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Author of mostly young adult fantasy novels, notable for her consistent inclusion of strong female protagonists and unique, subtle magic systems. Her books straddle the line between High Fantasy and low, being small-scale, low magic, and sometimes gritty or violent, but also featuring unambiguously good and evil characters and traditional happy endings. They can be a little slow in the beginning, but they are always worth the effort.
Some of her works include:
- The Goose Girl. Princess Anidori is traveling from her home kingdom to the kingdom of Bayern to marry the prince and hopefully bring peace to their two nations. Halfway there, she is betrayed by her company as they attempt to murder her and replace her with her lady in waiting, Selia. Ani escapes, but then must make her way to Bayern alone. Fearful of Selia and her guads, who still want her dead, Ani disguises herself as a city worker who tends to the geese as she plots a way to convince the king of her true identity. Three sequels feature the friends Ani meets among the city workers; the series is called Books of Bayern.
- Enna Burning
- River Secrets
- Forest Born
- Princess Academy. Miri lives in a village of miners on Mt. Eskel, far removed from the rest of the Kingdom of Danland. One day all the girls from the village are rounded up by an emissary from the king and sent to a finishing school -- the titular princess academy -- thanks to a prophecy that the prince's future wife will come from their region. Miri quickly rises to the top of her class and realizes she has a chance at becoming the princess, but struggles to choose between a better life, and leaving behind her home and the boy she's really falling in love with. A sincere and realistic take on I Just Want to Be Normal, and a Newbery Honor winner.
- Book of a Thousand Days. Dashti, a maid, is locked up in a windowless tower with her Lady Saren as punishment for Saren's refusal to go through with the marriage her father arranged for her. Saren is betrothed to Lord Khasar, who terrifies her senseless for an unknown reason, but instead wishes to marry the benevolent Khan Tegus. The book is presented as Dashti's diary, documenting her encounters with Khasar and Tegus, her attempts to keep her and Saren alive and sane in the tower, and their adventure thereafter. Relatively short, but absolutely packed with story.
Adult books:
- Austenland
- The Actor and the Housewife
Graphic novels:
- Rapunzel's Revenge and its sequel, Calamity Jack, written with her husband Dean Hale and illustrated by artist Nathan Hale (no relation).
- Action Girl: Enna.
- Alpha Bitch: Katar, who at least averts being Book Dumb.
- Awesomeness By Analysis: Razo.
- Badass Normal: Finn, and arguably Razo with his slinging skills
- Better Than It Sounds: Princess Academy really is better than the title suggests, honest!
- Big Badass Wolf: In Book of a Thousand Days, definitely the bad variety.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Isi the blonde, Enna the brunette, and Dasha the redhead.
- Blow You Away
- Break the Cutie: Ani hasn't been able to catch a break since she was a little kid.
- Bride and Switch: Saren convinces Dashti to take her place in Book of a Thousand Days. This is also Selia's plan in Goose Girl.
- Compelling Voice: all people-speakers, including Selia, Sileph, and Rin
- Cool Horse and Sapient Steed: Falada
- Damsel in Distress: Lady Saren will drift into Damsel Scrappy and Too Dumb to Live territory for some readers.
- Dead Guy on Display: Falada in The Goose Girl
- Disney Villain Death: Dan in Princess Academy
- The Dragon: Ungolad
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Some of the books' endings are made of heartwarming, but only after the protagonists are made to suffer pretty much the worst lives ever.
- Everybody's Dead, Dave: What Dashti finds upon returning to Titor's Garden.
- Fairy Tale: The Goose Girl is based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name, and Book of a Thousand Days is based on "Maid Maleen."
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Falada (Goose) and Khasar (Thousand) have their grisly ends depicted in the books, but perhaps the worst is the mere suggestion of what happens to Selia in The Goose Girl.
- Until we find out in Forest Born that Selia use people-speaking to escape death and a pig was put in her place.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Bayern for Germany, Danland for Scandinavia, and the Eight Realms for Mongolia.
- I Am Spartacus: Used in Princess Academy.
- Magic Music: In Book of a Thousand Days.
- Making a Splash: Dasha
- Mary Sue: Ani is arguably a Deconstruction of the Purity Sue found in most fairy tales. Makes sense, as The Goose Girl is a Twice-Told Tale.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane
- Meaningful Name: Khasar, from a Mongolian root meaning terrible dog. Also used in-universe, as in Thousand there's a whole nameing language. Saren, means 'moon light' and she's a much softer character than the rest.
- Nice to the Waiter: Miri befriends Knut, the academy cook.
- Parental Abandonment: True of Ani, Miri, and Dashti.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Ani and Geric in The Goose Girl
- Playing with Fire
- Plucky Girl: Hale's heroines in general tend to be, but especially Dashti. She has enough determination to keep herself and The Load going.
- The Power of Friendship: Not really of the magical variety, but friendship and teamwork are always important themes.
- Prince and Pauper: Ani and Selia; Dashti and Saren
- Princess Classic: Ani, but in a good way.
- Princess for a Day: Dashti
- Rags to Royalty: Both played straight and inverted.
- Real Name as an Alias: Ani's full name is Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee. When she goes into hiding, she calls herself Isi. She's called Isi in all subsequent books, since all the other protagonists know her by that name. Another example is Saren, who Dashti calls Sar to hide her identity after they leave the tower.
- Sealed with a Kiss
- Sadist Teacher turned Stern Teacher: Olana
- Survivor Guilt: Ani struggles with this after the murders of the men who were loyal to her. Also Talone to some extent, when he thinks Ani is dead.
- Talking to the Dead: Ani to Falada in The Goose Girl
- Then What: Batu to Dashti, on her plan to Defeat Khasar
- Two-Person Love Triangle: Ani and Geric in The Goose Girl
- World Building: All of Hale's countries are very lovingly crafted. This results in the above slow-to-start-ness, but makes it worth your while by being fascinating.