Review Of 'Enna Burning'

As I mentioned in my first post, I really love to read books. I once read almost 100 books a month and this year, I read 39000 pages of books from March to November. Among the books I read, some books were totally terrible while some books were amazingly well written.  Enna Burning written by the American writer, Shannon Hale, is one of the well-written books I have ever read. Years ago, I found the book in my school library. I never thought that I found a great book at that time but while reading it, I noticed the fact. Enna Burning is a fantasy novel but, unlike most of fantasy novels, tell us so many precious lessons that can help us a lot. In my point of view, this book is even better than Harry Potter series!

However, I also think that there ARE some points to improve in this book. (Of course, nothing is perfect.) Therefore, I'd like to review the book from now on.

#1 The Plot

Enna's parents were long gone so she lived with her older brother who had the ability to make fire with nothing.  At that time, a war between Bayern and Tira, Bayern's neighbour country, was taking place. Enna's brother fought bravely and even used his mysterious ability for Bayern but died tragically in the battlefield. That was because he used the ability too frequently. Enna found a document about the ability of controling and making fire in her brother's clothes and unconciously read it. The document gave Enna the same ability it gave to her older brother.

Ever since her brother died, Enna came to live as the maid of Isi, who was the queen of Bayern and Enna's best friend, in Isi's castle. Isi had the ability of communicating with wind and controling it. When Enna tried to learn the ability to make fire from her brother, Isi kept her best friend from doing so since she thought that the ability of controling fire was dangerous.  Therefore, Enna, who got the ability, felt sorry to Isi.

Like most of other adolescents in Bayern's forest, Enna wanted to be 'special' and 'famous'. She also thought that the new ability she got could make her really famous and special. So, she made fire on the enemies' camps in the midnight. The citizens of Tira thought that a witch from Bayern did all the misbehaviours and tried to catch her. One day, when the soldiers of Tira found Enna making fire, they arrested her.

The captain Sileph, who was a good speaker, took care of Enna and encouraged her to make fire to her nation. He drugged Enna and she willingly burned the camps and soldiers of her country without any hesitation.

At that time, Isi was hectic since Tira was defeating Bayern. Of course, she wanted to resque Enna. But she knew that there weren't enough soldiers to resque her. And Isi wanted Enna to know the fact. So she pretended that she was a working-class woman of Tira and succeeded in breaking into Tiran camp. Isi's visit gave Enna much courage and made her get out of the camp by herself.

#2. The Story... 10/10

This book is totally amazing. Actually, Enna is very similar to most of today's adolescents and young adults. When she was young, she was very happy. She was satisfied with her life in the forest. However, she suddenly felt as if something was missing. Her best friend, Isi, became the Queen of Bayern. She could control wind and communicate with birds, also. Finn was the best soldier in Bayern's Own. Her older brother could control fire and made Bayern win the war. But Enna was nothing. She was just an ordinary forest girl. She wanted to be special. I believe that many people may emphathize with Enna.

This book also tell us the importance of 'friendship'. As the old saying goes, 'birds of a feather flock together'. The person who have dishonest and immoral friends is immoral, just like his or her friends. On the contrary, the person who have a good company is usually very nice. In this book, a bad, dishonest friend was portrayed as 'Sileph' and a good and moral friend was portrayed as 'Finn' and 'Razo'. When Enna fell in love with Sileph, she made fire to Bayern (she did not even thought that it was a misbehaviour). However, when she was with Fiin and Razo, she wasn't that cruel. With them, she felt comfortable and was sure that she was doing a right thing. Enna Burning will make you realize the importance of making good friends and maintaining freindship.

 

#3. The Title And The Cover....7/10

Everytime I choose a book to read in my school library, I usually choose a book by its title since I don't no whether or not the book is well written. I like the books with unique titiles like a novel called 'Frindle' by Andrew Clements. (And, really, most of the books which have unique titiles are pretty interesting) The title of Enna Burning's Korean edition is ' The Maid Of The Princess And The Secret Of Fire' (it's pretty long, isn't it?). Both the title of Korean edition and the title of English edition are very unique.

But I think that the picture on the front cover is somewhat plain and monotonous. This book is very creative, interesting and unique. But the cover is just 'ordinary'. In the picture, a girl who is wearing a yellow cape is riding a horse in the midnight. How can we imagine the gruesome adventures Enna go through in this book through the picture?

Of course, this book is interesting enough without any fantastic picture on the cover, but I'm sure that it will look nicer and more people will read the book if the cover is as creative as the story.

#4. Overall...9/10

Though the picture on the front cover is somewhat plain, there is no doubt that this book is great (and I believe that the people who read this review will read the book regardless of the picture) The author portrayed each character's characteristics and emotions very well. Also, even if it is thick, Enna Burning not that difficult to read.  I believe that almost everyone, including elementary school students, 40-something housewives and old people, can enjoy the book. Therefore, I strongly recommend this book, Enna Burning, to you. You will find all I'm insisting is true after reading it.