Forest Born
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| Author | Shannon Hale |
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| Cover artist | Alison Jay (special edition) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Books of Bayern |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Press |
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Publication date
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September 15, 2009 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 317 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | River Secrets |
Forest Born is a fantasy novel by Shannon Hale. It is the fourth book in the Books of Bayern series.
The book centres around Rinna (Rin), Razo’s fifteen-year-old sister who still lives in the Forest with their large family (known as Agget-kin). At the beginning of the book, Rin feels wrong in herself; when she was younger she ordered her niece around and it made her feel good, big and powerful. However, when her ma returns and finds that Rin has upset the niece, she scolds Rin and turns away. Rin, upset and confused, runs into the deeper Forest and hugs a tree as she would have hugged her ma, begging for forgiveness. At this point she discovers that she can ‘open’ herself to the trees in a way and absorb their peace. She returns home but continues to be afraid that if she speaks to people as she did to her niece, she will lose Ma’s love. To prevent this she begins to mirror her mother and her favourite brother Razo. She doesn’t demand things or speak much at all.
However, when she is fifteen, she breaks all her rules with a boy named Wilem, who calls her wild. After that day the wrongness begins to eat at her again, and she buries and distorts the memory of her time with Wilem. After this, she discovers that the trees don’t give her peace anymore. She thinks that they have rejected her for what happened with Wilem.
Soon after Wilem, Razo and his girl Dasha return from Bayern’s capital to visit the homestead. When they leave Rin goes with them, hoping that going out into the world will change her as it changed Razo.
They arrive at the capital and Rin is given a place as a waiting woman to Queen Anidori. She proves to work well with the young prince, Tusken, and becomes his main care-giver. After a few weeks another waiting woman named Cilie returns and demands to spend time with Tusken. Rin, who has always been good at reading people’s faces, feels that Cilie wishes the boy harm and tells the queen. She takes Rin’s concerns seriously and tells her to call her Isi, her nickname that only her closest friends call her. Rin admires the queen and begins to mimic her and see her as an idol.
Isi’s best friend, Enna, is planning her wedding to Finn when Bayern’s Own, the king’s personal hundred-band, is called out to one of the villages near the border of Kel, a neighbouring country. A few days after they leave a messenger returns and tells Isi that they were attacked by fire. Isi, Enna, Dasha, Rin, and another hundred-band leave to assist them. At the last minute they take Tusken with them, for Isi fears that in their absence Cilie will harm him.
They meet the king’s party, along with Razo and Finn, on the road to the border town. The king was injured and one man was killed. Isi, Enna, and Dasha set out to discover who was behind it. Rin, feeling that she needs to stay with Isi, leaves Tusken in Razo’s care and follows them.
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