Even if you bypass the part about a father raping and impregnating his daughter,  I really don't like this book. I've read one other McKinley book, The Hero and the Crown, and gave it one star due to the irregular pacing and long/meandering inner character dialogues. I have the same issue here... I think I'll just avoid her books from now on! They're not for me.

Masterful, magnificent, graceful.

At last, I have had some time to find my thoughts again. I began this book last night at around 10pm and finished at 11am this morning. I was deeply struck, and moved by the grace with which this story moved. It is not for the faint of heart, and it requires a readiness to experience a harrowing truth. I cried, I smiled, but laugh I never did. Instead this book has stayed with me like a quiet melody playing in the background of the day.

Things I really loved in this book:

The Queen's painting harkened to Dorian Grey, but I felt this rendition of the "cruelly beautiful painting" was much more poignant and provoking. Beauty and pain are spoken of in tandem throughout, intertwining two things normally diametrically opposed to each other. Here, beauty is a broken promise, where one expects warmth one receives horror and degradation. Beauty is the platform for the degradation of the parent-child promise of warmth and love. The Queen (whose name we never actually know despite being such a looming character) is disarmingly beautiful such that all who behold her are intoxicated with her beauty. In particular, they seem to lose themselves in recognition of herself. Once the queen dies, even the famous painting's painter loses a part of himself for having painted an otherworldly rendition of her, such that the disarming beauty is now a portentous one. It is disarming in the same way a soldier is disarmed in battle. For Lissar the ever-present frozen beauty of her mother becomes the measuring stick to which she is continually subject. Now embodied in the unattainable stillness of a painting, Lissar is tormented by the fact that she is told she looks like her mother. Understandably whenever the comparison is made Lissar reacts with due vehemence. She sees the abject beauty of her mother as nothing other than torment.

Turning to her father now, it's interesting to see his transformation. In the beginning, the nursery stories of her mother and father suggest her father is of noble heart. The way he throws away those rare apples and leaves which had unearthly value and tells the Queen that he only needs her to be happy, is initially suggestive of a noble heart. But the same person is, as the author reveals, cruelty itself because rapes his own daughter. An act of such violence that Lissar is spiritually dead: she is unrecognizably broken in her mind, body and soul. It is impossible to understand the pain, but I think the plainness with which the author goes about delicately unraveling the complexity of Lissar's feelings is something to truly marvel at. And of course now, her father's initial glow (as she described it at the start) is now a morbid beauty because beneath it lies boundless horror.

When Lissar arrives at Ossin's kingdom, she is pointedly comforted by the simplicity of Ossin and his family. They are not "beautiful" in the same way as her parents, instead they are described by their imperfections. This distinction instinctively comforts her, and I thought this was such a fascinating reflection. In this kingdom, she is described as being beautiful, but a very different kind of beauty: she is Moonwoman, she possesses an ethereal undefinable beauty that brings peace to those around her. And finally at the end, after Lissar confronts her father, she regains her initial appearance. Though she is again described as having beauty, it is a kind entirely her own that presents literally as fire: simple, self-possessed, dynamic.

Also after the confrontation, she bleeds again, but this time it is the purifying mestrual blood which, though painful, is decidedly her own. It is self-affirming her own body's ability to keep its own cycle irrespective of any thing in her environment. I thought this transformation of blood from what it was before, the pool of blood that was beaten out of her, toward the self-reclaiming "shedding" was yet another fascinating transforming moment.

Ossin was such a gentle, kind soul who was perfectly equipped to be a friend/future husband to Lissar. I say friend, because unlike so many romances, the friendship between these two is so pure and built on an innate desire to be kind to one another without asking for anything in return. The purity of their connection is astounding to observe unfold. Particularly the way that Ossin, as a man who spends so much time with animals, is very patient with her. In the end, he has the wisdom to know that despite all his efforts, her wound is the kind that may never heal because it is rooted everywhere and in everything. He reflects that it's possible she may never be whole enough to love him back, and he was prepared to let her go. I think it's this willingness that actually made her come to regard him as someone she could trust and choose willingly. In the end, the dogs which first brought them together encircle them as they stand together, a kind of safe unit. I thought this was the most beautiful moment.

