The Blue Sword - Hardcover

McKinley, Robin

4.21

60,822 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688009387 ISBN 13: 9780688009380

Publisher: HarperCollins Design International, 1982

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A Newbery Honor Book and a modern classic of young adult fantasy, The Blue Sword introduces the desert kingdom of Damar, where magic weaves through the blood and weaves together destinies. New York Times-bestselling and award-winning author Robin McKinley sets the standard for epic fantasy and compelling, complex heroines. Fans of Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, and Rae Carson will delight in discovering the rich world of Damar.

Harry Crewe is a Homelander orphan girl, come to live in Damar from over the seas. She is drawn to the bleak landscape, so unlike the green hills of her Homeland. She wishes she might cross the sands and climb the dark mountains where no Homelander has ever set foot, where the last of the old Damarians, the Free Hillfolk, live.

Corlath is the golden-eyed king of the Free Hillfolk, son of the sons of the legendary Lady Aerin. When he arrives in Harry's town to ally with the Homelanders against a common enemy, he never expects to set Harry's destiny in motion: She will ride into battle as a King's Rider, bearing the Blue Sword, the great mythical treasure, which no one has wielded since Lady Aerin herself.

Legends and myths, no matter how epic, no matter how magical, all begin somewhere.

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Review:

Praise for The Blue Sword
* "This is a zesty, romantic heroic fantasy with an appealingly stalwart heroine, a finely realized mythical kingdom, and a grounding in reality that enhances the tale's verve as a fantasy." Booklist, starred review
* McKinley has reworked many familiar mythological motifs into a tale that is completely fresh; her spare and eloquent prose is sheer delight. School Library Journal, starred review
A new language, a new landscape, and a new people all unforgettable! The Horn Book
McKinley knows her geography of fantasy, the nuances of the language, the atmosphere of magic . . . . The Washington Post

"Any book that, at one point or another, reminded me ofThe Sheikh, Gunga Din, Islandia, andThe Lord of the Ringscan't be anything but a true original." IsaacAsimov's Science Fiction"

Praise for The Blue Sword
* "This is a zesty, romantic heroic fantasy with an appealingly stalwart heroine, a finely realized mythical kingdom, and a grounding in reality that enhances the tale's verve as a fantasy." --Booklist, starred review
* "McKinley has reworked many familiar mythological motifs into a tale that is completely fresh; her spare and eloquent prose is sheer delight." --School Library Journal, starred review
"A new language, a new landscape, and a new people--all unforgettable!"--The Horn Book
"McKinley knows her geography of fantasy, the nuances of the language, the atmosphere of magic . . . ." --The Washington Post

"Any book that, at one point or another, reminded me of The Sheikh, Gunga Din, Islandia, and The Lord of the Rings can't be anything but a true original." --Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction

Praise for The Blue Sword
* -This is a zesty, romantic heroic fantasy with an appealingly stalwart heroine, a finely realized mythical kingdom, and a grounding in reality that enhances the tale's verve as a fantasy.- --Booklist, starred review
* -McKinley has reworked many familiar mythological motifs into a tale that is completely fresh; her spare and eloquent prose is sheer delight.- --School Library Journal, starred review
-A new language, a new landscape, and a new people--all unforgettable!---The Horn Book
-McKinley knows her geography of fantasy, the nuances of the language, the atmosphere of magic . . . .- --The Washington Post

-Any book that, at one point or another, reminded me of The Sheikh, Gunga Din, Islandia, and The Lord of the Rings can't be anything but a true original.- --Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction

Praise for The Blue Sword

* "This is a zesty, romantic heroic fantasy with an appealingly stalwart heroine, a finely realized mythical kingdom, and a grounding in reality that enhances the tale's verve as a fantasy." --Booklist, starred review

* "McKinley has reworked many familiar mythological motifs into a tale that is completely fresh; her spare and eloquent prose is sheer delight." --School Library Journal, starred review

"A new language, a new landscape, and a new people--all unforgettable!"--The Horn Book
"McKinley knows her geography of fantasy, the nuances of the language, the atmosphere of magic . . . ." --The Washington Post

"Any book that, at one point or another, reminded me of The Sheikh, Gunga Din, Islandia, and The Lord of the Rings can't be anything but a true original." --Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction

From the Back Cover:

When Harry Crewe's father dies, she leaves her Homeland to travel east, to Istan, the last outpost of the Homelander empire, where her elder brother is stationed.

Harry is drawn to the bleak landscape of the northeast frontier, so unlike the green hills of her Homeland. The desert she stares across was once a part of the great kingdom of Damar, before the Homelanders came from over the seas. Harry wishes she might cross the sands and climb the dark mountains where no Homelander has ever set foot, where the last of the old Damarians, the Free Hillfolk, still live. She hears stories that the Free Hillfolk possess strange powers -- that they work magic -- that it is because of this that they remain free of the Homelander sway.

When the king of the Free Hillfolk comes to Istan to ask that the Homelanders and the Hillfolk set their enmity aside to fight a common foe, the Homelanders are reluctant to trust his word, and even more reluctant to believe his tales of the Northerners: that they are demonkind, not human.

Harry's destiny lies in the far mountains that she once wished to climb, and she will ride to the battle with the North in the Hill-king's army, bearing the Blue Sword, Gonturan, the chiefest treasure of the Hill-king's house and the subject of many legends of magic and mystery.

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