First off, I have to thank you wonderful readers for pointing me to Robin McKinley. I never would have stumbled across her work if you hadn’t all been discussing Deerskin while All Fur has been posting to the site. Rest assured, I plan to read Deerskin as soon as I return from Anime Boston this coming weekend. It’s sitting on my desk begging me to dive into it.
“Cannot a Beast be tamed?”
As usual, I love the fact that Beauty is such a strong and courageous female character who has more going on in her life than JUST romance. She has a personality and comes off as very likeable. I found it a fun twist that “Beauty” as she is nicknamed was a very plain looking girl who did not have to be beautiful on the outside to have the beauty on the inside win her the heart of the lead (Beast).
I think the only thing I found that bothered me was the ending. It was a GOOD ending and followed the original tale. However, it seemed to happen all to fast. The story had a lovely pacing and lead up to the climax, but it felt like it was over too soon. I wanted a wedding and a little sweet kissing for the couple! I demand MORE romance!
Also, though I hate to judge a book by it’s cover, it really is the first thing that sells a book to a potential reader. It has to catch your eye! I have to admit that if I had been in the bookstore and saw this on the shelf I would have passed it by. The cover of all of McKinley’s books are really boring and I wish there would be some romantic or enticing cover art to catch me. Maybe it’s just the reprints of the books. It makes me wonder how many other great books I am missing because the cover art isn’t called to me from the store bookshelves.
Overall, I enjoyed this book greatly and couldn’t put it down. I am very excited to read the other fairytale retellings and see how McKinley fairs.
I’m glad you’ve discovered Robin McKinley, I’ve loved everything I read by her. Now that you’ve finished “Beauty” you should try “Rose Daughter,” her second retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It is a very different take but just as great a story.
I’ve enjoyed your web comics so far. They’re a great way to break into some of the lesser known fairy tales.
I Robin McKinley is one of my favorite authors!
Be sure to read The Blue Sword and Outlaws of Sherwood when you’re finished with Beauty. All three are part of my hard-copy collection that travels to and from school with me… It takes a lot to get into that collection xD
I really loved The Blue Sword, and also The Hero and The Crown in the same series.
You should also read spindles end. That was the first book I read by her and I’ve been a fan ever since.
You should try some of Mercedes Lackey’s stuff. She has a several books that are based on fairy tales though she changes them up.
I’ve read some of Mercedes Lackey’s books. I was particularly fond of The Fairy Godmother. I’ll probably do a review of it sometime in the future.
I think you might like the BlacK Swan by her it is a retelling of Swan Lake from Odile’s point of view
Oh good, I’m glad you’re doing a review of Misty Lackey’s stuff as her Five Hundred Kingdoms series (what The Fairy Godmother is the first of) is excellent in taking fairy tales and twisting them into new, interesting tales. I would like to second her two straight Fairy Tale based novels, the Black Sun, she also did one called Firebird, which is the classic Firebird tale. Also, if you’ve read her Elemental Masters series each one of those is based on a fairy tale as well, so I’d highly suggest checking those out as well. :D
*Black Swan… sorry typo. ^^;
Beauty is one of my favorite books and one I won’t loan out.
I’ll second the recommendation for Spindle’s End, and throw in a word for the Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown as I dearly love the world of Damar.
I think the covers of the books do tend to be a bit bland, but the stories make up for that in spades.
About Deerskin…while I love everything else that McKinley writes, I will never again read that particular book. 95% of the book is fantastic but there is a 5% portion of it that totally curdled my stomach to read and totally ruins the rest of the book for me in terms of re-reading. It is very much NOT to everyone’s taste and definitely not safe for young adults. Without giving away any spoilers let me just say that there are scenes that do not belong in a fairy tale as they consist of acts of violence that are considered forbidden and illegal by the majority of the civilized world.
Yup, but then again fairytales weren’t originally made for kids (see the original version of Sleeping Beauty.)
They’re actually covering the fairy tale that Deerskin was based off of in the comic.
Don’t forget Chalice! That was my first introduction to her and I then immediately had to read every thing else she had written I loved it so much. I haven’t gotten to her newest, Pegasus, yet but it’s on my to-read list. And her short stories are pretty good too!
McKinley is 8 kinds of awesome. I’ve enjoyed all of her books that I’ve read.
I’m glad someone recommended Chalice! I love all of McKinley’s books; she’s one of my absolute favorite authors. She puts a richness into her fairy tale retellings that can only come from really loving the originals.
I think her best book is Sunshine, not a retelling of any fairy tale but amazing none the less… I think I’ve read that one a dozen times. XD
Gonna have to toss my vote in for McKinley’s The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown! Wonderful pieces and my favs. And yea, Deerskin is a bit darker than I expected, but it’s written so well. If you can deal with the Grimms’ stories, you should be just fine.
