The Hero and the Crown

I have loved The Hero and the Crown since I first read it in junior high, and I was excited to teach it, but I recognize that it is an odd book. Aerin embraces her magical destiny and falls in love with the immortal Luthe-- but puts that love to sleep so "that she might love her country and her husband" (246). One of my students was excited at what she saw as the embrace of polyamory, but I don't think that's quite what's happening here. In addition, you get the really surreal stuff when Aerin goes to confront her evil uncle Agsded. This is the part of the book that's stuck with me the most since childhood. The tower Aerin climbs to confront Agsded is nearly infinite: "She had been climbing forever; she would be climbing forever. She would be a new god: the God That Climbs" (182). Then, when Aerin defeats Agsded, she falls almost as long and ends up in a strange place. What had been a tower in a wasteland is now rubble in the middle of a jungle. She sees people there, and is then show more jerked back to where she had been, the desolate plateau from which the tower had risen, and Luthe explains to her that she had traveled "a few hundred years" into the future until he pulled her back (200). Aerin then returns to her native land of Damar and defeats the remnants of the evil that threatens it before marrying Tor, the new king.

What's going on here? I have a friend who strongly reacts against Aerin's double marriage, and some of my students definitely considered the whole tower battle and journey into the future extremely weird. I think that looking at The Hero and the Crown's place in both the fantasy genre and the young adult genre helps provide an answer to this.

In her excellent monograph Rhetorics of Fantasy (2008), Farah Mendlesohn divides the fantasy genre up into a number of different approaches, based on the relative positions of the reader, the protagonist, and the fantastic. In the portal-quest fantasy, the protagonist "leaves her familiar surroundings and passes through a portal into an unknown place" (1): The Wizard of Oz, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone are all prototypical examples of the form. The immersive fantasy, however, "presents the fantastic without comment as the norm for both the protagonist and for the reader: we sit on the protagonist's shoulder and [...] we are not provided with an explanatory narrative" (xx), for "the point of view characters of an immersive fantasy must take for granted the fantastic elements with which they are surrounded" (xxi). Then there's the intrusion fantasy, where the fantastic breaks into a "normal" world (xxii). (Mendlesohn also has the liminal fantasy and the "irregulars," but those are less relevant to my purposes here.)

On first glance we might see The Hero and the Crown as an immersive fantasy: it takes place in a magical land, different from our own, from the beginning. However, as you dig into both it and Mendlesohn, you start to realize that's it's not so simple. (Genre never is, except when it gets, well, generic.) The novels bears traces of the intrusion fantasy as well. The threat to Damar is an external one; the dragons that Aerin battles throughout the novel might be in Damar, but they are not from it. They are magical creatures from beyond. Furthermore, the book is extremely reminiscent of the portal-quest fantasy, and we should note when using the term that though portal-quest fantasies depart from a real world, they do not have to depart from our real world. One of Mendlesohn's prototypical portal-quest fantasies is, after all, The Lord of the Rings, which starts itself in a magical land, the Shire, but she argues that Tolkien makes the Shire real so that it can frame an adventure into a fantastic land, that of the rest of Middle Earth (2, 31).

Something similar is happening in The Hero and the Crown.  It incorporates many of the typical features of the portal-quest fantasy: quests (well, duh); an alliance of perspective between reader and protagonist, both of whom are naïve; portals that transition between places and times; exploration of an unknown land; a thinned land that requires restoration by the story's end; a connection between the king and the well-being of the land (when the right monarch is in place, the land itself is also right); and the existence of a moral universe (good and evil are objective qualities). The reason Aerin's journey to Luthe's land (where she also experiences some temporal dislocation) and Agsded's tower are so surreal is that McKinley has to mark them as fantasy worlds within the context of what seems to us a fantasy world. Aerin is used to the magics of Damar; she is not used to the magics of these other worlds that she has passed to.

Okay, but so what? Something we should always keep in mind when discussing genre, is that genres have not just features (characteristics) but projects (things they do). Mendlesohn mentions that "the classic portal tale is much more common in children's fantasy than in that ostensibly written for the adult market" (1) and she also says that portals "mark[ ] the transition between this world and another; from our time to another time; from youth to adulthood" (1, emphasis mine). So why is this the case? I think it's because of portal-quest fantasy's commitment to a moral universe: Mendlesohn says that "a quest is a process, in which the object sought may or may not be a mere token of rewards. The real reward is moral growth and/or admission into the kingdom, or redemption" (4). Young adult literature is often about teaching readers moral lessons, for better or for worse, and so the form of portal-quest fantasy is well-suited to it. The reader and the protagonist are positioned together, and so when the protagonist accomplishes moral growth, so too does the reader. Aerin accomplishes a lot of moral growth in The Hero and the Crown: she learns how to take responsibility for herself, learns how to channel her anger appropriately, learns how to set a long-term goal for herself and work toward it, learns how to coexist with those who dislike or resent her, learns how to bridge the gap between aristocracy and commoners, learns to like education and reading, learns how handle romantic and sexual feelings, and probably learns other things I'm forgetting.

So I think there's a couple things going on with the weird doubling effect at the end of the novel. Partially, there's a recognition that childhood remains when you pass into adulthood. Aerin may have crossed the portal from reality to fantasy, from childhood to adulthood, but childhood never goes away, you always carry both worlds within you, and so does Aerin.

Additionally, Aerin has to move from her immortal life back to her mortal one in order to implement the moral lessons she's learned-- because if the protagonist does not implement them, how can the reader? We're explicitly told that "it was her love for Luthe that made her recognize her love for Tor" (207). If fantasy worlds exists to teach the reader how to behave in the real world, we have that literalized in The Hero and the Crown, hence both worlds must persist. But unlike in Narnia or (to bring up another portal-quest fantasy) Susan Cooper's The Silver on the Tree, Aerin does not need to give up her fantasy life. In what surely is a fantasy (in the imagining-you-have-obtained-an-unobtainable-thing sense) she can have both lives. show less

I never doubted for a moment where this book was going, but McKinley's hand at the wheel was so sure I didn't mind going along for the ride. Her characters were multi-faceted and enjoyable to read about. I especially liked the realistic portrait of love and the choices that sometimes come with it towards the end. The derring-do was great fun, and the plotting brisk. It felt like a fairy tale, an old tale many times told, with a certain underlying gravitas. Well-written doesn't exactly cover it. Well-written on many levels perhaps describes it better.

There were inconsistencies which almost nagged, until I realized that I was probably looking through Aerin's eyes, and she couldn't be a reliable witness, given all she's got to deal with. Once I got that straightened out in my head, I settled back and enjoyed the journey.

I wasn’t expecting much from The Hero and the Crown. I didn’t really like Sunshine by the same author very much and I couldn’t figure out why everyone has always loved Robin McKinley.

I get it now.

Aerin is the daughter of the King of Damaria, but her position has never been comfortable. For as long as she can remember, there have been many rumors floating around about her mother; that she bewitched the king, that she wasn’t entirely human, that she was a witch. The situation isn’t made any easier by the fact that Aerin’s hereditary magic hasn’t developed. She longs to be of use somehow, and with the discovery of kenet, a fire-proof salve, she discovers her calling when she begins to kill dragons. Her skill doesn’t save her, and before the end she must learn a great deal about herself in order to save her country.

This book brought me straight back to my childhood, even though I’d never read it before. It reads like a fairy tale and reminded me a great deal of one of show more my favorites, Princess Nevermore by Dian Curtis Regan, although they have very little in common except for this fairy tale tone. McKinley’s writing spoke to the little girl in me and I fell totally in love - with Aerin, with Tor, and perhaps especially with her horse, Talat, who may be my new favorite fantasy companion. (It’s between Talat and Pantalaimon from His Dark Materials.) Aerin’s journey was wonderfully done and I was very happy to allow myself to sink into this world. Perfect escapism.

There’s very little else to say about a book I loved so much. This is an ideal book for young adults, in my opinion, and I’m not at all surprised that it won a Newbury Medal. I’m sorry I didn’t discover it sooner!

http://chikune.com/blog/?p=185 show less

Remember back in the day when it didn't take 15 1000p books to tell an awesome story? I miss those days.

So this book is one of those fantasy classics I should have read, I was told to read, and never did get around to. And once again, I am heartily sorry I didn't, though I am pleased to have done it now.

The main character, Aerin, is a half-noble girl child of a king, one whose mother was reportedly a witch, so the nobles (and most of the townsfolk) don't take much of a liking to her out of sheer prejudice. She's uncomfortable in her own skin and as the daughter (and only child) of the King. Of course, all of the good characters do take a liking to her and she gets to do cool stuff like tame and rehabilitate a lame horse, battle dragons, and save the land.

Aerin is everything an awesome heroine should be, and I quite like her. She's strong and vulnerable, not overly pretty and as imperfect as anyone can be. I imagine she's a character any awkward girl would love.

There is more show more characterization, plot, atmosphere, and story in this book than many others more than 6 times its length and a totally worthy, fantastic read. Some of it is predictable, and some of it is formulaic (now, I'm not sure how much of it would be in 1984), but it's still damn awesome. show less

This review and others posted over at my blog.

Yo, where has this book been all my life? Oh, I know; on my shelves for at least 9 years! [x_x[] I waited far too long to read this book – though I suspect from the cracked spine and lipstick prints on the inside of the back cover (don’t ask, there’s no reasonable explanation) that Middle School Milliebot did read this book and Adult Millie has completely forgotten it. Regardless, it was fabulous!

If all YA books were written by McKinley, or in the spirit of this book, I’d actually be a fan of the genre! Originally written in 1984, The Hero and the Crown truly stands the test of time and is now my new standard for judging YA fantasy.

