Submitted by Anonymous 
(Apr 18, 2004)The Hero and the Crown, The Blue Sword
These are the best books EVER for females age 10-15--or even past that. The opening of "Hero and the Crown" is horrible--but once you get past the first ten or twenty pages, the book is a 30-times read. My copy has fallen apart.
Robin McKinley has a wry, funny voice and slides into humorous bits that usually make me cry with laughter. She is a total kindred spirit. The books have enough romance and action to keep any female with a sense of humor interested.
Hero and the Crown plot: A somewhat substandard princess begins to work alone to better herself - she learns how to wield a sword, make herself fireproof, and kill a dragon. While doing this her cousin, who will be king, begins to eye her--so THAT adds a little sparkle. And then some bad things happen (a dragon and an evil relative) and Ariel must leave the palace, and voila! Independent woman makes good. The battles are very relationship-y. Good stuff.
The Blue Sword plot: I didn't like this one as much as "Hero" at first because of the long 100 pages we have to get through before good stuff happens. We watch an oversized orphan who has been sent to live in the desert. She thinks she's weirder than most people, but she's dealing with it. WELL. Then the very, very hot king of the hills sees her and realizes that she needs to save his people. (He conveniently decides this using Second Sight, of course.) So, though he is a gentleman and has mixed feelings about all of it, he kidnaps her and takes her back to his people. Of course, she finds out they're her people too, and isn't it nice that she can try to save them against the evil North that is coming to attack everyone - desert people and Hill people? Corlath (the kidnapping guy) is very, very hot. (I did mention this.) So this book may be best appreciated by girls 13-16.
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