Perfect Short Stories!!!!

Usually short stories are too short for me without enough character development to understand why they’re doing what they’re doing. These are just long enough to let you get to know the characters, their flaws, motivations, expectations, etc. while still being short enough to retain some mystery and leave a few openings for the reader to fill in. ❤️❤️❤️

I see the word 'quiet' a lot with reviews of this short story collection, and certainly that is an accurate word. The plots of these stories are often muted, the characters quietly rebelling against expectations.

In "Healer," the protagonist Lily is literally quiet in that she is born mute and has never uttered a word. Yet she rebels against expectations by becoming a successful healer in her village. When she meets a former mage, both are changed.

In "The Stagman," the princess Ruen's voice and freedom is quieted by her uncle when her parents die, and then her choice is taken away by a mage she thought would help her. But again there is a quiet rebellion that occurs, though only after many decades of acquiescence.

"Touk's House" combines many fairy tales. When a father steals an herb from a witch's garden to save one of his daughters, he promises to give his pregnant wife's child to the witch to raise. But unlike Rapunzel, the witch is not cruel, and she raises her child, Eranu, like she would her own, along with her son a half-troll. Both the troll and Eranu are quieted by the way society treats them--the troll as a monster, Eranu as a poor woman incapable of choice.

"Buttercups" also contains fairy tale elements with a fae-flowered field on an otherwise productive farm. When a farmer marries a younger woman, at first they live a happy, productive life together, until the secrets they're hiding from one another threaten their relationship. This story illustrates the power and need of speech in relationships, of not letting the unspoken things come between love.

In "A Knot in the Grain," the final story, 16-year-old Annabelle is forced to move to a new town and home, leaving behind her friends and boyfriend. She's silenced in that she's too young to make decisions in the family, but she's also silenced by her shyness and her unwillingness to make others unhappy. But she finds agency in an unexpected place when she discovers a secret room in her new home. This may be my favorite of the stories.

The title "A Knot in the Grain" speaks for all the stories--the grain is smooth until the knot appears--a choice made, a quiet rebellion.

I thought I had read this before, but two of the stories were completely unfamiliar to me. We do meet Luthe, who is a character in some other books by McKinley. These stories are reminiscent of her early writing and are an addictive read. I haven't been as fond of her later books, which seem to be influenced by her husband's style of writing. Each story stands on its own and each is excellent.

This book was pure magic. Stories from the land of Blue Sword and Hero and the Crown, but then the last one, the modern story of a teen girl forced to move to a small town… that one captured my heart even more than the rest and reminded me why I read fairy tales.

I think the short stories started out really strong (my favorite was the first) and then tapered off towards the end. But I love McKinley's writing style, and found the stories enjoyable. I'm glad I read this. Not as good as The Blue Sword or Beauty, but interesting and fun to read. It's unique, and I would recommend it.

I loved this so much. It made my heart feel whole. Sometimes books can do that. After all of the excitement and explosions of the Finder series ( which I also adored) the quietness and slowness of these stories was really appealing.

The heroines in these stories aren’t necessarily creatures of derring-do. Their attitudes tend to calm, placidness and passivity more than anything else. In terms of action, they reminded me of Elinore the Younger, the protagonist of Laurell K. Hamilton’s short story “Can He Bake a Cherry Pie?”. Their talents lie mainly among housewifely duties and abilities associated with the distaff sex, such as mending, tending gardens, milking cattle and dispensing herbal remedies.

A few of the heroines are very meek. The queen-in-waiting Ruen has been led to believe she doesn’t have a mind of her own and has been discouraged from asking questions. It’s no wonder that she makes a rather tepid queen and disappears from the narrative. In short, this is not the anthology for people who prefer more vigorous heroines, the sort who wield swords, slay demons, trade quips with the infuriating hero or sport back tattoos. But if you like women who possess strong backs and quiet strength, this collection is worth a look.

Satisfying stories, except for the last that gives the collection its title. For that I wanted more, and for the heroine not to turn away from the knot in the grain.

Honestly, very disappointed by this collection of short stories, which I had to request from my library and wait patiently nearly a year to read. McKinley leans in hard to her favorite tropes here - young women in relationships with older men, the simple pleasures of a quiet country life, mysterious magic with unexplainable rules - and while it's not all bad, there's no hand of restraint keeping them in check as in her better works. Worse, the stories themselves are dull, most lacking any real tension at all, and the messages they teach (and a fairy story should teach a lesson, of course) are downright troubling at times. "The Healer" seems to suggest that rather than learning to accept one's strengths, weaknesses, and differences and those of one's loved ones, you need to be "healed" of your disabilities in order to be ready for a healthy relationship.It also suggests that people have no responsibility to use the gifts and talents they have to help others. "The Stagman" on the other hand, if it can be viewed as anything other than a retelling of random events, implies that if you happen to be born royal, it's your responsibility to get a crown put on your head and pop out babies that can wear that crown after you - actual ruling doesn't seem to matter much - but once those babies are old enough, it's chill if you up and abandon your spouse, children, and all responsibilities with no warning. Also, it's fine to kidnap and injure people as long it's for the greater good. Also, I just hate Luthe. I had forgotten how much I hated him, but oh boy did this collection remind me.

The titular story wasn't exactly problematic, but it was SO DULL, and the protagonist so unbelievably boring, drifting in her masses of self-pity and upper middle class privilege. It was utterly impossible to sympathize with her. Oh no, your perfectly nice and thoughtful boyfriend that you're just not into keeps sending you letters saying he misses you because you didn't have the courage to make a clean break before you moved, even knowing you'd never have to see him again? How awful for you.

The only half-decent story in the bunch is Buttercups, and even that I didn't love, especially as it relies far too more on unknowable magic that has maybe two or three known rules, all of which it will break by the end of the story. Still, it brings the whole collection up an entire star for me.

For the McKinley completionists only, or for anyone who actually like Luthe.

Four of these five stories are set in a fantasy world: mages (magicians), mythical creatures, and enchantments make up the plots and characters. Each is sweet and simple, a low rising action with a satisfying denouement. The first three (“The Healer,” “The Stagman,” and “Touk’s House”) weave parallel tales. Each features a young lady, orphaned or otherwise estranged from her parents, a mentor figure who guides her toward maturity, the coming of age of the girl, a journey away from home, and the young lady’s eventual match. All were nice stories; none of them gripped me. The fourth, “Buttercups,” offered a richer story exploring honesty and marriage and greed and prosperity. The fifth and final story, though, seemed out of place and yet crowned the other four. Set in contemporary America, without mythical beasts or magic spells, “A Knot in the Grain” is a love song to the fantasy genre while being a superb sample of the short story genre. It would be enough to borrow this book from the library and simply read this title story.

I love Robin McKinley. I just really don't like them short stories, I can't help it! I get to the end of one and think one of three things. Either, "Hey, where's the end of my story?!" or "Hey, was there a story?" OR "Ewww. I need to take a mental shower." I just want to read a full story that has a beginning, middle, and end, and isn't all gross. I hardly think that's a lot to ask. However, all that being said, these short stories were more enjoyable to me than many I've read. (Note to self: Why do I keep reading short stories when I don't care for them?)

While each of the stories was kinda neat in its own way, only 1 of the 5 felt like a complete story. The other four were all vague, snippets of story, without a proper ending. 2 of the stories tied together via a common character. They all left me feeling like I wanted to know more, I wanted more completeness out of them.