Collection of short stories.
While I was reading them I had a vague feeling I’ve read this book before. The stories were nice but nothing that really popped enough to stick in my memory. I loved the Damar books and wanted a bit of a revisit but Lethe was the only character to appear and he was great but not what I was hoping for.
Violence, no sex, mild language.

Oh, Robin McKinley, how so awesome?

Hadn’t read this in aeons when it showed up on Kindle Unlimited. Now can’t think why I don’t reread it every year or so, when my belief in magic’s at a lowish ebb and I need reminding that everyday lives can still involve marvels.

Almost four stars. I preferred the first few stories, but I would enjoy reading them all again.

Short stories aren't my thing; I invest too much in the characters, only to have it end too soon. (Plus, they remind me of literature classes.) However, I really like McKinley's other fantasy works, so I picked this up.

It was satisfying and what I expected. Gentle stories of love and relationships, self-growth and learning to understand others. There's sadness but not anguish. I could read an entire story in an evening, and go to bed with the feeling of completeness that the protagonists find at the end.

I really like Robin McKinley; it's a shame I've come to her works largely as an adult, but I like knowing that I've read things recently that I'll be able to introduce to my daughter in a few years. In the last story, teenage Annabelle mentions that her boyfriend never pressures her to have sex as boys are supposed to do, and so I'll save this book until my daughter's 10 and we've had a sex and relationships talk.

Every time I read Robin McKinley I'm delighted all over again like it's the first time--I just like her writing so much.

Delightful


I was so happy to have the opportunity to return to the world of The Blue Sword. Robin McKinley did not disappoint. Always a master story teller.

3.5 stars.

I was worried when I started reading this that one of my favorite authors from my youth would disappoint me with silly fairytales. The verdict? Not my favorite work of hers but not bad. Strong female characters who for the most part got themselves out of situations. Luthe makes a reappearance in some of the tales, and frankly, I think he is creepy.

This book is a short story collection of Middle Grade fantasy stories. I enjoyed Robin McKinley's novels set in Damar ("The Blue Sword" and "The Hero and the Crown") so I bought this book hoping to learn more about Damar. Two of the stories were set in Damar, but you won't know it from any other generic fantasy world if Luthe (a character from the novels) didn't briefly appear in them. We don't learn anything new about him, either.

Most of the stories follow the plot line of: a character has a problem, magic help comes along, the problem is fixed. The heroine generally doesn't have a difficult obstacle to overcome so much as a decision to make.

I felt like needed information was missing in some of the stories. The heroine in "The Stagman" was very passive, and the characters' weren't developed (or their motives really explained). "The Healer" was interesting and had a developed setting and characters, but I felt like too many things were left unresolved at the end. I've never really understood the magic part of "The Knot in the Grain."

"Buttercups" started well, but the conflict resolved too quickly and easily. "Touk's House" was the best written of the five: it had some conflict as well as good setting and character development. And it resolved everything at the end.

There was a minor amount of explicit bad language. There were no sex scenes. Overall, the stories were a mixed bag. Robin McKinley's fans might enjoy reading these stories, but I wouldn't recommend buying the book.

An anthology of five short stories.
Four have a fairytale style, the last is a contemporary fantasy.

I actually liked all the stories. They were well written and interesting. I'm trying to pick a favorite but I just can't. The Stagman ending wasn't my fav yet it was still good. I think I like McKinley's short stories better than I liked her full length books I have read.

"Mages were not to be trusted on a human scale of right and wrong, reason and unreason. Mages were sworn to other things. Jolin understood that they were sworn to- goodness, to rightness; but often that goodness was of a high, far sort that looked very much like misery to the smaller folk who had to live near it." (13)

"But I have known there were important things I was not telling you, and we will make a vow, now, to tell each other everything we know to be important. And... and we will trust our own judgment about importance, for we have had a very hard lesson.... Promise me now, as I promise you, to tell you- tell you as much of everything as I can, and I will look into all the shadows that I can for things that need to be told, and perhaps I will even learn to ask you to help me to look for shadows. And there will be no shame between us about this, about what is important, about what shadows we fear - about those very things we most fear to tell each other." (139)

4 stars from Tadiana: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...