Rent: Enna Burning

This book is a continuation of the characters in Goose Girl. It is not as light-hearted as Goose Girl, but does have some messages for youth in how the characters handle their situations and talents. Some might say it is a bit dark and scary, so maybe it is not for the same age group as her earlier books.

This goes on my favorite's list. The story keeps you turning pages. It is a bit darker than "Goose Girl", the first book in the series, but just as captivating.

I loved this book, it was my favorite of the three, and would suggest the whole series to anyone.

Enna Burning is a book about a young woman named Enna who finds herself in a troubling situation. The story begins when Enna's older brother, Leifer, starts to act very strangely. His temper sparks without notice and his aggression is terrifying. The reason for Leifer's strange behavior is that he has found a vellum which taught him how to set fires when he wishes. The story picks up the pace when Bayern, Enna's home country, goes to war. Leifer decides to fight for his country, and in the process kills himself. He was killed because of a fire that forms inside of him seamed to burn through his body. Enna then finds the vellum and curiosity overtakes her as she reads it. Enna makes a decision to use her new power for good, and attempt to save Bayern. Will she succeed or will she end up as Leifer did?
This fairy tale definitely had it's ups and it's downs. There were parts of the book where I could not force my eyes off the page, but there were also parts where it was difficult to continue reading and the pace slowed down tremendously. This made Shannon Hale's story not as interesting as some of her others, in my opinion. However, Hale's smooth words and descriptive writing were very enjoyable and inspiring. Her descriptive writing often made me laugh or smile. It often made me sad and sometimes even frustrated with the character's actions. Her writing was so detailed that it almost made me feel as if I was in the story myself. Enna Burning relates to another book by Shannon Hale called The Goose Girl. They had the same characters, but it is interesting how different the plots are. Enna Burning was much more dark, while The Goose Girl was so cheerful. It also relates to my life, in that I have an older brother whose foolish mistakes often rub off on me!

Having read and enjoyed "The Goose Girl" and "Princess Academy" with my daughters, it was only natural that we follow the citizens of Bayern in the next companion novel, "Enna Burning". It was well written and worth reading, BUT I wouldn't have wanted my children to read it without being able to discuss addiction and frankly, skip over the gruesomeness and extent of the main character's cruelty. Burning is such a horrible way to suffer and die. Yet the author accurately illuminates the problem of addiction. In the book, Enna's addiction costs her nearly everything. We used this book to talk about the process and impact of addiction on the lives of people, but without that discussion, I am afraid that it just might desensitize young people to the suffering of others and be read as a rather morbid fairy tale.