Wednesday, April 25, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley




The Blue Sword is the other classic fantasy novel written by Robin McKinley set in the fictional fantasy country of Damar (The Hero and the Crown, which I reviewed HERE, is the other).  The Blue Sword was published before The Hero and the Crown and is set hundreds of years after that novel, so while readers who have read THatC first will enjoy some references, this is obviously a stand alone work and no foreknowledge is necessary.  And it's a pretty enjoyable stand alone novel, again due to its charming heroine.

It's not quite as good as The Hero and the Crown though, in my opinion, with it in a few ways being a simpler story.  That's not a huge knock, since I loved that work.  Like that work, this is not really a story with a grand epic plot - you should not be expecting epic battles here, despite the presence of magic and swordplay.  But what you should expect is a wonderful heroine, who is absolutely delightful in her courage and steadfastness despite a world that seems determined to keep throwing her into new unexpected situations at every turn.

More after the Jump:

-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------
When Harry Crewe's father dies, she travels overseas through the Homelander Empire to Damar, where her brother has been stationed, to live with the noble couple who govern the part of the province under Homelander control.  But the "Hillfolk," led by the mysterious Corlath, still control a large portion of Damar, and rumors have circled that they and the mysterious dark forces to the North possess magical powers that can fell an army that uses rifles and guns. 

Harry comes to like the Desert land of Damar in just a short time, but just as she is getting settled in, her destiny will be forever changed - for the Magic of Corlath, who appeared suddenly and seemingly for the first time to treat with the Homelanders and ask for aid, has told the Hillfolk chief that Harry is crucially important to the conflict to come. Harry soon finds herself abducted by Corlath and taught the hillfolk ways, where she learns she may be the chosen one of the legendary Dragon-Killer, Aerin, and may be the first person to wield her legendary Blue Sword in hundreds of years.

But the evil Northern Army, led by a powerful magic wielder, is soon to March into Damar to cause havoc, and Harry will find herself thrust into the war.  And while Harry learns to admire some of the Hillfolk's ways and perhaps to admire Corlath in general, Harry soon finds that he may be too obstinate to truly help everyone she loves against this dark threat, requiring her to take destiny into her own hands...
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Like THatC, The Blue Sword features one character of significant depth - its heroine, Harry Crewe.  And like the heroine from that book (Aerin), Harry is such a great character that she is able to carry the book and make the lack of character depth not really a problem at all.  This is not to say Harry is the same as Aerin - she is very different - Harry is very calm and collected and introspective, despite the crazy circumstances she keeps finding herself thrust into, despite a lot of inner turmoil.  Harry is still passionate about the things she chooses to do, but whereas Aerin was driven to find a use for herself, Harry would rather take the time to sit back and appreciate things as they are.  But she is also a heroine of great courage, who, when faced with her first choice of duty vs staying and waiting, she takes the more difficult path.  It makes her a joy to read and follow along.  And while the rest of the cast doesn't have much depth, they do have a little bit of charm (particularly Harry's animal companion).

This is helped by McKinley's excellent writing, which again is done in such a way that will probably seem unusual to modern readers - McKinley will without warning switch point of views mid-chapter to other characters, which in lesser hands might be disorienting, but never is here.  Honestly, it's a nice touch here because it assures the reader that this isn't the type of story one might think when it starts with a nomad leader abducting a young girl in her sleep by showing that leader's motivations right from the start (Harry considers the possibility herself for a moment before discarding it in the light of the evidence, which is also a nice touch).

Again, I think the story is weaker than THatC mainly because while this isn't a book about a great war or major conflict, the ending of the conflict in this book does seem to come a bit too easy - even easier than in THatC, to the point where it's very anticlimactic, and I didn't love the final romantic pairing honestly.  And whereas Aerin's story had two parts, Harry's has one, which certainly made it feel like a shorter less fulfilling book even if it really wasn't. 

A Quick Note:  As many others have noted, given that this book came out in the early 1980s, this book has some issues with the white savior trope*, as the fictional land of Damar is essentially India, whereas the lighter skinned Heroine comes from an overseas Empire - the Homelanders - that is essentially a fictional version of a 1700s/1800s British Empire.  The book kind of mitigates this issue by the main heroine's powers coming fro a Damarian ancestor and having the main Homelanders contingent be, while not bad guys, incorrect about the nature of the threat and having the Damarians be correct about the threat's power.  But aside from that issue - which I don't mean to minimize since it's a bad trope that obviously shouldn't be acceptable in a modern work - this is a really charming story.

*The Hero and the Crown avoids this issue by having the story set before the British Empire equivalent comes from the land, with the (still lighter skinned) protagonist being part of the royal family of Damar.

 Still, this is an incredibly charming short novel that I enjoyed a lot, and would definitely recommend to other readers. 


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