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Short stories by one of my favorite authors. Yay! I didn’t read the last one because I’m working on a re-telling of the same fairy tale and I knew it would Influence me.
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The Door in the Hedge
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Master storyteller Robin McKinley here spins two new fairy tales and retells two cherished classics. All feature princesses touched with or by magic. There is Linadel, who lives in a kingdom next to Faerieland, where princesses are stolen away on their seventeenth birthdays-and Linadel's seventeenth birthday is tomorrow. And Korah, whose brother is bewitched by the magical Golden Hind; now it is up to her to break the spell. Rana must turn to a talking frog to help save her kingdom from the evil Aliyander. And then there are the twelve princesses, enspelled to dance through the soles of their shoes every night. . . . These are tales to read with delight!
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,1981
This edition
- Format
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216 pages, Paperback
- Published
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October 13, 2003 by Firebird
- ISBN
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9780698119604
- ASIN
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0698119606
- Language
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English
Characters More characters
About the author
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Born in her mother's hometown of Warren, Ohio, Robin McKinley grew up an only child with a father in the United States Navy. She moved around frequently as a child and read copiously; she credits this background with the inspiration for her stories.
Her passion for reading was one of the most constant things in her childhood, so she began to remember events, places, and time periods by what books she read where. For example, she read Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book for the first time in California; The Chronicles of Narnia for the first time in New York; The Lord of the Rings for the first time in Japan; The Once and Future King for the first time in Maine. She still uses books to keep track of her life.
McKinley attended Gould Academy, a preparatory school in Bethel, Maine, and Dickinson College in 1970-1972. In 1975, she was graduated summa cum laude from Bowdoin College. In 1978, her first novel, Beauty, was accepted by the first publisher she sent it to, and she began her writing career, at age 26. At the time she was living in Brunswick, Maine. Since then she has lived in Boston, on a horse farm in Eastern Massachusetts, in New York City, in Blue Hill, Maine, and now in Hampshire, England, with her husband Peter Dickinson (also a writer, and with whom she co-wrote Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits in 2001) and two lurchers (crossbred sighthounds).
Over the years she has worked as an editor and transcriber (1972-73), research assistant (1976-77), bookstore clerk (1978), teacher and counselor (1978-79), editorial assistant (1979-81), barn manager (1981-82), free-lance editor (1982-85), and full-time writer. Other than writing and reading books, she divides her time mainly between walking her "hellhounds," gardening, cooking, playing the piano, homeopathy, change ringing, and keeping her blog.
Her passion for reading was one of the most constant things in her childhood, so she began to remember events, places, and time periods by what books she read where. For example, she read Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book for the first time in California; The Chronicles of Narnia for the first time in New York; The Lord of the Rings for the first time in Japan; The Once and Future King for the first time in Maine. She still uses books to keep track of her life.
McKinley attended Gould Academy, a preparatory school in Bethel, Maine, and Dickinson College in 1970-1972. In 1975, she was graduated summa cum laude from Bowdoin College. In 1978, her first novel, Beauty, was accepted by the first publisher she sent it to, and she began her writing career, at age 26. At the time she was living in Brunswick, Maine. Since then she has lived in Boston, on a horse farm in Eastern Massachusetts, in New York City, in Blue Hill, Maine, and now in Hampshire, England, with her husband Peter Dickinson (also a writer, and with whom she co-wrote Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits in 2001) and two lurchers (crossbred sighthounds).
Over the years she has worked as an editor and transcriber (1972-73), research assistant (1976-77), bookstore clerk (1978), teacher and counselor (1978-79), editorial assistant (1979-81), barn manager (1981-82), free-lance editor (1982-85), and full-time writer. Other than writing and reading books, she divides her time mainly between walking her "hellhounds," gardening, cooking, playing the piano, homeopathy, change ringing, and keeping her blog.
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Community Reviews
Rating(3.8 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
19(19%)
4 stars
44(44%)
3 stars
37(37%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
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This is probably one of my new favorite Robin McKinley books ever. The only thing I can think to describe it as is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous as a collection.
The first story (The Stolen Princess) was unique and classic with faeries and magic. Robin McKinley tells stories with such a wonderful quality that I couldn't but be entranced and in love with the essence of the story itself. The characters were simple, as was the setting and nothing distracted from the loveliness of the story.
The second story (The Princess and the Frog) made me smile. I've always wanted to rewrite this one myself, and I loved the way McKinley did it. Yet, this usually light-hearted story about a somewhat selfish princess (you have to admit it) suddenly turned into a dark and penetrating story that left me squirming even through my smiles. The villain-- in the 20 pages that I saw him-- was truly frightening, and once again I loved the simpleness and tradition of this story also.
The third story (The Hunting of the Hind) could've very well have been my favorite. This one had the particularly strong female character that I always admire, and this one spoke deeply of the power of love (as cheesey as that sounds). It was saddening and powerful, but of course happy at the end. :)
The forth story (The Twelve Dancing Princesses) was probably the most entrancing and mysterious for me. This one my emotions were confused along with the main characters (the old soldier), and I almost fell in love with that cursed world the Princesses were condemned to. I loved the different perspective this story was told from.
Overall, this book was truly remarkable. If you're a fan of Robin McKinley or even just beautiful fairy tales that we don't see enough today, read this book!
The first story (The Stolen Princess) was unique and classic with faeries and magic. Robin McKinley tells stories with such a wonderful quality that I couldn't but be entranced and in love with the essence of the story itself. The characters were simple, as was the setting and nothing distracted from the loveliness of the story.
