Read for the Once Upon a Time IV and 2010 YA Reading Challenges.
Enna Burning is the second book in Shannon Hale’s Bayern series, picking up after the events of The Goose Girl. The Goose Girl is based on the fairy tale, but the books after it continue with the stories of some of the characters Hale wove into her version of the original tale.
Enna is a forest girl, friend of Isi, the former goose girl, now princess of Bayern. She’s returned home to the forest because her mother has died, and while she’s there, her brother discovers that he has the power to command fire. Shortly after this, Bayern goes to battle with the neighboring kingdom of Tira, and Leifer is killed when he uses his power to win the battle, burning large numbers of Tiran soldiers in the process. Enna then discovers she also has this power, but vows she won’t let it take her over so that she kills on such a large scale as Leifer did. Naturally, things don’t go quite as planned.
I enjoyed this book, but I’ll admit I like the first one better. This one was a bit slow going at the beginning, but picked up towards the end, and had a mostly satisfactory, if a tad predictable, ending. I will keep reading this series, because I do enjoy the characters the author has created, and the system of magic in this world. It’s just different enough from many of the regular fantasy magic conventions to keep it interesting.