Aerin is a great character – determined, intelligent, caring, socially awkward and not impervious to bouts of self-doubt and definitely not above getting beat down. She’s by no means a special snowflake. Rather than be told about how amazing and special Aerin is, she proves she’s tough by show more actually being tough! She has to learn her lessons through hard work and determination and she develops her riding, swordplay, and herbalism skills by working relentlessly at them. She falls, many times, and continues to get up, though sometimes more slowly than others. Here’s a heroine who gets her ass handed to her in battle on more than one occasion, rather than just strolling onto the scene and defeating everyone effortlessly.

I also loved that while she’s generally viewed as an outcast at her father – the king’s – court, she’s not completely isolated. She has her loyal caretaker, Teka, her supportive cousin, Tor, and her trusty and intelligent steed, Talat. I just realized now that everyone’s name starts with T…anyway! Aerin’s relationship with her father is more awkward than strained – it’s clear he loves her, he’s just not sure what to do with her. But he doesn’t try to prevent her from adventuring off and slaying dragons.

I appreciated that Aerin falls somewhere in the middle of the ‘completely isolated and unloved heroine who must defeat all odds and save the day’ and ‘ultra-special sexy snowflake chosen one heroine who must save the day’ scale. She’s a true underdog who’s easy to root for.

The beginning of the book was slightly confusing for me though. There are several flashbacks to how Aerin trained Talat, ate some drug leaves and took a bad trip, and developed her fireproof salve. For a while, I didn’t understand that those scenes weren’t ‘the present.’ This wasn’t a major issue because I still loved everything I was reading, but just something I figured I’d point out.

There is a smidgen of romance in this book, so if that’s important to you in a YA novel, fear not! It might even be classified as a love triangle, though it’s not nearly as tropey as today’s fare. I don’t want to spoil anything, but rest assured, there’s no insta-love and Aerin doesn’t spend the majority of the book worrying over which man she’ll choose. I really appreciated how her two love interests were handled. There’s also implied sexual content, though it’s very light, so nothing to worry about if you don’t really care for sex in your romance or fantasy.

This is just an all-around fabulous book. I love the characters, I love Aerin’s journey, both plotwise and emotionally, and there are dragons and magic! This is a great take on the ‘hero’s quest’ trope and one I should have picked up much sooner. I have several of McKinley’s books on my shelves and I can’t wait to read them all!

I recommend this for:
+ Those of you looking for a YA that focuses on plot and character development, not love triangles
+ Fans of characters who actually earn their skills and fight for their place in the world
+ Anyone looking for a low-key fantasy that still has dragons and magical items of lore, but is light on the world building and magic system
+ Everyone – just read it, please show less

Technically speaking, The Hero and the Crown is the second book published in the Damar series though events are sent many years prior to The Blue Sword. The hero of legend, Aerin Firehair, wasn't always a hero. Once she was the shy, awkward only child of the King of Damar. This is her story about her coming of age and how her legend was made.

The story is a classic hero's quest though it has some unusual elements in the second half. I absolutely loved Aerin's character, how real she feels and how hard she works to earn her place. Arein is an unsatisfactory princess - she isn't beautiful, her mother was a "witch" and she yearns to become a dragon slayer, which in this world an unglamorous job since dragons are seen as vermin and their slaying as no more than a chore. The more effort she goes to in order to prove herself to her father's court, the more she's underappreciated, never mind that all her accomplishments are quite valued by the common people she helps. She even uses show more methodical persistence to work out a scientific problem, with much success and was pretty cool because it's not something you see often in this kind of story. Seeing as this is a hero journey, Aerin continues her struggles until she's ultimately successful, proving herself beyond all doubt by saving the day in the end.

And now for the unusual stuff. Spoilers ahead. There is a fight that requires Aerin to travel back and forth in time. It was very confusing to read. I'm really glad one of the other characters explains it afterwards because it felt more like a dream sequence than an actual battle. Also interesting is how the author made depression a plot point. Discussing mental illness was virtually unheard of in any of the 80's fiction I read, especially not in a YA adventure story. It's handled quite well, both caused and cured by magic, yet shows the hero's resilience as she doggedly continues on her quest regardless. Highly unusual is that our hero ends up with two love interests, has relationships with both and yet this isn't a love triangle. Aerin understands that after she's become immortal, she can marry and live with her mortal lover and then join her immortal one later. Yet there is never any romantic angst. She makes her decisions level headed and when she feels like she's ready.

This story resonated with me due to all the hardships Aerin endures and over comes. I can see myself rereading this one in the future. I also greatly enjoy McKinley's prose. I need to check out some of her adult books in the future. show less

Aerin is the daughter of the king of Damar -- but by his second wife, a woman who was widely distrusted and whom many suspected of witchcraft. Aerin herself is looked down on by most of the royal court, even when she discovers a fireproofing ointment that enables her to slay dragons with less chance of personal injury. Dragons, after all, are vermin, and though they can be fierce, none of them grow much larger than a dog in Aerin's day. The Great Dragons are considered creatures of legend . . . until the day that one of them appears. Maur, the last of the Great Dragons, awoken by malicious Northern magic, returns to terrorize Damar -- and Aerin may be the only person who can face him. Even if she can defeat Maur, she will have to face greater and more dangerous challenges before she can take her rightful place in Damar.

This is probably my second-favorite McKinley book (after Beauty). Aerin is a great, complex character -- she consistently undervalues herself, but that doesn't stop show more her from attempting heroic action, not for the glory of it, but because it's a dirty job that someone has to do. The romance in the story, not to give too much away, is likewise complex. And, though the story is pretty tightly focused on Aerin, secondary characters (even the unlikeable ones) get their moments of poignance and character development. show less

Classic fantasy tale, extremely well told. Aerin, with her all-too-human imperfections (and her wonderfully sarcastic wit), makes for a great narrator. The only child of a king, but removed from the line of succession because her parents' marriage was ruled morganatic, Aerin struggles to fit in with the rest of the ruling class. Her pursuit of a mysterious shield against dragonfire, though, brings her great acclaim ... and a quest against a more powerful foe than any dragon.

Highly enjoyable from first to last.

...still a winner 30 years on!

A timely re-release of a classic fantasy and winner of the 1985 Newbery Medal.
About the same time Tamora Pierce's Allana was being told for the first time, so was McKinley's story about Aerin, the princess who was different. Aerin carries the burden of negative public opinion, being seen as less than adequate. What do these two have in common? Both are strong female leads who fights the odds and win through. Both move forward at great personal cost against seemingly hopeless situations, armed only with sheer grit and determination, and a lot of tears shed in quiet places.
In this tale of discovering one's abilities, Aerin is the princess who didn't inherit the family magical gifts. So to many there's obviously some fault within her. In fact magic done anywhere near Aerin makes her feel decidedly queasy.
Of course the nasty types say that's because her mother was a witch who ensorcelled the King. The King does not say that.
Aerin seems clumsy, inarticulate show more and insecure. I love that she eats off common clay plates as they can be easily replaced when she inadvertently drops one. No fine breakable china for her.
She's only happy when she's out riding her father's retired warhorse or working out how to fight dragons. She will become Lady Aerin, 'Dragon killer,' and that too will bring its share of physical and emotional pain.
Thirty years on and The Hero and the Crown is still an engaging fantasy novel.
The careless petty malignancy of Aerin's cousins Perlith and Galanna still stings.
The hurt of not belonging, of being invisible is still powerful in its telling.
Over the year's I've reread Aerin's story several times and am never disappointed.

A NetGalley ARC show less

This was a reread, though it's been many years since the last time I read it, but there has been much discussion about it on various threads lately so I thought I would come back to it.

I think this has always been one of my childhood favorites, though I wasn't sure why at the time - perhaps it was the dragons or Luthe, or just the fact that I'm partial to redheaded characters.

Now as an adult, I can appreciate the masterly way McKinley writes this story. I've recently read many books on the art of writing and grammar (in my pursuit to be an English teacher) and I find her prose to be astounding. I love the way she tricks you very eloquently into reading flashbacks without realizing they are until you're back at where you started. It's amazing the way she can say in three pages what some authors would take thirty. I like that she doesn't feel like she has to pad her books with unnecessary details - if nothing interesting happens in two years, she doesn't mention it. She rarely show more breaks her prose with gaps on the page either - instead she actually segues from paragraph to paragraph, changing ideas and time periods without the need to break the readers' concentration.

I'm not sure I can praise this book highly enough. Now to address xicanti, I do understand your sentiments about the middle of the book. When I was younger the entire sequence of the dragon head on the wall taunting her completely freaked me out! I think I understand it better now. Also I think the middle is a way to show that even heroes (or heroines) find themselves lost at some point along the way. I love the scenes with Tor falling in love with Aerin, and most especially the scenes with Luthe! I think I've had a crush on Luthe since I read the book the very first time. show less

A solid, steadily moving story of an awkward princess who becomes a dragon slaying hero, this story goes from specific to vague and has the texture of dry cake. Read in the 1980s it wouldn't seem so utterly familiar in tone, but I missed my chance at that and this doesn't hold up as well as a number of that decade's other slow developing girl with special talent offerings. It does have some distinctions, but not enough to rate it higher.

Finally available as an ebook, The Hero and the Crown holds up amazingly well for a thirty-year-old book.

