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Summary
Summary
In this third book in New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale's b eloved YA fantasy series Books of Bayern, Razo must become the unlikely hero his country needs.
Razo has never considered himself anything but ordinary--and certainly not a great soldier. So he's sure it's out of pity that his captain asks him to join an elite mission escorting the ambassador into Tira, Bayern's greatest enemy.
But when the Bayern arrive in the strange southern country, it's Razo who discovers the first dead body. He is also the only Bayern able to befriend the right people--potential allies who can provide information about the ever-increasing murders--like the beautiful Lady Dasha. If Razo can embrace his talents, he might be the only one who can get the Bayern soldiers home alive.
Don't miss any of these other books from New York Times bestselling author Shannon Hale:
The Books of Bayern
The Goose Girl
Enna Burning
River Secrets
Forest Born
The Princess Academy trilogy
Princess Academy
Princess Academy: Palace of Stone
Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters
Book of a Thousand Days
Dangerous
Graphic Novels
with Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale
Rapunzel's Revenge
Calamity Jack
Illustrated by Victoria Ying
Diana: Princess of the Amazons
Illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Real Friends
Best Friends
The Princess in Black series
For Adults
Austenland
Midnight in Austenland
The Actor and the Housewife
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-10-A companion to The Goose Girl (2003) and Enna Burning (2004, both Bloomsbury). Enna and Isi's friend Razo is small and bullied; he has always considered himself pretty useless, so he is thrilled to be chosen as one of a hundred Bayern soldiers accompanying an ambassador on a peacekeeping mission to the Tiran capital. Tirans lost the war with Bayern, largely due to Enna's forbidding ability to burn people, and their army was shamed. When Razo discovers burned bodies, he first fears that Enna has reneged on her promise to stop using her powers, then realizes that she isn't guilty. In this part mystery, part coming-of-age story, Razo learns why he is so important to the king's mission. He befriends Lady Dasha, the daughter of the ambassador who was sent in exchange to Bayern. Like Enna and Isi, she is a young woman with elemental powers. The burner is exposed and captured; peace is assured, as is the romance between Razo and Dasha. Hale's portrayal of a group of extremist Tirans for whom war is sacred and putting one's life in peril is honorable connects the story's medieval folkloric setting with today's news in a chilling way. As in the companion books, this high fantasy is rich in detail and lyrical in writing. While it helps to have read the two previous books, River Secrets stands on its own. But fans of the genre will no doubt rejoice in immersing themselves in this magical world by reading all three.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Razo, this winning novel's endearing protagonist, first brought to life as a minor character in Hale's The Goose Girl, here gets his own story. Now a confidante of Queen Isi, Razo was originally a simple forest boy whose major skill is using a slingshot to hunt squirrels. Short in stature and low in confidence, he is asked to join a mission of peace between his own kingdom of Bayern, and the enemy kingdom of Tira. Razo is then selected to become a spy because of his unassuming nature and powers of observation. He soon discovers that traitors in the Tiran army are trying to re-ignite the war, literally, by leaving charred remains of bodies an act they hope to pin on another envoy from Bayern Razo's friend Enna (from Enna Burning). This mystery unfolds along with charming friendships among Razo and his comrades, who lovingly tease him when he is the last to realize he has fallen in love with Dasha, the striking orange-haired daughter of the Tiran ambassador to Bayern, and has grown in height as well as self-assurance. This novel will be a special treat for readers of Hale's other two companion books, but it also stands on its own as a unique and tender coming-of-age story. Ages 12-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) Hale, who proved her storytelling abilities in Goose Girl and Enna Burning, revisits the character of Razo, an undersized Forest-born boy. Having been elevated to membership in Bayern's Own guard because of services rendered in the recent war with Tira, Razo is chosen for an important peace-keeping mission to the Tiran capital. He wonders what he could possibly have to contribute: he's not a master swordsman like Finn, and he doesn't possess secret fire-speaking magic like Enna. But someone in Ingridan is burning bodies to cast suspicion on Bayern and sabotage the peace, and Razo discovers that his keen powers of observation, affable nature, and Forest-bred skill with a sling make him a valuable spy and investigator. While Hale's sketch of Razo is engaging, even more compelling is the well-played political situation in the meeting of two exotic and very different fantasy cultures. The mystery of the body-burner's identity adds suspense, and several romantic subplots invite emotional investment. All elements join together to form an adept Tamora Pierce-like fantasy adventure -- although when it comes to Hale's subtlety of description and limber turns of phrase, there really is no comparison. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A character from Goose Girl (2003) and Enna Burning (2004) takes center stage in this marvelous continuation. Razo becomes part of the Bayern guard that accompanies its ambassador Lady Megina to Tira. The Lady is nearly a hostage, as the mistrust and bitterness of Tirans to Bayern after their war makes for a fragile peace. Razo, 17, quick with a slingshot and with making friends, is surprised to be chosen, but warms to his role as spy. He's glad to be near his friend Enna, who has harnessed her fire-speaking abilities and whose role in the war is hidden from the Tirans. A subversive Tiran movement to rekindle the war catches Bayern's Own in attacks subtle and outright. Through it all, there is Razo's devotion to food and to his friends and his steadfast refusal to recognize his own gifts. Hale makes profound statements about war and peace, friends and strangers, men and women and all the different kinds of battle. Her language glimmers like firelight, like sunshine on water as she propels readers along a river of wonderful writing to the tumultuous and heart-tugging climax. (Fiction. 11-15) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Hale, whose most recent novel, The Princess Academy 0 (2005), was named a Newbery Honor Book, continues the story begun in Goose Girl0 (2003) and Enna Burning 0 2004) in this stirring, stand-alone adventure. The kingdoms of Bayern and Tira have just completed a war, and Bayern teenager Rizzo is astonished when he is chosen to join a company of the castle's best soldiers on a diplomatic mission to Tira. A poor swordsman with a reputation as "a brave fool," he knows that his most noteworthy talent may be "cramming two cherries into a single nostril." Once the company arrives in Tira, though, he learns why he was selected: he sees and remembers everything, without "seeming to pay attention to anything beyond dinner," making him an excellent spy. Tension between the kingdoms heightens with a series of recurring, pyrotechnic murders, just as Rizzo falls for an intrepid young Tiran. The story's pace is leisurely, but Hale's accomplished writing will easily pull readers into her vividly realized world. The expertly chosen, often poetic details set and pace the story, and the fully drawn characters, whose dialogue crackles with wit, will point readers to the underlying themes of cultural prejudice and the corruption of power that touch on contemporary political debates. Suspenseful, magical, and heartfelt, this is a story that will wholly envelop its readers. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2006 Booklist