By Robin McKinely. The sequel is called the Hero and the Crown and is even better.

Has anyone heard of or read these books? (And if everyone says no I'm going to go hide somewhere and try to figure out what other people read, if they've never heard of anything of mine...)

It's been a long time since I've read either but I remember they were both very good. It starts out as kind of an alternate British occupation of India thing, but it quickly gets out of the British part and up into the mountains. Instead of magic, the rulers of... wherever, inherit this power they describe as Keelar. It's really cool. And it's an intuitive thing, it's not something they can control. And they ride horses and fight with sabers and have long Arabic robes with sashes and live in tents and other really cool stuff. And the characters are really lovable.

The Prequel is even better. The story is about a younger princess who gets injured so she spends her time trying to reinvent a rather vague recipe for a fireproof potion so she can fight dragons. Dragons are small, irritable creatures, more like pests than actual menaces, but she's young and bored so that's what she does... at first. Then the real action starts. I loved this book. I should read it again.

Anyway, I was on the magic forum and something there made me think of Keelar and I was going to mention it and then I realized no one would have any idea what I was talking about so I thought I'd come over here and recommend the books.

I've never heard of it...but then, I don't have access to many fantasy books. The only ones I've read are any I happen to find in those badly-designed public domain ebook sites. So I haven't read that many. Plus, where we live books are limited, and when I get hand-me-down books they're usually theology since the adults I know don't really go in for fantasy.

Anyways, the book sounds interesting. I wish there were a way to buy current in print books in electronic form. Kind of like iTunes for books. *sigh*

eruheran

Don't you ever buy books online? Like Amazon? That's where I buy pretty much all my books (that and christianbook.com) and often it's cheaper than anyplace else because you can buy used books. A lot of them are a penny plus 3.95 shipping (used). Typically I only spend about $5 a book.

Also, if you're willing to pay $10 for an electronic book, the Kindle books on Amazon work on computers too if you download the free Kindle for PC software... but yeah, most of them are $10. My brother says that Amazon is working on getting the price down, but it's the publishers that set the price, not Amazon. I can't see myself paying $10 for an electronic book when I could buy a used copy for $5 and have it in my hands. Something about the paper feel of it is just cool.

Well, I live in Asia, so that rules out physical books, even from e-tailers like Amazon. Plus, like you said, the eBook's price is usually prohibitive. But I manage.

eruheran

That's rough. There should be an e-book subscription service, shouldn't there. I mean, if the music industry can do it, the publishing industry should too. But from what I hear publishers are behind the times when it comes to the Internet, holding on stubbornly to physical printing. Ah, well, public demand will bring it eventually and meanwhile...

I have no experience with Asia so I have no advice. But I sympathize heartily. I don't even know of any fantasy that's in the public demand. It's a pretty new genre. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis haven't been dead long enough, and I don't even know any fantasy authors before them.

Yeah....the Publishers know that ebooks should be dirt cheap (it doesn't cost anything to make them!), which is why they are reticent to allow them as a medium...they'll lose money.

Yeah, mostly all I get in the way of books is hand-me-downs from people leaving the country.

eruheran

I've read both of them, and they are really good.

Well, I have a Kindle by Amazon... they work internationally, if you can ship the Kindle device to Asia (not sure, but you probably can). The books are delivered wireless, so there is no cords or computers needed. All the books are under $10, but they have some freebies too. You can also get the e-book software so you can read your books on your computer, Kindle or iPhone.


I'll have to look into those books... they sound interesting

They are.

No way, I didn't know you lived in Asia, Eruheran! I know you guys are just waking up when I'm finishing up dinner dishes, so I should have figured that out. Cool! I lived in Japan for a year and a half.

While I do agree e-books should be more cheaply priced than they are, I have to respectfully disagree that they should be dirt cheap. The actual price of printing a book is just a small percentage of cost. For e-books you still have all the costs of editing, interior design, cover design, the writer's work, etc...all of which weigh far more into cost than the actual printing of the book, in my understanding. Plus online retailers still take a chunk of the money. Authors still need to get paid for their work, and if publishers are going to stay in business, they do as well. So yes, not having a printed copy alleviates some of the expense, but not as much as you might think.

To jump back on topic, I have not read the Blue Sword, but it sounds interesting. Did you find the content compatible with a Christian worldview?

I don't remember.

What do you mean specifically? "Christian Worldview" is an incredibly vague term.

What I meant by Christian worldview in this case was, did the content of the book align with a Scriptural perspective of the world...or at least not contradict it? To give a concrete example of the sort of thing I'm referring to, is witchcraft promoted as a positive activity (obviously unscriptural)? I'm curious about things along those lines. I've read her novel Beauty, which I enjoyed, but some of her other stuff seemed pretty dark/pagan, which I'm not too interested in.

Hm, well, there's a certain amount of Cobha, in this case known as Keelar. So it's not a power that's frowned upon. But the bad guys, (northerners) possess a certain amount of sorcery that is evil. So it all depends on how you look at it. There are visions and ancient tongues and inherited dreams, but it's not really dark in my opinion.

*smiles* this from the girl who used to be infatuated with torture.

I haven't read this book, but it sounds intriguing. I may have to look into this one too. I need to stop coming over to this section of the Forum.

Thanks, Vanya! I might have to check it out.

What's that supposed to mean?

I thought it was funny to hear you say that.

My bro had these out from the library so I decided to read.

My assessment after the Blue Sword: It's like a Henty book set in India mixed with M. Henry's King of the Wind and Calormene! Coolness!

The Blue Sword was better than the second one. The latter got a little...out there...after Luthe came into the story. Not quite believable (immortality for MC?), and the relationship between the two was strange and hinted at just plain wrong. Based on that, I probably wouldn't read any of the author's other books.

However, keelar made much more sense in The Hero & The Crown than in The Blue Sword. In The Blue Sword, it was so erratic... so based in anger (which bothered me on multiple levels -- both on a personal moral level of "that just doesn't seem right, to use anger to fuel great deeds like that" and on the level of having watched too much Star Wars and thinking "anger is the path to the dark side", lol...) But in The Hero & The Crown, it was much better done.

Also, I enjoyed the fact that despite both books are about girls, they aren't warrior-woman types in the 21st century fashion...The author didn't take into consideration some aspects of warfare that make it unsuitable for girls to be in battle, but culturally it was correct in the cultures that they were modeled after, IIRC. (Same reason I don't complain in How To Train Your Dragon about seeing Viking women fighting in the major battle at the end -- it really happened that way.)

Melody's got it right. That about sums it up. I like them.
Dragon Egg