Aerin, the daughter of the king of Damar and a foreign woman rumored to be a witch, is awkward and clumsy and lacking in the royal magic. Not a princess, merely the king's disregarded daughter, she has few friends; besides her maid, the only person with much time for her is her older cousin Tor, the king's heir. While recuperating from a serious illness, Aerin befriends her father's old warhorse, now out to pasture, and studies how to kill dragons. Armed with a fireproofing potion that she reconstructed from an old text, she succeeds. But dragons are merely vermin, and the name Dragonkiller does her no good at court. But there are bigger dangers for her to face, including the last of the old dragons, Maur, who may yet destroy both Aerin and Damar.

Aerin is a delightful character: strong, intelligent, and stubborn, with a full measure of curiosity. She is by no means perfect, but show more her victories are all the more precious for that.

Highly recommended. show less

Books of this kind don't get much better than The Hero and the Crown. It's got all the usual trappings of a fairy tale/fantasy: kings, nobles, wizards, mages, dragons, demon mischief from the north, magic lakes, etc. It's about a painfully isolated young girl and an impossible quest. Or two.

But the characterization is excellent and the writing is gorgeous. Actually, the structure of the book is pretty remarkable as well - Part One is mostly a flashback but the way it's done is just superb, not quite linear but never choppy.

One thing that really impressed me, that may kind of get at why the book is so good, is that Aerin (the heroine) can get hurt, and when she's hurt she acts like she's hurt. She doesn't suffer some horrible wound and then run off to perform more heroic feats; she doesn't recover from injuries in the blink of an eye and then run off to perform more heroic feats. So even though it's a fairy tale in the best sense of the word - a morality tale, I guess, a story show more about good and evil - there is also a kind of brutal honesty to it.

McKinley's writing is very intense, very atmospheric. The best word to describe it, and the story in general, is: poignant. It's moving, bittersweet, the kind of book where you'll be smiling and crying at the end. show less

To start, I recently saw this book lumped into a fantasy webpage with K.A. Applegate's Everworld and Garth Nix's Sabriel--two books which I started and never finished due to sheer boredom (I think I got up to page 20 in Sabriel and up to the fifth book in Everworld; sheesh, what a waste of time!) Clearly, I was extremely disturbed by such an insult to The Hero and the Crown. You simple cannot make those comparisons. Period.

Let's start with the fact that The Hero and the Crown is a Newbery Award winner.
Ch-yea!
...Okay, yes, I know that's practically the kiss of death to young, modern readers but in this case, NEWBERY ACTUALLY GOT IT RIGHT!
It won the award back in 1985, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's outdated. There is a damn, good reason why it has stuck around on the shelves of bookstores for so long--IT'S A FANTASTIC BOOK!
And not just that, it's memorable. I have never, ever read such a unique medieval story.
It's just like: WHOA.

The book's summary:

"Robin McKinley's show more mesmerizing history of Damar is the stuff that legends are made of. The Hero and the Crown is a dazzling "prequel" to The Blue Sword.

Aerin is the only child of the king of Damar, and should be his rightful heir. But she is also the daughter of a witchwoman of the North, who died when she was born, and the Damarians cannot trust her.

But Aerin's destiny is greater than her father's people know, for it leads her to battle with Maur, the Black Dragon, and into the wilder Damarian Hills, where she meets the wizard Luthe. It is he who at last tells her the truth about her mother, and he also gives over to her hand the Blue Sword, Gonturan. But such gifts as these bear a great price, a price Aerin only begins to realize when she faces the evil mage, Agsded, who has seized the Hero's Crown, greatest treasure and secret strength of Damar."

Aerin is, without a doubt, one of the greatest heroines ever to hit literature. Her flaming, red hair is as distinctive as she is, and her story is leagues ahead of its peers. Her adventure takes its physical, emotional, and psychological tolls, which is what'll keep you turning the pages.

McKinley creates a perfect, little world with its own legends, myths, customs, and culture. It's something you can really sink your teeth into--especially if you're sick of reading story after story in the same, old, stone castle.

Most interestingly, the dragons in this story are very different from some of their other, popular books. Here, you'll find no cuddly Saphira from Eragon. Indeed, if you'll pardon the following puns, dragons in this book are dark, malicious, and evilly delicious (just look at Maur on that cover; I could stare for hours!) Don't worry, though, Aerin has her "lucky charms" and a thoroughly charming (and stubborn!) stallion to help her out.

This book has imprinted itself on me like no other and you'll be denying youself something fierce if you don't read it!

This review is an entry on my blog. show less

I got this book when it was first published, in hardcover.

At the time, 'The Blue Sword' (to which this is a prequel) was one of my most-beloved books - and, I have to admit, that at the time, I didn't feel the 'The Hero and the Crown' quite measured up. I liked it - but just not quite as much. (It's not like I didn't read it several times, though.)

Re-reading, years later, I understand why I felt the way I did - but I also kind of disagree with my youthful opinion. This is a wonderful book.

It's a classic quest/hero's journey tale, but it also incorporates some unusual elements very effectively.

In 'The Blue Sword,' Aerin is a legend of history, a dragon slayer and wielder of a sword of magical powers. In 'The Hero and the Crown' we meet Aerin and discover how she became a hero.

The first half of the book is very self-contained. It introduces the half-foreign, distrusted and ill-used (but still quite privileged and royal) Aerin, a tomboy who insists on practicing swordplay. I very show more much enjoyed how, in her country, dragons are small creatures, certainly pestilent, but just vermin to be exterminated. Killing them brings no prestige - it's just something that has to be done. Aerin's doggedness and use of the scientific method in figuring out how to eliminate them more efficiently is a rare and appreciated example of the value of methodical persistence in order to accomplish anything. I also very much liked how, for all her efforts, she is consistently underappreciated - but the value of her accomplishments stands on its own. The big showdown with the dragon Maur is at once utterly realistic in detail and gloriously emotional - it brought me to tears.

The second half of the book is where, when I was younger, it lost my attention a bit. It addresses: what happens after one's most heroic act. It takes someone completely outside Aerin's social circle to recognize her true value. The mage Luthe calls her, and thus begins the classic 'magical studies' part of the plot. Aerin grows and matures, but at the same time begins to feel a little bit more elevated and less accessible to the reader.

However, the ending was rich and deeply satisfying. It's rare that a story so successfully depicts how one person can love different people in different ways, with each love enhancing one's life in a deep and meaningful way.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Open Road Media for the opportunity to read the ebook version of this title. show less

I read this when I was young and disgruntled, reading two or three books a day to avoid talking to my classmates. It was basically the perfect time to read this story, which tells the tale of a young woman who is not understood by her people and is deeply unhappy about it. And when I read this, it was one of very few books that spoke to me in a voice I could actually empathize with. All the other fantasy I was reading featured boys tramping across pseudo-English countryside before being crowned as kings--and instead, here was an awkward, stubborn, hard-working girl who wanted to be able to value herself and prove her worth.

Aerin grows up knowing that unlike her royal family, she's ugly, has no magic, and is distrusted by the people they rule. She inherited her low-born mother's looks but not her rumored witching power: the worst of both worlds. When we first meet her, she recently cut off a spiteful cousin's luxurious eyelashes. She tricks another cousin into teaching her show more swordplay, then spends hours upon hours practicing, knowing that she has no natural talent for it but refusing to give up. She spends three years experimenting with potions until she finds one that protects against flame. And then she goes out into the world to kill dragons. But in this kingdom, dragons aren't monstrous beasts--they're vermin. Killing dragons is considered a bit like catching rats. When she's called Dragon-Killer, it's as much a taunt as a title. Needless to say, tween-me adored Aerin.

Reading it now, after an extra decade of socializing and reading other fantasy books, Aerin and her lifelong quest to be a good and useful person is still wonderful, but less of a revelation. I love how much of her success is due to sheer hard work and determination, an indomitable drive to prove herself that overcomes her innate flaws. But although her early victories are her own stubborn will, her final victory over her late mother's evil brother seems like she lucked into it. She literally wins by accident. It's frustrating! That said, I can see where McKinley subverts fantasy tropes more clearly now. It's Aerin's perseverance and hard work, not what she's born with, that make her a hero. The most beautiful girl in the kingdom has dark hair and skin. The heroine loves two people at once, and no one thinks it weird or wrong. There's infrastructure to rebuild after the climactic battle. Instead of showing how foppish and out of touch the court is, their council meetings about provisions and treaties are actually important. etc.

And the writing is, at times, truly fantastic. The descriptions of Maur, so huge he is indistinguishable from his mountain, so malevolent that even keeping his skull as a trophy brings despair to the kingdom, stuck with me all this time. Aerin's relationship with her nurse/maid, Teka, always feels real. The battles with the dragons kept my eyes glued to the page.

I only wish that McKinley had let herself write more of this book. Time and time again, summaries of what Aerin learns or does are provided in place of the action. Aerin's education and love affair with Luthe seem to take place in 10 pages, when they could be 100. This book is only 227 pages long; if it were twice as long, it would only be better. show less

Remember back in the day when it didn't take 15 1000p books to tell an awesome story? I miss those days.

So this book is one of those fantasy classics I should have read, I was told to read, and never did get around to. And once again, I am heartily sorry I didn't, though I am pleased to have done it now.

The main character, Aerin, is a half-noble girl child of a king, one whose mother was reportedly a witch, so the nobles (and most of the townsfolk) don't take much of a liking to her out of sheer prejudice. She's uncomfortable in her own skin and as the daughter (and only child) of the King. Of course, all of the good characters do take a liking to her and she gets to do cool stuff like tame and rehabilitate a lame horse, battle dragons, and save the land.

Aerin is everything an awesome heroine should be, and I quite like her. She's strong and vulnerable, not overly pretty and as imperfect as anyone can be. I imagine she's a character any awkward girl would love.

