What's Elizabeth Reading? ...Robin McKinley

For my Young Adult Lit. class, I have to read three extra books and write an essay about them.  For my first book, I chose Fall of a Kingdom by Hilari Bell (I also wrote a couple posts about it, if you'd care to search for them).  For my second, I've chosen to read Robin McKinley's Dragonhaven.  This is the second book I've ever read with this title.  The first one was by Robin Hobb.  But wait, I just looked it up, and that one is Dragon Haven.  So I guess the title is different ... technically.

I chose Robin McKinley because her book Beauty is one of my favorites.  That book taught me to love the story of Beauty and the Beast.  The writing was beautiful and the story made logical sense.  I picked Dragonhaven up thinking it would be similar.  Though not a retelling, I assumed the writing would be the beautiful stuff I'd read in Beauty.

I started reading it and have realized I really haven't had much experience with McKinley.  The writing is totally different.  For one, it's from a boy's perspective, and that boy is not a literary genius (he admits it in the first couple pages, too).  For two, the story is modern.  How many dragon books have you read that take place in the modern world?  Jurassic Park does not count.

So it's different from what I'd expected.  But you know what?  I'm 25 pages in and so far I have not regretted my decision.  I think she has integrated dragons well (so far, but then, I have yet to see a single dragon) into the modern world.  They're in a national park.  It makes sense.

I guess Robin McKinley is setting out to show me she can do more than fairy tales.  I'll be excited to see her succeed.