Robin McKinley

I've recently read a couple of things by Robin McKinley. I'm now looking forward to reading more from Robin McKinley - and she does have many more titles out there.

The first book I read by her was Chalice.

Now, there are different kinds of people in the world. There are some people who like cities and crowds and loud music and night clubs and parties. And there are some people who like walks in the woods, the feel of the sun on their face, and who receive a gentle re-energizing just by soaking in the natural world around them. Chalice is for this second group of people. It's a gentle story full of bees and woods and a woman struggling with a weighty role she's been chosen for by the officials of the demesne - who nonetheless don't care for her, and a new Master of the demesne who is not quite human anymore and is feared by everyone who lives there - except her.

If you are the type who likes cities and crowds and parties and such, I would recommend Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr - which is a wonderful urban fantasy- , but probably not Chalice, which is a fantasy with nothing urban about it.

The second thing I've read by Robin McKinley is a collection of short stories called, A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories.

This collection drew me in from the start and I read the book in one sitting. Included in the tales are herbcraft and mages and princesses and romance between unexpected people, and a young girl having to move away from her friends and start life anew in a small community threatened by a new superhighway - all right before she starts her junior year in high school (even this story has fantasy woven into it).

Robin McKinley's books might be just the thing if you feel like relaxing with beautiful, gentle tales.