Rin is sure that something is wrong with her…something really bad. Something that is keeping her from feeling at home in the Forest homes... read full description
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Jul 15, 2009
Big Apple Book Addict
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Shannon Hale is one of my favorite authors and the 4th book in the Bayern series does not disappoint. Readers will be love the main character Rin, a forest born girl who has noticed an ability to converse with trees and an unsettling ability to manipulate people with words. Afraid of her power she will embark on a journey that will bring her in contact with characters from previous books in the series (Isi, Enna, Dasha and Rin's brother, Razo). It is a journey full of adventure, friendship, a
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Jul 15, 2009
Tanja
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Having grown up in a large family I could instantly identify with Rin. She is the youngest agget-kin and just does not know where she fits. So she imitates. How many of us do this? We try to figure out what our parents, brothers, sisters, friends want us to be and we try to imitate that. Rin was grown up for her age of 15. She was introspective and aware that she is not the only one that matters. Very unlike normal teenagers. I enjoyed this book the most out of the bayern series. I feel like I h
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Jan 12, 2011
Cara
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I don't know why every single time I pick up one of these books I'm always surprised that it draws me in so quickly. After I turned the last page I decided right there and then that one day I'm going to re-read the whole series again, and cross my fingers that Shannon Hale will get the notion to make one more. Though I should add, that really like with the other books it can stand alone and ends well.
For the fourth book of Bayern we get to explore the life of Razo's little sister, More...
For the fourth book of Bayern we get to explore the life of Razo's little sister, More...
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Oct 22, 2009
Elizabeth (Miss Eliza)
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Another Bayern book, which I wasn't really wild about...but then again I didn't love Enna and River right away, so it might grow on me to be a 4 star review. My problem was that Rin was such a non-character, in the beginning. She is quite literally a shadow who eventually takes form. And it's hard to identify with a shadow. I will not spoil the two big twists Shannon Hale has said not to spoil, because that's just mean. I will say that I felt the book had too many cliches, Isi has a baby, baby i
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Aug 18, 2011
Miss Clark
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 21, 2011
oliviasbooks
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I have to say it: In my personal opinion Shannon Hale is a one-hit-wonder. I truely loved every page of 'Goose Girl', but every other book - with the exception of the middle-grade-targeted 'Princess Academy' maybe - turned out to call for heavy ploughing machinery to get me through. I barely stayed focussed reading 'A Book of Thousand Days', gave up on 'Enna Burning', skipped 'River Secrets' because I didn't own it yet and now abandoned 'Forest Born' around page 88.
There are fairytale eleme More...
There are fairytale eleme More...
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Jul 15, 2009
Nikki
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[Advance Reading Copy:]
What's not to love about Shannon's books? Her gorgeous descriptions and page-turning stories keep me up late every time. I can imagine Rin would be a difficult character to write: unsure of who she is and reflecting other people's personalities when she's around them. But I loved her and was cheering for her the whole time. She felt fifteen, and I know I could have related to her at that age. At the same time, I loved seeing nineteen- and twenty-year-olds Enna, More...
What's not to love about Shannon's books? Her gorgeous descriptions and page-turning stories keep me up late every time. I can imagine Rin would be a difficult character to write: unsure of who she is and reflecting other people's personalities when she's around them. But I loved her and was cheering for her the whole time. She felt fifteen, and I know I could have related to her at that age. At the same time, I loved seeing nineteen- and twenty-year-olds Enna, More...
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Mar 09, 2011
Reading Vacation's Mom
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REVIEW
In one word. MAGICAL. Forest Born is a captivating ending to The Books of Bayern series.
I absolutely loved the way Hale describes the various gifts. My favorites would be water and wind speaking. They are so graceful and are shown as the least destructive. A magical land where some of the people have speaking abilities is like a fairy tale world.
As always, Hale’s characters are well written. Rin’s innocence is what made her special. Although she possessed two powerful gifts, R More...
In one word. MAGICAL. Forest Born is a captivating ending to The Books of Bayern series.
I absolutely loved the way Hale describes the various gifts. My favorites would be water and wind speaking. They are so graceful and are shown as the least destructive. A magical land where some of the people have speaking abilities is like a fairy tale world.
As always, Hale’s characters are well written. Rin’s innocence is what made her special. Although she possessed two powerful gifts, R More...
