I was actually surprised at how much I wound up liking this, including Peter Dickinson's stories (and sometimes I actually preferred the emotional depth of his). My favorite was probably The Sea-King's Son because I'm a sucker for that sort of story. That said, I'm always hungry for any remnants of Damar I can find, so I was happy to hear about it in A Pool in the Desert, as esoteric and far-flung from the main Damar canon as it was.

That said, and as much as I adore Robin McKinley, I really only give this a 3.5--maybe I'm not much of a connoisseur of short stories, but I did find myself bored at times and McKinley's last two stories really were almost too esoteric for comprehension. I like magic with mysterious properties and a mind of its own, but it was difficult to even understand what was happening in those two. Still, I thought there were gems in here that I could feel confident recommending.

#ReadDownYourBookshelf verdict: Keeping it.

I definitely preferred McKinley's stories to Dickinson's. The last one was probably my favorite because it involves Damar.

Great book of short stories. I love Robin McKinley’s books and she did not disappoint in her short stories. It’s hard to pick which if the short stories was my favorite.

Six stories by married authors Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley, to varying degrees themed around the element of water. Overall I liked McKinley's better (no surprise there), but Dickinson's "Kraken" was quite good too, making up for the dullness of his "Sea Serpent". The last three stories were better than the first three.

The final story, "Pool in the Desert," is set tangentially in the world of McKinley's Damar novels. It and Dickinson's first story, "Mermaid Song," both felt as if they would have been better as longer novellas. They also had in common that the role of water was not particularly essential to the story.

This book was fine. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it. I enjoyed all of the short stories except for one, and they all went by pretty quickly (at least when I bothered to pick up the book). But I didn't love anything in this book. None of the short stories left any lasting impression on me, and I'm really struggling to think of specific things to say about them even though I only read the last one two days ago.

Some of them felt kind of fairytale-esque. Characters felt like archetypes and the stories a little too nonspecific with a lot of focus on the overall moral. It was fine, just not really my thing.

Water Horse was my favorite, and honestly the only one I remember in its entirety. It was a really lovely story that touched my heart, but that wasn't enough to knock this book up to 4 stars.

I preferred McKinley's to Dickinson's by a pretty wide margin. Definitely want to read more Robin McKinley in the future, but I may stick to her novels. Not a bad read, but I just have so little to say about it.

I was excited to get this book because I love McKinley's writing so much. But I found that I was more disappointed than entertained. The first two storied "Mermaid Song" and "The Sea-King's Son" were by far my favorite. Both McKinley and Dickinson were able to transport me into the simplicity of the worlds they had created for these two short stories. However the following shorts were not nearly as enthralling. "Sea Serpent" and "Water Horse" seemed to drag on endlessly. The little character development they gave was not up to the standards I have come to expect from these authors.
I would only recommend this book to people who are already familiar and love Robin Mckinley and Peter Dickinson. Otherwise I would advise against it fearing you might miss out on great books after having read these less than worthwhile short stories.

There is so much great YA fantasy fiction now, but it was fun to go back to where it all started for me.

I like the collection of stories.

I especially liked that in most of them the lead character was female. Each story was could easily be expanded into a full novel, which I think could flesh out the characters and the stories really well.

The stories are light and easy to go through, and they do stay with you for a while afterwards, especially ones like Water Horse and Sea Serpent.

I savor Robin McKinley's writing. She speaks to me in a way that few other writers do, and the three stories she wrote here are no different. I read Fire, the other anthology she did with her husband, a while back and I kept bogging down in Dickinson's stories. I learned from my mistake and just skipped to the stories that were the real reason I picked up this book.

The Sea-King's Son - This was just beautiful. We've all been in a situation where we haven't been able to see someone's true character until it is shoved horribly into our faces, and I felt keenly for the main character. It was a sweet romance with a beautiful fantasy twist.

Water Horse - Just lovely. I fell in love with these characters even though we only knew them for a few dozen pages. And love for a horse helped save the world? What story could be written more for me? My only sadness is that we did not have longer with these characters.

A Pool in the Desert - Every person has felt that yearning to break out from the minutiae of everyday life, and for this main character even more so. Reading about her real world, I could feel how drab and awful it is with the only bright spot being Ruth, and how much life and color and hope was in Damar. A story well told, and another I wanted so much more of.

Books like this are hard for me to rate because I don't usually end up liking all the stories it contains. Overall, I found it to be entertaining, a nice easy way to get me out of my not-reading funk even though I wasn't overly fond of the last two tales. I've seen another 'elemental tales' collection relating to fire (by the same author), and I'd be curious to take a peek at that as well.

This was a very enjoyable read! I don't usually get interested in short stories, but short fiction by these two authors are generally quite good, and this book was no exception. My favorite stories were McKinley's "Water Horse" and "A Pool in the Desert." I loved the fact that the latter story, which closes the collection, includes the Homeland and Damar of McKinley's novels The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword. :) It made me very very happy. I wonder if she's written other short stories about that world.
The one story which kind of put me to sleep was "Sea Serpent." Dickinson's writing at times is very convoluted. He tries to describe very technical things and leaves me in the dust.
However, I enjoyed his other two stories in the collection.

This collection of stories explores the magical creatures that live in the waters of the deep, from mermaids to the great kraken. Each story vividly describes these magical creatures in a powerful way.

This first collaboration between husband and wife is as lushly imagined as veteran readers of McKinley or Dickinson would expect. Both authors have a gift for creating rich worlds that envelop the reader, and this is no exception.