There is more show more characterization, plot, atmosphere, and story in this book than many others more than 6 times its length and a totally worthy, fantastic read. Some of it is predictable, and some of it is formulaic (now, I'm not sure how much of it would be in 1984), but it's still damn awesome. show less

Beautifully written, The Hero and The Crown paints a vivid and emotional story about a woman who's bloodline allows her to have the life of a princess yet the scorn of a witch. Aerin is fire, both in her stubbornness and in the color of her hair, and she brings to readers a heroine that defies the constraints of men and seeks to find her own place in the world.

Things I Loved About This Book:
- McKinley's beautiful writing and ability to capture my attention
- Aerin's character development (as well as the trials she must face both internally and externally)
- how smoothly the plot was woven throughout the story to connect different pieces and answer questions

Summary: Aerin's the daughter of the king of the struggling kingdom of Damar, but everyone whispers that her mother was a witch from the North who bewitched the King, making Aerin not really a real princess. She grows up largely as an outcast from the royal court, much preferring riding her otherwise untameable horse to staying trammeled in the castle listening to the hum of gossip about her. But when Aerin rediscovers an old potion recipe for making a fireproofing spell, she realizes she can at least be useful to the kingdom in which she doesn't really fit. She starts slaying dragons - a dangerous and thankless task, but one which must be done. But neither Aerin nor anyone else in the kingdom forsees the destiny that this choice has given her.

Review: Well, that's it, I think I'm officially giving up on McKinley's work. I just do not get along with her writing style, and this book was no exception.

Or rather, half of this book was no exception. The first half of the story - the show more tale of Aerin's girlhood and teen years, up to the point where she fights the Big Dragon - is really quite good. It's still not my favorite style of storytelling; it shifted through time, back and forwards through the story, in a way that I didn't always follow or feel was necessary. But overall, it was a lot more personal, a lot closer to Aerin's point of view, with realistic dialogue, some touches of humor, and a story that gave you a good feel for who Aerin was and how she got to be like that. But the second half of the book went from character focused to weirdly distant and epic in tone, even though it was still technically Aerin's POV. There's a lot of mythical questing and quasi-immortal beings and strange surreal battle scenes and magical McGuffins that are linked to the land and nature magic and that sort of silliness, and the whole thing loses the immediacy and intimacy of the first half in exchange for a lot of pretentious blather about destiny and mortal lifespans and blah. It really felt like there were halves of two totally different books only roughly joined together, and although I would have liked to have kept reading the book of the first half, the dry second half totally put me off. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: I know a lot of people really like McKinley's work, so I am maybe not the best one to judge. But even among the books of hers that I've read, this was not one of my favorites. show less

I have read this book over and over again since I was 10. Part of the personal draw for me is that my mother named me, a fiery ginger-haired girl, after the fiery ginger-haired heroine. Aerin Firehair became Erin, The Book Nut. But this book holds up no matter who you are.

Bravery, curiosity, impulsiveness, stubbornness. These qualities describe Aerin, a girl who fights to belong. And fight she does. Despite a nasty couple of cousins and the prejudice of a kingdom, she overcomes.

Every time I read this book I can't help but smile. Its sequel, The Blue Sword is not quite at the same level as this book, but definitely ranks close behind. Both books are certainly worth a read!

I kept thinking that The Hero and the Crown was finally going to descend into the predictability of rags-to-riches fantasy, and then being surprised by a new element that McKinley introduced into the story. There were far too many prophetic dreams, victorious-despite-overwhelming-odds battles, and I-saw-that-coming revelations. But McKinley makes up for it with an unusually sarcastic narrator and an extraordinarily nuanced portrayal of love.

Robin McKinley is one of those Fantasy authors who I've never heard anything negative about her writing. When I found out that she wrote several fairy tale retellings, I began trying to find all of them. While this isn't a retelling, it's still Fantasy, so I bought it along with the second book, The Blue Sword.

I would have finished The Hero and the Crown in a single day if I had started it earlier. I tried to finish it before I went to bed, but by 4 am, I couldn't keep my eyes focused on the page anymore. So, I finished it the next day. The only part of the story I didn't care for was the romance. I know the two characters involved had spent a lot of time together by the time they fell in love, but it didn't feel that way. Perhaps that's because I read the book so quickly, or maybe it's because that part of the story didn't take up a lot of pages. Regardless, I would have preferred them to just be close friends. That's how I feel about a lot of fictional relationships, though, show more especially if the romance isn't necessary to the plot. Why is it that every time there happens to be both a male and female character in a book they have to fall in love with each other?

Putting the romance issue aside, I absolutely loved this book. There is a significant part involving the main character, Aerin, and her relationship with her horse that I thought would bore me because I've never had any real interest in horse stories. Surprisingly, that was one of the most engrossing parts of the story. In other words, Robin McKinley succeeded in making me care about a horse, when up to this point in my life, the only horses I've liked are My Little Ponies. So, if you happen to love horses, Robin McKinley, quest narratives, or High Fantasy, take a lazy day during the weekend (but start earlyish) to read The Hero and the Crown. show less

This is one of the first books I ever bought for myself, and I'm on my second copy because I re-read it so often. :) Aerin is the daughter of a king, with a rumoured witch for a mother. She tries to be inconspicuous in a castle full of royal cousins, a tom boy who gets sword lessons from her favourite cousin Tor and cuts off her least favourite cousin Galanna's eyelashes. There's a bit of magic left in the kingdom and when Galanna taunts Aerin into eating a fist full of surka leaves (since they'd kill her if she didn't have magic), the two years she takes to recover fully transform her life. She befriends and rehabilitates her father's injured war stallion and in her copious reading finds a recipe for a dragon fire proof oinment. The only problem is that now she can't hide and has to live with being known as Fire Hair and Dragonkiller. There's a bit of a love triangle as she learns about her heritage, but it's deftly handled (and neither option is the bad boy). I love Aerin, she's show more stubborn and loyal and brave and I'm always happy to revisit her world. show less

I remembered really liking this one from when I read it as a child,and I liked it again as an adult. I think the thing that I liked the most is that things are hard for Aerin, the titular Hero. Though she (of course) has a "Gift," she has to work for what she gets. Extremely hard. She might be the dragonslayer, but dragonslaying is no easy business. Her character is very well drawn as a result, and that is what makes this novel work so well. Also the romance plot is pretty cute. McKinley is also good at the building the mythological, selling the creepy, and making you think the world her story takes place in is completely real.

This was only my second Robin McKinley book, but it won't be my last. Though it took a few chapters to get pulled into it, primarily because there are so many characters introduced so quickly, the story was impossible to walk away from once it got started. Full of atmosphere, engaging characters, and compelling turns, the story was simply wonderful. Notably, McKinley's descriptions are gorgeous, but she also proves herself a master of writing about animals believably, both as they behave naturally and as they interact with humans.

Simply, the book made me feel rather as if I'd been sucked into a fairy tale all over again, and it was wonderful.

Recommended.

This was my introduction to Robin McKinley, and I couldn't have asked for better. I did love Sunshine, but goodness that one took a long time to get going--more than one friend of mine gave up on it. The Hero and the Crown is different. Not breathless, but certainly not slow-paced, and in Aerin McKinley created one of the great heroines in high fantasy--a princess and a dragon slayer no less. A lot of reviewers seemed to have discovered this book as a child, and I can see this as a YA book, Aerin is young and this is a tale of the ignored child coming into her own, dealing with her gaining (mostly) self-taught skills in fighting dragons. With a horse, Talat, that is one of the most memorable characters in the book you could see this as just that perfect book for young girls. I discovered this as an adult though, and was completely enraptured. McKinley's writing has a beauty and underlying sophistication to satisfy even an adult palette.

This is a beautiful book with some truly poetic moments. For the most part, Aerin's struggles and triumphs are very relatable. Though the book has something of a legendary feel, the reader really empathizes with the heroine's adventure. At times, I was moved to tears.

However, there's a rather strange segment near the middle of the story where I felt my connection to Aerin's tale waver and die. I think I must've missed something pretty crucial, as I found it difficult to piece together just what was going on; it didn't exactly come out of nowhere, but I didn't feel as though its ties to the rest of the story were as strong as they could've been. The whole sequence felt distanced from the rest of the book, as though things were happening simply because the author had decided they ought to happen rather than as a natural progression of the story.

The ending made up for this segment, though. I once again found myself immersed in Aerin's world. Overall, I enjoyed the book very much, and show more look forward to rereading it. show less

Aerin is an outcast in her own father’s court, daughter of the foreign woman who, it was rumored, was a witch, and enchanted the king to marry her.

She makes friends with her father’s lame, retired warhorse, Talat, and discovers an old, overlooked, and dangerously imprecise recipe for dragon-fire-proof ointment in a dusty corner of her father’s library. Two years, many canter circles to the left to strengthen Talat’s weak leg, and many burnt twigs (and a few fingers) secretly experimenting with the ointment recipe later, Aerin is present when someone comes from an outlying village to report a marauding dragon to the king. Aerin slips off alone to fetch her horse, her sword, and her fireproof ointment . . .

But modern dragons, while formidable opponents fully capable of killing a human being, are small and accounted vermin. There is no honor in killing dragons. The great dragons are a tale out of ancient history.

That is, until the day that the king is riding out at the head of show more an army. A weary man on an exhausted horse staggers into the courtyard where the king’s troop is assembled: “The Black Dragon has come . . . Maur, who has not been seen for generations, the last of the great dragons, great as a mountain. Maur has awakened.”

Robin McKinley's mesmerizing history of Damar is the stuff that legends are made of.

