Magic, romance, and horse girls – a Robin McKinley retrospective
Robin McKinley and I go way back, all the way to when my bookish 10-year-old self was given a copy of Beauty for Christmas by my equally bookish aunt. Over the years I’ve read a few of her other books, all of which I enjoyed, but recently I decided that I was going to get through them all – this post is a compilation of my experiences (plus one extra book!)
Robin McKinley is an American author who’s lived in England for the last several decades and although she received several highly-distinguished awards (including a Newberry medal!), she still remains less well-known than many other fantasy authors – I see her mention on this sub, but not super regularly. Likely a large part of this is because most of her work falls under the Young Adult genre, which tends to get less discussion in broader fantasy circles. Another contributing factor is almost certainly that she stopped publishing after the death of her husband in 2015, making it more than a decade since her most recent work came out.
Still, there’s more than 30 years worth of books to dig into, so let’s get started!
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast (1978) – This was the book that got me started with McKinley, and it remains her most popular for a reason. As the subtitle suggests, this is a retelling of the classic fairytale. The story is expanded on and detailed, but the take is straightforward. No strange twists or alternate universes here and despite what might seem to be a ripoff of the Disney movie, this version actually predates it by more than a decade! This book introduces a lot of what will become McKinley staples in the future – detailed descriptions of food and environments and outfits, sweet and plucky female heroines with down-to-earth narration, prominent animal characters, and a slow start with a somewhat rushed ending. This one’s genuinely a lot of fun, basically hot cocoa in book form. 8/10
Bingo squares: Dreams, Romantasy
The Door in the Hedge (1981) – A collection of three short stories and a novella. Two of them are original, two are retellings (of “The Princess and the Frog” and “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”), and all are very much in the same style as Beauty, just shorter. There’s lush description, likable characters, and pacing issues. Very cozy, but ultimately nothing to write home about. 6/10
The Blue Sword (1982) – McKinley’s second best-known work, this is a classic trope-y fantasy adventure story featuring a teenage orphan who moves to a new home and finds herself the centerpiece of a desert people’s prophecy after she catches the attention of their king. Although people have (rightly) pointed out that there’s some white savior-y stuff that hasn’t aged super well and the protagonist adjusts to her new life a bit too fast to be believable, I appreciate the sincerity with which the story is told. A lot of newer books feel the need to snark at or subvert the tropes they use and while that can sometimes be fun, The Blue Sword plays it all straight and sometimes that’s just what you need. 7/10
Bingo squares: First in a Series (hey, a duology counts, right), Dreams
The Hero and the Crown (1984) – The most critically acclaimed McKinley book, this prequel to The Blue Sword is what netted her the Newberry. It follows the story of Aerin, the “Lady-Hero” whose story is referenced frequently in the earlier book and has fun playing with the way that legends are built and the parallels and differences between the two protagonists. The first half is super solid, but I felt that the last half of the book wound up feeling very vague and lost a clear cause-and-effect chain to events, making the villain’s defeat feel unsatisfying. Further, while the details are impossible to explain without spoilers, I found the resolution to the romantic subplot infuriating, although looking online, this seems to be a minority opinion. 6/10
Bingo squares: Character with a disability (Aerin’s horse. Probably qualifies for Hard Mode if you count Aerin’s magical ailment)
Imaginary Lands (1986) – One of the cheats on this list. McKinley was the editor here, but only one of the stories is hers and it’s actually one of the weaker ones. The theme, here, is that in every story, “the land” plays a major role, whether it’s a magical location or a meditative journey through a landscape. Apart from that, there’s a lot of variety here (everything from lighthearted children’s tales to loss-heavy alternate histories and Arthurian legend). McKinley’s piece, “The Stone Fey”, deals with a shepherd girl who meets a strange spirit in the mountains. 8/10
Bingo Squares: Five short stories
