false 407813 21 Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. Her life is quiet and ordinary-until the night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language; she does not know why she has been chosen. But Corlath does. Harry is to be trained in the arts of war until she is a match for any of his men. Does she have the courage to accept her true fate?<br><br> "McKinley's spare and eloquent prose is sheer delight... a compelling portrait of the vibrant, wryly humorous Harry." -<i>School Library Journal</i>, starred review<br><br>"This is a zesty, romantic heroic...." -<i>Booklist</i>, starred review<br><br> Awards:<br><br> A 1983 Newbery Honor Book<br> An ALA Notable Book<br> An ALA Best Book for Young Adults 2321296 1982 The Blue Sword total:4999|5:2476|4:1632|3:753|2:111|1:27| 4999 21416 6216 590 5 10 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 09 22:46:50 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 09 22:55:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 4 false false Sun Jun 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 11 16:03:04 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 29 11:22:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 4 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1997 Sat Mar 01 09:40:53 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 10:04:14 -0800 2008 Robin McKinley.

This is one of my favorite books of all time. One of the many reasons is that I discovered it all by myself (well, not quite by myself; a librarian put it on the shelf where I could find it ...more...]]> 5 4 false false Fri Oct 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 31 10:54:10 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 31 10:58:48 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false true Fri Feb 11 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Apr 07 04:41:58 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 04:45:28 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 26 20:18:12 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 11:24:38 -0700 2008 The Blue Sword has earned a place on my "books I read over and over again" shelf.

The Blue Sword I found most fascinating and enjoyable for its setting. It takes place over three locations: Home, Damar, an...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Sep 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 17 20:13:21 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 22 15:11:36 -0700 2008 1 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Jun 17 16:54:52 -0700 2007 Sun Jun 17 16:55:12 -0700 2007
Circumstances change dras...more...]]> 3 1 false true Mon Jan 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Dec 05 07:11:30 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 19 11:01:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Aug 10 07:00:02 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 10 07:31:06 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Mar 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 15:43:38 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 13:48:40 -0700 2009
It features a compelling heroine, who is neither whiny, nor stereotypically "spunky," but who has a sort of dignity rare in YA fiction. The setting qui...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 18 11:44:54 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 18 11:57:42 -0700 2009
As a classic fantasy, The Blue Sword has all the traditional elements: des...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1988 Wed Mar 11 22:47:05 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 11 22:48:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Sun Jan 04 10:22:13 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 11:00:09 -0800 2009 3 so far more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 05 09:30:39 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 09:54:05 -0700 2009 Diana Wynne Jones or Patricia C. Wrede, The Blue Sword and its prequel, The Hero and the Crown, would have gone straight to my Favorites shelf and remained there forever. But I didn't and so I'm making up for lost time.
This isn'...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 09:00:48 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 09:01:44 -0700 2009 Book Awards challenge (Newbery Honor). I also loved Beauty by Robin McKinley, so I thought this one would be a slam dunk. =)

The story begins was a young girl, Harry (short for Angharad), who has recently moved to an outpost of her country (Home) in a foreig...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 16:18:38 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 16:47:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue May 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 13:37:10 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 23:25:26 -0700 2009 Chalice a few months ago, and I tried to read ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 07:01:06 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 10:25:49 -0700 2009 10+ Robin McKinley is one of my favorite authors, and it was this book which first hooked me on her writing (I did read Deerskin and The Door In the Hedge first, but this is the one in which she totally captured my imagination).
Whenever I read this book I want to go live as part of a desert tribe;...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Mar 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 18 16:20:55 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 22 00:01:39 -0700 2009 more...]]>