Deerskin by Robin McKinley

This book was....interesting. Not what I expected, but I enjoyed it for the most part. When I was looking for books after my awesome dream I found this on the shelf next to the book I was looking for. The synopsis looked promising so I checked it out.

This is a spin off the fairytale "Donkeyskin", which I had never heard of so I'm guessing many other people haven't. It's about a princess who is the daughter of the beloved and extraordinarily conceited king and queen. Her mother is known to be the most beautiful woman in seven kingdoms, and her father, along with the rest of the kingdom, is smitten with her. She dies when Lissar (the princess) is 15 and her father loses his mind with grief. Lissar grows up to be beautiful like her mother and those around her begin to notice. On her 17th birthday her father declares that he will remarry and that Lissar will be his bride. She is horrified (as well she should be) and locks herself in her room. Her father breaks in and rapes and beats her until she is close to death. She manages to escape with her one friend, her faithful fleethound Ash (who was also injured in her father's attack), away from the kingdom and finds solitude for the winter in an abandoned cabin in the woods. Here she blocks her memory of the horrors of her past and seeks a way to move forward with her life.

This story was a lot darker than I expected (not knowing about the rape/beating beforehand) and I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone without them knowing that it gets, not necessarily too graphic, but very realistic dealing with ugly topics. Overall I enjoyed the story and earnestly wished for Lissar's happy ending, which she got, but perhaps not as happy as I would like fairytales to end. This book had the same problem as Robin McKinley's last book I read, Beauty, in that the main character's journey and life is painstakingly described in detail, but the ending is rushed and left me unsatisfied. When I read a fairytale, I want a mind-blowing, weak-at-the-knee, unforgettable happily ever after, where there is no doubt that the prince and princess WILL be happy together after all their struggles. Lissar had to go through some serious trials and she deserved the best happy ending imaginable, not a wishy-washy, rushed, semi-sweet ending. My only other criticism is that things got a little weird at the end and I found myself not really believing what the characters were doing because it all seemed so far-fetched, but maybe that's just me.

Overall: I would recommend to others, but perhaps not for the faint of heart. It gets a little gruesome.

3 out of 5 stars

Beauty by Robin McKinley

Last week I had this really awesome dream that I was reading a book that had adventure and magic in it and a great love story on the side. When I told my husband about it he said "You dreamed you were reading a book??" in a tone that said he thought I was a complete nerd. But it was a great dream and it made me want to find the perfect book to read. After searching through Goodreads for recommendations, and cross-referencing with my local library, I finally settled on Beauty, by Robin McKinley. Not exactly the adventure-romance I was looking for, but a fun read nonetheless. Fairy tales are fun.

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, this version goes into pretty good detail of Beauty's family and her life before she meets the beast. I've only ever known the Disney version of the story (I know Disney is not the best source of info, but don't judge) so I was interested in the back story. This was a really fun, interesting, and quick read, and I was overall pleased with all but the ending. McKinley took her time describing Beauty and her sisters and father and their whole life together in great detail, and all of the sudden the book ends after a page and a half of resolution. Wha??? I can't figure out why the ending was so rushed after so much thoughtful storytelling. Didn't make sense to me and I felt robbed of my (I mean, Beauty's...) happily-ever-after.

With a good ending this book could have earned a 4 out of 5 from me.

Unfortunately it only gets a 3.

Not bad, but not great.

The Alchemyst series by Michael Scott

Forgive the picture, it was the only one I could find that contained all 6, that's right, 6 books. You can understand why I didn't want to upload 6 individual photos, especially since the covers are all essentially the same. In fact, the similarity of the book covers could reflect the uniformity of the story as well, and not in a good way.

The Alchemyst, by Michael Scott, is about the legendary Nicholas Flamel who became immortal through is discovery of how to produce the elixir of life, found in a book called the Codex. Flamel has been the keeper of the Codex for centuries and protects it from many who desire it, especially a man named Dr. John Dee. Contained in the Codex, along with many powerful spells and enchantments, is a prophecy about powerful twins who will save and destroy the world. Flamel spent his life searching for these twins of legend and finally finds them: Josh and Sophie Newman, two ordinary teens living in San Francisco. Dee attacks Flamel in San Francisco and captures his wife Perenelle, while Flamel escapes with the twins and takes them around the world to be trained in the various magics. Josh and Sophie have to discover for themselves which is the twin that will save the world, and which is the twin who will destroy it.

My primary criticism with this series is that, while I enjoyed it, the whole story could have easily fit into 3-4 books, not 6. I found the premise of the story fascinating; it's filled with legends and magic and I love that stuff. But the story draaaagged and I found myself skimming chapters just so I could get to the good parts. Poor John Dee spends 5 (or was it all 6?? I can't remember...) books chasing Flamel and the twins and never really gets what he wants. Granted, his motives are all kinds of mixed up, but you can't help but feel bad for him. I think the series would have been a lot stronger if it were condensed, but they were probably trying to stretch it to make more money. I'm just glad I didn't spend a penny reading these, otherwise I'd be thoroughly annoyed. What I would do without a public library I can't even guess.

I would recommend these on the condition that the reader understands that they will be reading a lot of unnecessary information that sort of makes you feel like your life is draining away... Overall, mostly entertaining, interesting storyline, just TOO LONG.

The first and last book get 4 out of 5 stars -- the last book is especially good, full of action and the reader is rewarded for putting in the hours reading the previous 5 books.

The middle four get 3 out of 5 stars

Though I think one of those middle ones deserves a 2, but I can't seem to remember which one; they all start to blur together... Odd.