I'm an emotional rater, and this little re-imagining of the Donkeyskin fairytale was an instant 5-star read for me. Anything that hits me in the feels like this is 5 stars automatically, no questions asked, no explanations given.

As you should know if you're familiar with the fairytale, it deals with extremely heavy, traumatising and painful themes like rape and incest, but I think it handles those respectfully, and overall the book has an atmospheric, almost dreamlike quality to it. Still, for anyone easily triggered by depictions of sexual assault, this book may be too much, so I'd recommend proceeding with caution. Lissar goes through absolute hell in this book.

I loved the characters and the new spin to the old fable. I loved the overall feeling of this book. I loved, loved the dogs! And there's a prince who's kindhearted and hardworking and cares a whole lot more about keeping a litter of motherless puppies alive than he cares about appearances or playing court. My heart! Ossin may not be the handsomest heir to the throne out there, but is he EVER the loveliest!

McKinley's books tend to resonate well with me in general, and this one is by far my favourite.

There are books you come across that you know will be 5-stars even after a few pages. This book was one of them. I hadn't read any Robin McKinley before; but I often recommended her stuff to people at the library looking for really good classical fantasy. I should have taken my own advice much sooner. I was blown away by this writing. The beauty of it just hit you over the head; it's a use of language you don't see often and it totally works for the feel and setting of the story. Some may consider it a little long-winded. I call it brilliant detail and world-building. Some authors get bogged down with detail or stretching a scene. There is a right and wrong way to do it. McKinley has obviously shown her mad skills in Deerskin, and you should bow down to it.
I have never read the original fairytale this book takes after--Donkeyskin--so I cannot attest to how accurate of a retelling this is. But with how amazing I found this story, I honestly don't care if it matches well. As is, it's a gorgeous story and a fairytale that should be more mainstream. It's likely left off the popular list because of its darker beginning; however, I think a lot of people and readers are forgetting how dark plenty of fairytales are before they get Disney-fied. This isn't a story about incest and rape. It's a story of perseverance, courage, determination, love-will-out, true friendship, and sometimes the best beauty hides the most hideous evil. Plus, it's a wonderful story for dog lovers.
Throughout this book, even though Lissar makes some easy-way-out decisions, you can never fault her for being brave in the end. While she does give in to thoughts of death, she ultimately fights to live on so many occasions. She's dealt a crap hand. Her parents gave her zero attention; her dad was a pig and her mother extremely shallow. While the King and Queen are told as being an extremely loving couple, their affections never expanded beyond themselves and their beauty. After the Queen's death, the King's madness shows even worse how his brain is poisoned by beauty, and it leads him to commit that horrible act out of pure selfishness and being drunk on power. He's douche-bag King, he's mentally ill, and shame on all of his staff for never sticking their necks out during his delusional actions. Nobody ever tried to help Lissar, so she did the best she could in a nearly doomed situation. And after her escape, you can hardly blame her for hiding out for a while. Those chapters in the mountains were a little slow, but beautiful in how they delved into her own personal grief and growth - all the while, her dog helping her hold on to that last bit of sanity.
Her time in the yellow city really aided in the renewal of her life. Even though she had blocked the memories of her past life, she knew there was something she had escaped and that she wanted to start fresh. What a wonderful place, honestly, to do that. She found her way to a paradise she should have grown up in. Ossin is my kind of prince, and I loved their friendship and dedication to their dogs. Also, great way to show how Lissar understood what love could be but was still afraid. She pretty much thought love was forbidden for her after what her father did. Ossin and the dogs helped heal this wound, and even at the very last page, she's unsure. But it's an ending that has potential, a flame that will only grow as Lissar finally puts her past behind her with the help of her friends and dogs.
This book was simply brilliant, and I cannot wait to explore more of McKinley's offerings. I feel bad some people don't seem to be giving this book a chance--turned off immediately by the less than average fairytale and darker themes. All I have to say is please immerse yourself in this writing, for you will feel every bit of it, and that can be scary. You understand Lissar's terror and despair and feel her loss. But you also rise with her as things turn for the better. Isn't blending with a character one of the best parts of literature? Try something different, people, go outside your comfort. And remember the rape and incest is not the central element (it's really rather a short part of the story), and see the entire picture. This book was amazing, so there.

