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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
A fun take on the Sleeping Beauty mythos! While I admit the ending was a bit lackluster, the overall story was fun and witty, and I really enjoyed the world. McKinley does a wonderful job of injecting new life into the tried and true fairy tales of yore.
I read this so many times as a kid, but it's been about 10 years since I've picked it up and I must say, it holds up.
I enjoyed reading this book. It was a comforting book, the kind you want to wrap around yourself. The telling of the story of sleeping beauty went really well, so much so that you almost forgot that you were reading about Sleeping Beauty. I found two real weaknesses in this book. The first was the sentence structure (and in consequence the editing). There were many sentences with structures so complex that they required two or three reads to learn their meaning. Many of those sentences involved magical concepts, so that it was difficult to parse the sentences and figure out how exactly the magic was behaving. The other problem was the final magical battle. Most of the story was about people living their lives, with magic affecting them but not being the primary defining thing in their lives. But when the story turned to being mostly about magic, it was quite difficult to figure out what was going on.
I had a hard time getting into it because the beginning was too much info dump exposition. Once the action started, it was engrossing. McKinley sets up a very worrying dilemma, and I was anticipating a great resolution. But the actual resolution was disappointing and annoying to me.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is Robin McKinley's grown up retelling of "Sleeping Beauty." I loved every page of this book, from start to finish. Robin McKinley has a way of interpreting classic fairy tales that is both imaginative and enchanting.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
i finished this book while in Tennessee visiting relatives for Thanksgiving. I enjoyed it quite a lot, changes the basic Sleeping Beauty story I remember as a kid (not the Disney version though, although that one is good too :-) I will admit to getting a bit lost when the final battle came in...all the animals, and fights, and..eh? But I liked it up to that point, and I thought the ending was satisfactory.