The Outlaws of Sherwood (1988) – Cheat #2, this one isn’t technically speculative fiction, but historical fiction, and attempts a down-to-earth take on the Robin Hood story and examines in a very subdued way how heroes are forged from the collective efforts of larger groups and of the value of symbols to a movement, as well as the way that many important movements are held up by the practical skills of ordinary, unsung people (often women). The pacing issues are gone here and there’s a bit of wry humor, some very light romance, and a lot of fun, although Robin himself does get a bit lost in the ensemble cast towards the end. 8/10
Deerskin (1993) – By far the darkest entry in McKinley’s bibliography, this is a loose retelling of “All Furs” and follows the recovery of a young princess from a horrific act of incestuous abuse. The dreamy, restrained style adds to the horror in a way that I was not expecting and the climax, while a bit abrupt, is satisfying and wraps up just enough that it feels finished without making emotional healing seem too “clean” and simple. 9/10
Bingo Squares: Entitled Animals, Character with a Disability (amnesia and PTSD, Hard Mode if these count for you), Published in the 1990s, Survival (borderline, but a huge story arc is about surviving alone in the woods)
A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories (1994) – Another return to familiar territory, this collection has five tales that, for the most part, share a cozy, comforting vibe and a fairytale-esque feeling (although they are all, as far as I know, original). Most have a light sprinkling of cute romance, adding to the fun and the pacing was better than many of her other works. There was, however, one story that had a really uncomfortable age gap with pseudo-incest and possible grooming coming in, which I found oddly placed next to the rest of the stories. 7/10
Bingo Squares: Published in the 1990s, Five Short Stories
Rose Daughter (1997) – McKinley’s second take on Beauty and the Beast, this one with far more embellishment. The descriptions in this one get to be a bit much and while there’s a lot of interesting stuff here (for example, the twining of the Beast and Beauty’s backstories together in a somewhat unexpected way), the book doesn’t seem interested in focusing on them, nor on the relationship between our two leads, spending most of its time on village drama. Another tweak to the original story shows up at the end that I think will be love-it-or-hate-it for most readers, but while I thought it was interesting, ultimately I just wished I’d reread Beauty 6/10
Bingo Squares: Dreams, Romantasy, Published in the 1990s, Set in a Small Town
Spindle’s End (2000) – A Sleeping Beauty retelling this time, with a tone very similar to Rose Daughter’s. The narration is lighthearted and humorous, the world saturated with magic, and there’s a lot of focus on female friendships and mother/daughter bonds. The first half of the story, as the fairies hide the infant princess, is quite well-done, but the book falls apart in the second half, with a confusing finale that heavily relies on shaky worldbuilding and underdeveloped love interests. 6/10
Bingo Squares: Set in a Small Town
Sunshine (2003) – McKinley’s first novel-length foray into urban fantasy, this follows a young baker who is kidnapped as a meal for a vampire, only to discover that he’s being held prisoner just as much as she is. Together they plot an escape into a world of magic that she can no longer ignore. The worldbuilding on this one was entertaining and I liked a lot of the characters, but the plot meandered, a lot of those characters were underutilized, and overall the whole thing really needed editing down. 7/10
Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits (2004) – Six short stories, of which half were written by McKinley and half by her husband, Peter Dickinson, all themed around the classical element of water. There’s mermaids, there’s sea serpents, there’s underwater cities, and I found it delightful. First two stories are a bit weaker than the rest, but overall very well worth it. 8/10
Bingo Squares: Under the Surface, Five Short Stories
Dragonhaven (2007) – As far as I know, the only full-length McKinley book with a male protagonist. Dragonhaven follows a teenager living at a nature preserve for the earth’s few remaining dragons, where he suddenly becomes responsible for raising an orphaned hatchling. The themes of family and loss brought a lot to the magical-teen-pregnancy story and the attention to dragon biology and ecology was great, but the excessively quirky first-person narration overstayed its welcome a bit and the side characters were pretty bland. 6/10
Bingo Squares: Entitled Animals (Hard Mode),
