Adding my voice
to the chorus of reviews, all i can say is "Me
Too -- What They Said".
But i can say it a little more elaborately
than that.
Robin McKinley burst on the scene with "Beauty", a wonderful
retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" -
from Beauty's standpoint.
And then she gave us "The Blue Sword" -- even
better, even stronger, even more compelling.
In a world that is not quite our own,
orphaned Harry is heading out into the wilds
of what is almost India to live with a
senior officer and his wife on an outpost fort
where her brother is also assigned -- a fort
on the border with the mysterious (and some
say magical) realm of Damar.
The opening chapters begin as a light-hearted
tribute to the Regency romances of Georgette
Heyer, but odd and dark elements begin to make
themselves felt...
Until Harry is kidnapped by the King of Damar,
acting on the prompting of the second sight
that is the mark of his family line.
Travelling among her captors to the capital
city of Damar, Harry finds that she seems to
fit in with them, that she has odd experiences
that her stout Homelander skepticism cannot
explain.
And once home in Damar, The King sets one of
his household men to train Harry to be a
horse-back warrior in the way of their people,
because his second sight and that visions that
she has had since her abduction tell him that
she must take a vital part in a coming war
against an army of half-human changelings and
demons that is poised to invade his realm.
Swashbuckling adventure in the grand manner,
but often just a bit tongue-in-cheek, a
wonderful read, a book to come back to again
and again.
I recommend buying the library edition -- it's
only a little more expensive, and it will
stand up to the multiple re-readings you'll
probably give it better than the paperback
will. |
