Rating: 
Summary: This really is a YA novel
Review: I'm middle-aged but I read a lot of fantasy. _The Hero and the Crown_ and _The Blue Sword_, which I read one after the other, really are too "young" for me. Partly it's the theme of "outcast discovers she has strange powers that make her even more different from other people than she thought--but better." The theme of discovering one's identity and abilities is actually also appropriate to later stages of life (at least for some people, including me), but in these books it's a bit too uncomplicated to appeal to adults. Partly it's the extreme wholesomeness of the romances--it really is OK to give this book to your kid. And partly it's all the cute horses and dogs and cats, and all the cute foals and pupppies and kittens they have at the end when the story is wrapped up. To be truly palatable, The _Hero and the Crown_ and _The Blue Sword_ require that obsession with horses shared by some adolescent girls. I grew up in the country, but never having gone ga-ga over animals in this way, it all got a bit cloying. But again, if you have a kid who's maybe 13 to 16 years old or so, they might like these two books.
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Summary: Books that make me weep and laugh simultaneously....
Review: This tops that list. If you haven't picked it up, I can't explain... Yes, it starts in a way that some would call slow... but I think it is more natural and lyric than the mass market offerings. DON'T walk into this book with the all too standard SF&F expectations of a hard, fast gotcha. This is not Holly Lisle/Terry Brooks/R.A. Salvatore mass market, pulp fiction.... Savor the words and the feelings... This is a book I have read and re-read and found new nuance every time. Rare indeed in SF&F.
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Summary: The Hero and the Crown
Review: Prequel to Robin Mckinley's earlier tale of Damar, The Blue Sword, The Hero and the Crown is about the legendary Lady Aerin, dragon-killer. Because Aerin's mother rumored be an evil witch who enspelled the king into marrying her, Aerin is not considered royalty. She is never accepted in her existance. But Aerin dreams of being a legend. She finds a recipe for kennet, a fire-proofing potion, and plans to use it to kill dragon. She also started the Hill way of riding, without reins or stirrups. Her dragon-killing leads her to defeat the great Black Dragon, who has existed thousands of years. But after defaeting the Dragon, Aerin starts dying. So she rides to the wizard Luthe, who not only heals her, but makes her immortal. He then sends her to kill Agsded. She knows that if she deafeat this powerful sorceror, who is her uncle, she will not only save Damar from war with the Northerners, but also accomplish her dream and become a living legend.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Prequel to The Blue Sword!!!
Review: Robin McKinley's books aren't exactly what I would recommend to anyone who is a big battle fanatic. But in my opinion, they are all the better because of the lack of battles! There isn't constant action from scene to scene, you get to know the characters instead, possibly even better than they know themselves. We find out about their history, there is a great insight into why they are who they are. And I love the horse aspect, I LOVE horses! I own several and have applied the method of riding that Aerin and Harry use to my own horses. The leg thing really does work. Both Damar books are for horse lovers and those who want to know the misfit characters inside and out. Anyone who has been ostracized, left out from the crowd, never felt like they quite fit in, these books are for them. It shows what a strong character people like that can have and how, in many ways, they are stronger than those who have not had the same hardships. After all, it was the misfits with the strongest "kelar" and the ones who defeated the gravest of enemies!
Aerin is a great character and I would not pass up the experience of following her through all her hardships, it just might teach you something if you do!
Rating:
Summary: It's good, really, really
Review: I just read the book again like two days ago. I read it before, but wanted to refresh my memory, and see if my past opinion changed. It didn't. I still found it good to read the second time.
I won't bother to tell the summary, because it's obviously written up there (Aerin, face an evil dragon, save Damar). The book itself has little touches of humor at the most unlikely moments which made me crack up because...in strange situations the strangest thoughts can pop up. This is a fantasy book, so it's all strange...yet, believable. This world that's been created...it seems possible, just like Pern or a school of wizardry hidden somewhere.
So enjoy it, because it's really really really good. :D
Rating: 
Summary: Inexplicable dissatisfaction on my part
Review: Something happened in the last half of the book that made me cease to enjoy it as much. Suddenly, it became vague, confusing and annoying. This phenomenom occured about after Aerin defeats Maur. Then, the story seemed to go downhill from there. Luthe? Who is he? Couldn't the story have gotten along fine without him?
Even with, I thought Luthe was some all-powerful wizard who would supply her with all the answers, but then he turned out to be not at all as noble or even as wise as anyone would have expected. Aerin was not told anything she needed to know, I thought. I learned more about Aerin's infuriatingly mysterious past from her uncle, the evil mage. He said more things that made sense. Luthe did not.
And then these two become attracted to each other? What?
And then she climbes up and falls down stairs for a hundred years? And there are cats and dogs with weird names in her army?
And did she have an exceptional reason for leaving the dragon's blood stone behind? Not really.
Aerin was also sick and dying for the latter portion of the book as well. That's nearly fifty pages of reading about her 'wry, self-debasing' doom comments and aches and pains.
Not the best read I'd ever had. The beginning was alright,but I was mistaken in thinking that we were going somewhere. The entire time I was reading the second half of the book, I got the impression that Mckinley had made all these mistakes in her storyline that she did not bother to mend, like I was reading a first draft. For instance, Luthe finds Aerin after her centuries of falling and realizes that he's forgotten to tell her something
that she needed to know about facing her uncle. There would not have been the faintest ripple in the plot if he had not forgotten, had instead told her when he was suppose to, or, not even have mentioned it at all. It was all these little things that irked me especially. The beginning WAS good; I was drawn in.
BUT, for some really spectacular fantasy, try Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.
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Summary: Is this a book?
Review: Is this actually a book??? Th eHero and the Crown has to be one of the worst books I've ever read in my whole life. To make it simple don't read it unless you want to be bored to death!!!
Rating: 
Summary: THE HERO AND THE CROWN-ROBIN McKINLEY
Review: Aerin is the youngest princess in all of Damar. She is frowned upon when having fun and considered ugly. But when she tries to train her father's old horse, she sets off for an adventure. She has found an ointment that protects against burns. So she sets off to defeat the "last" dragon. But will she survive? An OK book. Definitely not the best. It seemed to go on for too long and was WAY too complicated. I recommend it though. But don't read it's prequel, "The Blue Sword", unless you gave this book five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Hmm...as always, hehe
Review: Well, I read The Blue Sword first, and I loved it. Then I read this, and I found it almost as wonderful as the Blue Sword. Aerin (Yay, I remember her name, I'm so horrible with them), daughter of a king in some kingdom, turns out to be a great warrior and sort of a tomboy, as she likes to destroy dragons, unlike the other feminine ladies of the court, and most people find her behavior unappropriate. Well, she doesn't care what they think. She sets off on a great adventure, and the tale goes on to explain what happens when she meets this wizard guy and how she battles one of the greatest foes of the kingdom...Good book, but the romance wasn't as great as it was in the Blue Sword. It was too strong or something. But it was still very good.
Rating:
Summary: Best book ever!
Review: WOW! I am a 13 year old girl and I found this was an amazing book! I loved it! I would recommend it to any girls (or boys) who appreciate strong female characters and good literature. With the media like it is, books like this should be cherished for having girls who are not just items. I really loved this book! I think Aerin is a very developed character and there should be more like her. Robin McKinley does a very good job of writing this, but it is hard to understand if you are not a very good reader. If you are, though, you will appreciate this very much.
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