Forest Born

Book Four of the Books of Bayern

By: Shannon Hale

Narrated by: Cynthia Bishop

Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Rin is sure that something is wrong with her...something really bad. Something that is keeping her from feeling at home in the Forest homestead where she’s lived all her life. Something that is keeping her from trusting herself with anyone at all. When her brother Razo returns from the city for a visit, she accompanies him to the palace, hoping that she can find peace away from home. But war has come to Bayern again, and Rin is compelled to join the queen and her closest allies - magical girls Rin thinks of as the Fire Sisters - as they venture into the Forest toward Kel, the land where someone seems to want them all dead.

Many beloved Bayern characters reappear in this story, but it is Rin’s own journey of discovering how to balance the good and the bad in herself that drives this compelling adventure.

©2013 Shannon Hale (P)2013 AudioGO

all right

This book is about a girl discovering what she can do , could or shouldn't do. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Hard to put it down and it wraps up any loose ends in the 4 book series. It was a great ending. I was so happy for her, I shed a tear. Find out why and read it.

It starts out a little dark and depressing, but it gets better as she leaves home because of what she did wrong. As time goes by, she discovers herself and makes life changing decisions that gets her in and out of trouble for others. Lots of action and drama with some romance and family. A must read.

A satisfying end to the series

Goose Girl is my favorite book of all time. I remember being ecstatic finding out there were more books after it that took place in the same world. Enna Burning and River Secrets were both good I would say. They didn’t carry the power of the first book but I still loved Enna and Razo’s own stories.
Forest Born felt very personal to me. Rinna’s whole family situation felt very real and I think many can probably relate to feeling lost in your own home. I was around Rinna’s age when I really thought about how to be a good person. This is a book about realizing one’s own potential and growing and changing to find your place in the world.
I don’t want to spoil the ending so I’ll try to use neutral wording - seeing the main villain of this story get what they deserve feels so good in this book. The lead up is actually quite funny and I was looking forward to this part as I reread this story. I feel like this end is very satisfying and wraps the whole story up nicely while giving room to imagine what happens to Rin afterwards. Even though I’m sure a new Bayern book won’t be written, the ending seems open enough that if Hale decided to write more in this world, it would make sense.
As far as the audio performance, I feel it could have been better, however it wasn’t bad. Compared to the narration of Goose Girl, it has greatly improved. I loved the voice for Isi in this one and Razo as well. It felt much more natural and less gimmicky.
I would recommend this to anyone who grew up feeling not quite right with themselves. I think this book will give you hope for your own path. (Probably read the previous books for full context though lol)

Sooo cool

I loved it it was so adventures and amazing.I recommend it for fantasy people .I love Shannon Hale so much.

thought provoking, fun & exciting.

i loved it! i couldn't stop listening, it was exciting and satisfying to the end. loved the characters.

Great

I really like this book and its series. It draws me in with a full cast of speakers so that every character has there on distinctive voice.

This book made me think about my own life and the people around me if they where good influence for me or bad and if I'm a good or bad influence to be around and if I'm bad I am the one that needs to change to help others around me.

I would encourage others to listen or read this book and get there on meaning out of this.

Another outstanding storyline

So hard to stop listening to this series! Always an adventure and twist. Shocking to find out who the villain truly is. Loved all the characters, and wished there was a 5th book!

The whole series was enjoyable

The stories were interesting and often exciting , all the different voice actors made it easier to follow and made it fun to listen to.

fabulous, but...

I read these books when they first came out, loved them. got the Kindle books with whisper sync for my daughter, first goose girl, then enna burning. she listened to them on loop, day after day. we bought river secrets for a family road trip, then this one for the ride home. the cast has been amazing for the first three books, but suddenly, all the voices are different. things happen, but I'm sad they didn't get to keep the cast for all four books.

Good

I really like these stories. I think they are good to help with self-esteem.

perfection as always

if you look at my past reviews, you'll see that I blew through the whole series in a week.