The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Nothing says a childhood classic like white savior Mary Sue!
I snagged this one after listening to an episode of Brandon Sanderson’s podcast where he said this inspired one of the stained glass windows decorating his house (because of course he has presumably awesome stained glass windows).
You let me down, Brandon. You. Let. Me. Down.
There’s not too much to say about this book other than it’s flat and boring. And I get that this is not something written for me, and I get how it might be foundational for someone who reads it at the right time, but it has not held up well, even against the standards of YA.
The colonial girl gets kidnapped by the barbarians, saves them from the even worse barbarians (after excelling in all of her training), falls in love with her kidnapper, and gets a cool sword. Oh, and she can move mountains out of nowhere. I think I powered through the last 100 pages in a single night just so I could be done with it.
As for redeeming factors, it does have a cool setting–I’m a sucker for ancient stone fortresses inhabited by the nomads, there're some heartwarming scenes between Harry and her family, and Corlath does have cool character design. Not exactly a list you'd want to hang your Homelander hat on.
For me, this is a snore fest. I’m struggling to fill this column with commentary because it’s just so, so boring.
Final Grade (all out of ten):
Plot: 6
Characters: 5
Conflict: 5
Theme: 6
Setting: 7
Prose: 5
Tone: 5
Quality: 5
Impact: 6
Enjoyment: 3
Overall: 53/100
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A/N:
A quick note on my grading philosophy which I formed listening to a few movie critics. I believe that a 7 in any of the categories above constitutes “Good”. Anything above that is something that is above and beyond in any one particular category. I believe this creates a more nuanced evaluation of any Story. Very, very rarely do I give scores above 90 (8 since I started grading books back in 2022). Consider anything a 70 or above the equivalent of 5 stars. You may note that some entries are tied. The tiebreakers are the higher individual score in Enjoyment, then Impact, then Quality, then back up to Plot and descending from there.
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About the Creator
Matthew J. Fromm
Full-time nerd, history enthusiast, and proprietor of arcane knowledge.
Here there be dragons, knights, castles, and quests (plus the occasional dose of absurdity).
I can be reached at [email protected]
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Comments (2)
A 3 for enjoyment? I’m surprised it didn’t get 3s across the board. I think that shows that you don’t let personal frustration with a book get in the way of fairness. Well done, chap!
I've taken your tip on something read before, and so I'm trusting you on this one now.