sroloc--elbisivni asked: Ok I was the anon who asked about the Hero and the Crown and I picked it up on your recommendation and just finished reading and D A M N
DARLING WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, I’M SO PROUD TO HAVE BEEN YOUR SPONSOR IN READING THIS BOOK. I MYSELF AM CURRENTLY REREADING IT AND I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH. D A M N.
Please forgive me for using this as an opportunity to pitch some of my other favorite Robin McKinley books, I CAN’T HELP MYSELF. Don’t feel obliged to read them all, but they’re great, so if you’re ever strapped for a good book, they’re excellent defaults.
- Obviously you should read The Blue Sword, because Harry (the main character) is a badass and Corlath (Aerin and Tor’s many-times-great-grandson, the king of Damar) is a delight and Tsornin (the horse) is amazing. AND GONTURAN MAKES A TRIUMPHAL RETURN TO THE BATTLEFIELD, AND LUTHE HAS A BIT, AND AERIN GETS A COUPLE CAMEOS. Basically: read it.
- If you liked Aerin’s sense of humor and Talat the equine sass master, I recommend Dragonhaven, which is…fairly self-explanitory, but the basics are that the modern world is exactly the same except that instead of Yellowstone, we have Stonehill Dragon Preserve, and the main character (Jake) accidentally adopts a dragonlet. Jake is perpetually hovering between cranky and wry and Lois is precious.
- If you liked the dreamy feeling of Aerin’s stint with Luthe in the stone hall and the weird magic of kelar, I recommend Chalice, which is weird dreamy magic start to finish. The main character (Marisol) is part of a network of magic users who keep and care for their demense (like a…fief?) and she works magic through honey and the new Master (whose arrival makes the whole situation go straight to Hell, it’s not his fault, I love him) is about 80% literal fire.
- If you liked the weird magic of kelar and were sitting there thinking “You know what this needs? Modern technology and some dimensional fuckery” I recommend Shadows, which is…well, weird magic, modern(ish) technology, and dimensional fuckery, 10/10 would experience again.
- If you liked Maur being terrifying and Aerin being tough even when it was awful for her, I recommend Sunshine, which is my number one favorite vampire novel ever, and in which even the nice vampires are pretty fucking terrifying. The main character (Sunshine) lives in a world that’s basically our world plus demons and vampires and something called the Voodoo Wars that wiped out a good percentage of humanity. She gets kidnapped by vampires and chained up with their other prisoner, who is also a vampire, and she is a brass bound bitch. I adore her. Also the vampire she gets chained up with is great, and the magic in Sunshine is just GORGEOUS.
- If you like retellings of fairy tales generally, I recommend Beauty, which is Beauty and the Beast and has a horse named Greatheart and roses and is basically awesome. Spindle’s End is also good, but I like Beauty and the Beast better than Sleeping Beauty so.
- If you like to FUCKING SUFFER, I recommend the FUCK out of Pegasus, which is AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and MAGIC-RIDDEN and ABOUT FUCKING PEGASI, but which is also only the first half of a story and it ends on a heartbreaking cliffhanger, so DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU. The next book’s been ‘in the works’ for SO FUCKING LONG, god, someone needs to read this so I have someone to wail with. @twistedangelsays: I’m coming for you, bitch.
- If you like McKinley’s style and want an epic saga in a similar style, I cannot recommend ANYTHING MORE WHOLEHEARTEDLY than the Kencyrath series by PC Hodgell. THe link will take you to my epic-length book rec/tirade. I just. I love those books.
OKAY FRIEND I WILL LEAVE YOU ALONE NOW. BUT IF YOU EVER NEED A BOOK REC HIT ME THE FUCK UP.
A set of facts from this post, on request from @littlestartopaz. “Kid Death, Soul Eater. Also Harry, from The Blue Sword”
Death the Kid
- Canon: Kid’s hair stripes apparently go all the way around his head once he’s a full-blown shinigami, and that’s adorable to me for some reason.
- Headcanon: I tend to imagine that Kid had a rough time adjusting to ‘normal’ people. Like, the other meisters were reticent with him because of…who he is and who he’s related to, and he comes at everything with a very arrogant perspective, especially early on, so I tend to think that he has a horribly rough time learning to make friends. Like, Patty and Liz were probably his first close friends. I’m pretty committed to that.
- Heartcanon: Oooohhh, I dunno, I was pretty pleased with stuff. I feel like Kid actually has a devious side under that wide-eyed anxious exterior, would’a liked to have that pan out more fully.
- Soulcanon: Kid becomes a shinigami and replaces Death and has a few conversations with various people who protest that it’s just not traditional for the Grim Reaper to dual wield pistols. They make lengthy and detailed arguments against his actions, there are sources, there is, on one memorable occasion, a PowerPoint. And Kid nods and ‘hmm’s and he continues to dual wield pistols. I don’t fucking care how it happens, he makes Patty and Liz immortal somehow.
- Crotchcanon: I actually have no idea. Because every time I sit down and try to think about Kid and sex, I inevitably end up wondering about the logistics of sex with a shinigami. Like. How does that shit even pan out? Do you need to worry about condoms, or are death gods naturally infertile? Or in control of that sort of thing? Does Death have a body under that robe? Do the weird black shadow-tentacle things come into play? HOW DOES THIS WORK. So, as you can see, I have never made enough headway on this train of thought to have an opinion.
Harry (Angharad, Harimad-sol)
- Canon: Harry Crewe is canonically good with any and all (non-demon) animals. Giant ill-tempered warhorse? Sure. Loner hunting cat? No problem. Harry Crewe is also a stone-cold badass, and all of you should read The Blue Sword and appreciate her.
- Headcanon: Harry definitely causes small-to-middling disasters as she learns to use her massively powerful kelar for things other than bringing down mountain ranges. And as handy as that ability to fucking wreck an opponent is, it’s a little hard on Corlath’s City, and they all look on with a sort of benignly exasperated affection. Kelar tends to cause problems, but even Corlath never 'fixed’ a stone door and accidentally melded it with the frame.
- Heartcanon: Damarian weddings have some kind of family-of-the-bride aspect and Mathin gives Harry away, or whatever the equivalent is, as the Daughter of the Riders. He cries a little and she cries a little and no one ever says anything about it. Also, Corlath very very quietly slaps Mathin with some kind of title, whatever he can get away with, as the father of their new Queen. Mathin isn’t informed of this for almost an entire year.
- Soulcanon: Aerin and Harry meet. In the flesh. At some point. I don’t give a fuck who argues with me on this. And Aerin visits Harry in her dreams and at first Harry’s very deferential and nervous, but she lightens up over time, and Aerin gives her advice on being a queen and being a legend and being a mother. (At some point, when Harry is just exhausted of everything and frustrated with everyone and ready to ride off into the desert just to get away, Aerin turns up and tells a story about a very vain girl named Galanna who got her eyelashes shaved off and could have been rolled out a window, she was sleeping so heavily. Harry laughs herself sick in the dream and wakes up smiling for the first time in weeks.)
- Crotchcanon: Okay but we can all agree that there was definitely some desperate, maneuvered-around-wounds, I-can’t-believe-you’re-alive-and-here sex in Corlath’s tent after that reunion scene, right? And once everyone was recovered and back in the City, there was definitely a day where Harry was just like “Update: I moved all your meetings and acquired snacks” and they just literally spent an entire day having sex in the blue stone garden. I can’t be alone in that assessment.
