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Title: Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley, Peter Dickinson ISBN: 0-399-23796-8 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Juv Pub. Date: June, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.17 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: I enjoyed this book
Comment: I am a major Robin McKinley fan. What I love best is her facility with the English language. For someone who reads with an internal ear to the music of the written word, her prose is rich with melody and grace.
If you expect Peter Dickinson's writing to be like McKinley's, you will be disappointed. His voice is very different - a sparer cello & oboe melody compared to her dancing flutes and trumpets. It's not better or worse, but it is different. His stories are more stark. The themes are darker. But they have their own beauty.
I also really enjoyed the one Damarian tale. As McKinley's writing has matured, her female heroines have become less fairy princesses, and more survivors who find it within themselves to meet challenges and endure. Her heroes also have a few more realistic warts. This story is about a survivor. A woman who keeps her soul intact against all odds, and ultimately finds it within herself (with her sister's encouragement) to follow her dreams and change her destiny. I also liked that it was set in the present day. Perhaps there's just to much realism in it for some - we all know creeps like Hetta's parents - but I think that makes it even more satisfying. Who needs dreams more than those whose reality is a prison?
In any case, if you read the book, read it one story at a time, and enjoy the changing voices.
Rating: 2
Summary: wait for the paperback
Comment: This book contains six short stories, three by each author. They all have something to do with water and the spirits or powers therein. "Mermaid Song" tells of poor Pitiable, who lives a wretched and abused life with her grandfather, and who discovers a mermaid trapped in a shallow pool by the receding tide. "The Sea-King's Son" tells of a land girl who falls in love with a water man. "Sea Serpent" relates of the woes begotten by a viscious serpent conjured by a woman on her betrayers. "Water Horse" being another oppressed girl who is chosen to apprentice one of the Gaurdian's of their island. "Kraken" relates the tale of a merprincess who rescues a man and his lady love from drowning, only to have to give them and herself up to the Kraken. "A Pool in the Desert" speaks of yet another oppressed girl, who dreams her way into Damar.
I personally had never read any of Peter Dickinson's work, but if these stories are any example, I wont be. His stories are oppressive, and his characters are colorless, his descriptions unenthusiastic. I dutifully read each story in turn, but it was very difficult to keep from skipping his. I absolutely adore Robin McKinley on the other hand. Unfortunatly, her work also seemed to contain a very depressed vein. Her other books make you feel for the characters and the land. They are rich and vibrant, I never wanted "The Hero and The Crown" to end, while I felt like I was slogging through these stories. "Water" should not be used as a judgement of her talent. For the die hard McKinley fans, it ought to be read simply for her contributions which, while not her best, far exceed Dickinson's attempts. If you are looking for Mckinley's short works I highly recommend "The Door in The Hedge" or "A Knot in the Grain". Both of these easily surpass "Water".
Rating: 1
Summary: Damarian Disappointment
Comment: If you are thinking of reading this because you want to read new stories by Peter Dickinson, be my guest. If you want to read this because you've heard that there is a new story about Damar, or you love McKinley's writing don't get your hopes up. This collection is flawed with any number of problems, the two largest being -
Problem number one: Peter Dickinson. I've never read any of his novels but from the short stories I read here, I won't be buying anything by him anytime soon. Boring, plain and simple. Assessment: Taking up valuable space that should feature McKinley.
Problem number two: McKinley is a very gifted writer, her Damarian books are among my all time favorites because she knows how to use language and she creates compelling,action-oriented female protagonists who get to have their fairy-tale wishes come true and have some adventure too. Aerin and Harry are both troubled girls, partly because of who they are. They both go on journeys of self-discovery where they rely on themselves (with a little help from their friends) and conquer their fears as well as their enemies. And that is why her last story, A Pool In the Desert is such a disappointment.
We have a down-trodden daughter Hetta, in a patriarchal household who is being suffocated by her souless existence of cleaning house, taking care of her mother and giving up everything she wants in deference to her father. In a classic McKinley tale, the daughter would discover that she needs to do something, would screw up her courage and take some action to make things better, preferably by getting herself a good horse and a magical sword. Instead she drifts around, passively accepting until she has a dream where she somehow ends up in Damar. Discovering this wonderful escape she longs to return, but isn't able to summon up the resources to do much about it.
So basically she moons after this guardian she meets and mopes around until she manages to fall head first into a pool of water, is magically transported to Damar (back in time, too)and lives happily ever after.
McKinley's newest Damar story basically betrays the wonderful and strong heroines of her past novels and for that there can be no excuse. Hetta is pathetic. She escapes yes, but she doesn't confront her circumstances, actively seek a way out or seem to worry at all about the fate she abandons her younger sister Ruth to. She is the apothesis of everything McKinley's previous heriones have stood for and I can't understand why she chose to write this lackluster, heretical story set in, of all places, her beloved Damar.
The only partially redeeming thing about the story was the twist at the very end, which I won't give away for future readers, as to how her sister discovers that Hetta achieved her escape. The rest of McKinley's stories rate equally low on the disappointment scale in that I didn't care an iota for any one of the characters and was bored.
Assessment: Strictly for hardcore McKinley fans who must read everything she's written.
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Title: Sunshine by Robin McKinley ISBN: 0425191788 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories by Robin McKinley ISBN: 0064406040 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley ISBN: 0441005837 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: December, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley ISBN: 0698119606 Publisher: Firebird Books Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley ISBN: 0441644511 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: August, 1989 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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