Aerin is the only child of the king of Damar, and should be his rightful heir. But she is also the daughter of a witchwoman of the North, who died when she was born, and the Damarians cannot trust her.

But Aerin's destiny is greater than her father's people know, for it leads her to battle with Maur, the Black Dragon, and into the wilder Damarian Hills, where she meets the wizard Luthe. It is he who at last tells her the truth about her mother, and he also gives over to her hand the Blue Sword, Gonturan. But such gifts as these bear a great price, a price Aerin only begins to realize when she faces the evil mage, Agsded, who has seized the Hero's Crown, greatest treasure and secret strength of Damar. show less

Cross-posted at: http://readingisgoodforyou.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/the-hero-and-the-crown-by-ro...

"Aerin could not remember a time when she had not known the story; she had grown up knowing it.

It was the story of her mother, the witchwoman who enspelled the king into marrying her, to get an heir that would rule Damar; and it was told that she turned her face to the wall and died of despair when she found she had borne a daughter instead of a son.

Aerin was that daughter.

But there was more of the story yet to be told; Aerin’s destiny was greater than even she had dreamed – for she was to be the true hero who would wield the power of the Blue Sword . . ."

I finished Hero a few days ago and I’m finally getting around to writing up the review. I must say, I really enjoyed this book and I’m glad I finally got around to reading it. Many reviewers have debated over which is better: The Blue Sword or The Hero and the Crown, but I think they are both well written, but different show more enough in content to love both books equally. With that being said, I am glad that I read The Blue Sword first, as stories of people like Aerin and Tor are merely hinted at, and aspects of Damarian culture, like their unique riding style, are simply taken for granted, but in The Hero and the Crown, the people are fleshed out and readers get to see how the culture originated. In my opinion, one should have their eyes opened, so to speak, to the mystery of the Damarian culture along with Harry in The Blue Sword, and that can’t happen if one has already read The Hero and the Crown.

There are many mentions of Aerin in The Blue Sword – she is a revered, beloved hero, her feats of courage an inspiration to her people. The beginning of Hero shows us a different side to the lady they call Dragon Killer. Ostracized for the despised Northern blood flowing through her veins and ridiculed for her lack of the magic Gift common to the royal family, Aerin has grown to be a shy and clumsy young woman when in the presence of her relations and the Court. Her best friend Tor, however, is privy to her feisty wit, her fiery passion – the part of her that so stubbornly desires to become someone worthy of the respect of her father and the people of Damar. And so, with the covert weapons training Tor provides and the loyal support of a down-trodden war horse, Aerin is propelled along the path leading her to become the Dragon Killer and, ultimately, the savior of the kingdom of Damar.

Never let it be said that I don’t love Harry, but once her full power was awakened in her, nearly everything required of her became almost ridiculously easy for her to accomplish (the central theme of The Blue Sword, of course, was Harry discovering her true place in the world, so this is acceptable). I do think I came to respect Aerin a bit more because of what she had to overcome both in her relationships with others and the tasks laid before her before she could achieve her destiny.

As I read, I found myself smiling as little bits of Damarian culture was explained (Oh, so that’s how those hunting cats came into play and I get now why the Hillfolk now ride sans bridle and stirrup). I also will admit that I coveted Aerin’s animal companions – why be bothered by those trash-talking cousins when you’ve got a faithful war horse and a dozen fierce wild cats and dogs on your side?

I do admit that while I was a bit confused by the rather medieval environment and lush landscape found in Hero when the Damar with which I was familiar was rather covered with sand and populated by desert nomads, this is eventually explained. And, yes, I was a bit thrown for a loop by Aerin's . . . err . . . relationship with the infamous Luthe, but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this book (and despite its rather where-did-that-come-from nature, I found myself believing in it. Still have to root for my boy Tor, though, because he loved Aerin before understanding the true nature of her heritage). show less

I read the Hero and the Crown back in the early 90’s for the first time...the book was first released in the 80’s. Actually, I read this book many many times when I was in elementary and middle school (about 20 years ago). Open Road Media is releasing this as an ebook, so I was excited to get a copy for review. I was also interesting to see what I thought about the book reading it as an adult. I shouldn’t have worried, it was still an excellent fantasy novel.

Aerin is the daughter of the King of Damar and one of the only nobility not to have the Gift. She is desperate to prove herself and finds solace in learning to hunt dragons. Then she is forced to face the greatest dragon ever. However, the dragons aren’t the only problem there is a deeper evil at work in the Kingdom of Damar...one that only Aerin can face.

This is an excellent fantasy novel. I still really enjoyed it a lot. Although I will admit I have read this book so many times it is hard to review it, I just have so show more much past linked with it.

Aerin is an excellent heroine. She is caring, tough, and struggling to find her place in the world. I love her determination and her strength. When I read books like Graceling by Kristin Cashore and The Glass Throne by Sarah Maas I always think about Aerin. In some ways I think Aerin is the YA fantasy heroine that a lot of characters that come after are modeled from.

The two male leads in the book, Tor and Luthe, are amazing. Tor is Aerin’s childhood friend and the one who teaches her swordwork and riding. Luthe is an amazingly mysterious mage that helps Aerin in a time of great need. And it’s not a love triangle! There is so much more to the story. Although I will admit I had a crush on Luthe in my preteen years and I still kind of do.

So much happens in this fairly short book. Dragons are fought, battles take eons, heroes are pulled through time, and kingdoms rise and fall. When I first read this book I was relatively new to the genre (and to reading in general) and I was worried that rereading it now would ruin it for me. It didn’t, this is just a really well done fantasy book. A huge story is told in such a small space, it is amazingly creative and amazingly well done.

Overall this is an excellent fantasy with adventure, a brave heroine, and some romance. So much happens in this small book. I love the characters, the fast-paced adventure, and the battles with dragons. This is classic YA fantasy at it’s best. Highly recommended to fans of YA fantasy everywhere, I feel like this is where the YA fantasy genre started. show less

While still enjoyable, the years since I had last read it, have diminished it from my memory. Even though I enjoy Aerin as a semi-feisty heroine, the plot falls plight to one of the worst fantasy tropes: the savior knowing exactly what to do without knowing why (in this case Aerin's surka wreath).

I still really like it, if only for the descriptions of Talat's "grimaces of pleasure" as he's being groomed, and yes he's a horse.

I love this book. It has the elements of a fairy tale, a young princess whose mother dies in childbirth, a father who loves her, but is king and has to attend to the kingdom first, a jealous cousin, etc. What I really love, however, is the fact that the princess isn't perfect. She's clumsy, trips over her own feet, breaks things and then can't use the family magic to repair them, etc. She is also a scientist, intent on making a special elixir that will enable a person to withstand fire so that she can fight fire-breathing dragons. And of course, there's the horse. What 13 year old girl isn't in love with horses? Some romance but not enough to overshadow the action. And a quest or two to keep things interesting. A great antidote to regular fairy tales.

When I was an early teen, two of my favorite books were [b:The Blue Sword|407813|The Blue Sword (Damar, #1)|Robin McKinley|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1286927812s/407813.jpg|2321296]and [b:The Hero and the Crown|77366|The Hero and the Crown (Damar, #2)|Robin McKinley|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348790397s/77366.jpg|2321243]. I must have read them several times a year. I recently showed them to my fantasy obsessed 3rd grader. And while he didn't find them anything special (they are about a GIRL after all and there aren't a lot of battles), I've had a hankering to revisit the land of Damar ever since.

While there are parts of [b:The Hero and the Crown|77366|The Hero and the Crown (Damar, #2)|Robin McKinley|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348790397s/77366.jpg|2321243] that move a bit too slowly, it's still a good story, and Robin McKinley just has a way with words I find appealing.

A pretty darn good read.

I love how doing an act of heroism comes with an unexpected cost. People are now afraid of her, and not only try to somehow minimize what she did at what personal cost, but cannot trust her to be a force for good... well, you'll have to see for yourself as McKinley is a deft writer and I'm not.

I appreciate, too, how many mistakes were made, and how much extra work had to be done because of them.

I recommend reading this *before* Blue Sword. It does feel like it was written first, to me, and makes that story so much more understandable, imo.

1985 Newbery Medal Winner

This was a fun book, but the first third of it or so was slow, so it took me a while to pick it back up again after I had my baby.

Once Aerin figures out her kenet recipe and starts fighting dragons, I got sucked in and finished it pretty fast.

It's a straight "hero's journey" type of story in which Aerin, whose father is the king of Damar and mother was a woman rumored to have been a witch, comes into her own and becomes a savior of her people despite their earlier mistrust of her.

The story felt like it wasn't really planned out and the plot was pretty simple, but I recognize that it's a story of a female hero written at a time when that wasn't as common as it is now.

After Aerin is almost killed by Maur, the black dragon, the story gets pretty trippy and random. Her meeting with Luthe, a man who appears to her in a dream, and the revelation that the Big Bad Guy is her uncle, whom we only meet in the few pages before she finally kills him and retrieves the show more Hero's Crown, felt kind of piecemeal. I think the villain would have been scarier if there had been more buildup to his appearance and more background on him. show less

First, this is not as good as the Blue Sword. The Blue Sword manages to both use and break stereotypes. This book is too much 80's wish fulfillment fantasy. I've read other books in this same genre that reads almost the same. But Robin McKinley does it best.

We have an ill-used Heroine. She is the only child of the king, but because she is female, she will not be queen. Of course, she prefers swordsmanship to embroidery lessons, riding horses over dancing, and generally, just completely different than her peers.