Attempted to reread this book, since I own it (but haven't read it since joining Goodreads 12 years ago). I've probably only read it once before, but bought myself a copy back when I was in my "must own every fairy tale retelling book" phase. I remember that it wasn't a favorite McKinley book, but that's about it.

So, I tried reading this now....and I just can't get into it. Three days to read 75 pages is not great. I know that there's incest, rape, pregnancy, animal cruelty, and animal death coming up....and I just don't feel motivated to read all of that. I figure there must be a reason I only read this once, like I subconsciously avoided it despite owning it.

Yeah, I'm past the stage of needing to collect all of a particular kind of book (or all of an author's works), so I can let this one go.

Having just read and adored McKinley's Sunshine and The Blue Sword when I started this book, I was full of love for the author and expecting great things. This book is a re-telling of the Donkeyskin fairytale, which I actually do remember from when I was little, though I have to say the incestuous subtext did go completely over my head when I was 5.

Princess Lissar Lisslar is a lonely and awkward child who grows up obscured by the shadow of her glorious parents who are so completely obsessed with each other that they do not seem to notice that they have a child at all and are so totally fantabulous that everyone around them only has eyes for them and is blinded to Lissar's existence. Throughout her childhood Lissar is told stories of the magical fairytale wooing of her mother, the most beautiful woman in the seven kingdoms, by her father, one of the seven suitors who had to go to the ends of the earth to win her.

But then one day, the most beautiful woman in the seven kingdoms falls ill and, because she cannot bear the fading of even the tiniest fraction of her beauty, confines herself to her bed and covers herself up with a veil, so that no one can glimpse her, not even her devastated husband. The queen also orders a portait to be painted, depicting her at the apex of her glory and, as her dying wish, extracts a promise from her husband that he would not marry again unless his new wife was no less beautiful than herself. The king, as they do, goes mad with grief after the queen's death and, on Lissar's 17th birthday, announces his plan to marry his daughter, for she looks so much like her mother.

I knew this book was about rape, incestuous rape at that, going in and I thought this aspect of the story was handled with great understanding and sensitivity. The way McKinley deals with blaming the victim syndrome (what has she done to this wonderful glorious man to make him behave like this? she must be evil and amoral, she must have asked for this and enticed him with her wiles... it is astonishing and disheartening how prevalent this thinking still is in real life, how ready we are to blame victims of sexual assault for what happens to them) and the devastating impact the rape has on her feels genuine and heart-breaking.

So why three stars? Well, I'm just going to put it out there (although I do feel like there must be something wrong with me for not liking the book more) I found this story pretty dull. I don't know if it was because I knew exactly what was going to happen from the very start (but what did I expect, this is a fairy tale retelling?) or if it was the deliberately languid quality of the prose in which McKinley chooses to tell her tale that didn't quite work for me. It also didn't help that I found Lissar to be a complete blank. She is like a bud that is stamped out before it really gets a chance to bloom, before she really finds herself as a person and after, it is all about coping and survival and pushing out the horrific memories and avoiding being herself. And I know that this is exactly how it would be, that it couldn't really be anything else, but it was dull for me to read about a person who is simply pulled like a puppet on a string without any rhyme or reason throughout most of the book.

I wanted Lissar to take control of her life and choose to do something because that is what she wants to do, because she is ready for it and for me, that never really happened, though other readers may disagree with me on this. Even the final resolution, when Lissar finally faces her father again, seemed baffling to me because, again, she seems to be simply pulled into it by the mysterious magical force that has been guiding her steps ever since she left her home, and it is not something that she consiously chooses to do. Also the imagery of the climax was pretty disturbing with Lissar seemingly re-living her rape in order to condemn her father. While this is probably inevitable in this context, it also left me feeling perturbed. Yes, I realise that this is the reality of every rape case, that in order to bring to justice the perpetrator, every rape victim has to re-live their ordeal in front of the police, relatives, lawyers, jury (that is, after all, why so many choose not to report). I just wish there was another way.

