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108th out of 919 books
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5,210 voters
Chalice
As the newly appointed Chalice, Mirasol is the most important member of the Master’s Circle. It is her duty to bind the Circle, the land and its people together with their new Master. But the new Master of Willowlands is a Priest of Fire, only drawn back into the human world by the sudden death of his brother. No one knows if it is even possible for him to live amongst his...more
Hardcover, 265 pages
Published
September 18th 2008
by G.P. Putnam’s Sons
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This was the type of Robin McKinley book I like -- sweet yet powerful female main character with a job to do, an otherworldly land, and an understated but moving romance. It's not her best book ever, but it's a return to the kind of book she used to write in the days of my favorites, THE BLUE SWORD and BEAUTY, and I enjoyed it. The bees were a wonderful touch.
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Robin McKinley knows first lines. You read just the first sentence and immediately feel like you've entered a world entirely complete and utterly its own. And you want to sit down and stay awhile. Chalice is no exception to the rule. The world reminded me a bit of the kingdom in Spindle's End, both of them deeply entrenched in a sticky sort of magic with a heritage and weight to it. The characters reminded me a bit of those in Rose Daughter, purposefully a bit vague and left up to your imagin...more
I always rather suspected I'd reread this book, and now seemed like a good time, when I'm doing a lot of revisiting of other books. It stuck in my mind for a long time, in a way not many books do. I found myself still wondering how Mirasol would deal with certain situations, how she and the Master would get on.
I found the worldbuilding fascinating. The idea of a Chalice, the idea of the earthlines, all the roles of the Circle... I still think it would be fascinating to see the Circle functioning...more
I found the worldbuilding fascinating. The idea of a Chalice, the idea of the earthlines, all the roles of the Circle... I still think it would be fascinating to see the Circle functioning...more
I love pretty much everything Robin McKinley writes and Chalice is no exception. It is clearly her story with all the original world building, interesting characters, and unique situations we expect of her. But it also has her flaw – which is the long, long, long passages on things that don’t really move the story forward (in Sunshine this was cinnamon rolls, with Chalice it is beekeeping).
Chalice is the story of a beekeeper that becomes second in command of a ‘demesne’ (I’d liken it to a barony...more
Chalice is the story of a beekeeper that becomes second in command of a ‘demesne’ (I’d liken it to a barony...more
I did not like this book as much as I had hoped I would. Robin McKinley is one of my favorite authors and I was eagerly anticipating this release, as it seemed a return to the types of stories she did with The Blue Sword, Hero & the Crown and her fairy tale retellings.
The story was pretty good, but kind of uneventful. The language was lyrical, but without punch or impact. I was immediately drawn into the connection between Chalice and Master, but didn't see enough of them together over the c...more
The story was pretty good, but kind of uneventful. The language was lyrical, but without punch or impact. I was immediately drawn into the connection between Chalice and Master, but didn't see enough of them together over the c...more
I was quite doubtful about Robin McKinley's Chalice, initially. It took a while to really get going, and while it did, there was a lot of skipping around between time periods, which I found a little confusing. I read it on my ereader, which made it a little more difficult to just turn back a few pages and reread stuff to connect up the dots and sort out my confusion, which might have helped -- but at the same time, I should've been able to read the story linearly.
I did enjoy it quite a lot, thou...more
I did enjoy it quite a lot, thou...more
This book was too much in need of a good editing for me to enjoy it. I sat down with it 6 times, and only got to page 34...and then I quit.
What the book really should have done was have the beginning section, up until she gets burned, and then go back in time and talk about how she becomes Chalice, and then go on with the story.
Instead, there's a line of dialogue, such as "are you warm enough?" Then 6 paragraphs of something that reminded her of, and things she did in the past, and then finally,...more
What the book really should have done was have the beginning section, up until she gets burned, and then go back in time and talk about how she becomes Chalice, and then go on with the story.
Instead, there's a line of dialogue, such as "are you warm enough?" Then 6 paragraphs of something that reminded her of, and things she did in the past, and then finally,...more
Mirasol was raised to be a beekeeper and to care for her family's small plot of land, so she is completely unprepared when she is chosen as the next Chalice, the position second only to the Master of the land. Not having had the usual apprenticeship, she has to figure out her role as Chalice on her own, learning what she can from books. She can't even be helped by the new Master, who, banished years before by the old Master, his brother, has gotten so far into his training as a priest of Fire th...more
I gave this four stars not because it was the best Robin McKinley book I've ever read, but because I was so pleased to see her returning to what I think of as "classic Robin McKinley." I hated Dragonhaven--it was this rambling mess. And I really didn't like Sunshine either. But this--it made me hope for another Damar novel. The only thing that frustrated me is that it felt a little too light--there wasn't really as much substance to it as I would have liked (and she did that frustrating thing wh...more
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I loved McKinley's The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword. They were fun fantasy adventures starring badass warrior ladies. But I really hated Chalice.
