Blue Sword [Mass Market Paperback]

I Love this story I is a true classic and a wonderful adventure. Harri is my favorite character in any book she is wonderful to read about and thank you Robin for giving her life.

This is my absoloutly favorite book in the world!! And I have read a lot of books. I read about a book a day and over the summer I usually read around 2 hundred books, I'm not joking. And this is my favorite out of them all. In the story, Harry (who's real name is Angharad) moves out to Istan, the last Homelander settlement on the border of the Homeland and Daria, after the deaths of her parents. Her brother Richard (also called Dickie) is stationed at the military outpost (the General Leonard Ernest Mundy) in Istan. She finds friends in her cheerful hosts Sir Charles and Lady Amelia and the commander of the fort Colonel Jack Dedham. Harry has always had a longing for adventure and action and she soon gets her wish. A diplomatic party from the Damarians (called Hillfolk by Homelanders) arrive in Istan and when they leave they secretly kidnap Harry. All of the sudden Harry is thrust into the adventure she longs for and she discovers some suprising things about her past. Trying to find her way in an a world so very different from her own she finds friends in the Kings Riders, an elite group of warriors serving the Hillking Corlath. Harry soons finds herself the wieldier of the legendary sword Guntarun (once belonging to the Lady Aerin from "The Hero and The Crown") and possesser of the magical gift of Kelar. As the Damarians prepare for the coming war with the Northeners Harry is faced with a difficult descision. Should she ride to war with the People of the Hills, who have accepted her for who she is and made her one of their own? Or should she risk exile from her new home to warn the Homelanders of the coming attack? With the help of the wiseman Luthe, her teacher Mathin, her friends Terim and Senay, the foltsza Narnkon and her faithful Hill-horse Tsornin, Harry fights for her life and the things she believes in. Robin McKinnley is a master storyteller and "The Blue Sword" is an amazing gripping book. You can't put it down.

I read the Berkeley edition of this paperback back in 1983 and still have the original. Battered, dog-eared and yellow but it remains a favourite of mine to re-read. I did break down and buy a more "modern" edition of it a few years ago.

It's a classic tale of a girl who is a fish out of water until she's taken from her "normal" life and thrown into a situation which shows her not only who she really is but what she is really capable of. A memorable cast of characters which include a horse, a hunting cat I wish I owned, and an eccentric wizard-type as well as a Mckinley version of the Knights of the Round table.

I hope you enjoy this story as much and as often as I do.