The Goose Girl--Spoilers!

Although I love Shannon Hale's books, I have obviously not been keeping up with what she has been publishing.
I discovered 'The Goose Girl' through a goodreads review and thought it sounded fascinating--a girl who can talk with animals? And control the wind? A dream come true! (I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff, now if only she could fly)

Anyhow, the way Hale writes is beautiful, she has a good sense of 'flow,' (boy I should improve my descriptions). At no point while I was reading did something sound out of place or 'rough' it all just ... flowed. Another reason I love her writing.
The characters were amazing, I love how I got a bit of background for most/all of them and they were not just cardboard side-characters with no personality. They each had their own unique personality and story and place in The Goose Girl. I will only talk about a couple.

Selia--egads, she was scary! I can understand why female villains are so frightening. A guy you expect, but when a woman/girl is the villain, boy can things get nasty. And even though there was foreshadowing, I still did not really expect her to turn into such a vile creature. Even if she thought she had reason. I hope Hale's intention was not to show us both sides of why she did what she did, too, because I sure as heck did not see it. To me, she is bad, through and through, and while I do not like how she died, I cannot say I miss her.

Ani--what a trooper. She was exactly like a 'regular' princess from the fairytales, to me. Except she actually acted like a real person, which impressed me. Usually princesses are a bit flat and it is all 'woe is me' or 'I'm so pretty,' everything is very simple and kind of unrealistic. But with Ani? I got to rooting for her real quick. You got to see her character develop, and I love how her personality or reactions were consistent. As in, even though her personality developed more and she became stronger and everything, when it came to facing Selia and when all seemed lost she was not still "I can do this. I am strong now. Everything will turn out fine." Her reaction was realistic, I would sure as heck be scared. Maybe have a little hope somethin' would happen to change the course of events, but being all strong and self-assured that everything will be fine is not very realistic when you are alone in a room, weaponless, facing people who are most likely going to kill you. You know what I mean? I would not be all "You will pay for this, fools! I may die, but someday, somewhere, somehow, someone will find out your treachery and you will PAY!"
Nah. I do not think so. Still, Geric realizes he was wrong and he still loves her and they get married and live happily ever after. (Or do they?)
Geric? Nothing to say about him.
Falada? That poor horse. I wanted to strangle Selia. Now THAT is a wonderful writer, who writes so well it is like the characters are real and you actually get so involved as to want to strangle the bad guy/girl.
Minus Twilight.
'Cause Twilight is just awful.