{"id":45233,"date":"2025-05-24T23:03:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T03:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=45233"},"modified":"2025-05-24T23:03:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T03:03:25","slug":"review-of-the-blue-sword-by-robin-mckinley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=45233","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Blue Sword<\/em><\/p>\n

by Robin McKinley
\nread by Diane Warren<\/p>\n

Recorded Books, 1992. 12 hours, 16 minutes.
\nReview written May 13, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
\nEarlier review written July 2002<\/a>
\nStarred Review
\n2002 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: #1 Young Adult and Children’s Fantasy Rereads
\n2010 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: Wonderful Rereads
\n1983 Newbery Honor Book<\/p>\n

(I’m writing new reviews for the books that had reviews in the old not-phone-friendly format, and that don’t have a blog post. After 2005 in my #Sonderbooks25<\/a> celebrations, I may just add to or repost the original reviews.)<\/p>\n

I’m cheating just a little bit in my #Sonderbooks25 plan, celebrating 25 years of writing Sonderbooks. My plan was to choose *one* book from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs and reread them. Having reread this book in 2010, for my 2001 choice, I picked Gillian Bradshaw’s The Sand-Reckoner<\/a><\/em> to reread – but then my eaudiobook holds queue was filled up, and I found an available copy of this book – and I simply had to try it in audiobook form.<\/p>\n

And yes, I still absolutely love the story. Horses! Magic! Slow-burn Romance! (And, okay, I’m afraid it’s apparent I like books where the heroine gets abducted by a king – an honorable king with good reasons for it.)<\/p>\n

I’m afraid I didn’t like the narrator. (But I love the book so much, I listened anyway.) She reads it with a motherly voice as one talking about children, rather than as the young adult teenage girl our main character Harry Crewe is. I also wish they’d used a narrator with a British accent, since the “Homeland” of the story mimics British imperialism, in a fantasy world setting. What would the British have done if the “natives” had magic? You find out in this book.<\/p>\n

Speaking of that, the use of the word “native” and the attitude toward them stung my ears a little, reading in 2025 – but it is reflective of the time it was imitating – and Harry definitely learns there’s a deep and rich culture – and magic – among the Hillfolk.<\/p>\n

Listening to it now from a writer’s perspective, I hadn’t noticed before how often Robin McKinley flits into other people’s thoughts. It works in this case, as she shows King Corlath’s worries that he has done a cruel thing by kidnapping Harry and perplexity as to why his magic had him do that. She shows us both of their thoughts hovering around the other – both slow to realize they’re falling in love. But it’s a testament to how much I love the story that this perspective-jumping (other characters, too) doesn’t bring it down.<\/p>\n

For decades now, I’ve said that The Blue Sword<\/em> and The Blue Castle<\/a><\/em> are my two favorite books, and that still may be true, though if pressed, I know by now I’d come up with a dozen more titles on any given day. But I do know this: revisiting the story was an absolute delight. And yes, this will always be a book I will highly recommend.<\/p>\n

robinmckinley.com<\/a>
\nrobinmckinleysblog.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/blue_sword.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley read by Diane Warren Recorded Books, 1992. 12 hours, 16 minutes. Review written May 13, 2025, from a library eaudiobook. Earlier review written July 2002 Starred Review 2002 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #1 Young Adult and Children’s Fantasy Rereads 2010 Sonderbooks Stand-out: Wonderful Rereads 1983 Newbery Honor Book (I’m writing new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,66,9,16,426,31,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audiobooks","category-award-winners","category-fantasy","category-old-favorites","category-sonderbooks25","category-stand-outs","category-teen-fiction-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45233"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45269,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45233\/revisions\/45269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}