Grand Master Robin McKinley

I saw that Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association recently named Robin McKinley its 39th Grand Master. https://www.sfwa.org/2022/11/28/robin-mckinley-39th-sfwa-grand-master/

I previously read her Sunshine which was fun, and Deerskin which I found disturbing. Now I am reading Beauty and have The Blue Sword and The Hero and The Crown on tap.

What have you read? Which is your favorite?

Love all her stuff. The three you mentioned as current reads or on tap are great choices. I also love Spindle's End.

Rose Daughter is one of my favorites, I like it better than Beauty. I also re-read The Blue Sword a lot, as a comfort read.

>3 reconditereader: oh, wow, a second retelling. That's really interesting. I'll have to look for it.

I think I’ve got most of output either as paperback or ebook. My favourites are the Damar series (The Blue Sword, The Hero and the Crown plus some shorts).

I've long been a fan of The Blue Sword and more recently, The Hero and the Crown.

I loved The Blue Sword, and enjoyed both The Hero and the Crown and Sunshine. She's a very versatile writer.

I love Deerskin despite its darkness, and the Damar books. Sunshine is great too. I like the twists in Spindle's End and Rose daughter which diverge from the original fairy tales. And I used to love reading her blog, which was directly responsible for me taking up bell-ringing.

I've enjoyed many. Is she still writing? Pegasus needs a sequel!

>8 Sakerfalcon: Bell-ringing? Tell me more!

>10 vwinsloe: Campanology! Robin McKinley frequently wrote about ringing the bells at local churches in her area and it made me curious about the bells at my own church. It is such an English tradition! Dorothy L. Sayer's classic The nine tailors is all about ringing - the murder revolves around it - and Sayers clearly knew what she was writing about.

>11 Sakerfalcon: Very cool. Thanks.

>9 reading_fox: to answer my own question. Yes! - and her somewhat erratic website and blog* are back live. https://robinmckinley.com/biography yes she's still writing.

*with footnotes**

**worse than pTerry.

I love Chalice and The Outlaws of Sherwood. I'd like to read Spindle's End. I think I'd probably enjoy Sunshine, but Deerskin was a bit too grim for me.

>13 reading_fox: lol

I think I've read all her books, and liked them all.

I finished Beauty and I can see how it is a comfort read for so many people. The lovely descriptive prose was almost hobbity (or hobbitsey, in Gollum). And I imagine that many young women must have identified with the character of Beauty.

On to the next. I understand that The Hero and the Crown is a prequel to The Blue Sword, although it was published afterward. Any recommendations as to which to read next would be appreciated.

>14 libraryperilous: Oh, how could I forget The Outlaws of Sherwood? One of my favorites as well.

>16 vwinsloe: My personal opinion is that it doesn't matter which of Hero or Blue Sword you read first, but others may disagree. I read Hero and the Crown as an elementary schooler and it's been a favorite ever since, but bounced off The Blue Sword until I was an older teenager, at which point I loved it. So Blue Sword might be a better entry point for an adult?

Beauty but also Deerskin both spring to mind. Blue Sword as well.

I love everything she's written, but The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown are my favorites. They were so groundbreaking to have female heroines. I read them years ago when I was a children's/young adult librarian and remember wishing these had been available to me when I was a teenager. I recommend them every chance I get to my patrons.

>17 curioussquared:. I'm going with The Blue Sword first. Interesting setting and characters so far (50 pages in).

I finished The Hero and the Crown after reading The Blue Sword, and I think that it worked better that way since the foreshadowing of the mysterious Aerin worked to pique my curiosity. I loved them both, although perhaps The Hero and the Crown the most.

Wonderful writing, characters and plot. Robin McKinley truly deserves the title of Grand Master.