Looking forward to them -- I had read somethings by her, but nothing quite as powerful.
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
I love The Blue Sword, much more than The Hero and the Crown. I admire the latter, but Blue Sword has my heart.
I also love The Outlaws of Sherwood and her retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, Spindle's End.
Oh, I'd forgotten Outlaws--yes, that one's lovely. Spindle's End is a sentimental favorite of mine, too.
Check your profile addy, Dana.
t checks
t sees nothing from Beverly
t weeps
(Sorry, minor distraction. Should be there now)
Nothing to see here. Move along.
There it is!
I love McKinley's early work so much, which is why Dragonhaven was such a disappointment. Unless things change radically, I won't be buying any more of her novels. ::sigh::
Can you go into more details about Dragonhaven, 'Suela? What was so wrong with it? It sounds like you think it was the start of a trend, as opposed to an exception.
I didn't hate Dragonhaven. I thought it was fine, and fairly likeable, but it was no Blue Sword.
Not Suela, but I also really disliked Dragonhaven, and I've loved what I've read of her earlier books. My biggest problem with Dragonhaven was that the protagonist-narrator's voice was incredibly obnoxious and nearly incoherent. He seemed to be halfway to creating his own new slang, or grammar, such that I could barely understand some of the sentences themselves. And I couldn't really figure out why it had to be that way; his way of speaking didn't seem to be germane to the plot or setting or even an interesting facet of his character. I mean, I'm down with innovative uses of language to illuminate something about the story or the characters or the world they inhabit, but that didn't seem to be the case here. It was just... hard to understand, and made the story draaaaaaaag.
I haven't read her latest, Chalice, so I can't speak to whether or not it's a return to form.