Reviewed for THC Reviews
Deerskin is a retelling of the centuries-old fairy tale by Charles Perrault titled Donkeyskin. It tells the story of the Princess Lissla Lissar, who, despite living in a grand castle, was raised in a rather solitary existence by her nursemaid and rarely participated at court. The nursemaid fed Lissar a steady diet of stories about how her parents met and the fabled great love they shared. Lissar also frequently heard about how her mother was known as the most beautiful woman in the seven kingdoms. But then her mother became ill with a mysterious disease that was rumored to have robbed her of her loveliness, and before her death, she made the unusual request that her husband, the king, not remarry anyone who was not her equal in beauty. Following her death, the king fell into depression and a form of madness, and two years later, when Lissar turned seventeen, the kingdom threw a ball for her birthday. During the festivities, the king announced that he’d found a new bride and it was none other than his own daughter. Horrified, Lissar locked herself in her tower room, but her father managed to break in anyway and brutally beat and raped her for her insolence. Afterward, feeling dead inside, Lissar fled the castle with no one but her beloved fleethound, Ash, a gift from the prince of a neighboring kingdom when her mother had died, as a companion. The pair spend the winter in a tiny cabin in the mountains, where Lissar begins her long road to healing.

The focus of the book is on Lissar, the ways in which she’s been broken, and her journey back to a sense of self. Not only is she dealing with the physical and emotional effects of the assault, but she also deals with a sense of never quite measuring up to her impossibly beautiful mother. She deliberately tries to forget everything that happened, because to think of it sends her into a panic, and eventually she appears to suffer from a kind of traumatic amnesia. After several months at the cabin, she’s visited by the mystical Moonwoman, who tells her that she’s giving Lissar the gift of time, which I believe is a metaphor for the adage, “Time heals all wounds.” Lissar awakens from this strange dream, dressed in a lovely white deerskin dress that never gets dirty, and Lissar’s and Ash’s appearances have changed. Together with Ash, and with the prompting of the Moonwoman’s spirit, she finally ventures forth, back to civilization, ending up in the yellow city, a kingdom that is ruled by the parents of the prince who gave her Ash. There she meets Prince Ossin, who offers her the job of helping him care for a litter of orphaned Fleethound puppies, and a friendship – and later love – begins to blossom between them. But there are still holes in Lissar’s memories, and when they finally do return, she once again flees, leaving their future in question.

Lissar is a strong, wonderful character who’s emotional fortitude carries her through what was basically a lifetime of abuse and neglect. Long before being raped by her own father, she was generally ignored by her parents who spent more time nursing their own vanities and basking in the blind adulation of their people to care much about their only child. Lissar wasn’t even allowed friends, growing up alone with no one but her old nursemaid for company until she received Ash. Then her beloved dog became her best friend. Despite all of this, Lissar never lost her innate sweetness and kindness. She always preferred a simpler life, choosing to live in a small tower room when she was given a massive, richly ornamented royal suite. She also trained with a local herbalist to learn about plants, so that she could tend the small garden outside her room. When she flees the castle following her father’s betrayal, she initially does so in a mental and emotional haze, allowing Ash to show her the way. But once ensconced in her little cabin in the woods, she learns to do things she never thought possible, coming to rely entirely on herself. By the time she meets Prince Ossin, there’s nothing left of the pampered princess she once was, and that never changes even after she falls in love with him.

As royalty goes, Ossin is a bit of an odd duck. He much prefers spending time with his numerous dogs than being in the throne room or attending to the trappings of his station. In fact, his whole family are quite kind and open-minded. They make themselves available every day, allowing all the people of their kingdom to petition them for any need they might have. They also allow commoners to attend their balls if they so choose. I found it refreshing that Ossin isn’t depicted as the impossibly handsome prince, but instead is somewhat plain of face and a bit pudgy around the middle. Yet, he harbors a kind, compassionate heart that always sees Lissar for who she truly is. That alone makes him a beautiful soul even if the outer packaging isn’t what one typically expects from a fairy-tale prince.