Note - this sentence contains spoilers. But, not much of spoilers since this book is fairly standard of this sort. Of course, she's treated badly, runs away, becomes friends with the forest, learns a bit of magic and defeats the bad guy, and life is good.

Its well written, characters are nuanced, the history of Damar is filled in, and I'm disappointed the origins of Damar is typical western type kingdom story, rather than something a bit less standard.

While this book does add show more a bit of history to the Blue Sword, its not essential reading. show less

young princess who feels like a misfit, teaches herself to fight dragons, befriends animals left&right, finds love twice, overcomes a villain from her family's past, follows her known duty rather than pursue unknown emotion...it's really not as dry as I'm summarizing.

beautifully and dreamily written. I remember reading this and wanting to fight dragons. a big surprise when I re-read years later and still enjoyed it, still found the heroine a sympathetic character. good messages about not taking anyone's crap and actively working to make things happen for yourself instead of waiting around.

i just finished reading Twilight and what a contrast - weak, whiny, undone by selfishness portrayed as strength - HatC is better by far.

As usual, I like this book despite not really liking Aerin. Somehow she strikes me as...not passive, exactly, but more done-to than doing. Which is weird since she defies all convention and goes out to become a warrior and all the rest...but it seems almost accidental. Talat because he's as lame as she is, the book by accident, start her down the path...anyway. I do like the story. And it's Damar, which is great all by itself!

This was #98 on NPR's list of YA novels...I'm working through this list, which means I'll be reading Fantasy lit, which I really don't care for. At all.

What was good about this one--female protagonist, not driven into decision by a love triangle. I appreciated that much. And the fact that even when the men in her life disapproved of her choices, she didn't seem to care and did what she saw as necessary anyway.

The main character was fine, and I liked the dialogue. But--and this is my problem with Fantasty lit in general--there's just not enough dialogue, and I get lost in the pages upon pages of describing a world or a monster or the traditions of the people.

I'd definitely recommend this book to any fan of Fantasy lit, though--especially girls. Nice to see a female protagonist.

But my next book is going to be a Gallagher Girls book. Much more my speed of female heroes.

So, I just finished reading The Hero And The Crown, and I loved it! I've had it on my 21 books to read before I'm 21 list, but put it off because I was afraid it'd be a hard read. I read Beauty, also written by Robin McKinnley, and was a little put off by how much she writes. Don't get me wrong she's an amazing author, but sometimes her books feel long or overly descriptive. I felt a little less like that after reading the Hero and the Crown. Once I stared it I couldn't put it down. When I was forced to put it down, I found my mind drifting back to it wondering what Aerin would do next. After finishing it I still feel this way! What are Aerin's further adventures?! Does she see Luthe again!? Anyway, overall it was a lovely story. My only complaint is that a few times I was a little confused and had to reread past sentences. So, my advice is to pay attention and stick with it!

I jumped into this book immediately after finishing The Blue Sword. It takes place prior to The Blue Sword, but I think I got more from it reading The Blue Sword first. Aerin is the daughter of the king, but her mother was accounted a witch woman who may have magicked her way into the king's heart. Aerin's precarious position in her society (due to this hinted at stigma) led her to find a niche that was appropriate. Her bravery and sense of duty sang in my heart. Her battles with the evils in the land were epic. The interludes with Luthe were rich and peaceful. And I loved how the Damar we saw in The Blue Sword had its roots in what Aerin did.

This book is well worth reading if you enjoy fantasy at all.

Aerin-sol, daughter of the Damarian king and his second wife, is practically an outcast at court. Between her pale skin and red hair, her clumsiness and bad temper, and the fact that her royal 'Gift' hasn't appeared, only a few people still acknowledge her. Then she discovers an ointment which is proof against dragon fire. With its help, she establishes her place in court, but to save her country and her people, she must go up against Maur the Black Dragon, an evil sorcerer, and her own inner demons.

This was the first McKinley book I read and it introduced me to my now-favorite author. The story-telling in this book is wonderful; McKinley's forte is description over dialogue and action and here there is plenty of it. There are several convoluted sequences that can be difficult to follow - including the timing at the beginning of the book - but at the end of the day, it does make sense and perhaps it adds to Aerin's own confusion about her life.

This novel is the prequel to The Blue Sword in which we meet Aerin, the “first” woman to wield the Blue Sword. This story gives a lot of background for the elements of The Blue Sword which bring flashes of recognition when you encounter them, but the story itself stands very well on its own. In my opinion (not shared by many I know who have read both) this is a superior story. It is better written, better plotted and has better characterizations. The details are finer and I was much more involved in Aerin’s fate than I was in Harry’s. Also there was a “proper” ending with detail and not just a “summary” of how people paired off. I think both stories should be read and in the order written, but if you must choose just one I would suggest this one, especially for adults. Highly recommended

I could have sworn I read this back when I was younger. However, the more I read, the less I find I remember. I must have been REALLY young. More details as I complete...

-----

Yeah, okay, didn't remember any of this after I finished reading it. It told me the female as a lead protagonist isn't a new concept, as this came out back when I was young. The world felt well built. It felt complete. You sensed that everything that happened would effect not just the central characters, but the entire world.

Magic seemed limited, though building. Or perhaps rebuilding. Reading it felt weird, on one hand, but on the other, it felt perfectly natural. Right genre. I feel the need to find the rest of the books in the series...

Aerin doesn't fit in. She's clumsy, likes riding better than dancing, and can't sew worth a darn. And the worst is, she's a princess of the royal family, but she doesn't have any of the magical Gift that is the royals' greatest treasure. So she goes hunting the small dragons that infest her land of Damar, and so goes hunting destiny.

This story sucked me in from the start and never let me go. I appreciate the author's ability to NOT feel obliged to explain everything, but instead to let the tale flow swiftly along, unimpeded. Now I need to reread The Blue Sword again.

Great, especially with the audiobook.

Starts off slow with a lot of flashbacks and world building that can be at times hard to follow, but is a pleasant read and picks up quite a bit near the end. I got the Kindle version with whispersync, and the audiobook was excellent! I'd listen to this book repeatedly, and it could use repeated readings. I got a bit lost near the climax (due to the story's suddenly quick pace and to my falling asleep during key moments from exhaustion late at night), but overall Robin McKinley did not disappoint!

Aerin, “the only daughter of the witchwoman who enspelled the king into marrying her,” is a pale red-haired young woman without a gift of magic. She inherited none from her father and none from her mother, who died at her birth. Tall and gangly, not a favorite at court and not in line to succeed to the throne, Aerin makes herself useful by killing dragons. Not large dragons, like the Great Ones of old but the small stubby legged broad bodied beasts of the present day that were such a nuisance. Of course, they can still spit fire and you have to be careful of the barbed tail, so you have to be careful. Also, they often come in pairs. But Aerin preservers, and gains a reputation. And then, Maur, the black dragon appears. Supposedly dead for many years, Maur is one of the Great Ones.

Aerin, the daughter of a witch and the king she bewitched, lives a lonely life, derided by her countrymen, scorned for her lack of gifts. Somehow she takes an elderly, broken-down warrior horse and heads off to kill a small dragon. In the process, she finds her life. It was grueling to read the parts of the story where Aerin faces the enormous dragon, burning off her hair, scarring her. It felt, for some reason, more difficult to read than stories of men facing dragons. I do not know why.I don’t know what children would make of this story. Big vocabulary. Tragedy. Love. But I liked it a lot. Aerin learns much from a mystical mage, falls in love with him, and yet chooses to leave him to save her people, her ungrateful, cruel people.

After I finished reading this I discovered that I had read it previously 16 years ago. I read the entire book this time without the slightest inkling that I had read it before. Obviously it didn't make much of an impression on me last time--although I guess enough of an impression to make me want to keep it with me for the past 16 years.

At any rate, this time it definitely did leave an impression. I loved the first half of this book. This won the Newbery Medal in 1985, but if I hadn't known better, I wouldn't have guessed that this book is targeted for younger audiences. This is the story of a king's only child, Aerin, a daughter from his second marriage. Rumor has it that his second wife was a witch who ensorceled the king into loving her so that she could bear his heir and take over his kingdom, but then died of despair when she gave birth to a daughter instead of a son. Aerin grows up in a court that never quite accepts her, knowing that her destiny lies elsewhere. This is the show more story of how she discovers exactly where her destiny lies.

Aerin's character comes as alive and as real as any I've read. The author pulled me into the story and had me caring a great deal for what was going to happen to Aerin. I didn't want to put this down.

But about halfway through the novel, things change a bit. All of the main battle scenes were ethereal and ambiguous and I didn't enjoy those parts. I felt like I was just slogging through those pages waiting for the story to rematerialize and get back on track. But once it did, the story picked right back up again. If it wasn't for these parts I would've given this 5 out of 5 stars. show less

Again, I remembered loving this book, but absolutely nothing about the plot or characters. What a pleasurable re-read. I’ve been a fan of McKinley’s for a long time, and this is a good one. A truly classic fantasy novel, drawing on all the canon rules, this book still manages not to seem formulaic or cut-and-dried. I think she drew from multiple canons, so that it would blend into something new. It’s got an ignored princess, dragons, and an evil uncle, but at least the main character comes into her own without clichéd ‘you can do it’ speeches from her supporters. (pannarrens)

Aerin is an outsider in her home, even though she is the king's only child. The traditional royal "gift" of magic doesn't seem like it will ever come to her and many say her mother was a witch that tricked the king. She knows at a young age that her future does not lie in being a traditional lady in the court, so she sets out to make her own destiny and name as a dragon hunter. Aerin's travels lead her much farther from home than she expects and to a battle that helps her understand her heritage as well as the path ahead of her.