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Nov 01, 2011
Clara
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i couldn't believe i pulled out the right book i was suppose to be looking at a book to check out in the library and i thought well ughh there's not going to be another like princess of the midnight ball princess of glass or the giver and i was definitely wrong this books my goodness i cant believe i almost left it because it looked like an OK book too mature for me and thank god and i always will for leading me to the perfect book like it was destiny i really don't want to return it and i begge
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Aug 20, 2011
April
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This fourth book in the Bayern series is the story of Rinna who grew up in a big family and doesn't know where she stands in life. She tries imitating others to see if she can find herself. She decides to go to the city with her brother Razo to become one of the queen's ladies in waiting.
Like the other women in the series, she has special powers, she can talk to trees. She also finds out she is a people speaker. That is, she can figure out what a person needs to hear in order to g More...
Like the other women in the series, she has special powers, she can talk to trees. She also finds out she is a people speaker. That is, she can figure out what a person needs to hear in order to g More...
Aug 17, 2011
Josie
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 21, 2011
Gail
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This series has really captured my attention. How many of us have struggled with knowing who we are, wondering if we are worth anything or having regrets about something we might have done. Do you wish you could visit with someone that could make you feel better or assure you that you were worth something? In these books, the main characters struggle with special gifts they have, wondering if they will ever get them under control and worrying about doing right and wrong. Some are tormented w
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Jun 08, 2011
Diana
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This final chapter in the Books of Bayern series threw me for yet another loop. I was pleasantly surprised at how different it was from the previous three, and yet it still had that magic that called to me in the first place. I was intrigued by Rin's struggle to find her identity, and I was not expecting the truth when it was revealed at the end. After reading this book, I realized how well Hale had imbued each of the books with the aura of the element that the girls are struggling to learn how
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Apr 25, 2011
Sonya
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Shannon Hale's <a href = "http://oinks.squeetus.com/2010/10/autumn-home.html" blog </a> describes the process of writing Forest Born as being "the single most difficult book to write that I've ever done." I believe that. Rin, the main character is the younger sister of Razo the central character of book 3 in the Bayern series. She hails from the same forest as Enna and Razo so readers are familiar with what it means to come from the forest, how one relates to others
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Feb 01, 2011
Lisa
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This is my favorite of the series - and that's saying a lot since I have loved all of them! I always approach the next book in any series thinking I'll be disappointed. (I also needed some fantasy after my spate of 'heavy' books.) This is the most complex of the Shannon Hale's books and there's no way I can do it justice here. She does a brilliant job of expressing the fears and thoughts of a self conscious teen who feels invisible to those around her, and is certain that she is bad, stupid a
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Jan 04, 2011
Loralee
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What a happy surprise when I came across this at the library. Shannon Hale is one of my favorite young adult authors and somehow I missed that she had published this book a couple of years ago.
Rin is the youngest (and only) sister of Razo. She struggles to figure out who she is. When she got a little taste of being somewhat bossy and demanding, her mother is so angry at her that she retreats back into a shadow again--emulating and copying those around her. No one can keep up a char More...
Rin is the youngest (and only) sister of Razo. She struggles to figure out who she is. When she got a little taste of being somewhat bossy and demanding, her mother is so angry at her that she retreats back into a shadow again--emulating and copying those around her. No one can keep up a char More...
Jul 07, 2010
Emily Michelle
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I liked it more than Enna Burning but less than the other two books in the series. As other reviewers have pointed out, Rin is a difficult character to get into. This is necessary, given that Rin herself doesn't know who she wants to be, but it also means that I was bored by the book until about halfway through.
As with all the books in this series, Forest Born features a heroine struggling with some internal flaw or failing, and Rin's was an interesting one: she knows that she has th More...
As with all the books in this series, Forest Born features a heroine struggling with some internal flaw or failing, and Rin's was an interesting one: she knows that she has th More...
Jul 01, 2010
McKenzie
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When I first started this book, I thought I wasn't going to be able to make it through. The writing style seemed choppy, but it grew on me. This book wasn't a slow read at all, but it seemed to take me forever. It was probably because school's starting up and all that. Anyways, I really enjoyed this book. Although it's part of a series, each book can be read as a stand alone, which I really enjoy. Based on Forest Born, I plan on reading the other Books of Bayern.
Forest Born was magic More...
Forest Born was magic More...
Jun 23, 2010
Kathryn
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 06, 2010
Lia
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4.5 stars. This book had all the things I love about the other books in the Bayern series. The characters in Shannon Hale's books have real problems that I can identify with. It's evidence of her mad skills with characterization that even though the main characters of all four books are very different, somehow I feel like each one is me. In Forest Born, Rin confronts her own inadequacies and powers and learns that it's okay to be who she is. More than that, she learns she can help people by bein
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Nov 01, 2009
Arya
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The story of a girl who knows that something evil lurks inside her just waiting to burst forth and billow darkness. . .this is a great novel filled with meaning and magic.
