YES, Robin McKinley. A buddy was rereading her books and so I glanced on Hoopla, picked this one (had never read it before) and was NOT DISAPPOINTED. A short book of wonderfully smart fantasy short stories. Now must reread everything! ( )

These stories were just OK. To me they felt very YA. Very little suspense or action. The emphasis was on the fairy tale style. I've already forgotten the first stories I read in the book. The last three, Buttercups, Touk, and a Knot in the Grain, I probably remember because it was the last ones I read. I like other things I've read by this author so this was very disappointing. Well-written but ephemeral. Actually, now that I've read a precis of each of the stories, the one I liked best was The Healer because it was set in Damar. ( )

It was interesting reading reviews of this and comparing my reactions. It was an important reminder that readers can have completely opposing views, and that I should be careful about letting negative reviews dissuade me from reading something I otherwise think looks interesting.

"The Healer" is possibly a Damar story. I had a very subjective reaction to it - I just didn't warm to it, and I don't think there's any objective reason why.

I really enjoyed "The Stagman" for its prose. The characters are types more than complex personalities, unnamed for much of the story and identified instead by their role or relationship. If it were a longer story, I would want complex personalities, but in a short story - especially a short story that reads like a fairytale - there's something appealing about that, about the way you are left to fill in the blanks yourself.

Both "Touk's House" and "Buttercups" are similar, in so far as that the characters' names aren't revealed until well into the story and there is a fairytale feel about them. Neither of them unfold as I expected them to. There is something lovely and gentle about the romance in "Buttercups", partly because of the way the story captures the way the farmer has not questioned his loneliness and his utter delight at unexpectedly discovering someone he wants to spend his life with.

However, "A Knot in the Grain" is my favourite, about a teenager who (reluctantly) moves house with her parents and the summer she spends borrowing books from the library, writing letters to her friends back home and slowly adjusting to her new life. It's not an almost fairytale, and it is much more about Annabelle as a person - her thoughts, feelings and relationships - than it is about what happens. What I loved most about it, apart from Annabelle's reading habits, was the way it captured being 16 and dealing with change - and the bittersweetness of change. ( )

short stories from Robin Mckinley. I don't really remember anything particularly about them other than the usual slightly melancholy sense of wonder that all her works inspire within me. ( )

I really liked the first four short stories in this book. The last one though, I have to admit, is my least favorite and to me personally could do without. (Just my personal opinion) Other than that, I had a great time reading this book and always am looking for it on the shelf when I am at the library. These stories never get old to me and I love it when a book can do that without having to be the size of a dictionary! ( )