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Enna and Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee (Ani for short) became fast friends in The Goose Girl, but after Ani married Prince Geric, Enna returned to the forest. Enna's simple life changes forever when she learns to wield fire and burn anything at will. Enna is convinced that she can... read more

Summary edit see section history

The story takes place in Bayern, a forest away from Kildenree, where Isi was from. Enna and Princess Isi (Ani) became fast friends in The Goose Girl, but after Isi married Prince Geric, Enna's mother died. Enna returned to the forest to mourn with her older brother Leifer. One day, Leifer... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The story takes place in Bayern, a forest away from Kildenree, where Isi was from. Enna and Princess Isi (Ani) became fast friends in The Goose Girl, but after Isi married Prince Geric, Enna's mother died. Enna returned to the forest to mourn with her older brother Leifer. One day, Leifer comes home after a hunting trip and somehow manages to start the fire without using a flint. Enna catches sight of a mysterious vellum that Leifer quickly hides in his jacket. When she confronts him on this, he runs out of the house. He comes back later, to find that Enna's close friend Finn is there. Leifer begins talking against Isi, and when Enna defends Isi, Leifer sets Enna's skirt on fire. Enna leaves for the city with Finn and some other forest people, hoping to talk to Isi about Leifer's new power with fire.

War starts with the neighboring country of Tira, and Enna and her friends Razo and Finn travel to Ostekin. Leifer joins the fight and burns a third of the Tiran army, but burns himself by accident. Enna poses as fire-witch to keep her brother safe, but he still dies. When Enna finds Leifer's body, she finds the vellum she had seen earlier, with instructions on how to make fire. It tells her how to pull in the heat off living things and revive it as fire. Enna promises herself that she will only make small fires, will not tell anyone about it, and will not burn any living thing.

Enna is convinced that she has to use her ability for good by fighting Tira for Leifer's sake and to satisfy her need to burn. This determination is strengthened when the Bayern army has a war augury, where the Bayern soldier (Finn) only defeats the Tira prisoner with the help of Enna's fire. Thus, Enna decides to goes on secret raids to set fire to the Tiran camps and villages. But as the power of the fire grows stronger, she loses the ability to control her need to burn, so she asks Razo to go with her on raids to make sure she doesn’t go too far. Razo then tells Finn that Enna can fire-speak, so Finn goes with them too. One night, Finn confesses his love to her while she pretends to sleep. Soon after, Finn and Razo tell her that the fire has changed her, and that they refuse to go with her any more until she can control herself better. Enna decides to run off and take things into her own hands. Isi stops her and tells Enna that she has found out that Enna can fire-speak. Isi tells her that she needs to stop and that Enna is making a mistake. Enraged, Enna throws heat at Isi, trying to burn her, but it is blocked by Isi's wind-speak. Horrified at what she had done, Enna rides away to a town the Tirans had recently captured, to try and burn the gallows there.

Though she is wearing a disguise, a guard sees her burning and signals someone behind her. She is then knocked out.

When she wakes up, she finds herself in a tent owned by a handsome war captain named Sileph. He drugs her so that he can keep her from escaping. A few weeks later, Razo and Finn try to rescue her, but they are captured. Sileph uses them to extort her to teach him to fire-speak. She relents, but he is unable to sense the heat and pull it in. As the days pass, Enna slowly falls in love with Sileph, but soon finds out that Sileph was the one who ordered her to be drugged and kept prisoner. One day, an unexpected opportunity comes after Sileph leaves for battle, and Enna manages to puke out the drug. Enna tries to slip out, but the guards see her and push her back into the tent. Then, she hears a Tiran woman telling stories like the ones Isi used to tell. She manages to stick her head out without the guards noticing, and looks at the woman speaking, and sees it is Isi! She had cut her long golden hair and disguised herself to send Enna a message. Isi's story tells Enna that she cannot be rescued by her friends, and would have to save herself. And when she tells a second story it tells Enna that Sileph has people speaking, which is why Enna has been so easily convinced by Sileph, and had fallen in love with him.

Soon, she finds a perfect time to run. She bursts out of the tent while the drunken guards are sleeping and runs to the edge of camp, but she is discovered by a night watchman on his rounds. She starts burning everything in her path, including people. She runs to where they hold the captives and frees everyone. She then runs with Finn and Razo into the woods to escape. They come to the battle and Enna starts burning the Tirans. She burns about a tenth of them before they finally surrender.

Enna wakes up and is in her room at the palace, only to discover she has a "permanent" fever. Isi is there, and she figures out a cure for Enna's fever. The fever is caused by the fire that leaked into her system while burning Tirans. Although they won the war, Enna is dying. Geric comes to Enna's room and Isi tells him how she is going to live with Enna in Enna's forest home for a while. When Geric insists on going, Isi tells him that Bayern needs their king.

