The Blue Sword (1982)

"The Blue Sword" is light, fun, and adventuresome escapist young-adult fantasy. It presents a simple coming-of-age story with all the old elements: black and white good and evil, a battle against the odds, destiny, an orphan in an unfamiliar country, a magic sword, a brooding tall dark and handsome male lead, and faceless sub-human monsters.

In this story the good guys are almost unswervingly good, and the villains are unquestionably evil. There are no great surprises or shocking plot twists, but the world of the story is presented quickly and competently. ( )

No huge love plot, no rape, racism, interesting world building.

I love the characters in this book. They have motivations and limitations, they have thoughts and agendas and plots. The one thing that I'd have appreciated is a bit more detail on the fancy swordfighting the main character so effortlessly learns, I didn't quite buy that anyone would get so effortlessly good at something as intricate, but this is only a minor gripe.

What I loved especially is the complete absence of sexual violence and the fact that this fantasy book manages to get by without graphic sexual violence, you so rarely see that, and mostly without a love plot, though the main character is female.

What I'm no a big fan of is the colonialism and racism. I'm not sure why we need a saviour with a white background from the coloniser's country. ( )

[Re-read 2013]

Things I discovered re-reading this beloved favorite of my childhood:

I really love Harry and she is a much more distinctive and specific character than I remembered (my recollection had been of her being more of a cipher/everywoman but that must have been just part of the way I read this as a kid)

She lives in a world where they celebrate Christmas (there is a reference to Richard's letters sent Home at Christmas). And she compares something to a "mark of Cain" at one point. I had completely missed this, or forgotten it.

There is not a lot that actually *happens* (externally) in this book (compared to The Hero and the Crown, for example) yet I was still absorbed by Harry's internal struggles as she finds her place between two worlds, all the details of Damarian life, and just spending time with the characters. ( )

I wish I loved this, but I don't. I love Robin Mickinley's stuff don't get me wrong, but this was not enough on the right side of good that I could enjoy.

So Harry, who seems cool, interesting spunky character gets kidnapped and thrown in to the world of Hill-folk & its master Corlath. (Corlath seems hunky when he flashes his golden eyes..)
She takes this a bit too easily. No struggles, just 'OK, yeah cool, I've been kidnapped, must stay stoic...oh I love this place...yeah Im great at dealing with this stuff...wow...'yeah..
There is not realistic growth, she just seems to swim perfectly into the mold that is expected of her from a prophecy via kelar and float until suddenly whoom she fells some mountains and beats a giant army easy peasy (after all that bloodshed..) Totally fine with that -_-

The whole story was so solemn, though I loved the descriptions and customs and reading about her experiences in the new world, I couldn't really connect with anything. McKinley seems like she was delving deep into the world of Hill-folk and showing how much Harry absorbed but it felt like we were just skimming the surface.

I enjoyed the characters until she got kidnapped then somehow everyone was behind this glass wall I couldn't touch, acting on their best behaviour, even their outbursts too solemn to be taken seriously.

That romance, where the HECK was that romance? It was like the elephant in the room, no scrap that, the elephant that ran away leaving a hole in the wall T_T
I almost flew through the chapters trying to get a glimpse of more than the overly subtle barely there hints that they MIGHT have feelings for each other. And then wham bam they declare their SOLEMN feelings for each other in front of everybody. Ugh the proposal...was..SOOO...solemn.
I'm overusing that word -_-

I liked Jack. Yep Jack was a cool guy. Btw the brother was pretty non existent. But when he did appear he suddenly did a 180 turn no hard feelings. Everyone was totes on her side, no questions asked.

I think there are great aspects to this books, it had potential to be written better.
Overall didn't leave me satisfied.
3.5/5 for me.
( )

This is a little different than Robin McKinley's typical fairy tale rewrites, but in my opinion much more captivating and enjoyable. McKinley easily creates a world that you want to join. The first couple of chapters can be a bit slow, but if you hang in there, I promise you won't regret it. There is plenty of action, wonderful characters, and a love story that isn't overdone or cliche. ( )