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A review by dragoninwinterfell
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The intricately detailed world Robin McKinley created in The Blue Sword is one of the best I've read about. I just wished that the story and characters were aa well crafted. I think part of the difficulty I'm having is that this was clearly heavily influenced by conventional fantasy works of black and white morality with clear cut good and evil.
Harry Crewe is a young woman who was orphaned and doesn't fit in within her society. Other than Harry being a a woman, the story is a very simple chosen one plot. In some ways, it's simpler than the typical plot with that trope. It's hard to give even the barest details because not much happened, so nearly everything would be given away in a sentence. So, I'll say that Harry has only the barest personality and very little autonomy. She follows the plot she's been placed in without much thought. Something happens early on that's life changing where she simply accepts it and doesn't ask questions about why this was done to her. It was odd.
The villains were essentially non-existant. They're an unknown challenge that the heroine prepares for and that's it.
I did like the backstory and the world. It was very refreshing for a high fantasy story to have a heroine as the main figure of legend. The world building is was so engaging that I'll absolutely be checking out the prequel and other works set in this universe.
Harry Crewe is a young woman who was orphaned and doesn't fit in within her society. Other than Harry being a a woman, the story is a very simple chosen one plot. In some ways, it's simpler than the typical plot with that trope. It's hard to give even the barest details because not much happened, so nearly everything would be given away in a sentence. So, I'll say that Harry has only the barest personality and very little autonomy. She follows the plot she's been placed in without much thought. Something happens early on that's life changing where she simply accepts it and doesn't ask questions about why this was done to her. It was odd.
The villains were essentially non-existant. They're an unknown challenge that the heroine prepares for and that's it.
I did like the backstory and the world. It was very refreshing for a high fantasy story to have a heroine as the main figure of legend. The world building is was so engaging that I'll absolutely be checking out the prequel and other works set in this universe.