Overall, Deerskin is a very unique book, quite unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It certainly has that fairy-tale quality to it, both in the story itself and the story-telling style. The pace of the story is rather languid, yet didn’t feel cumbersome or weighted down with unnecessary detail. Instead, the prose flows in a beautiful, poetic sort of way that was different but appealing. It’s told in a more omniscient POV rather than deep character POV, which in other books hasn’t worked well for me, but here I thought it fit nicely and was very well-done, adding to the fairy-tale feel. I related extremely well to the character of Lissar and her journey to wholeness and healing, while Ossin was a kind and admirable young man who was easy to fall for. I liked how Lissar goes from the opulence of her own kingdom to the more easy-going atmosphere of Ossin’s kingdom, which shows that material things aren’t what’s important in life. In fact, the people of Lissar’s former kingdom were quite frustrating in their blind willingness to overlook their king’s horrific proposal to marry his own daughter, instead finding a way to blame Lissar, which is an all-too real phenomena in this otherwise fantastical tale. The final chapter depicting Lissar’s confrontation with her father and eventual realization that Ossin loves her the way she is, brokenness and all, was utterly beautiful. Deerskin was quite simply an all-around lovely story that has earned a spot on my keeper shelf for its unique qualities, as well as its appealing characters and storyline. It was my first read by Robin McKinley but makes me look forward to checking out her other work.

Note: Some websites have this book listed as YA, possibly because of Lissar’s age and the author having written Middle Grade and YA books. I personally think it’s more adult in nature despite the fairy tale theme, and because of the subject matter involving incestuous rape – even though it’s handled pretty delicately – I can only recommend it for mature teens of about sixteen and up who wouldn’t be traumatized by it. Also, I believe the more advanced and nuanced style of writing might be lost on younger audiences.

A fairy tale in only the technical term, Deerskin takes place in a nameless land within the "seven kingdoms", where a young princess is known for nothing but being the daughter of the best king and most beautiful queen ever. She grows up hearing the story of her mother's courting, the accomplishments of her father and other such things that have instantly become legend in their lifetimes. When the queen falls ill and dies, a few people turn their attention to the princess, now of age to marry, and realize that she will become the most beautiful woman in seven kingdoms, as her mother was before. This is brought to the attention of a crazed and grieving king, who is driven to the unthinkable. Together with her dog, Ash, Princess Lissar flees her castle with little to no memory of who she is, why she is running and what has happened to her.


Ok, WOW. Now, I have read a few of McKinley's novels, including The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, so I'm not unfamiliar with McKinley's solid yet visceral imagery. But there was something very, very remarkable about this book, something that I can't rightly explain, something you have to read for yourself.

In the beginning I was actually a little put off by the way it was written, in a very non-specific fairy tale type way, "once upon a time" and all that, where no one had a name. But it was only for about two chapters that it was like this. As soon as Lissar was acknowledged as a person by someone, and not just a thing to get underfoot, that she was given a name. This is done when a foreign prince hears of her mother's death and, instead of sending some lavish mourning gift to her father, sends a small, white puppy to Lissar.

For the first part of the book (during Lissar's "first life"), she struggles with her identity, finding herself uncomfortable with courtly life. There are a few moments within these two years that McKinley really strives to make the reader understand that Lissar's character is molded because of her circumstances, rather than in spite of them. She is a humble, shy, curious girl who would rather garden and play with her dog than spend money or order others around. It was her parents' neglect and her nursemaid's stories of her amazing parents that led to to believe she was no more important than a servant in her own castle. There is very little within her that really feels like a princess, and this is a very important aspect of her personality.

As soon as it stops reading like another fairy story (although her kingdom, and indeed any of the others, get named), the description becomes abundant, even excessive. This story has what I guess I would call flowery language, whereas my creative writing teacher would call it "dead wood". There is a bit of repetition, but I honestly got into that. It was the power of the emotion that was felt, the intensity of the things going on, that made it bear repeating. The restating of a bit of information in a different way made the scene more powerful, rather than taking away from it.

