Penning this month’s Supernatural Underground post on Heroines, which features Aerin, from Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown, prompted me to take another look at Ms McKinley’s The Blue Sword, which is also set in the land of Damar, albeit centuries—or maybe even a millenium—later.

I have read The Blue Sword several times, so only intended to dip in and out, ensuring I had all my facts aligned for the SU post, but immediately I started reading I was hooked. I had forgotten dear readers, quite how much I like this book — and there’s so much to like.

Starting with the worldbuilding, which delivers a double or triple whammy, depending on whether the reader started with The Hero and the Crown.  Because the Damar of Aerin is very different to that of Harry (aka Angharad, Hari, and Harimad-Sol), the heroine of The Blue Sword. What was a green and temperate realm is now largely desert—but not only that, there are effectively two new worlds in one, because a large part of Damar has now been included into the Homelander Empire, which calls it Daria.

Kindle Edition

Daria has definite Victorian and British Raj vibes, which makes for an interesting twist on the Damar worldbuilding. Not to forget the demon races to the north, who also featured in Aerin’s day.

The cast of characters is great as well, from Harry—thrown into the deep end of her Damarian heritage with magic (kelar), warrior training, and learning to wield the blue sword—to her mentor, Mathin, and an assortment of Darian and Damaran friends and allies. There’s romance, too, in the form of Corlath, the Damaran king and fellow kelar wielder — and no one does lovable animal companions quite like Robin McKinley. In this case, the two stars are Tsornin (Sungold), Harry’s warhorse, and Narknon, a hunting cat (think lynx-cum-cheetah) play starring roles.

Audio edition

And then, of course, there’s the magic, the demonic enemies, and the adventure… As I said, so much to like, which will be why I read it from cover-to-cover in short order. (At 272 pp, short order is feasible. 😀 )