Status Updates From The Blue Sword

Done. Man, I don’t know. I had a lot of problems with it, but I also don’t think it was a bad book at all. I like the story but I can’t help thinking that this would have been stronger with a better writer. A big battle was written in a very detached anticlimactic way! Nothing feels rushed yet there were some boring parts to read. I didn’t hate it but…the wrong Mack Lady wrote it.

Harry just isn’t a good character. There’s a lot of telling of how she feels confused, scared, and lost, but what I actually saw was a girl just going with the flow and adjusting way too quickly to what should’ve been a bizarre situation. Also, McKinley spends a lot of time giving animals human-like characteristics and not enough to the human characters. This was a problem in Deerskin too with the damn dogs.

I think it very strange that Harry never asks the obvious: Why am I here and what do you want from me?! That should’ve been the first thing out of her mouth. With that aside, I like the hints of magic - kelar - and the direction the story’s headed. I don’t like the writing, however. McKinley desperately needs to work on syntax. She often uses too many words to convey a simple thought. Less is more girl!

Goal #7: Read old-school fantasy. I’m defining “old school as 1995 and earlier since that’s at least 30 years old. And goal #8: Fantasy written by women. So here we go! First two chapters down. World building is already great. The exposition is HEAVY in the first chapter and there’s rapid switching from present time to flashback so it can be confusing to figure out what’s supposed to be happening NOW.