Into the Forest discussion

Another author we should discuss is Robin McKinley.

Beauty is absolutely one of my all time favourites.
Deerskin was excellent too. We read it for a group read in this group a few years ago.
The first book of hers I read was Sunshine which left me with a craving for cinnamon rolls. I found the ending some what unsatisfactory, like there was supposed to be a sequel that never came.

Have you read her? ( I know many of you have)
Do you have a favourite novel of hers?
Would you like to read more? (I would)

Yes, Robin McKinley is another of my favorite authors.

Besides the books you've mentioned, I thought was a nice retelling of Sleeping Beauty.

My favorite of hers is Deerskin.

I think the first book I read of hers as a kid was The Blue Sword and then a bit later, The Hero and the Crown. Loved both of them!

Then I happened across her Beauty, which is the book that got me started on fairy tale retellings.

My favorite of hers is also Deerskin, but it's not the kind of book one can recommend to everyone...

Pegasus is another very good one by Robin McKinley!

Melanti & Julia.
Yes I loved all those books.

I know what you mean about Deerskin, but it is so beautifully written.
And do you think Pegasus will have a sequel?

McKinley does not seem to do many sequels. Most, if not all, of her books are stand-alone. How about Sunshine? I was loving it until the end, but I felt she left every thing up in the air.

I think Sunshine was supposed to have a sequel, but something happened. I know when it first came out, it was marketed as the first of a series.

I first read Hero and the Crown, then Blue Sword, and Beauty. I *LOATHED* Deerskin; but again, that's just me. It had nothing to do with the writing and
everything to do with the subject matter. Ick, ick, ICK.

That being said, I wish Sunshine had a sequel. It left on what felt like a deliberate hook, and so far as I know she will not be returning to it. Ugh, I say. It was a great book!

Look at what I found!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...

Chris wrote: "Look at what I found!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16..."

Oh yes. I already have that on pre-order!

by Robin McKinley

Yay! Should it already be our next group read?

Jalilah wrote: "Yay! Should it already be our next group read?"

September 26, 2013.

Jury's out on whether Robin McKinley is for me. Read Sunshine (here's my review from years ago) because Beauty was checked out at the time. All of Sunshine's info dumps were too much for me. (My sister's the baker; I'm the chef - so perhaps one must enjoy baking LOL to appreciate all that useless detail.) That plus the ending just left me frustrated.

Still, I wanted to give McKinley another shot because people had so highly recommended her work. Glad I did because I enjoyed Beauty very much, and I have Deerskin on the schedule for sometime in the near future.

That new one, Shadows, does sound quite interesting!

Robin McKinley is one of my favorite authors. I still have a major soft spot in my heart for Beauty but I think I loved it more when I was young. My personal favorite of hers is The Hero and the Crown; I also love her other Damar book The Blue Sword. I REALLY wish the Damar muse and the Sunshine muse would come back from wherever they've gone and slap Robin upside the head and make her write more books in those worlds, but that seems pretty unlikely now.

I admire Deerskin more than I really loved it, due to the squick factor and the fact that it's one of McKinley's books (like Sunshine and Spindle's End) where there's a lengthy scene where the magic descriptions just get a little too nightmarish and incomprehensible to me. But that's a minor complaint; I still love her books generally.

ETA: I hated--HATED--Dragonhaven. The teenage protagonist's narration about drove me batty. Some reviewers say that Shadows has a similar problem. Anyone here read both? I hate to buy Shadows if I'm going to want to get rid of it like I did Dragonhaven.

Sunshine isn't going to have a sequel because the muse hasn't shown up with a plot for one.

I like Beauty best of her works.

McKinley's blog writings on sequels and the lack thereof, and how it's just Out Of Her Control, have always stuck with me (perhaps because I want the sequels so badly):

"I’d love to write more about Sunshine. ­ I know quite a bit about what happens to her,­ but it’s not up to me. If you want to nag someone, find the mailing address of the Story Council and nag them to send me the sequel."

It's not the answer I want to hear, but it still makes me smile.

Beauty is my favorite book ever, so obviously it's my favorite book by McKinley. I've had most of her fairy tale retellings for years and recently read Spindle's End and a Door in the Hedge and loved them both, especially Spindle's End. And Deerskin is on my next to read list.

Ashley wrote: "Beauty is my favorite book ever, so obviously it's my favorite book by McKinley. I've had most of her fairy tale retellings for years and recently read Spindle's End and a Door in the Hedge and lov..."

Beauty remains my favourite B&B retellings too.
It's also my favourite book by McKinley.

Reading Bryony and Roses has put me in the mood for some re-reading!