Rose Daughter

Rating:
Summary: Perfect
Review: This was an amazing book of great literary merit. While it was not a book with much action it was wonderfully inspirational and leaves the reader with a sense of otherworldliness. It has a great twist ending and the description is such that the reader feels transported to a seprate place where anything at all is possible.

Rating:
Summary: Even better than the first time
Review: When I first heard that McKinley had written a second retelling of "Beauty and the Beast," I was a bit skeptical. However, when I read it, I discovered that not only did she have another take was worth telling, she's also become an even better writer who had learned how to end a novel. "Beauty" was a realistic (at least, within the magic) novel; "Rose Daughter" takes place in Balladland, where a day in the enchanted castle can be a month in the world, and a rose can be the key to healing or the thorn of dispair. It's like a novel-length fairy tale.

Reading other comments, it looks like the reviewers who had such a bad reaction were looking for a fantasy adventure and were rudely surprized. They have a point -- if you gobble up Robert Jordan or can't stand a metaphor that gets in the way of the plot, don't bother with this. But if you read fantasy for the magic, for the wonder comes from the healing of the world's pain, "Rose Daughter" is a must read.

Rating:
Summary: Rose Daughter- far better than Disney's version.
Review: When my mom first suggested this book, I thought that it would be really strange reading a story that I knew so well. I started it anyway, and now I'm halfway through and can't put it down. Robin McKinley puts such excellent detail into ROSE DAUGHTER that you don't even realize that you're reading the same story that Disney animated. I was able to come up with my own picture in my mind of what the characters look like, and am now dying to read BEAUTY. 78 thumbs up!!