Customer Reviews

River secret / by Shannon Hale

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love the two previous books in Shannon Hale's Bayern series, The Goose Girl and Enna Burning, so I was excited to read the third. I was not disappointed. Hale's writing is beautiful, lyrical, and descriptive. The characters are well-drawn, the settings familiar. This masterfully-crafted book is packed with action, romance, and humor. Razo, who was a minor character in the two earlier books, is a terrific main character. Lovable and funny, he grows throughout the story in ways that are both entertaining and inspiring. Some of Razo's old friends from the previous two books play important roles in this tale, and following their stories is one of the great joys of this book. Razo makes new friends as well, and enemies.

Shannon Hale is truly one of today's best story-tellers. This compelling mystery evokes both laughter and tears. River Secrets is best appreciated if you first read The Goose Girl and Enna Burning, but I highly recommend it to anyone who has a taste for action, adventure, romance, and mystery.

Look, no one is ever going to say that Shannon Hale isn't one of the finest writers living today. Her books are firmly entrenched between older child readers and young teens. They are also, for the record, full of magic and mystery and wonder and power. We all know this. If you happened, like myself, to read her award winning "Princess Academy", then you have seen what she is capable of. In my quest to read the best children's books of 2006, however, I found myself with a copy of "River Secrets" in my hands. Now please bear in mind that I had not read any Hale books aside from "Princess Academy" up until this moment in time. Moreover, I discovered fairly soon that this was the third book in a series that began with "Goose Girl" and carried on into "Enna Burning". All righty. I like a good challenge. So the question became this: Does "River Secrets" stand as a magnificent novel entirely on its own without your average child joe having read its predecessors? The answer is yes and no. Yes, it is rather magnificent. Hale doles out her humor, compassion, and cleverness in spades. But no, it doesn't stand entirely on its own. If you know of a kid that enjoyed the first two books in the series, "River Secrets" is going to strike them as an answer to a prayer. If, however, they (like myself) just picked it up because of the pretty pretty cover, they'll have to be prepared to wade through a lot of exposition and characters they don't care all that much about for one hundred pages or so. It definitely picks up after a while, but I think to get the full effect you need some background first.

In the past, Razo has never thought of himself as amounting to much. Sure, he's one of Bayern's Own, the highly skilled soldiers of the Bayern realm. And he has friends in high places, like Queen Isi, King Geric, and the powerful fire-speaker Enna. But compared to everyone else, Razo sees himself as a goof and the butt of many a joke. Now the country of Tira is attempting to set up diplomatic relations with Bayern since the war between the two countries is over. That means that Enna and Razo are going to accompany their country's diplomat into the city of Ingridan. This would be all well and good except that A) The Tirans hate the Bayerns and B) Someone is trying to sabotage the peace talks. Now it's up to Razo to do some heavy duty spying, to figure out who it is that he can trust, and to discover how to get a people to like you when what they want most of all is your head on a pike.

As Hale mentions in a note to the reader, "Razo was a very minor character in The Goose Girl, and though he didn't even appear in the outline for Enna Burning, he somehow wormed his way into a significant part of that story". An endearing fellow, Razo's the kind of goofy nice guy that never got the girl in Molly Ringwold films. Fortunately, Hale makes a special effort to right that wrong. Now admittedly when I first picked up "River Secrets", I found myself facing what felt like a slightly different take on a Tamora Pierce novel. Both have mythical lands where magic can take place. Both have betrayals, politics, and like "Trickster's Choice", "River Secrets" is not afraid to take the P.O.V. of a spy. But Pierce's books are almost more military than Hale's. In this story there's a great deal of finesse at work that takes into account how fashion, food, and language separate one culture from another. Though there's certainly some kicking butt and taking names, it's much less prevalent than in your average Pierce novel.

So let's talk good writing. Here's a scene where Razo sees the ocean for the first time. "There was no grandeur, not like seeing a mountain; nothing to surround him and make him feel changed, as when he entered a wood or stood in the midst of a snowstorm. Even so, the sea felt bigger than weather, older than ruins. The sight rustled at his soul". Or howzabout, "After Enna I don't dare think twice in the same spot". I could describe to you how effortlessly the book seems to flow. How it never strains one's credulity or causes one to question the story's internal logic. It's just perfectly put words on a page. Nuff said.

