s love to somehow win out.

And I probably shouldn’t say a lot more about the plot. There’s lots of death and danger, and, yes, some sex, and Rune and Gideon each find allies and enemies in surprising places.

And I’m so glad the author didn’t leave our heroes in danger, waiting for another installment!

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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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