I read The Blue Sword before reading The Hero and the Crown, so it was kind of odd reading about Aerin as a young girl with all of the uncertainty after reading about her first as a legend. The characters were lovable and the story was good. I didn't want to put it down.

This is the first Robin McKinley book I've ever read, and I really loved it. I picked it up on a whim at a used bookstore, and I read it pretty much in one sitting. It reminded me a bit of both Kristin Cashore's [b:Graceling|3236307|Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)|Kristin Cashore|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1331548394s/3236307.jpg|3270810] and Tamora Pierce's [b:Wild Magic|13836|Wild Magic (Immortals, #1)|Tamora Pierce|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347991557s/13836.jpg|1171314], with sword fights and dragons and derring do and a phenomenal girl protagonist. I'm so glad I bought it!

This was a very well-written book, but I had a problem with the plot. I apprecite that Aerin was "not quite mortal" at the end, but it really bothered me that she fell in love with Luthe but married Tor because she loved him, too. I kept think it was like (in a not as well written book)Bella deciding that she would take Jacob until he died, and then go be with her immortal true love. Other than that, it was really good. Lots of adventure, maybe a little too much exposition.

Aerin has never felt complete at home among her fellow dark-colored Damarians. Fair-skinned and redheaded, Aerin prefers riding with her father's discharged war horse Talat instead of attending balls. People whisper about her being a "witchwoman's daughter," a reference to how her mother, a poor Northerner, supposedly enchanted Aerin's father the king and had a child with him, then died when she found out her child was a girl. Despite that, Aerin has no magical abilities, unlike all other members of the royal family, another reason why she thinks she does not belong.

One day, Aerin discovers an old recipe for an ointment that could keep the wearer safe from dragonfire. This starts her off on an incredible, legendary journey, where she fights one of the greatest dragons of all time and an evil sorcerer. Could it be that she really isn't as awkward and unmagical as she thinks she is?

Robin McKinley has written a splendid book, with breathtaking action sequences and touchingly show more romantic moments. Every kind of reader will find something he or she likes in this book that is every bit as legendary as its heroine. show less

This is one book of many books in the universe that sets itself to prove that girls can be as good as boys, that they can become warriors like boys and that no girl should think otherwise of themselves. The story is somewhat of a fairy tale, mostly a fantasy, and focuses on Aerin as she grows up to become something great because of her own determination. What I liked about her development was that there was no hiding of the fact that she was flawed, her story changed as she changed, her love interests changed as were required, which is somewhat unusual of stories of this kind where the princess always falls for the man she was meant to or the two best friends live happily ever after once they realize they are in love. There are so many good elements in this book that I wish I could give it the highest marks possible and swoon over the fact that it won the Newbery Medal.

Sadly though, the writing style just didn't go with me. It took me forever to force myself to trudge through the show more first few chapters and then I had to challenge myself to continue on. Somewhere along the way I admit that I warmed to the story a little and so I followed the action from cover to cover without too much struggle in the end, but that wanting to read was more out of a general curiosity of a technical standpoint, wondering what would happen next and where the author was going to take the plot, than it was that I was actually excited about the events taking place.

I feel like this is a very well written story. I want to agree with everyone who says they loved this book. I want to congratulate the author on winning the Medal, because I think it really must have all of that somewhere inside it. I wish that all of those things could happen for me, but I don't feel that I can force my experience into that of the others who have reviewed this book. Maybe I didn't read this at the right time in my life or maybe I wasn't in the right mood for this adventure when I started it, only a reread will tell, and though I can't bring myself to do that just now, I will certainly try again some day. show less

A very clunky book. It begins in the middle of the action. Then the events leading up to the middle are told, then the events following. The pre-story is actually kind of good; but the post-story is awful. A YA novel that couldn't be read by adults, and maybe shouldn't be read by impressionable YAs either. Dragonsong is a far superior girl-power with dragons novel, even if the dragons aren't really dragons.

Although I never got into the prequel ([book: The Blue Sword]), this fantasy is absolutely excellent. At times this novel is very surreal, but overall the story is written in a serious tone, as if these events could and did actually happen. A great young adult book for girls who like fantasy. I really can't see boys getting into it. They may take offense that an ugly, awkward girl is a dragonslayer and not a burly knight. I really really enjoy it, and it is another book which I regularly reread.

A well-told tale and typical Robin McKinley, who brings a uniquely modern perspective to a style that reads like genuine myth. In this case, the hero is a young woman and, as she struggles to save her kingdom, the uniqueness of her character unfolds for the reader. Splendid fun.

I first read this book in the 8th grade, when a sympathetic teacher gave me a copy. Since then, this has continued to be one of my "comfort food" books -- a book I pick off the shelf and cuddle up with once a year.

Aerin, the book's heroine, is a familiar character -- the outsider in a crowd, the girl who doesn't fit in. (Yeah, its something a pre-teen girl could relate to.) Despite being the king's daughter, she is struggling to find her place in the kingdom. Instead of following the usual path a princess (or sola, in Damar) should take, Aerin follows her own course and becomes the hero the kingdom didn't know they needed. I highly recommend this book for young adult readers, whether they are young or not.

http://archthinking.blogspot.com/2008/08/book-review-hero-and-crown.html

Aerin is the daughter of a king and a witch. A witch who supposedly “enspelled’ her father into loving her, and when she had a baby girl instead of a son, she died. That’s the story she has known, and for anyone, that can be a spirit breaker right from the start.

Aerin wants to do something in life, and her destiny happens to be a Dragonslayer. She used her father’s old, very trusty warhorse and found the secret recipe that repels the effect of dragon fire, and she set of the kill the pesky dragons that bother her nation. And for quite a while she was very, very successful.

Until Maur comes along. He is the evil Black Dragon of the North who’s terrorizing the villages and will eventually reach Aerin’s land. After a spectacular battle, Aerin slays Maur…but costs her livelihood. The aftermath of the battle leaves her broken and injured beyond belief. She takes the head of Maur back as proof of victory, but one girl can’t be anymore hopeless. But her story is far from show more over. All too soon, she has a worse fate and even worse destiny to fulfill that will make for one epic tale.

I’m glad I read this book. I really, really am. It deserves a lot of praises, and I highly recommend it to any fantasy lover of all kinds, especially those who are into very strong female roles.

Rating: Four Stars **** show less

I had read this book years ago but decided to re-read it to see if it stood the test of time. It absolutely does, the story is fast paced and intriguing and the characters are well rounded and engaging. An absolute must read.

I read this one before even knowing of The Blue Sword, and after reading both I like The Hero and the Crown better. I like Aerin - I sympathize with her - and the first half of the book is an extremely enjoyable read.

However, to me, the end of the book feels rather muddled. There's an awful lot going on there, and for me the busyness of it takes away from what should be a dramatic final conclusion - except it's not, because there's so much stuff happening all of a sudden (Luthe! Giant battle! Falling in love with Tor!)

I do think it's a very good book, and I've reread it loads of times, but every time I get to the end my attention wanders.

One of my all time favorite sets. A classic fantasy adventure with a great shero (female hero). I read this as a young adult and it really shaped how I judge books and writing, this being a example of the right way to do it. Fantastic story and characters that make you think about your life without telling you to think about your life. A great book.

What's neat about McKinley is that she revives popular legends and fairytales like Robin Hood and Sleeping Beauty. For that reason much of her work seems to straddle the line between adult fiction and young adult/children's fiction. I first encountered The Hero and the Crown when I was in fifth grade or so -- post-Nancy Drew but pre-Dean Koontz and Nightwylde. So this was a nostalgic read for me. While not the most engaging, this book fits the bill when you're in a fairytale kind of mood. It is slow at points but the quality of McKinley's writing is worth appreciating. And even though it's aimed towards a younger audience, both the story and the characters are sophisticated and complex.

This feels very old fashioned in style. It's 25 years old, but really takes it's inspiration from the old style of mythic fantasy. However, classic high fantasy with a strong heroine is never a bad thing. The mythic style makes it feel rather rushed however, especially towards the end, and I never felt a personal connection to Aerin.

This is one of my childhood AND grown-up favorites. Rereading it, a lot of the subtleties become a lot more evident and it grows on you. (And I liked it to start with, but when you read it with the other Damar book, it really gains resonance).

Prequel to The Blue Sword, suffers from having to provide backstory to a story that doesn't need it. Aerin's problems aren't especially challenging and her confrontation with Agsded is particularly anticlimactic. Her relationship with Luthe is beautifully depicted though.

Winner of a Newbury medal, this is the prequel to McKinley's Blue Sword, telling the story of princess, Aerin. The only child of the King, from a second marriage to a Northern commoner, Aerin is not popular. Her only companions are the lamed horse of the King, a servant, and the heir apparent, who teaches her sword play. She becomes obsessed with ridding the kingdom of dragons, developing a fireproof salve, only to discover she has taken on a greater challenge than anticipated. Badly injured, she heads off to find a mysterious savior, who helps her regain her physical and mental health, by answering questions about her mother, who died in childbirth, and sends her off to determine her (and her kingdom's) destiny. The warhorse, Talat, stole the lead role.

McKinley has created a richly detailed world that is utterly fantastical yet completely believable. I eagerly read through this book in one go as I could not put it down. Aerin is a wonderful character who I found myself cheering on throughout the book.

This feels very old fashioned in style. It's 25 years old, but really takes it's inspiration from the old style of mythic fantasy. However, classic high fantasy with a strong heroine is never a bad thing. The mythic style makes it feel rather rushed however, especially towards the end, and I never felt a personal connection to Aerin.

