Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Short Stories
Review: As a disclaimer, I only read all of the stories in it by McKinley and just a few by her husband.

I felt that this collection was quite good; much better than her aweful "Spindle's End" and the somewhat trying "Door in the Hedge." To me these stories were more true to the nature of her books "Beauty," "Rose Daughter," "The Blue Sword," and "The Hero in the Crown." The book does contain a short story related to the later two. Overall I think that I enjoyed the "Water Horse" story the most. It was about a young girl named Tamia who is apprenticed to a guardian who protects the land from the ocean. She is surrounded by different kinds of horses during her life that impact her in different ways. Her childhood pony was her first friend, the Water Horse is a destructive monster that is flooding the land and killing people, and the mare and foal at the end save her and her people.

I liked the strong female heroines in her stories and am thankful that she is back to her rolicking and not trudging way of telling a story. Overall a good book for a Robin McKInley fan; I can't wait to see the other books in the series when they come out!

Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed this book
Review: 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:
Summary: The Coolest Book in the World
Review: I eagerly waited for this book and its new tale of Damar. My wait was not worth it. Dickinson's story's were vastly pointless, with gaps in the plots and no real endings. Every time I finished reading one, I found myself thinking, "That's it?" After the tedious story centering around would be Puritans humming with mermaids I nearly put the book down, but I bought it as a McKinley fan and my anticipation for more of her work continued to grow as I impatiently read Dickinson's works.
Maybe it was coupling her work with her husband's, but expecting McKinley's stories to be filled with romance and adventure, I was disappointed. It was almost as if she cut out the love stories to match Dickinson's loveless tales. There was little plot between her action, for all that these were short stories. While the Damar story did mention Aerin, Tor and Luthe and give a glimpse at Damar's history (basically proving it to be India as long suspected by fans) it seemed disconnected. The main character seemed a modern day "Homelander" but her love interest seemed almost to be in the stone age before Aerin for all that McKinley tells us he came 15 generations later.
It seems having built up a mythic land, McKinley can only tear it down. Waning in Harri's time, Damar was once a great land. But we find in this book that it fell completely to the Homeland and then with independence was forgotten.
Read this book only if you want to have all McKinley's works. If you are looking for a grand Damarian adventure or any fantasy romance, wait for her next novel.

Rating:
Summary: Not the greatest read around
Review: I eagerly waited for this book and its new tale of Damar. My wait was not worth it. Dickinson's story's were vastly pointless, with gaps in the plots and no real endings. Every time I finished reading one, I found myself thinking, "That's it?" After the tedious story centering around would be Puritans humming with mermaids I nearly put the book down, but I bought it as a McKinley fan and my anticipation for more of her work continued to grow as I impatiently read Dickinson's works.
Maybe it was coupling her work with her husband's, but expecting McKinley's stories to be filled with romance and adventure, I was disappointed. It was almost as if she cut out the love stories to match Dickinson's loveless tales. There was little plot between her action, for all that these were short stories. While the Damar story did mention Aerin, Tor and Luthe and give a glimpse at Damar's history (basically proving it to be India as long suspected by fans) it seemed disconnected. The main character seemed a modern day "Homelander" but her love interest seemed almost to be in the stone age before Aerin for all that McKinley tells us he came 15 generations later.
It seems having built up a mythic land, McKinley can only tear it down. Waning in Harri's time, Damar was once a great land. But we find in this book that it fell completely to the Homeland and then with independence was forgotten.
Read this book only if you want to have all McKinley's works. If you are looking for a grand Damarian adventure or any fantasy romance, wait for her next novel.

Rating:
Summary: The Coolest Book in the World
Review: I read a lot and most of the books are good, but this one is Awesome! It is cool because it has fantasy and reality combined together to make the most loved tales. It makes you have this feeling inside that you are actually IN the book, not on the couch reading it! I hope you will enjoy it too.

Rating:
Summary: Damarian Disappointment
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: wait for the paperback
Review: 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:
Summary: Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits
Review: This book was very wonderful. I enjoyed it very much and think everyone should read it. Also read some of the other books written by Robin McKinley.

Rating:
Summary: Robin McKinley, you missed your mark this time...
Review: wow I found this book a major disappointment. I am a short-story fanatic usually, but i could not even get through all of the stories in this book. The stories lacked character definition and were utterly unoriginal.
I would recommend Outlaws of Sherwood, also by McKinley, instead.

Rating:
Summary: Robin McKinley, you missed your mark this time...
Review: wow I found this book a major disappointment. I am a short-story fanatic usually, but i could not even get through all of the stories in this book. The stories lacked character definition and were utterly unoriginal.
I would recommend Outlaws of Sherwood, also by McKinley, instead.