Rin is Razo's sister and so we automatically love her. How could we not like someone related to lovable, sunny, sweet and adorable Razo? But we quickly discover that Rin is more than a pretty face, a little sister. She is a girl filled with fear. Fear of herself and what she might do, fear of what people think, More...
Rin is Razo's sister and so we automatically love her. How could we not like someone related to lovable, sunny, sweet and adorable Razo? But we quickly discover that Rin is more than a pretty face, a little sister. She is a girl filled with fear. Fear of herself and what she might do, fear of what people think, More...
Oct 27, 2009
Claire
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As noted this is book #4 in the Bayern series- I hope they go on and on each book is a treasure in its own way and can stand alone because of the strength of Shannon Hale's writing. All deserve 5 stars, in this case I notched it down because (its just me I'm sure) had to struggle through Rinna's self loathing to continue reading. Faith in the author kept me going to a satisfying conclusion.
Rinna is Razo's (of the wonderful River Secrets #3)adoring young sister. Her innate talent is t More...
Rinna is Razo's (of the wonderful River Secrets #3)adoring young sister. Her innate talent is t More...
Oct 06, 2009
Margaret
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Forest Born is the fourth book in the Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale. Shannon is one of my favorite author's so whenever a new book comes out by her, I am excited. The first book in the Bayern series was one of my all time favorites , The Goose Girl. I wasn't that excited about the second and third books in the series. I had high hopes for Forest Born and I was not disappointed.
It is the story of Rinna who grew up in the forest in a big family and doesn't know where she stands i More...
It is the story of Rinna who grew up in the forest in a big family and doesn't know where she stands i More...
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Sep 02, 2009
Debbie
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I enjoyed the underlying humor in Forest Born, but I was confused by why Rin was acting oddly (her reaction seemed blown out of proportion to the events because the author kept some early, critical events deliberately vague). So I didn't bond with Rin in the first half of the book because I couldn't understand her.
When the author finally revealed what had happened, Rin suddenly became a sympathetic character to me because I knew what a burden she'd been struggling with. But by the ti More...
When the author finally revealed what had happened, Rin suddenly became a sympathetic character to me because I knew what a burden she'd been struggling with. But by the ti More...
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Aug 31, 2009
Laina
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I almost feel guilty giving this five stars after reading Shannon's latest blogs on star-ratings, but I can't help myself! This book... oh my goodness. Let me try to put this into words.
Shannon Hale has outdone herself... again. I cannot BELIEVE how much I loved this book! It was different then her other books... so much more internal conflict. I felt like she wrote this book specifically for me; it's taken such a special part in my heart.
The writing was wonderful. More...
Shannon Hale has outdone herself... again. I cannot BELIEVE how much I loved this book! It was different then her other books... so much more internal conflict. I felt like she wrote this book specifically for me; it's taken such a special part in my heart.
The writing was wonderful. More...
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Jan 27, 2010
Lia
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Belabored. Drawn out. Page after page saying the same plot piece. Characters re-enacting their same "idiosyncrasies" endlessly--every time they open their mouths. One of the characters was so repetitious and persistent, that I skimmed whatever he said toward the end of the book.
There is also a very strong and frightening co-dependency that is only given a passing nod rather than actually being dealt with. Through most of the book, the main character is addressed in a conde More...
There is also a very strong and frightening co-dependency that is only given a passing nod rather than actually being dealt with. Through most of the book, the main character is addressed in a conde More...
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Jul 20, 2010
Christi
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Summary: The fourth book of the Books of Bayern series Forest Born by Shannon Hale introduces a new character named Rin. Rin is a girl from the forests of Bayern and shares a special connection with the trees. When she feels that she’s lost that connection, she decides to join her older brother in the city and work as a lady in waiting to Queen Isi, from another book in the Books of Bayern series. The kingdom of Bayern is threatened when King Geric and his guard are attacked while away on a d
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Aug 19, 2010
Rachel
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Jun 10, 2010
Jessie
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Apr 24, 2010
Christina
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I picked up this book in the midst of reading a run of well-written, but depressing books, looking for something light and enjoyable. Instead, I found myself increasingly annoyed and dissatisfied with the book. I’ve enjoyed Hale’s young adult books in the past, but this one was sub-par (either that or I’m expecting higher quality in my reading material lately). In particular, the main character, Rin, was fairly uninteresting, the other characters (hold-overs from her other Bayern books) were fla
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