For one thing, the first 100 pages (and most of the rest of the book) are all about the intricate rules and procedures of a magical, medieval-ish government. In those first 100 pages, there is only one conversation. I guess this is what separates the real fantasy fans from people like me, because I was bored out of my gourd.
But my real criticis...more
For one thing, the first 100 pages (and most of the rest of the book) are all about the intricate rules and procedures of a magical, medieval-ish government. In those first 100 pages, there is only one conversation. I guess this is what separates the real fantasy fans from people like me, because I was bored out of my gourd.
But my real criticis...more
Yeah! Robin McKinley is back in fine form after the disappointing Dragonhaven. I loved this story. Sort of a Beauty & the Beast but with a lot more fire and honey.
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"Please be as you were. I will try to help you." She hesitated, and pulled out the handflower honey and added a little more to the mixture in her cup. The water was faintly gold against the silver cup; the small stones in the bottom shone like gems. She did not want god and silver and gems; she wanted ordinary things, commonplace things. Trees and birdsong and sunlight, and unfractured earth. "Let the earth knit together againt, like - like darning a sock. Here are the threads to mend you with."...more
Despite it's intriguing premise, the first half of McKinley's book struck me as rather confusing and not at all engaging. The book opens with the arrival of the new "Master," who, because he was given to the priests of Fire as a young man, is no longer quite human. The opening sections then move back and forth in time, in the third person but limited to the point of view of the main character, Mirasol, who has been thrust into the role of "Chalice," adviser to the Master and second authority in...more
I don't understand the fascination with rituals that others seem to have. Particularly in fantasy, people are always discovering that they are a something-one-can't-pronounce-priest or an inherited-power-that-unknowing-orphan-struggles-with-magician. And with this power comes the great responsibility of learning a lot of rituals (for another take on this, I recommend The Bell at Sealey Head). The rituals and their description and the description of the person learning them is the foundation of a...more
Mirasol used to be a simple beekeeper; then she was unexpectedly chosen to be Chalice, part of the mystical Circle which governs Willowlands. She feels very unready for her role, and it's even worse when the new Master arrives, and together they must face a dangerous threat to their land.
As with Dragonhaven, the balance between interiority and action feels off, but not as badly, or maybe it's just that I liked the main character more. I did like how McKinley starts the narrative in medias res, w...more
As with Dragonhaven, the balance between interiority and action feels off, but not as badly, or maybe it's just that I liked the main character more. I did like how McKinley starts the narrative in medias res, w...more
Let me first say that I love Robin McKinley. I think she is an excellent writer. I loved Beauty and many of her other works. I don't know if it was my mood, but I just couldn't get into this book. I kind of felt that the editing was not clean enough- first of all, the whole setting is a new world, and was explained so slowly as to be excruciating. I felt the book kept going from present to past in a way that was distracting. I wish that the world would have made sense quicker and that the book o...more
I love how she incorporates bees and honey into her story, and how it's told not quite chronologically, but very logically. The heroine (Mirasol - I do love names with 'mira') and hero were excellent, complicated characters, and I loved the Grand Seneschal. A very magical tale.
A very interesting tale in a very Robin McKinley universe. In typical McKinley style, we join the story in the middle of it and learn about the circumstances and rules of the universe as the tale goes along. There is very little dialogue and the narrative stays very close to its main character, losing a chance, I think, to develop further some of the other very interesting secondary characters. While I very much enjoyed it, I have enjoyed other works of McKinley better and felt that the lack of...more
As much as I loved Pegasus I was confused by Chalice. It was very strange to read these two books back-to-back because even though the same author wrote both the world-building is so different between the two books that I dunno if I would have connected them to the same author on my own. The only other work I have read by McKinley, Spindle's End, was much more like Pegasus as well, so I hope this book is an anomoly in her bibliography.[return][return]Chalice is about a girl whose job is to help...more
Chalice turned out to be another wonderful, beautiful book by Robin McKinley, perhaps one of my newest favourites, although perhaps only because it's the most recently read of her books. I love how the tale is fantasy with a touch of fairy tale in it but manages to portray an intriguing story with a ring of truth to it, somehow. Or perhaps I'm just still in rapture over it. The book does get major points for creating a system of how the land-magic-people relationship works and the sway that the...more
Had this been anyone else, the overly precious use of capitalization, straight out of an antiquated Victorian novel, would have put me off. As it was, I expected McKinley to pull something out of a confusing mess of half-explained world-building and disorienting time-jumps. And she did, eventually, although it is like a fairy tale in the narrow focus on Marisol and her hero's journey, to the extent that most other characters don't even have names. In fact, the bees and the ponies have more perso...more
I saw this at the library looking for books for my two teenagers when I caught sight of this book. Then when I read that it was science fiction and about beekeeping I grabbed it. I read it in one sitting, and loved it. That's the great thing about most YA fiction you can zip right through it.
