Book review

[shekina]

just finished Chalice by Robin McKinley. I've been a fan of her work since middle school, with her dream-like and yet enveloping prose and story tale settings. The Hero and The Crown has been a favorite for years, and I was looking forward to her latest work. However, I was greatly disappointed with Chalice. Somewhere in the middle of it I realized that all of her books revolve around a lonely young adult woman with a strong work ethic who discovers that she has some magical ability and must save the land from a vague, but powerful threat. Also, there is always a powerful man that she supports and learns to respect. In the final chapter, it is confirmed that they will marry. All of this is done with the barest minimum of dialog and interaction between characters. In Chalice all of this held true and it was as if she thought only about the world and never about the people. The climatic "battle" scene happened in a blink of an eye and was resolved deus ex machina, so they end basically stunk.

I love Robin McKinley's fairy tale worlds as a kid. Has she changed or have I?