Eight grown adults sit around a table discussing this book. One mentions to another that this story made him cry. The other asks which part, and he says "the proposal scene". She immediately agrees and says that she cried at that part too. Hearing them talk like this, and being a particularly dry-eye member of the fairer sex, was part of the reason I wanted to give "River Secrets" a go. And sure enough, I got a teensy bit weepy in the same scene. Hale is so good that she can elicit hard won tears and laughter out of even the most reluctant of readers. Emotions? You may as well just hand them over when you pick up one of her books, "River Secrets" being no exception. The best part is that she is able to balance everything out with generous dollops of humor. Here's an ideal example: "His mouth was full of other questions for her... Do you think a person can decide to love only one girl his whole life, then lose her, then find someone else he loves more and change his mind? Do you think that's possible? Instead he asked, `Would you prefer being baked to death under the sun or eaten alive by ants?'". Not only funny but very in keeping with the personality of the character. Not an easy thing to do.

Hopefully those kids that choose to read this book before its predecessors are good with names. I'm not, and I spent about 50 pages of this title trying to figure out if the good guys were from Bayern or Tira and who the heck Talone, Megina, Conrad, and Ledel were. A list of characters would not have been out of place in such a novel. Of that I am certain. We have some maps, but they don't help me out if I can't figure out who the good guys are. Just a suggestion.

It seems to me (and stop me if you think I'm reading too much into a children's book) that in this day and age of war and preliminary strikes and falsified information compelling us to fight, a book like "River Secrets", is positively uplifting. Here we have a book who's entire storyline is based on preventing war. War is the absolute worst thing that could happen in this tale and all the good characters are leaning backwards to see that it doesn't happen. That's nice. I'm sick and tired of war and I think kids today will be especially receptive to a book that acknowledges its horrors rather than its glories. Altogether, "River Secrets" fulfills a host of different requirements and comes out swinging. I wouldn't hand it to a reluctant reader or someone who hasn't bothered with the first two books, but for everyone else it does not disappoint. Fun.

He has enjoyed the whole series beginning with "The Goose Girl", but this one was his favorite, probrably because a boy was the main character. Shannon Hale is one of my new favorite authors. And what a great deal we got all the books for through Amazon!

The City of Rivers is what River Secrets was orginally going to be called. But Shannon Hale (the fantastic writer of the book) changed it to River Secrets instead. Even though the title was changed, I still call it City of Rivers in my head. Sounds better.

River Secrets is Shannon Hale's newest book, and she did not disapoint her readers with it. It's finally Razo's turn to have a say in the series, and Hale portrays his feelings awesomely (is that a word?!). I won't give too much away, because then you won't want to read it, and Shannon Hale is VERY particualar about spoiler's (which she has every right to be!), but the book is about Razo, Isi and Enna's friend, who goes to Tira to guard the ambassador. He doesn't quite understand why, in his eyes and many other's he is just an average soldier. But then he discovers something he is good at, and that something takes him to a new excitement and importance he never knew...

I was so surprised when I read this book at how well Shannon adapts to each of her charaters. With Isi (in the Goose Girl), she shows a quiet very reserved girl. With Enna (In Enna Burning), there is a firey (forgive the pun...), stubborn, head-strong girl, who never quite cools off. And then finally there's Razo, a short average lovable guy, who thinks not too highly of himself. I think it's a wonderful thing when an author can switch roles like that, and Shannon did a fantastic way of doing so.

I should preface this review by noting that Shannon Hale is easily one of my favorite fantasy writers. Her creative writing ability is notable and obvious. Take for instance the sentence "spring poked out everywhere." This book is rife with marvelous metaphors and the plot is great...but it's been done before and better in both "Goose Girl" and "Enna Burning." Added, Hale seems to make little effort to differentiate the bevy of characters she releases onto the reader in the beginning pages. I've read both of her previous Bayern books and "Princess Academy."I felt this book was cliche and overkill.

Overkill? Case in point: at the finale of our epic hero and heroine step into a boat and kiss their way to the final page. It was cliche and could have been done better.

Did I love this book? No. But I liked it. Regardless of the flaws I pointed out, this book still floats on Hale's excessive talent and imagination. Bayern is a place I want to go over and over again. I welcomed the chance, even if it wasn't as memorable as the last two times I went. For Hale's ability I give this book a three. In the general writing crowd where Hale stands a head taller, this book gets a four.

pre script: [This is not the last book of the Books of Bayern! There is a fourth book coming out.www.shannonhale.com!!] This book is the most humorous of the three that Hale wrote. Razo, the main character, seems to be born to be funny! If you read the other two books, you might note that the plot is quite fast-moving. The plot for this book is not as fast as those, but perhaps has more amount of surprises. It gets a little boring, maybe, in the middle bacause it is slow. Each surprising information that Hale reveals doesn't really come together until much later in the book. In that case, read the book again later, sometime not too soon. You will find that you enjoy the book more. Do remember to read all the way to the end; do not skip some pages when bored.