As a beekeeper I knew that much of the bee behavior McKinley described was impossible, but I loved it all the same. Since reading Emily Rodda's The Shifting Sands (part of the Deltora Series) I've wanted to...more
As a beekeeper I knew that much of the bee behavior McKinley described was impossible, but I loved it all the same. Since reading Emily Rodda's The Shifting Sands (part of the Deltora Series) I've wanted to...more
Such a weird interesting read from Robin McKinley. I picked up the novel without reading the book jacket--thanks in large part to my love of her other novels, particularly The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword. In Chalice Mirasol, a young beekeeper/woodskeeper lives in a secluded edge of Willowlands. Her simple existence is easily overlooked until she becomes "Chalice," an inherited position on each demesne of their world. The book opens with Mirasol standing as Chalice on the front steps of...more
It seems that I'm building up a love of stories revolving around women beekeepers: First there was The Secret Life of Bees, then the character of Charlotte "Chuck" Charles on Pushing Daisies, and finally Mirasol, the honey Chalice of Willowlands.
I was almost afraid to dive into this, since it seems so long since McKinley last fabricated a new fairy tale / fantasy. I worried that she'd somehow gotten clumsy, or would have changed her style so that it no longer felt organic.
I needn't have worried....more
I was almost afraid to dive into this, since it seems so long since McKinley last fabricated a new fairy tale / fantasy. I worried that she'd somehow gotten clumsy, or would have changed her style so that it no longer felt organic.
I needn't have worried....more
I really enjoyed this book. I am a huge fan of Robin McKinley's writing style. She has a beautiful turn of phrase, and she can be a bit rambly at times, which is kind of in tune with how my mind works.
In Chalice, McKinley builds an interesting new world, and yet only opens a small window into it. There is much about the workings of the world that remain unknown; instead, the information is imparted as the heroine, Mirasol, learns things herself. Mirasol is a lovely character who is out of depth...more
In Chalice, McKinley builds an interesting new world, and yet only opens a small window into it. There is much about the workings of the world that remain unknown; instead, the information is imparted as the heroine, Mirasol, learns things herself. Mirasol is a lovely character who is out of depth...more
So, don't get me wrong, I am all about the girl-power-plus-magic genre, and this had added beekeeping, so extra points, but I've discovered that I have a problem with Robin McKinley.
She builds these fantastic worlds... populates them with interesting and well rounded characters... there is a dramatic build up... and then the book is over.
It feels like once she sets everything in motion, she feels it can all be concluded in, you know, four pages. While this is technically true, it feels like a...more
She builds these fantastic worlds... populates them with interesting and well rounded characters... there is a dramatic build up... and then the book is over.
It feels like once she sets everything in motion, she feels it can all be concluded in, you know, four pages. While this is technically true, it feels like a...more
This was a very sweet book. I have a lot of faith in McKinley as an author -- The Hero and the Crown and Spindle's End in particular I've read over and over again since I was younger. Chalice is a very pleasing read, following in the tradition of those books. It was a very quick read, not too long and completely engaging. The world McKinley constructs felt real and detailed without the description becoming too burdensome to the narrative. Actually, it was those parts of the book describing Miras...more
2.5, rounded up for novelty. My first fantasy by Robin McKinley --- another rendition of Beauty and the Beast, but fairly unique. The beast is a human (our hero) who has been transformed almost completely into Fire. For about seven years he's been removed from humanity, learning how to be a Fire Mage. He's got black and red eyes, blackened skin, and a hot body. (Too hot to touch.) ツ He's kind and wise, yet pessimistic about his ability to tend the earth's troubled spirits. Nonetheless, the task...more
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Born in her mother's hometown of Warren, Ohio, Robin McKinley grew up an only child with a father in the United States Navy. She moved around frequently as a child and read copiously; she credits this background with the inspiration for her stories.
Her passion for reading was one of the most constant things in her childhood, so she began to remember events, places, and time periods by what books...more
More about Robin McKinley...
Her passion for reading was one of the most constant things in her childhood, so she began to remember events, places, and time periods by what books...more
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“And if my choice is to sit graciously in my best robes and accept the inevitable or to bail a sea with a bucket, give me the bucket.”
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