I agree with Beverly that although McKinley has grown as an author, there was a certain lightheartedness about the earlier books.

Door in the Hedge had one story that annoyed me; but that was because I didn't agree with the character's decision to turn her back on the magic after she'd accomplished her deed. (Hope that's vague enough to be non-spoily) Me, I would have been rummaging madly through the secret room and being all verklempt over the opportunity.

Betsy - I finished China Court. Thanks for the recommendation! I enjoyed it very much, although one incident at the end pretty much hocked a loogey into the fine Waterford crystal of the story. I'm still angry about it and muttering about just what I would have done.

A lot of people dislike Tehanu--I have to confess here I haven't read it--because they find it a little too polemically feminist

I will spare everyone my knee-jerk rant on this topic, and merely note that including women does not automagically make a book feminist. (Not directed at you, of course, Katie.)

Hey, I'm so excited! I just bought used versions of "The Door in the Hedge" and "A Knot in the Grain" from Amazon!

Why didn't I try that a year ago?

Katerina Bee, what got up your nose? The arranged marriage?

And did you notice who fathered Ripsie's firstborn?

[edited to correct spoiler question]

You know, I've never been all that into LeGuin. I think her non-fiction is fantastic, but for some reason, her fiction leaves me utterly cold.

And I love, love, love the first Beauty. I feel like I should appreciate the second one more (more mature, more insightful, blah, blah, blah) but I just love the first one so much more.

Me too. Might be a question of reading the first one at an impressionable age, but I love it. The second one...I found less accessible. I need to reread it.

I also really like Spindle's End, although I seem to remember that there are some around here who don't. It's a nicely formed world, and I like the characters.

The end of The Hero and the Crown bugs me enough that I prefer The Blue Sword, although once I started writing myself and reading other people's writing critically, there are some bits that come across as stilted to me. But I love Harry.

I have A Door in the Hedge around here somewhere...

Oh, I LOVE A Knot in the Grain. There's one story in that collection--"Buttercups"? I think? That is just redolent of pastoral land-magic.

Shameful confession: I've never read LeGuin. I started A Wizard of Earthsea and it didn't grab me. I wandered away and was never compelled to pick her up again. Over time I think I conflated her with MZ Bradley (gag).

Anyone read The Heaven Tree trilogy by Edith Pargeter, AKA Ellis Peters? I love the Cadfaels and Peters' standalone mysteries, but THT is daunting in sheer size.

(edited for errant apostraphe)

The end of The Hero and the Crown bugs me enough that I prefer The Blue Sword, although once I started writing myself and reading other people's writing critically, there are some bits that come across as stilted to me. But I love Harry

Me, too. I don't understand why Aerin and Luthe fell in love; I was kind of rooting for Tor. And the magic was not explained well; it's like "it's magic! So, believe!" and I have a problem with that now.

The first three Earthsea books are A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore, written fairly close together, and the last three are Tehanu, Tales of Earthsea, (short stories), and The Other Wind, written about twenty years later. And I do find Tehanu polemically feminist in a problematic way, despite being a feminist myself and liking many polemical books, because there's a significant change in register and approach between it and the earlier books. Tales of Earthsea and The Other Wind do a better job of integrating Le Guin's reconceived gender politics with the worldbuilding she'd already done, imho.

Most of Le Guin's fiction struck me as admirable but cold for a long time (though I've always been fond of The Lathe of Heaven), but something finally clicked for me a few years ago.

Robin McKinley is going to be one of the guests of honor at next year's Wiscon, btw.