About Razo: Short(he grows later in the book), uncertain, seventeen years old (in the beginning of the book), easygoing, hilarious(or at least funny), black-haired. Socializes a lot, a prefect spy, an experienced slinger(Finn helps Razo find that out), flexible. The main character; fun to see the book in close third-person view of him. Caught up in the intrigue between Bayern and Tira, solves everything out(with some help) at the end. Likes food!

Enna: Eighteen years old(again, at the beginning of the book)
Finn: Very patient; Eighteen years old

Isi/Ani: Twenty-one years old (I thought she was 20...)

Geric: Twenty-five

Megina: 20
Talone: I guess he is at least 40

Napralina: Eighteen years old; the second daughter of Kildenree

His Radiance the Prince: I guess he is 20 or something

This was a great addition to the Goose Girl series, and I loved it, but I was a little disappointed with the lack of action and intensity, that you found in the previous two books. I would still recommend this book for anyone who enjoyed "Goose Girl" and "Enna Burning". If there had been a twist in this story, like in the previous two, It would have made this story much better.

In this sequel to The Goose Girl and Enna Burning, we return to Bayern. Just because the war is over, doesn't mean there is peace between Bayern and Tira. Isi's going to the Tiran capital on a peace mission and Enna is as well.

But really, this is Razo's book. He's always considered himself rather useless because of his small size, so he's more than surprised when he's asked to be part of the elite band of soldiers accompanying them. He's going to be a spy.

Once in Tira, someone is burning people and Enna is being blamed. It's up to Razo to figure out who's framing his friend and trying to restart the war.

I am always surprised by Hale's amazing skill to paint an entire landscape, people and culture perfectly in a mere few sentences. Her lyrical language and voice is back and this latest installment, while shorter, is just as strong as her earlier works.

When Razo is invited to join a diplomatic mission to a neighboring country, he can't understand why he's been chosen. He is an indifferent soldier, has no political importance, and feels much more comfortable in his role as animal keeper at the palace. But the war between Bayern and Tira has changed everything about his life. Razo no longer knows what to expect, even from his closest friends.

His friend Enna is most damaged from the war. She seems to have learned how to control her fire-speaking powers, which decimated the Tiran army and threatened to burn her from the inside out. But when burned bodies start turning up, threatening the hard-won peace between the countries, Razo worries that Enna might be responsible.

Razo's investigations lead him into a complicated puzzle of intrigue. Despite his lack of supernatural powers, Razo's keen powers of observation, his skill with his slingshot and his ability to make friends wherever he goes make him a formidable foe against those who long to return to war.

One of Shannon Hale's greatest strengths as a writer is her commitment to creative conflict resolution. Hale's book PRINCESS ACADEMY features a heroine who helps her village withstand an invasive culture through non-violent resistance. Not only is it a powerful study of the kinds of tools that are used to control people, it is a testament to the strength of ordinary people to resist.

RIVER SECRETS is the third book in Hale's Companions of Bayern series, which began with GOOSE GIRL, her highly original retelling of Grimm's fairy tale. RIVER SECRETS contains elements of creative conflict resolution, notably Razo's unarming charm, but ultimately the book tends more towards polarized conflict between good and evil. While never suggesting all Tirans are bad (there are many likable Tiran characters), Hale doesn't spend very much time exploring why many of the Tirans would prefer to be at war than to make peace with their neighbors. Likewise, there are no Bayern characters questioning the peace between the two countries. The final showdown features a predictable fight between Tirans and Bayerns with no surprises as to the identity or the nationality of the villain.

Hale is a fine author with a lively, world-building imagination. As a fantasy author she is only limited by what she can invent and by what readers will accept. RIVER SECRETS is not as emotionally gripping as the previous volumes in the series, but it will satisfy fans eager for the next installment. It is my hope that Hale continues to push the borders of her worlds to explore the potential available to her within the fantasy genre.

--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood

This book ties right in with The Goose Girl and Enna Burning. It's a great story about fighting for family, home and love. I would recommend this book to anyone who loved The Goose Girl and Enna Burning. I think this one was my favorite of the three.