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A review by charlottesometimes
Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Possibly even more boring than McKinley’s first go at the Beauty and the Beast story, Beauty, which was a dull enough read. There was far too much housekeeping, and gardening for my tastes.
I can’t understand the impetus to return to the same fairy story for a second time, but still hew so close to both the tradition version and your own first version. It can’t help but feel redundant. I had assumed this was going to take something different from the original inspiration, but I was disappointed. We can’t all be Angela Carter, but a little more interrogation of the previous texts would have been nice.
I also don’t really see the need to set a fairytale in a fantasy landscape where magic is mundane, merely in order to explain its existence. It’s not really true to fairy stories, and I feel like it reduces the impact of the appearance of an enchanted beast in the story if the characters already live a life where ‘greenwitches’ are everywhere and it’s quite normal to have a dragon as a pet.
Also, the phrase ‘greenwitch’ replaces the name ‘Ger’ from the previous book in being the word used 3 or 4 times a page. Not only is this gratuitous, but every time it appeared I briefly read it as Greenwich. Which was a bit annoying.
I can’t understand the impetus to return to the same fairy story for a second time, but still hew so close to both the tradition version and your own first version. It can’t help but feel redundant. I had assumed this was going to take something different from the original inspiration, but I was disappointed. We can’t all be Angela Carter, but a little more interrogation of the previous texts would have been nice.
I also don’t really see the need to set a fairytale in a fantasy landscape where magic is mundane, merely in order to explain its existence. It’s not really true to fairy stories, and I feel like it reduces the impact of the appearance of an enchanted beast in the story if the characters already live a life where ‘greenwitches’ are everywhere and it’s quite normal to have a dragon as a pet.
Also, the phrase ‘greenwitch’ replaces the name ‘Ger’ from the previous book in being the word used 3 or 4 times a page. Not only is this gratuitous, but every time it appeared I briefly read it as Greenwich. Which was a bit annoying.