I've had this book in my pile for a while, as part of my resolution to read *everything* Robin McKinley has ever written. I loved this story. Quite dark and almost disturbing - in a haunting way. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

How did I not know there was a delightful short illustrated story about Damar?

It's amazing. Captured me from the start and I couldn't put it down.

This struck me as very melancholy and I'm not sure why. The drawings make it seem like a children's picture book, but the content is more like a young-adult selection, especially when you read between the lines.

And other than some strange names for animals, I did not get any sense at all that this was set in Damar which was a bit disappointing.

Extreme Book Nerd Challenge 2021 - Category #31
Challenge Topic: Published in the 1900's

This was a short story about Maddy, a sheep herder. She loves to take the sheep out and travel the hills around her home and she has no worries about the stories of the Fey that she has heard. One day a lamb is lost and in her search she comes face to face with a Stone Fey.

The story was an interesting little love story and human love and what the Fey can do to disrupt that. I loved the descriptions the author gave and the art work was very well done.

Well, this is an odd little book, a picture book for adults, I guess I would say.

It's set in Damar, for that reason it made me happy, but it doesn't really connect to any of the other Damarian stories. It's just a little vignette, set alone by itself, a little sweet, a little sour, something you can comfortably read in 10 minutes or less.

I didn't really love it, I'll pass it on to someone else to read, but one thing I wondered while I was reading it is why do all of Robin McKinley's characters have a woman with two lovers? The steady one that she has known for forever and loved for forever who she will end up spending her life with, and the fling, the mysterious, magical one. Amazingly enough, both men seem perfectly content with their roles even though they know about, or at least suspect, the other.

I don't feel like this is very realistic.

Nice story. Kind of slow though.

First off, this book is a picture book for teens (which I applaude!) The watercolor paintings and sketches are really engulfing and nearly got this story up to a three star!

That said the actual story is fairly blah. Somewhat typical girl meets strange elf guy, and falls in love with him, even though she's already pretty much betrothed to a guy she choose, and already has plans to start a life together with him, has their farm planned out and everything.

I really dislike books that make me feel girls are stupid. Being a girl, it's kind of an affront, and the way the elf guy treats her, only begs the question "What are you doing, girl?"

In the end, she does make a good decision, though how she treats her betrothed really isn't fair to him. If you have a teenager you like, don't give them this book, it really isn't fair to their intelligence.

Oof

I didn't realize this was a short story. Well done for what it is, but some parts of it are a little vague.

Robin McKinley's fans will want to read this, if for no other than reason than to have read as much of her writing as possible. This short tale was okay but not spectacular -- and we know that McKinley's best works truly do rise to the level of spectacular. "The Stone Fey" is set in Damar, but that's largely irrelevant. Don't read this expecting to reconnect with the beloved worlds of The Blue Sword or Hero & The Crown.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I don't think this was it. Set in Damar from Blue Sword and Hero and the Crown, it seems to take place in time between the two. There are some small references that an avid McKinley fan would see, but there really isn't any connection beyond that. Unfortunately the story seems to lack in some details which makes the story confusing in some regards and leaves you wanting more. I still enjoyed it though.