Deerskin

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Summary: A fairy tale...but not for the kiddies.
Review: A re-telling of Perrault's "Donkey-Skin"? If only it were so simple. "Deerskin" is sick, twisted, disturbing...and beautifully written. And although the characters may seem at first glance like fairytale stereotypes (the evil king, the exiled princess, the honorable prince), they break the mold in intriguing ways. (The prince, for example, is shy, pudgy, and would rather spend his time romping with puppies than at a royal ball.)

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Summary: Why didn't someone warn me?
Review: When I picked up this book, I was looking forward to a good book to read. My first impressions are obviously wrong. I seriously wish my friends didn't recommend this book to me, because I didn't like it at all. It's sick and so detailed that I wanted to hurl. Normally sexual themes don't bother me as much, but when she describes a form of incest...I wish someone told me earlier, and that people didn't recomment 5 stars for a book knowing that other people wouldn't enjoy it as much.

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Summary: PLEASE! DON'T READ THIS
Review: I'm not a fan of Robin Mckinley, and Deerskin is the reason why. Getting through the book is slow, tedious work, especially the first part of it- not because of the sexual themes, but because the writing style itself ruins whatver interest someone might have in the characters themselves. Her voice isn't so awful that you immediately put down the book- that's why it's so frustrating. You keep waiting for things to get better or more interesting, but they never do. The images that she creates-the metaphors and fanastical situations- don't fit at all with the writing. The whole book feels uneven and drull. Halfway through reading Deerskin I got so fed up with it I just skipped to the end, which wasn't worth the time I took flipping through the pages. A very dissapointing read, especially with all the good books out there. I love fanasty, but Deerskin gives the genre a bad name. DON'T READ IT.

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Summary: A book about pain and hardship, yes, but about hope as well
Review: I was introduced to Robin Mckinnley this past summer, and I must say I liked Deerskin much better than the Blue Sword and the Hero and the Crown (which were ok...) In fact, it's a wonderful book and of all the heroines in all the books I've read in my long life (of 21 years) Lissla Lissar is my favorite! Why? She lives in a fairy tale-like place but she is real--with real human frailty and real human courage and strength. And, plus, how can anyone not feel for her for having to endure, first, neglection, and then any girl's worst nightmare...She showed her strength and courage without having to carry any sword. She is a fictional character but she amazes me. I'm glad Robin Mckinnley brought her to life (as well as the dog Ash and the Prince Ossin, who happens to be different from any other prince I've ever come across in a story). So read this book!

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Summary: Great Read!
Review: I'm not going to reiterate the plot, since many reviewers have already done that, but I will say that this is a great book by any reckoning. One reviewer complained below that there is never any doubt Lissla will fall for Ossin. I don't think that's the point. The reader never doubts that Ossin is the right guy for Lissla. The question is whether or not Lissla will have healed enough by the end of the book to ALLOW HERSELF to love Ossin.

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Summary: Mckinley's Best
Review: This book captures the mind and puts the reader into a dreamlike state. I found myself unable to put the book down, it was incredible. I have re-read it over and over again. The characters are brilliantly complex and the plot is incredible. Definatly a woman's book, and definatly not for young children due to the violence Lissar experiences at her father's hands. An absolute must read for anybody with a love of fantasy. The tale of an invisible girl who is betrayed in the most horrific fashion known to man. The tale of Lissar learning to trust again. The tale of the dog, Ash, who helps her through it all.

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Summary: Discovering a Heroine
Review: This book echoes a story out of Grimm's fairy tales about a princess who is the daughter of the most beautiful queen and most fair queen. When her mother dies, her father falls in love with her and wishes to marry her. She asks him to give her three dresses each as beautiful as the sun, the moon, and the stars before she flees to a castle of another king disguised as a kitchen maid. She charms the king to fall in love with her before he discovers she is a princess.
In this book, the princess is a young maiden who feels ignored and shadowed by her parent's fame. Her mother does die which leads to her father's falling as a king. He then recognizes that his daughter is much like his wife, so he soon decides to marry her. She is young and frightened and refuses, but her father rapes her sending her fleeing into the forest of her fears with her only companion, a faithful dog, Ash.
Near death and barely clinging to life, she finds herself lost in a place desolate of hope. She clings to the thought that she may forget what happened that made her insane. Her dream comes true when a fairy of the forest, the Moon Lady gives her two gifts. The first is a disguise, and the second is time. Both she needs to overcome her fear of her father and the evil of people.
She becomes an image of the Moon Woman, black turned to white. She wears a white deerskin dress and remembers nothing of her past. Her Ash, now changed to a longhaired fleet hound, follows her on her search for self-discovery.
She runs far and wide to a kingdom not as rich as her own was, and there she meets a quite odd prince who has a love of dogs. There she becomes known as Deerskin, the Moon Woman, and many other things all mysterious.
This book is good, but the plot is drawn out. I find myself going back to reread only my favorite parts in the middle and near the end, but the whole book is a prize in my house. It has fantasy, love, and self-discovery. Truly a great discovery!

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Summary: Older Readers Prefered
Review: It's not a book for kids. Not even necessarily a book for men, since the strong theme of menstruation ("that time of the month" for our more delicate readers) in this story may put off most of the stronger gender. And the matter of a father raping his daughter would definitely put this book in the range of older teens and adults.
But I am a fairy tale fanatic. I adore books that recap the classics. I'm even writing a few. And, of course, this book is no different. Though the winter scenes on the mountain are agonizingly slow at points, the story as a whole is just a breathtaking vision of glittering myth mixed liberally with a tough fairy tale world.

Rating:
Summary: Not up to McKinley's standard...
Review: Robin McKinley's book, Deerskin, is not up to her usual standard. It does not have as much appeal and allure as the plots of "The Blue Sword" and "The Hero and the Crown".
The book focuses on Lissar, a beautiful and motherless princess. Her father, the king, rapes and beats her. She then flees into the woods with her dog Ash. She escapes into another city, where she hides among these people.
It was more written as a rape recovery book than as a fantasy; however, it gave a realistic view to Lissar's traumatic experience. McKinley did not seem to make an effort to give depth to Lissar, which made it extremely hard to get into the book. Even through the bad parts, you could still tell it was McKinley's writing. At times it was even interesting. The only thing that made this book into a fantasy was the appearance of a dragon half way through the book and Lissar's many transformations.
All in all, disappointing. Still worth the read, but please also read her other books.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: A haunting tapestry of a story, eery and surreal in some parts and refreshingly realistic and warm in others. What I loved most about this book was the relationship between Lissar and her dog. Ash was the real hero of the story. Lissar was pale and almost gothic, a figure of tragedy and suffering, haunted by her past and full of doubts and pain. Ash, on the other hand, was strong and vibrant and stubbornly optimistic, as well as ironic and funny. McKinley has made Ash into an unforgettable character of valiance and gallantry. I was delighted to see the intelligence and emotions of Lissar's various fleethounds; one rarely finds such a creative and charming portrayal of non-speaking animals as in Deerskin.
On the whole this story moves rather slowly in the beginning, kicking off in an idyllic fairy-tale world, but it picks up and soars to wonderful heights of fantasy before drawing to a satisfying close.