Chalice feels more like McKinley's earlier books, like Beauty or The Blue Sword, rather than her more recent (and modern) ones. I am fascinated by the world she creates and by the way we learn about it as the story goes along, in bits and pieces as the characters learn. I like the main characters; Mirasol, who was content in her solitary woodskeeper life before she was called to her duty as Chalice, and the Master, a former Fire Priest who left his priesthood to take up his duty. They are where they are because of their love for the land and their sense of duty, but that doesn't make it easy on them (or the people around them).

I was a little disappointed by the end, though. It seems like they get off too easy somehow. I prefer McKinley's books when the end is more subtle and ambiguous. ( )

This is a beautiful tale, as rich and multifaceted as a honeycomb, full of sensuous and repeating images of cups, bees, honey, and fire. McKinley effortlessly moves between past and present as she tells the tale of a woman struggling to deal with a role that she is not prepared for and to save her beloved land from disaster. It is also the tale of a man who has to learn how to become human again. And throughout the story are the bees, larger and more beautiful than any others. I am still savouring the sweet aftertaste of this delightful novel. Highly recommended. ( )

This is a beautiful book. The story opens with Marisol, who is a beekeeper and woods-woman who has recently had to take on the weighty responsibility of being Chalice, responsible for witnessing ceremonies and binding her demesne together. The new Master of Willowlands is a fire priest who has taken so much fire into himself that he can no longer touch anything without burning them. How can such a Master help the land heal from the damage inflicted by the previous aster? How can such an untried Chalice soothe that hurt? But Marisol is strong. She refuses to give up her bees or her cottage. She finds it in herself to embrace her new Master and do her best to bind him to the land and to the people despite their own fears and external pressure ( )

New Chalice Mirasol knows bees and she knows her small holding. What she doesn't know is nearly enough about her duties as Chalice. He position is made more difficult by a new Master no longer quite human, whose years of study to become a fire priest have left him less than suited to hold the demesne of Willowlands secure. Somehow the two of them will need to learn to work together if the land itself is not to rip asunder.

Slowly paced and gracefully told. The shifts between past and present are occasionally disconcerting, but ultimately don't detract at all. I stayed up much too late to finish this one. ( )

Mirasol is beekeeper who was unexpectedly raised to be the second in the Circle, the one who mixes draughts and holds the chalice. The new Master is drawn back from being a Fire priest and burns her at the welcoming ceremony, and he also has to learn how to take up his unexpected duties. He's a cipher, though, the book is too short in terms of not spending enough time exploring his character, or their relationship. Marisol is decently fleshed out, but her story is told heavily in flashback scenes, since the action starts at the welcome ceremony. The ending was foreshadowed but not really explained very well. I'm kind of disappointed, McKinley has been a favourite author of mine for years and this one didn't feel a rich as her best work. ( )