Chalice (2008) – A fascinating world revolving around land-based guardian magic, leylines, and high ritual, this one left me wanting more in a good way. This one is all about the vibes and I enjoyed getting tantalizing tidbits of information about the setting and the people in it as our protagonist comes into her own ceremonial role in the land. It does throw a bit too much terminology at the reader a bit too fast in the beginning, though, and suffers from a bit (albeit less) of Sunshine’s repetitive interior monologue. 8/10
Bingo Squares: Romantasy
Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits (2009) – A followup to Water and another collaboration with Dickinson, these five stories feature the likes of dragons and phoenixes. This one was kind of a disappointment. There’s some decent stuff in here, but it never sucked me in the way the previous installment did and the ones I disliked were actively bad instead of being merely forgettable. 6/10
Bingo Squares: Five short stories
Pegasus (2010) – Probably the only book by Robin McKinley that I actively dislike. A pegasus prince and a human princess discover that they can understand each other when no other humans or pegasi can communicate without magical aid, setting off ripples in both countries. This one was, I believe, originally a short story and it shows badly. Very little happens in the plot, the setting’s history is delivered in long infodumps, and the stakes are almost completely told, not shown. Don’t recommend this one, especially since it was planned to be the first of a trilogy but never got its followup. 4/10
Bingo Squares: Entitled Animals (Hard Mode),
Earth and Air: Tales of Elemental Creatures (2012) – The last of the cheats on this list, this final installment in the Tales of Elemental Spirits series is actually all Dickinson (McKinley was too busy with other projects), but since it was the conclusion to a series, I figured I’d throw it in anyway. Dickinson’s work was always less enjoyable to me than McKinley’s and here it amounts to a resounding “meh”. The stories are a mixed bag, but on nearly all of them, I struggled to get emotionally invested. The narration seems too detached from its subjects and so much of the story is summarized or skimmed over that it starts to feel like reading a summary of a novel someone else read. 5/10
Bingo Squares: Five short stories
Shadows (2013) – In a world where citizens have voluntarily cut themselves off from magic to prevent dimensional instabilities, Maggie gets a new stepfather who seems to have multiple shadows that only she can see. There was a lot of classic McKinley in this one, with the emphasis on love for animals and on family. The localized, small-scale plot is a good fit for her style and although I have issues with how neatly and quickly everything seemed to wrap up at the end and with the faint note of “how do you do, fellow kids” that I could feel through, this one was pretty solid, if unremarkable. 7/10
So, how would I summarize all of this? Let’s start with a tier list:
The Good, books I would recommend to everyone and either own or plan to buy:
Beauty, The Blue Sword, Imaginary Lands, The Outlaws of Sherwood, Deerskin, Chalice, Water
The Bad, books I would discourage you from reading:
Spindle’s End, Pegasus, Earth and Air
The Meh, books that I would recommend if you’re a fan of McKinley’s writing style or if you like the premise
The Door in the Hedge, A Knot in the Grain, Rose Daughter, Sunshine, Dragonhaven, Fire, Shadows
As for the author overall? She’s a pretty good writer with very defined strengths and weakness. All of this is obviously pretty subjective and applies to some books more than others, but I like to think it’s a pretty good summary
You might enjoy Robin McKinley’s work if you’re looking for:
-Strong female characters, as much of a truism as that phrase is
-An emphasis on relationships between the protagonist and their family and pets
-Cozy vibes (even Deerskin still has a bit of a comforting tone to it and the emphasis in her work is on good people finding happiness)
-Lots of description
-A bit of humor and romanticism (although not all of her work is directly romance-focused)
-Fairytale retellings
-A “clean” story. Very little/no swearing, no graphic sex scenes or gore.
You might not like her work if you want books with:
-Strong pacing. It’s better in some books than others, but keeping a tight reign on the forward motion of the plot is not something she’s great at
-Well-developed male characters. Even the love interests are often a bit flat.
-Lots of action. She doesn’t do a lot of battle scenes and the confrontations are typically emotional or magical rather than big shootouts or sword fights
-Hard magic systems or super-defined worldbuilding. You’re not going to get a detailed explanation of how magic works or what dragons can or cannot do
-Lots of “spice” in your romance. Even in the more romance-focused works, the most you’ll get is a bit of naked cuddling or a description of a butt.
I had a lot of fun doing a sort of author deep dive here and hopefully this will help someone else out!