Book Reviews of The Blue Sword

I first read this book and The Hero and the Crown when I was a preteen and I still absolutely adore both and have them as keepers and often go back and read them when I just want to relax with an old friend.

Harry is a great character who you want to smack upside the head or hug tight depending on the moment. I personally think that you should read Hero before this one but I know the author wrote them the other way around.

A TERRIFIC read for young adults/teens as well as adults. This story intertwines with The Hero and the Crown by the same author (one of my ALL TIME favorite books) and is also deserving of accolades. Robin McKinley is a superb writer who has a knack for drawing you into the story and making you never want to leave. There's fantasy and magic, royalty and duty, mystical folk, daring escapades, amazing horses, true love, and excitement - all waiting to be had!!

Robin McKinley is one of my favorite authors, but this is very different from her other books because it is more similar to epic and high fantasy then were other works. It's sequel is "The Hero and the Crown."

Lots of horsey sword stuff, not so much sorcery, but there is some in this book. Great desert setting, has an old-timey Arabia feeling. The writing is smooth and the action reasonably fast. I'd definitely recommend this book as good mind candy.

Oh man, this book was so fun! Not an intellectual read, but lots of fun!!!

Romance and scifi in one! What more could you ask for? And the war depicted in this book is very realistic, similar to the struggle between the english and native indians in america.

Well, they don’t really write high fantasy as they used to, now do they? There has to be a reason that Robin McKinley’s THE BLUE SWORD, first published in the 1980s, is still being widely read and adored, and that is because it is arguably the absolute best in its genre, an unmatched blend of strong characters, political intrigue, and quite simply the best damn fantasy world ever imagined and written.

It’s a little strange for me to read THE BLUE SWORD for the first time, nearly ten years after I picked up The Hero and the Crown and read it to pieces for about four years straight, it having been my favorite book in middle school. THE BLUE SWORD was written before The Hero and the Crown. I can hardly wrap my mind around that! The depiction of the Damarian landscape is incredible: ranging from endless red deserts to the hidden valleys and villages within the mountains. Robin McKinley’s language is not quite lyrical, per se, but there is a certain hypnotic rhythm that her descriptions possess. That, combined with the scope of the worldbuilding—the politics, myths, fashions, traditions, everyday duties—is entrancing. McKinley inspires awe in readers.

Harry, of course, serves for many as the blueprint of the admirable fantasy heroine. True, at times it feels like the mysterious magic of Damar is carrying her along, instead of her leading it. But her magnanimity, her determination to succeed even as she does not completely understand what’s happening to her, is inarguably admirable. Corlath’s appeal, I think, comes less from his specific characteristics, and more from his inexplicable status as the archetypal complement to Harry’s heroine role. However little or much we perceive of Harry and Corlath’s personalities, beliefs, or desires, however, they are a pair for whom we feel absolute sympathy.

I have little more to say because I feel like this is one of those instances where the more I try to examine what made this book move me so, the less impressed I will be by it. So I’ll just say that the scope of what it accomplishes is unparalleled, and if you read it at the right stage of life—say, on the brink of adolescence, just when you’re searching for a role model—then THE BLUE SWORD will undoubtedly become your bible of sorts.

This book is a stellar read! I first found it on a friend's bookshelf; after reading it, I had to go out and find myself a copy!

Robin McKinley writes with care; both exciting and stimulating. What makes this interesting is that you can read it quickly for the story - and your first readthrough will probably be quick, because of the pace! - or you can read slowly, and enjoy Ms. McKinley's fabulous command of simile and word picture. It seems that she takes great care to insert a lot of nuance and feeling into her work. in my re-read, I enjoyed the extra insights into Harry's mind that I had missed the first time thru.

Highly recommended!

I read this book in a fantasy literature class in college and loved it. Don't quit after the first chapter, I almost did. If you can get past that things get clearer and the book is absolutely wonderful. This was one that I didn't sell back to the bookstore. ; )

I have only recently started reading Robin McKinley's work but I am glad I found them. I know that they are marked for young adults or teenagers, but that should not stop anyone from enjoying the way this woman writes.

When you open one of these books by three pages into reading the characters and places are staring back at you. I have never read an author I found so easy to get into the prose and see the story go across my eyes.

The plot is Harry a girl who is restless and with no real future ahead of her. Just trying to make it through one day to the next gets swept up by way of extra-sensory sight into this huge adventure. She learns who she is and what she can really do by being thrown into a strange and foreign culture. I cared very much for what happened to this girl as she grew straight and strong. I felt sort of like a teenager myself as I was reading it. Remembering what it was like getting to know my own self and my own likes.

Take this book for what it is and it won't let you down.

:)

Great book - I loved it

If you like fantasy, why haven't you read this? This takes place after "The Hero and the Sword", but is the first book in the duology.

Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. Her life is quiet and ordinary-until the night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language; she does not know why she has been chosen. But Corlath does. Harry is to be trained in the arts of war until she is a match for any of his men. Does she have the courage to accept her true fate?

YA fantasy epic, well-written and imaginative.

Love this wonderful blend of realism and fantasy with its strong heroine. It is one of my daughter's favorite books - and mine!

My all time favorite book! Full of adventure!

This is a well written and enjoyable book. The characters are well developed and the action is believable. Very readable and hard to put down.

This is the story of Corlath, golden-eyed king of the Free Hillfolk, son of the sons of the Lady Aerin. And this is the story of Harry Crewe, the Homelander orphan girl who became Harimad-sol, King's Rider, and heir to the Blue Sword, Gonturan, that no woman had wielded since Lady Aerin herself bore it into battle. And this is the song of the kelar of the Hillfolk, the magic of the blood, the weaver of destinies.