This was one of my favorites back in middle school. I almost read my copy to pieces! It's got everything: adventure, derring-do, magic, wonderful characters, and excellent writing.

The Hero and the Crown is the story of Aerin, the king's daughter, who is scorned for being a "witch-woman's" child. She feels that she doesn't fit into the Damarian society, as she looks different and doesn't display the Gift of the royal family. She finally finds her place as the Dragon-Slayer, but ends up facing a much bigger dragon, that almost kills her. She finds herself when she goes to heal with Luthe, a mage and becomes something not quite mortal in order to slay the evil Northerner who is threatening her land. While not a medieval fantasy, it is contains many of the same themes, a hero who doesn't quite fit in, magic, dragons, demons, and all sorts of other intresting themes. The story is very easy to follow, as it follows Aerin as she grows up and then through her battles. It is a prequel to the Blue Sword and explains some of the historical events talked about in it. I feel that is it a fantasy style coming of age story (with magic, swords, and dragons!). We see the show more main character struggle with not fitting in until she accepts herself and finds her own place. I would recommend this to 4th grade and above aged children, especially if they have read the Blue Sword. show less

I've read this book so many times I'm pretty sure I know entire sections word for word. It's the only book I had taken with me on vacation when our house burnt down over twenty years ago, and thus is the oldest and maybe dearest book I own. I'm not going to say it's perfect, but it's so special to me (and, don't get me wrong, very good) that I can't give it anything but a five.

The Hero and the Crown is the story of Aerin, the king's daughter, who is scorned for being a "witch-woman's" child. She feels that she doesn't fit into the Damarian society, as she looks different and doesn't display the Gift of the royal family. She finally finds her place as the Dragon-Slayer, but ends up facing a much bigger dragon, that almost kills her. She finds herself when she goes to heal with Luthe, a mage and becomes something not quite mortal in order to slay the evil Northerner who is threatening her land. While not a medieval fantasy, it is contains many of the same themes, a hero who doesn't quite fit in, magic, dragons, demons, and all sorts of other intresting themes. The story is very easy to follow, as it follows Aerin as she grows up and then through her battles. It is a prequel to the Blue Sword and explains some of the historical events talked about in it. I feel that is it a fantasy style coming of age story (with magic, swords, and dragons!). We see the show more main character struggle with not fitting in until she accepts herself and finds her own place. I would recommend this to 4th grade and above aged children, especially if they have read the Blue Sword. show less

i didn't love the hero and the crown nearly as much as i loved the blue sword. this is not to say that i haven't read it three times. it is a very good use of the time invested into the reading of it and a must read for anyone who like the blue sword.

Robin McKinley is an excellent writer. I know when I pick up one of her books that I'm going to enjoy my time reading it. Fastidious about details, she has no problem creating a fantasy world you can see in your mind's eye. Well done, Ms. McKinley!

This book was quite abstract. It was also pretty weird. It was kind of cool in some ways.I would not call it a children's book at all, although it seems to start out like one. It doesn't read at all like other juvenile fiction I've read. Plus, it has a dark tone (even kind of depressing) and more violence and killing than might be expected. However, from the reviews, it seems kids tend to love it. The main character goes through a lot—this is somewhat what sets the depressing tone, I think. Her recovery didn't seem to lift the tone fully for me, especially after the impact of her burnt and useless arm, for some reason. Also, it looks implied that the Aerin does sexual things with Luthe out of wedlock before they part (instead of sleeping)—also, the author seems to treat this rather casually, as it's never mentioned again: not even when she goes on to marry someone else (no thoughts of it, even); there's no cultural explanation, either.Anyway, the sexual implication aside, the show more book seems decent. I still wouldn't call it juvenile fiction—/maybe/ young adult.I thought it was interesting how fatalistic the bloodlines and magic relics made people. I mean, it's like if you have the crown you can't lose (unless you're up against someone of such and such blood-line and/or are almost immortal and/or you have a red stone from a slain dragon that trumps all). I don't know that I like the fatalism—fatalism was the law in this book, and not the attitude: that was kind of weird for me.A lot of things happen out of nowhere in this book, without much explanation. For instance, a bunch of beasts come to travel with Aerin, and they help her out a little. She doesn't even know where they came from, and I don't think we ever learn. The whole red crystal thing seemed a little odd without any reference to it before it happened, with it being as powerful as it was. You'd think people would manage to get the small ones from the small dragons, no matter how small they were—eventually. But, I guess they weren't very interested in dragons and magic anyway (except for the crown's magic).So Aerin is basically an outcast from her people, but her army of animals seems to intimidate people. I don't know if her merits won the people or her beasts. I'm still deciding on that—may it was both.I wasn't expecting her to return to her people and marry the new King. It seemed kind of weird that stronger merits won over the people where lesser merits had failed: I was expecting a different resolution, either where she left the people, or where she won them in a new fashion.Anyway, it's an interesting book. show less

Aerin is the only child of the king of Damar, and should be his rightful heir. But she is also the daughter of a witch woman of the North, who died when she was born, and the Damarians cannot trust her. But Aerin's destiny is greater than her father's people know, for it leads her to battle with Maur, the Black Dragon, and into the wilder Damarian.

Summary: While outcast Aerin has lived with the knowledge that her mother died from grief after not providing a male heir to the throne, she finds the whispers of “witchwoman’s daughter” harder to bear. Because of this, Aerin would rather have Tor, the heir to the throne, teach her how to sword fight and ride war stallions than go to balls. Luckily for her, those skills may come in handy some day...

Use and appropriateness in a HS classroom: The feminist lens can be used to analyze this YAL novel in addition to the other suggested novels on this list. While Aerin is a princess and strong female character, the elements of a necessary male heir, mother as a witch, and heroine as tomboy create quite a bit of fuel for feminist discussion. There is also a theme of classism that can be discussed and analyzed in the book as well. This book could either be used in literary circles or for independent reading that students have to report on.

(Amy) I plucked this off the shelf in a recent instance of my "one book from each bookcase" method of padding my reading list, thinking I was picking it up to re-read - after all, it's a Robin McKinley book that's 25 years old, obviously I've read it before.

Oops.

So, yeah, that was a pleasant surprise. The story itself wasn't really anything special, but it lived up to my moderately high expectations for McKinley books. It wasn't spectacular or breathtaking, but what I wanted was a quietly enjoyable way to spend a few hours of this, my brainsleepy period, and a McKinley YA fit the bill perfectly. However, given that I read it with about three-quarters of my brain tied behind my back, I cannot, alas, give a proper review of it beyond this statement that I did indeed enjoy it.

Perhaps next time, when I am in fact re-reading it.
( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/zenos-library/2009/05/the_hero_and_the_crown_... )

first class fantasy.
dragons, magic swords, immortals, and petty royalty.
also an excellent female lead which is rare in a book as old as I am.

this was a pretty good read, i thought. not innovative, but of its type engaging and well written.

One of my favorite books of all time! I recently re-read it and was gratified to find that it held up completely -- there were even some things that I'm sure I missed when I was younger.

Decent writing, cool idea about dragon head. Too many things left hanging and under-described. Not too child-like and not cute.

Hardcover signed by author. Paperback also falling apart from being read over and over again. I loved this book before I was burned. Afterwards, it helped me recover in the hospital. A wonderful fairy tale.

A young princess struggles with her place in the court and life. She becomes a dragon slayer and adventurer. The story has some interesting movement back and forth in time which was quite a nice element along with the fairy-tale-like feel.

Truly a YA tale. I read it too old as I find it a nit too childish for my taste. Still OK though. The way it's written is weird though.

Descriptive review-
Uncertain of the past, Aerin-sol, daughter of King Arlbeth, decides to forge her own future by challenging the lashing tongues of the dragon�s fire. Aerin�s proficiency as �the Dragon-slayer� sets her on a quest for the stolen Crown of Damar, believed to be in the hands of rebellious northerners who threaten to destroy the Damarian people and their home forever

A very nice story with a multi-dimensional female character. The perfect combination of action, fantasy, and romance. My only wish would be with regard's to the details of Tor and the main character. I wish there was more detail about that.

Good, but without the impact of, say, Deerskin, or Rose Daughter and Beauty.

Aerin is the daughter of the King's second wife who was believed to be a witch. Many people fear her and treat her with disdain. Aerin slowly comes out of her shell and becomes a warrior who saves her people.

Aerin is the daughter of the King's second wife who was believed to be a witch. Many people fear her and treat her with disdain. Aerin slowly comes out of her shell and becomes a warrior who saves her people.

Aerin is the daughter of the King's second wife who was believed to be a witch. Many people fear her and treat her with disdain. Aerin slowly comes out of her shell and becomes a warrior who saves her people.

Aerin is the daughter of the King's second wife who was believed to be a witch. Many people fear her and treat her with disdain. Aerin slowly comes out of her shell and becomes a warrior who saves her people.

Amazing piece of fiction, and my first experience with McKinley. I was very pleased. This book sits near the top of my lists.

Aerin is the daughter of Damar's king, but has never been accepted as full royalty, because her mother is said to be a witch-woman who ensnared the king. However, Aerin's destiny is to wield the power of the Blue Sword and become a heroine.

One of my favorite books from my childhood. I love everything McKinley has written, and wish there was much more of it.

Listened to Recorded Books CD edition narrated by Roslyn Alexander. I'm currently listening to The Blue Sword and the two books oddly enough have different narrators, complete with different pronunciations of some of the words created just for this world, despite being published by the same company. So far I prefer the story of The Blue Sword just slightly with no preference between the narrators beyond that I wish things were pronounced the same. Previously read.

Always a great book to read. So much to keep the imagination running rampant!