Books: The Blue Sword

The Blue Sword
By Robin McKinley
Copyright 1982
311 pages


My first book read in 2013 is a fantasy, one with a smashing heroine.

This book, though 30 years old, is a great read if you love the fantasy genre. It is also compelling if you like female heroines, which I prefer.

Harry Crewe (Harry is short for a female name; I confess this threw me for some time and I wished for a better name) is an orphan who goes to live in a settlement as a foster daughter. She is kidnapped by a great desert king and she learns she has a magical gift.

That's the essence of the book. There is some romance here, though not much, and there is a great deal of character building.

This book won a Newberry Honor when it was published. It is billed as young adult fiction but I would not hesitate to recommend it to any reader.

As an aside, I was familiar with parts of the book as one of my creative writing professors at Hollins University used excerpts from it as an example of world-building and detail. But I had not read the book in its entirety.

Thanks to my good friend Inga for giving me such a nice Christmas present.