Crown Princess Anidori-Kiladra of the kingdom of Kildrenree is hurt when her mother passes her over to make her younger brother the heir and instead arranges a marriage alliance for her with the neighbouring country of Bayern. Things only get worse when her lady-in-waiting, Selia, conspires to kill her on the journey and replace her as the prince’s bride. Surviving the attack but separated from her beloved horse and her loyal captain of the guard, Ani makes her way to the capital city of Bayern and takes the job of goose girl while she makes a plan to expose Selia’s treachery. Her unique skill of talking to birds gives her an advantage, but it also draws unwanted attention … and Selia’s guards are still hunting for her.

It is chock-full of beautiful nature imagery and interesting characters. I love this world where magic is not the power to control but rather the ability to communicate. This is a book that you can just sink down into like a really soft bed! ( )

A few folks who preceded me in finishing this book have done a good job in outlining the plot, so I'll refrain from revisiting that.

If someone was looking for a book for a 12 or 13 year old girl, I'd probably give this book 5 stars. It's a beautifully written fairy tale with a wonderful, likable heroine. There are elements of fantasy and romance woven in, but nothing is overdone or melodramatic.

However, I didn't feel it was the type of YA book that translated well for adults (though apparently I'm wrong since several well read adults here seemed to really enjoy it!). So I'll amend to that to say "translate well for me". It just seemed like too simple a story to me and too unrealistic. I felt an admiration for the writer's skills, but I couldn't really embrace the story myself. I didn't feel any drive to pick up the book once I had put it down. The plot just didn't grab me. And frankly, neither did the characters.

So, let's just leave it at - - well written, perfect for the target audience, but not my cup of tea. ( )

I'm not very familiar with The Goose Girl story, though I did read it. Obviously, the story didn't stick with me because I didn't remember much other than the princess was forced to change places with her maid. Hale's retelling brought the entire tale to life in a very engaging way. I loved it, and will be reading the rest of the series because I want to find out what happens to all the characters! ( )

This is a pretty solid book. It's a tried-and-true formula--a young girl loses everything for fairytale reasons, and gets it back through her kind heart and newly discovered strength of spirit. For Ani, part of losing everything is losing her homeland. Her position as a true outsider to Bayern works well to give perspective on all the things wrong with the country and cement her isolation--and also makes it all the more satisfying to see her gain a sense of community or power once more. Other than that, she (and her love interest) are very genre-typical. Nice, but not very memorable.
The book loses some credit for me because it gets pretty mopey at times. Protagonists can struggle, but the "isn't her life so horrible" sections are a little bit overdramatic for me. Also, if there are stong arguments for the legitimacy of monarchy, they aren't in this book, and it kind of needs them. ( )

This didn't work for me. At all. ( )