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Title: The Blue Sword
Author: Robin McKinley
Series: The Books of Damar
Genre: Fantasy
Thoughts: If I were a book and I had to pick another book to be my BFF, I would pick The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. I’ve read it so many times that I practically have it memorized, and just finished it for the millionth time earlier this month.
For those of you who haven’t been lucky enough to read this wonderful book yet, here is the synopsis from the back cover:
(5 / 5)
This is the story of Corlath, golden-eyed king of the Free Hillfolk, son of the sons of the Lady Aerin.
And this is the story of Harry Crewe, the Homelander orphan girl who became Harimad-sol, King’s Rider, and heir to the Blue Sword, Gonturan, that no woman had wielded since the Lady Aerin herself bore it into battle.
And this is the song of the kelar of the Hillfolk, the magic of the blood, the weaver of destinies… THE BLUE SWORD.
*Sigh* I am filled with nothing but love for this book. I love the way McKinley writes, and talk about world building—this book has it in spades! Much of what I have learned about writing, I learned from studying McKinley’s work. It also makes a great celebratory read—I was so close to finishing my book when I started craving The Blue Sword again, but I was literally spending every spare minute writing and I knew that I couldn’t just read a little at a time. The Blue Sword is, at least for me, a book that consumes you, heart, body and soul. If I started to read it again, I’d never finish my own novel. So I used it as incentive: finish your draft, Jess, and you can read The Blue Sword again. If that doesn’t light a fire under your butt, nothing will. If you are looking for a lyrical read with adventure, mystery, romance, and some incredibly vivid characters and landscapes, this is the book for you! Score: (5 / 5)
5 Responses
The Blue Sword has long been one of my favorites, too. I’ve read most of Robin McKinley’s books, but Blue Sword is still my favorite. I think I first read it in high school and I’ve re-read it multiple times since. Just reading your review makes me want to read it again. 🙂 I love the way you started out your review “If I were a book and had to pick another book to be my BFF…). You have such a creative way of thinking and I like your sense of humor, too, Jess! Have you read The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater? I’m thinking of it because it’s another book with horses and gorgeous writing that I’ve read several times. I finally got Sierra to try it and she is reading it right this minute. 🙂
I haven’t read The Scorpio Races yet, but it’s on my list. I LOVE Maggie Stiefvater’s writing, and the horses in that one are definitely a pull for me. Haha!
The Scorpio Races is definitely Stiefvater’s best book, in my opinion. I’ve tried a few of her other books, but always been a bit disappointed because they just don’t compare to The Scorpio Races. 🙂
Ooo, then I really need to read it. I loved the Raven Boys, other than all the swearing. If the Scorpio Races is even better, then I’m excited!
I thought the first Raven Boys book was good, and the second one was pretty good except for massive amounts of swearing. But the series really went downhill from there, in my opinion. I didn’t even bother to read the last book because the previous one had been so bad. The Raven Boys started out promising, but the story arc lost focus and the characters did, too. Gansey wasn’t even interesting anymore. I didn’t like several of the secondary characters–they were just icky. If you have different opinions, I’d like to hear them, though. 🙂