A few weeks ago, I reviewed five of Hale’s novels in an unofficial “Shannon Hale Week”. (Here’s the first review.) She’s published six novels, though; this was the one I couldn’t get my hands on in the original burst. It’s the third of an eventual four Bayern novels, and a companion novel (or sequel) to Goose Girl and Enna Burning.

Razo, one of Ani/Isi’s original animal-tending companions, is now in the Bayern army, and he is sent as part of the official escort with the Bayern ambassador to Tira.He’s not really sure why, since he’s not a great warrior or able to talk to the wind or anything like that, but he’ll take it. Enna is sent along, as well, and when they reach the capital city, strange things start happening. Razo makes an enemy almost immediately, but more worrisomely, burnt corpses start turning up. Is Enna burning again? And what about the mysterious Dasha, who is the liaison between the Bayern contingent and the Tiranese?

Razo is wonderfully observant; among other skills, that is why he was chosen to be part of the escort. As he is the narrator, it leads to a certain amount of added wealth of detail and description. Hale is always lyrical and she’s generally very skilled at description without wordiness, but there’s a bit of a different feel here. Razo is not Enna or Ani/Isi, and he isn’t as wispy as Isi or as brazen as Enna. His budding spy skills inform the narration of the book without turning it into complete intrigue. He’s also excellent at making friends with people from all different walks of life, and his friends range from the girls in the pastry kitchen to the ruler of the land.

If you couldn’t guess, the elemental magic of this book is that of water, hence the title. No, Razo is not the water-controller, and no, I’m not going to tell you who it is, but the water-controller’s abilities are very much part of the book. I think it’s pretty obvious by now that in the fourth Bayern book we’re going to discover an earth-speaker and what precisely that means.

One of the elements I liked very much about this book, as well as the others, was the possibility of shades of gray. Enna’s fire — and everyone else’s elemental magic — just is; it’s what they do with it that makes it either evil or not. Tira’s culture and prince are different, and therefore a bit dangerous — but only because they are different, not because they are inherently evil. One of my favorite parts of the book was Razo’s mission to introduce Bayern colors and fashions to Tira; I liked it partially because fashion is such a non-traditional thing for men to consider, but also because it worked. His idea was not solely based on the fact that he was sick of white clothing, but also because trade is good for international understanding and mutual interdependence.

While I didn’t find it quite as fascinating and with such depth as previous entries in the Bayern series, I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I’ll give it 4/5 stars and recommend it to fans of the series; I don’t know if it stands on its own.