That having been said, I have to say this. I have never found myself actually horrified while reading before. There are plenty of times my heart has broken, I have cried, or felt very depressed because of what I was reading, but I have never felt absolutely, gut-wrenchingly horrified. There was a point where I felt slightly sick, reading what had happened to Lissar. That's the awe that this book inspires.

There are also a few messages of woman empowerment and the worship of beauty. Beauty, as you find out, was the ruin of both queen and princess of the kingdom. The queen loved her own face so well that when she fell ill, it wasn't the sickness that really killed her. It was her own vanity - she lost a bit of her beauty in being sick and didn't want to live anymore. Likewise, the princess growing into such beauty drove her father crazy and resulted in the act that would haunt her "new" life. It is actually in a new land, with an entirely different set of priorities, that Lissar finds comfort and her own identity.

This is a character driven fantasy dream story. The goal is not to create a concrete world but to engage yourself in Lissar's life, her struggles, and, eventually, her triumph. (Believe me, it comes, you have to stick with it... the first half of the book I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it through, her life seemed so dismal.) And in this, McKinley has truly succeeded. This is a book that I won't be able to forget for a while.

Estuvo bien. Partes muy buenas con otras algo más repetitivas.Leí de niña la versión dulce del cuento,este es muy diferente.

This is one of my all-time favorite books. McKinley's writing is amazing, dreamlike, gut-wrenching & heartwarming and this book is not for everyone. It has a very dark tone & the first few chapters are very painful to read. Your heart will be ripped to pieces several times before the book ends. BUT despite all of this I found it to be a very uplifting story of triumph & love.

Deerskin is the story of Princess Lissar, who at first glance appears to live a charmed life. Actually, once we dig a little deeper we realize Lissar is very alone & isolated in her world. Her parents don't seem to remember she exists, she has no friends. The turning point begins when her mother dies and she receives a puppy as a gift of condolence from Prince Ossin whom she names Ash. Her Dad, crazy with grief over the loss of his Queen, turns into a nutcase and completely forgets he has daughter for several years. During this time Lissar & Ash grow up together & become bonded closer than any two beings can be. Then one day her dad remembers he has a daughter & decides it is time for her to marry & start producing an heir. Once he takes a good look at Lissar he notices how beautiful she has become & how much she resembles her mother. I don't want to give anything else away but this is the beginning of Lissar's transformation into the mystical creature Deerskin and the brutal end of her life as she knows it.

Despite the dreary beginning, this story is ultimately a positive one and especially recommended for dog/animal lovers. The scenes with the puppy rearing, Lissar's eventual opening up to Prince Ossin & the magical, mystical qualities of the story make this a must read. Lissar is a heroine to admire & Prince Ossin is a ray of light in a world filled with selfish, spoiled and revolting men. Lissar's dog Ash is the glue that holds her together through good times and bad.

So, if you're up for an emotional read that is well worth the pain put a day aside to read this one, just make sure you have a box of Kleenex handy. You're guaranteed to cry tears of pain & of joy. This one unquestionably gets 5 out of 5 stars.

n  

n    With the knowledge of her aloneness came a rush of self-declaration: I will not be nothing.n  

n I have read this story a few times over the years. Doing another re-read I thought it was time I do a review.

Although this is a gorgeous story, it contains VERY difficult subjects like rape and incest. Do not go into it lightly. Like many original fairytales, this book has very DARK and DISTURBING elements. This story is set in the same world as The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown also by Robin McKinley.

There is magic in healing old wounds and this story weaves its tale in a dreamlike fashion. It reads like a long poem, over time the words become more clear and the flow starts to make sense. It’s certainly not for everyone, but I loved the journey Lissar goes through to heal her soul.

This book also has dogs, puppies, a hero, and a hea so it’s not all dark. This story made me feel all the emotions.

I would give this a 3.5, but I probably wouldn't go any higher. There were gems, but it needed some serious editing. Serious. Editing.