Earlier this summer, I re-read The Hero and the Crown, a story with which I had fallen in love in my early adolescence. Aerin, Tor, Luthe, and Maur had remained deeply burned in my brain for decades, and my second reading of Robin McKinley's fantasy novel lived up to the memory. After 25+ years of meaning to read its sequel, I finally got around to it.
[For a more complete synopsis, click here.]
While McKinley openly admits that this novel was influenced by works such as Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King and Edith Maud Hull's The Sheik, it appears to me as quite the mash-up of Wild West meets British colonialism of India (+/- Pakistan, Afghanistan, various others "-istans" as evidenced by the book's colonial outpost town Istan) meets fantastical wizard villains of Lord of the Rings meets The Last of the Mohicans and peppered with a touch of Star Wars. There is a lot packed into 272 pages (Puffin Books): romance, societal norms, the ethics of colonialism, war, fantasy, Stockholm syndrome, desert landscapes, old timey frontier stuff, nomads living in tents, ancient cities and civilizations, legends being reality, mistaken and hidden identities and familial ties, magic weaponry...
Speaking of magic weaponry, let's talk about Gonturan, the Blue Sword herself! Although the Damar of old has long since lost the wars against the invading Homelanders and its people have scattered to the four winds, the free Hillfolk (Damarians who now live in the hills and mountains under the rule of King Corlath) have managed to keep hold of their most prized treasure. This legendary sword can only be wielded by a woman, and has remained essentially dormant for centuries. In fact, Gonturan hasn't been used in battle since Lady Aerin of generations past. While Gonturan is indeed a very badass piece of metal, she (the sword is a girl) is something of a sonic screwdriver, in that she gets those who brandish her for good out of trouble with surprisingly little preparation and talent. The same can be said for kelar, the magical sort of sense that runs through people of Damar, most notably so in the royal family. Both Gonturan and kelar come unexpectedly and suddenly to otherwise unpracticed protagonists. Sometimes this is useful and I appreciate it in adventure lit; I loathe long, drawn out battle scenes where Yes! We know the good guy is going to win! Why in God's name does it need to take 70 pages to tell us that?!?!?!?! Other times, it just seems cringey and anticlimactic.
I felt both elation and disappointment in how McKinley handled this in The Blue Sword. On the one hand, the major climax of the book was something of a letdown. On the other, I simply love how her battle scenes aren't necessarily always the actual climax. There is certainly plenty of action and adventure in her novels, but they are equally -perhaps more so- about the characters. I value a writer who can tell an epic story without being overly extraneous while still balancing the details.
Perhaps the star of the novel is Narknon, the folstza - one of the wild cats of ancient Damar. These large cats joined up with Aerin (at the same time as the yerigs, Damarian wild dogs) in her adventures in The Hero and the Crown. Evidently, these wild critters stuck around for centuries and eventually became somewhat domesticated. They come and go as they please among the Damarians and Hillfolk, occasionally bestowing their favor on a particular person or group of people. Narknon, the finicky folstza, grants Harry her affection early on in the novel, and remains a vital source of strength and comfort for our heroine throughout. (Don't worry, Narknon never gets hurt.) A ruthless hunter and fierce warrior, Narknon is also "a champion purrer".
With the exception of Narknon, however, The Blue Sword just doesn't live up to its prequel The Hero and the Crown. Since The Blue Sword came first, I'm not sure if Robin McKinley just refined her craft by the time of The Hero and the Crown's publication but, when it comes right down to it, Aerin's story is just more interesting and epic than Harry's. The Blue Sword often felt contrived and predictable to me, where The Hero and the Crown was somewhat less so. (Sure, it had moments, but it wouldn't have been called The Hero and the Crown if Aerin had lost, right?) I also found that it took longer to get into The Blue Sword, as it moved somewhat more slowly. At the end of the day, it was a fun read -precisely what I was looking for- and I would recommend it to fans of fantasy fiction. However, if you had to pick one or the other of McKinley's stories of Damar, The Hero and the Crown is by far the better choice of the two.