The second story (The Princess and the Frog) made me smile. I've always wanted to rewrite this one myself, and I loved the way McKinley did it. Yet, this usually light-hearted story about a somewhat selfish princess (you have to admit it) suddenly turned into a dark and penetrating story that left me squirming even through my smiles. The villain-- in the 20 pages that I saw him-- was truly frightening, and once again I loved the simpleness and tradition of this story also.
The third story (The Hunting of the Hind) could've very well have been my favorite. This one had the particularly strong female character that I always admire, and this one spoke deeply of the power of love (as cheesey as that sounds). It was saddening and powerful, but of course happy at the end. :)
The forth story (The Twelve Dancing Princesses) was probably the most entrancing and mysterious for me. This one my emotions were confused along with the main characters (the old soldier), and I almost fell in love with that cursed world the Princesses were condemned to. I loved the different perspective this story was told from.
Overall, this book was truly remarkable. If you're a fan of Robin McKinley or even just beautiful fairy tales that we don't see enough today, read this book!
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It's been a long time since I've read a Robin McKinley book, but reading this one reminded me that McKinley is an absolute master of fairy tale retellings. I was tempted to give it five stars, but the relative weakness of the title story stopped me. The book contains four stories -- retellings of "The Princess and the Frog" and "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and two new stories. The best, I thought, were the familiar tales. And "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" was perfection. The language was lush and rich. The soldier was believable and sympathetic. I finished reading it with a satisfied sigh.
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Gave up a dozen pages into the second story.
Unfortunately these novellas were nothing like McKinley’s Rose Daughter, which I really liked. Maybe she learned her craft on them. Maybe ... who knows?
Too much telling, too little empathy. Not so much bad as not engaging.
Don't waste your time.
Unfortunately these novellas were nothing like McKinley’s Rose Daughter, which I really liked. Maybe she learned her craft on them. Maybe ... who knows?
Too much telling, too little empathy. Not so much bad as not engaging.
Don't waste your time.
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I’ve read this so many times and every time I read it I love it. Elements of horror, melancholia and madness mixed in with fairy tales. Written in such a lovely way.
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I did not know that this was several separate retellings of fairy tales.
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This book includes four short stories:
_The Stolen princess;(2,5 stars)
_The Princess and the Frog (2 stars, the story was just too short!)
_The Hunting of the Hind (3 stars..)
_The Twelve Dancing Princesses (3,5 stars)
Okay i'll admit that a three star rating for Robin Mckinley writing is absurd. She's one of the great ones able to transport me to magical worlds, with her beautiful smooth writing.
I guess these short stories are told in the classical/traditional fairy tale way, and after having read so many fairy tales retellings i can't help comparing this one, with other tales i've read...namely Wildwood Dancing. A retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses"/ "Princess and the Frog" fairy tales. Which i guess is unfair...
For those who like "classical" fairy tales (with love at first sight..no character development, and things like that) i think you'll enjoy this quite a lot. For others who have been "spoiled" by a certain modernization that has re-written today retellings of fairy tales, this will probably rank a little lower....despite the beautiful writing.
_The Stolen princess;(2,5 stars)
_The Princess and the Frog (2 stars, the story was just too short!)
_The Hunting of the Hind (3 stars..)
_The Twelve Dancing Princesses (3,5 stars)
Okay i'll admit that a three star rating for Robin Mckinley writing is absurd. She's one of the great ones able to transport me to magical worlds, with her beautiful smooth writing.
I guess these short stories are told in the classical/traditional fairy tale way, and after having read so many fairy tales retellings i can't help comparing this one, with other tales i've read...namely Wildwood Dancing. A retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses"/ "Princess and the Frog" fairy tales. Which i guess is unfair...
For those who like "classical" fairy tales (with love at first sight..no character development, and things like that) i think you'll enjoy this quite a lot. For others who have been "spoiled" by a certain modernization that has re-written today retellings of fairy tales, this will probably rank a little lower....despite the beautiful writing.
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I really enjoy reading this, though I can't say there's much that's objectively good about these stories. They're poorly paced and a little senseless, and sometimes even stupid. Bad guys are defeated too easily and quickly and all of the endings feel anti-climatic. Each story could be summed up as "this girl was really hot and beautiful, and she looked at this guy, who was also hot and beautiful, and the evil went up in smoke, and then there was a wedding."
However, because it's Robin McKinley, the writing has a really atmospheric old-world quality that you can't really find anywhere else. There's also a glimmer of McKinley's brilliance here (particularly in the depiction of Alora and Gilvan's relationship in the first story) that hints at what makes The Blue Sword and Hero and the Crown so great. And even though the romances were slightly gimmicky, I still enjoyed them for what they were, because I personally like the tropes McKinley plays with in her books. So I'd definitely recommend this to die-hard McKinley fans, especially fans of her older work (if they haven't already read this), but would hesitate to give it to someone who only knows YA fantasy from the last 10-15 years.
However, because it's Robin McKinley, the writing has a really atmospheric old-world quality that you can't really find anywhere else. There's also a glimmer of McKinley's brilliance here (particularly in the depiction of Alora and Gilvan's relationship in the first story) that hints at what makes The Blue Sword and Hero and the Crown so great. And even though the romances were slightly gimmicky, I still enjoyed them for what they were, because I personally like the tropes McKinley plays with in her books. So I'd definitely recommend this to die-hard McKinley fans, especially fans of her older work (if they haven't already read this), but would hesitate to give it to someone who only knows YA fantasy from the last 10-15 years.
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