Master storyteller Robin McKinley here spins two new fairy tales and retells two cherished classics. All feature princesses touched with or by magic. There is Linadel, who lives in a kingdom next to Faerieland, where princesses are stolen away on their seventeenth birthdays-and Linadel's seventeenth birthday is tomorrow. And Korah, whose brother is bewitched by the magical Golden Hind; now it is up to her to break the spell. Rana must turn to a talking frog to help save her kingdom from the evil Aliyander. And then there are the twelve princesses, enspelled to dance through the soles of their shoes every night. . . . These are tales to read with delight!
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Robin McKinley knows her geography of fantasy, the nuances of the language, the atmosphere of magic. . . (The Washington Post)
About the Author
Robin McKinley has won various awards and citations for her writing, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown and a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword. Her other books include Sunshine; the New York Times bestseller Spindle's End; two novel-length retellings of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and Rose Daughter; and a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, The Outlaws of Sherwood. She lives with her husband, the English writer Peter Dickinson.
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First Sentence
THE LAST mortal kingdom before the unmeasured sweep of Faerieland begins has at best held an uneasy truce with its unpredictable neighbor. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE LAST mortal kingdom before the unmeasured sweep of Faerieland begins has at best held an uneasy truce with its unpredictable neighbor. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Despite her award-winning original fantasies, Robin McKinley will always be known as the lady who redid the classic fairy tales like "Beauty," "Spindle's End" and others. "Door in the Hedge," recently reprinted by Firebird Books, matches two retold fairy tales with two original stories, with mixed results.
"The Stolen Princess" is a the rather rambly tale of a royal family's difficulties; the queen's aunt was stolen to Faerieland as a girl, and when she marries and has a daughter of her own, the young daughter is also kidnapped. Things get more complicated when old mysteries are solved. "The Hunting of the Hind" tells of a deer-woman so beautiful that she drives men mad, and the princess who is trying to free her. And McKinley presents two old fairy tales given a new spin: "The Princess and the Frog," a story of brotherly treachery, and "Twelve Dancing Princesses," given a darker tinge.
Robin McKinley's writing is better suited to novels than short stories. In "The Door in the Hedge," she does a pretty good job. Not a great job, not even a good job -- just a pretty good one. When it comes to style, her writing is nearly impeccable, but it's in the actual stories told that she stumbles over her own quill pen.
"Stolen Princess" takes forever to move past McKinley's lectures about customs and problems in the kingdom, but moves steadily and well once it gets to Princess Lindanel's kidnapping. This one could easily have been expanded into a full-length book. "Hunting of the Hind" is even better, tight and strong. But the two fairy-tale retellings are stilted and too short.
McKinley's writing is detailed and has some moments that are pure poetry, such as Lindanel's first meeting with the prince of Faerieland, or Princess Korah finding the Hind. The biggest difficulty is the characterizations -- the three last stories are too short for her to develop the characters enough for readers to really like 'em.
Flawed but pretty, "The Door in the Hedge" is a nice read for fans of retold fairy tales. Just don't expect anything like McKinley's usual level of storytelling.
By Bubalu
Format:Paperback
I don't have a review so much as a complaint. The book I purchased had many pages missing. Part One of "The Stolen Princess" was repeated in the book and the rest of the story was omitted. When I went to read Part Two, it belonged to "The Princess and the Frog". I am missing 50 pages out of this book. I would like to advise you to check all pages of your book before purchasing.
By Essay
Format:Paperback
Another young adult book by an author good at fairy tales, but this one is a collection of four fairy tales instead of a stand alone story. The book blurb says that two of the fairy tales are retellings and two are "new", but I found all of them to feel like retellings of stories I'd already heard. I didn't care for the book, but the kidlet loved it. He just likes McKinley, I think.
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3.7 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful writing
The Door in the Hedge is a collection of four stories by Robin McKinley. I would summarize them all, but that has been done already by many others and I'm not very good at it. Read more
Published on April 24 2004 by Bon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exquisite
The first book I read by Robin Mckinley was Beauty. I began an ongoing search for her other works. The Door in the Hedge is her best short story collection yet and each of the four... Read more
Published on Mar 23 2004 by "qpelican"
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best of McKinley
This book was my first introduction to McKinley's writings. And as far as I'm concerned the best of McKinley's writings. Read more
Published on Jan 28 2004 by Book Collector
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