Robin McKinley

This is an epic fantasy classic from the 80s, with a strong female main character. I just read it now for the first time and found that it does not live up to the hype.

Let's see, the worldbuilding is interesting, inspired by the colonial British empire in Asia, but without firearms and with magic that only certain natives have. The story is fine on paper, and it's readable, but the narrative style is rather distant. You never get to know the protagonist well. She takes an extremely passive attitude for much of the book, and then does some amazing things without seeming to make much effort, falls in love without a convincing romance, and that's it.

So... not bad, but the whole thing feels a bit underwhelming.… (more)

BEAUTY is a wonderful fairy tale adaptation. It is told by Beauty who is the youngest of a merchant's three daughters. When the merchant who owns his own fleet of ships runs into bad luck - storms, lost ships, lost cargo - it becomes necessary to sell everything and move out of the city.

Among the losses is the man the eldest daughter Grace loves. But the blacksmith who has been working in her father's shipyard and who loves the middle sister Hope has a solution. He has a chance to go back to the village where he was raised to open up the blacksmith's forge and offers to take them all with him.

They find the journey difficult and the new lifestyle without servants to be hard, but they do adapt with the help of the locals. Beauty misses her life of scholarship but adapts to being the one able to do the harder work along with Greatheart, the large horse a friend in the city gave her.

Time passes...Hope marries her blacksmith, Grace seems to be recovering from her grief for her lost sailor, and then word comes that one of their father's ships has made it home. He travels to take care of things and finds he has but a little money when everything is wrapped up. He buys a horse to take him home to his daughters. When he is nearly home, there is a sudden blizzard, and he gets lost in the magical forest that is near their home. He stumbles upon a mysterious castle and spends the night.

When he is ready to leave in the morning, he decides to take one rose from the garden since the only thing Beauty had asked him to bring back was seeds to grow roses. This theft angers the castle's owner, and he demands one of the man's daughters as payment.

Beauty, who was christened Honour, decides that she will be the one to repay her father's debt and finds herself in a magical castle complete with invisible servants, a library with books not yet written, and a lonely Beast.

I loved the lyrical language and the well-developed personalities of the characters. This is still one of my favorites by this author and one of my favorite fairy tale adaptations.… (more)

This epic fantasy/romance won a Newbery Honor in 1982. It tells the story of orphaned Harry Crew who is sent to live with her brother in a Homelander colony named Damar. Her brother is stationed at the far end of the colony near the land the Free Hillfolk still contol.

Harry lives with the head of the Homelander delegation and his wife and tries to make a new life for herself. Unlike most who have come to the far reaches of Damar, Harry falls in love with the bleak desert and enjoys being there.

But there are problems. The Northerners are threatening an invasion though the Homelanders don't believe that they are much threat. King Corlath of the Free Hillfolk come to see the head of the Homelanders to ask for alliance against the Northerners and is rather rudely dismissed.

But he gets a look at Harry and his magic demands that he kidnap her. Harry is thus taken into the culture of the Hillfolk and taught to be one of the King's Riders. Harry fits right in. Learning a new language, learning to ride the Hill horses, and learning to fight with a sword come easy to her - as if she had known those skills all before.

Harry's path seems to echo that of an earlier lady hero - Lady Aerin - who is something of a legend to Cortlath's people. Harry also manifests the Hill magic that is gradually leaving the Hillfolk which gives her visions of the future and visions of Lady Aerin.

As they prepare for battle against the Northerners, Harry comes to believe that Corlath is overlooking a potential point for the coming invasion. When she can't convince him, she sneaks out to return the the Homelander outpost to try to recruit help to secure this mountain pass. She's accompanied by two Hillfolk companions but recruit some other help along the way including a Homelander Colonel who is also in love with Damar.

This was an excellent fantasy story. It is also a romance since Harry and Corlath fall in love over the course of her captivity.… (more)