OMG I love this book! It’s a fantastic retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
Robin McKinley’s one of my all time favorites! Ironically started reading The Blue Sword when I was quite young, and because of the slower pacing at the start (and perhaps the sheer number of books I likely had out), I never finished it, and forgot about it. A few years later I picked it up again, and had an eerie feeling of remembering for the first while. I knew I’d read it, but I couldn’t remember how it ended. This time I waited that little extra time to let the book pull me in… and it did, over and over again. :) It remains one of my favorites by her, along with Beauty (the cover of my copy looks like this: http://carolinethefuturelibrarian.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/beauty.jpg
and the first one I read looked like this:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fvCnembBIkQ/TL9A2eGFvOI/AAAAAAAAAN8/p23IRqaWW4g/s1600/n6565.jpg
…both of which seem to be better than that jacket), and The Outlaws of Sherwood! Only Robin Hood book I’ve read that details the harsh realities of living in the woods… by far the best Robin Hood tale. :)
Another great Faerie Tale author (albeit a slightly younger demographic) is Gail Carson Levine. Her retelling of cinderella (Ella Enchanged — didn’t clue in until the glass slipper) was far, far better than the movie was, and I cry every time I read The Two Princesses of Barmarre!
I hope you enjoy them even half as much as I do!
Happy Reading!
Yeah, the newer McKinley covers are ridonkulously generic. Beauty remains one of my all time favorite books by her, and I used to take it with me as my go-to travel book /everywhere/, to the point the cover had been taped and re-taped to help endure. Sadly, I lost it in my last move, even though I’ve had the book since I was… 15 or so and am now in my mid-30′s.
This was the cover of my Beauty: http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beautybook_3169.jpg
Wow, yeah, that cover is a HUGE difference from the generic ones they are slapping on the books now O_O
McKinley is awesome. Her short story collections are pretty great, too (re-tellings of several fairy tales, including Rapunzel, twelve dancing princesses, etc.) I think the titles are Water, Fire, and a Door in the Hedge. Definitely worth a read! Also Spindle’s End, which is a retelling of sleeping beauty.
If we’re talking about great authors who have redone fairytales I Highly recommend Juliet Marillier starting with Daughter of the Forest a loose retelling of the six swans
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carlson Levine
Fairest by Gail Carlson Levine
The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carlson Levine
Snow by Tracy Lynn
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles: Dealing With Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Fables (The comic book series) written by Bill Willingham, illustrated by lots of people
And these are just off the top of my head….
Oh! And Rose Daughter, the re-retelling of the Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley was also fairly good. Very Different.
Since you’ve found Robin McKinley and like her books I think you should start reading the 500 Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey. They’re great, and almost all fairy tales I know of are part of those stories. Plus, they have beautiful covers. :)
I have to say, Sunshine is my favorite McKinley novel. It’s not a reimagined fairy tale, but it revisits the stereotypical vampire romance in a complex and twisted way. There couldn’t be a more anti-Bella leading lady.
Another book (which I just pre-ordered my copy of) that you might be interested in is Enchanted by Alethea Kontis.
My mother used to read Beauty by Robin McKinley when I was a child. It’s a bit nostalgic that you should bring her up.
One of my favorites that I honestly almost passed over because of the cover art was ‘song in the silence’ by Elizabeth Kerner. Excellent original story with a strong, spirited female lead. And dragons.
That book has been one of my favorites since middle school and I’m really glad you picked it up! It’s funny though because I actually first read it because of the cover art. The copy i pick up had a picture of Beauty with how she looked at the end of the book, silver fantasy dress and all.
@Maris- YES the Enchanted Forest Chronicles! I have copies of those I got in elementary school that are in my roving college collection!
In other news, they need to update Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Patricia C. Wrede’s works for Kindle. So far I have The Blue Sword and Chalice for kindle, but I couldn’t find the others ;-; Then I could stop abusing my books by hauling them around wherever I go… I love paper, but my kindle is much lighter than my library.
If you have yet to read the works of Diana Wynne Jones, go do it. Howl’s Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, The Dark Lord of Derkholm, the Chronicles of Chrestomanci (all of them), and everything else that I forget because there’s too much to carry with me and they haven’t put it on kindle.
Also everything by Tamora Pierce, but specifically the Lioness Quartet and Protector of the Small Quartet.
Kristen Cashore has only written Graceling and Fire, but those are fabulous books and I can’t wait until Bitterblue comes out. I love her writing style and she is one of my favorite authors.
Also, in a slightly different genre, Scott Westerfeld is fantastic. I highly recommend the Leviathan trilogy and the Uglies quartet.
I loved Beauty, it is one of the few books that I will sit down and read the entire way through, no matter what. Another great fairy tale retelling is Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia C. Wrede.
Robin Mckinley is one of my favorite authors. I’ve never read the original “Beauty” but I read her re-telling of it called “Rose Daughter.” It is the same story, she just went back a few years later and re-vamped it. It is truly one of my favorite books. Top shelf in my library.
I discovered Robin Mckinley’s blog a short while ago – very quirky and random. Just chucking that in for those who read blogs ect. :)
http://robinmckinleysblog.com/
She’s currently working on a short-story ‘kes’ experiment if anyone is interested . :)
If you like Robin McKinley, than you will also like Patricia McKillip.
I’ve heard of most of the authors that other posters talk about, and also GREAT writers. Wrede and Pierce are young adult writers, so don’t be thrown off by the level of writing. Still awesome stories.
Mercedes Lackey also has a small series of fairy tale remakes, I think it started with one called “Fire Rose.” The stories are all in the late 1800′s to the early 1900′s, in Europe as well as America.
Going to have to check out the “Enchanted” book by Alethea Kontis