Once at Enna's home, Isi tells her escort not to come back for a few weeks and not to check on them. Enna and Isi go on a three month journey to the people who know fire-speaking and have survived. Isi is overwhelmed by the winds that surround her due to her wind-speaking. Both Enna and Isi are being tormented and weakened by their languages. Enna senses Isi is getting hotter. She is worried about her friend, but even more so about her dying self.

On their journey, Enna and Isi realize that together, they can make either a strong fire or wind or nothing at all. Sileph returns and wants Enna back. She says no after remembering his people-speaking talent. Finn appears and begins to fight Sileph, but in the end Sileph is killed by the people under his command. Enna and Finn finally get together. Finn takes care of the girls on the rest of their journey.

When they reach their destination, Isi uses her ability to mimic sounds and learn languages in order to talk to the fire-speaking people. The man says that they learn the language of water to cancel out the intensity of fire-speaking, but that it takes years and that it's far too late for Enna. He says they could use a method used thousands of years ago by touching a burning coal with her tongue and squeezing the hot coal.

The man asks Isi if she needs a donkey to get up the mountain and Enna doesn't understand why. Isi tells Enna that she is expecting a child. Enna is shocked, but realizes that that was the extra heat she had sensed in Isi. Finn had already guessed the truth. Isi's child's due date is in 3 months. Then, Enna realizes that she has to sacrifice something for her best friend as Isi had done for her when she was a captive in the Tiran camp. She also realizes how much she owes Isi, especially since she tried to burn Isi before.

Enna decides to teach Isi fire-speaking to end the torture the wind gives her. Enna and Isi teach each other their languages and since both can now speak fire and wind, and they are balanced, and no longer overwhelmed by their respective languages.

On the way back to Bayern, Enna sends Geric messages about his expectant wife. Isi insists on getting back to Geric before having her child, but she gives birth before they arrive. Geric shows up just as Isi is having their child, the heir of Bayern.

Talone strips Enna of her title of Queen's Maiden for helping Tira at one point during the war, but since Enna is really a war hero for Bayern, he gives her a position in Bayern's Own.

Isi name her son Tusken, after her father. She says if her child had been a girl, her name would have been Enna-Isilee.

Characters edit see section history

  • Enna: Enna is a headstrong Forest girl who worked in the city for several years, and befriended Ani. She learns how to control fire. Also the Main charactor of this book
  • Ani (aka Isi, Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee): The Queen of Bayern, she can control the wind and talk to birds. She is friends with Enna from her days hiding as a goose girl. Born Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee Crown Princess of Kildenree. Also goes by Isi.
  • Sileph: A Tiran captain of fifty.
  • Finn: A Forest boy who secretly loves Enna. He is quiet and gentle, although he gradually becomes more of a hardened warrior.
  • Geric: The King of Bayern and Isi's husband.
  • Razo: A short, funny Forest boy who has no fighting skills, but is very friendly, has good eyesight, and is a good scout.
  • Leifer: Enna's older brother who discovers fire-speaking before she does from his scroll.
  • Doda: Enna's loving forest neighbor. Female.
  • Hesel: A girl whom Razo says is having a love affair with Finn. Pretty, slim and a good cook.
  • Avlado: Isi's new horse. A black one. He can also communicate with Isi.
  • britt: Add a description of this character.
  • Tiedan: Captain
Show all 12 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • telling unbelievable stories make it easier to believe when strange things happen.'
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
  • If I'm patient, then you don't have to be, because one of us already is.'
    Highlighted by 16 Kindle customers
  • Finn smiled and kissed her hand. Isi rolled her eyes. 'Oh, you two are impossible.' Enna laughed. 'This coming from the girl who calls her husband 'sweet little bunny boy'?' Isi blushed. 'That was just once.'
    Highlighted by 10 Kindle customers
  • 'Well, I wasn't wanting to die, but if it had to be one of the three of us, I hoped I could jump in a fire first or something.'
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
  • Enna's mother used to call the ache from cuts and bone breaks 'the feeling of healing,' but the burn kept on burning as though the fire were still in her skin, using her body as fuel.
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
  • An empty house was a lonely thing, but solitude in the Forest felt right.
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
  • It was strange and beautiful how destruction and life were bound together in fire,
    Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers
  • people cry for beauty and pain, and seeing both together was almost unbearable.
    Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers
  • 'A brother should never get to a point where he has to make that kind of a promise. 'I'll never burn you again.' That's just sad, Leifer.'
    Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers
  • 'It's the queen, you see,' said Enna. 'She's going to have a baby in your house. You don't mind?'
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
Show all 11 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

The woman bore a scorch mark from her chin to her brow.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 2 of 4 in The Books of Bayern. (standard series)

Preceded by The Goose Girl, and followed by River Secrets.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Shannon Hale (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Country: England
Publication Date: 2004
ISBN: 0747570698
Page Count: 336

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

Some of the fire scenes may be too much for younger readers

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • The Goose Girl

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