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Chatterbox: Blab About Books
Robin McKinley's Novels
I've mentioned this...
I've mentioned this author a number of times and gotten no response about her, so I wanted to create a general post about her books and how epicly wonderful they are.
The best part about her writing is that even though her books are all classified as kid's books, they read more maturely. Her heroines are often in their late teens and there is romance--not teen romance, but just enough.
I first read Pegasus a few years ago and really liked it, but since the sequel is only coming out this fall, I forgot about her for some time. But then I found The Blue Sword (since it was a Newbery Honor) and really got into her stuff again. Then I read The Hero and the Crown and that soon became one of my favorite books. I read Beauty yesterday, which wasn't bad for a debut novel either, and I'm going to read Spindle's End and Shadows (which is a teen novel--the first teen novel I've tried to read, I think) this week.
She is also a fan of LOTR, and her wish that Eowyn's character was more fleshed out inspired her to have very plucky, heroic, almost masculine heroines, like Tamora Pierce. Her renditions of fairy tales are like Gail Carson Levine's, but a little more grown up.
There are a few common threads in all her novels: there is often a rather brooding or depressed element and while the beginnings and middles are really strong, her endings have disappointed some people. Beauty's ending seemed rushed, and Blue Sword's end is a little stilted in dialogue and too happily-ever-after. All the same, her books are really fun, and any fan of fantasy should check them out!
submitted by Everinne, age 14, Damar
(March 2, 2014 - 7:03 pm)
(March 2, 2014 - 7:03 pm)
I've read Beauty and Rose Daughter, and while they weren't perfect, I quite liked both. This is pretty impressive, because I hate "Beauty and the Beast" (the original story), so the fact that she was able to write two versions I liked says something.
I've read Pegasus as well, and it was excellent, although I remember less about that one.
(March 3, 2014 - 3:50 am)
top!
(March 3, 2014 - 9:14 pm)
I finished Spindle's End (which seemed like one of the longest books I've ever read even though it's only 400 pages)
Unlike most of her stories, the ending was actually pretty good, and, as always, her characters have that perfect balance of pathetic and amusing. Animals play a huge part, as always again, and there is another impossible romance between a twenty-one-year-old girl and a guy of hazy but certainly older years (he was probably older than twenty when she was six, so you can guess how old he ended up being by the time she was twenty-one) and a very epic but plotless storyline that still manages to keep you amused. It's most similar to Hero and the Crown because of all the above points, I believe, but the retelling bit had its parallels with Beauty.
Rating: A (would have been A+ if the chapters were shorter and the pace went the tiniest bit faster)
Note: I couldn't finish Shadows. It just wasn't going anywhere.
(March 11, 2014 - 3:46 pm)