02 May 2011

Book Review: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

Compared to “The Next Decade” I devoured this book. I finished it in two days (before I could even finish the blog post about the other). My last post got a bit long so I decided to institute a “format” for these reviews. Hopefully this will make writing them a quicker process.

The Blue Sword

Why I read it: It was on the Harvard 100 list and I bought it for my Kindle before I decided to use my own list.

Plot teaser: Harry is a girl who has just been displaced from her home. The death of her father caused a forced relocation to the outskirts of the Homeland where her brother and kind foster parents take her in. Harry (awful name for a female character) is abruptly whisked away by the “barbarian” King Corlath. Who, on the brink of war with the feared Northlanders, has other plans for her. mHarry with the help of fate and some "magic" becomes the heroine of a nation.

Style: It is mostly 3rd person limited. Most of the story is told from Harry’s perspective but the author does occasionally switch to Corlath or some of the other minor characters. She has good descriptions but they are not particularly captivating or unique.

Thoughts: Overall I enjoyed the book. It was well paced and believable. The story is tight (if slightly predictable) with a good dose of character growth, kingdoms, magic, and mystery. The problem is that much of the mystery is never revealed and you are left wondering about a lot of things. I found myself continually comparing it to “The Goose Girl” by Shannon Hale. Both heroines are transplanted, both have a special gift, and both have royal romances. However for many reasons I think Hale’s book is far superior. Her Isi is a much more complete and compelling heroine, her writing is beautiful and her characters feel like old friends. As much as I liked this book I don’t understand why it was on the list or why it won so many awards. I can only imagine that being published in 1982 it was unique for its time. Today a strong female heroine fantasy novel is fairly common.

Quotables:

“She had always suffered from a vague restlessness; a longing for adventure that she told herself severely was the result of reading too many novels when she was a small child.”

“Like the grain of sand that gets into an oyster’s shell. What if the grain doesn’t want to become a pearl? Is it ever asked to climb out quietly and take up its old position as a bit of ocean floor?”


Read this if you like: Shannon Hale, Westmark Trilogy, The Hunger Games