Robin McKinley

I reread this one recently and thoroughly enjoyed it, though as I knew the ending I did skim the last few pages of part two to head quickly into part three.

Truly the oddest thing about this book, to me and through no fault of its own, is that I distinctly remember that the first time I read it was because I had checked it out from my middle school library in 7th grade. Not sure I would categorize this as appropriate reading for a 11 year old, but oh well. As a result of this, it has stuck in my head for almost 15 years now and when I found it while organizing my bookshelf (I had purchased it at a HPB in the interim), I couldn’t resist opening it up again.… (meer)

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.… (meer)

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.… (meer)