Thursday, April 05, 2007

The Hero and the Crown

By Robin McKinley.

I enjoyed this book a great deal more than I expected to, having left it on my shelf for three weeks. It's not as bad as the cover makes it look, although I'm sure there are numerous forward references to The Blue Sword that I missed, not having read it.

It's hard to explain what makes this book so good. It's not exactly a literary classic, but it's a very pleasant read in the line of McKinley's other works. Aerin is the king's daughter and, we may assume, the hero of the title, but she spends most of her life hiding from the people who hate her on the basis of her birth. Instead of riding out with trumpets and fanfares, she ends up sneaking away to slay her dragons quietly (literally). Her father, at least, loves her, even if he doesn't know what to do with her.


I'd recommend this as another nice book for a rainy day. It's a pretty pleasant read.

2 comments:

Martin LaBar said...

I wish McKinley's output had been greater. She's good.

Joshua said...

"Had been"? Is there something I don't know about? Or do you mean her Damar output specifically?

Her website says a new book by her is coming out in September of this year, and the FAQ question about a Sunshine sequel says that she knows more about what happens in Damar, but hasn't written about it yet.