Common theme: fairy tale and folklore-inspired fiction
Author: Shannon Hale
Series: The Books of Bayern
Publisher: New York: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2003
As the principle
title suggests, this is a Young Adult retelling of the German tale ‘The Goose
Girl’, where a Princess is forced to live as a goose-herder after her false
friend deceives her, steals her identity and goes off to marry a Prince in
another Kingdom.
The novel is
mostly true to the tale with a few slight adaptations. The world building of
the novel has humans capable of magic gifts known as people-speaking,
animal-speaking and nature-speaking; the latter being the rarest. The story
consists of and is driven by many of the characters baring these gifts in one
form or another, including the protagonist.
Like the Lunar
Chronicles, the Goose Girl is a complex retelling of a folk tale. However, the
Goose Girl departs from this similarity as its subsequent sequels further
expand on the other characters involved. Meanwhile the Lunar Chronicles is made
up of books that each feature a different fairy tale that connects with the
previous folk stories. Both series’ feature a protagonist who is a rightful heir
and have their engaging moments.
For more information:
Goodreads
Goodreads
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