The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley won the 1985 Newbery medal. Only daughter of a king, Aerin is looking for her place in a kingdom that is suspicious of her just as they were of her foreign, magically powerful and long-dead mother. Aerin finds a recipe for an ointment that protects the wearer from dragon fire, and becomes a dragon slayer astride her father’s old warhorse Talat, killing the kingdom’s small but bothersome dragons. When the kingdom is threated by an invading army on one side and an ancient giant dragon on another, Aerin goes to meet her destiny.
Before we get any further, this post has a lot of spoilers, so don’t read it if you don’t want spoilers! (Just go and read the book! It’s a wonderful fantasy book, although heads up there is a little PG-13 content.)
What I liked and what it teaches me as a writer. I just loved the structure with the dragon slaying in this book. As someone writing a book about a female protagonist and a dragon, I thought Robin McKinley was a genius. [ Again, spoiler alert!] I was just so impressed by how the protagonist Aerin progresses from a complete novice and youth to an experienced warrior and royal leader.
She began with simply her love of reading old books about dragons,
- then found a recipe for the potion against fire,
- then took years to work out the potion,
- then had to test it out, then found a small dragon to slay,
- then became a dragon slayer of all the small dragons, then went to face the great dragon,
- then was nearly killed by the dragon burns,
- then had to seek healing for the dragon burns and the spell the mounted trophy head of the dragon was casting on her,
- then went on a journey to be healed and grow into her mother’s inheritance with magic,
- then returned to save the kingdom first in battle and
- then save the kingdom from the poisoning effect of the dragon head.
The whole thing was so impressive in terms of how to structure increased challenges and growth in a fantasy novel. I just enjoyed how her skills increased, and her problem solving increased each step of the way. Especially since facing the big dragon is usually the climax of the book, having her kill the dragon (mostly) in the middle of the book lent itself to such an interesting twist in terms of what kind of challenges Aerin was overcoming.
What were some limitations. On the other hand, having the major dragon slaying in the middle made me like the middle to the end of the book less. I, personally, do not like dream sequences in general, and there were a lot of dream sequences in the middle of this book post-killing the dragon. They were handled fairly well, but still, ugh, so many dreams. However, even more than the dreams, the major limitation I feel was [Spoiler Alert!] Aerin’s love triangle and physical relationship with immortal magician Luthe, who in the process of saving Aerin has her become immortal as well. It was by no means a graphic love scene, really barely more than suggestion and innuendo, but I just felt like it was really unnecessary for a middle grade novel to have the protagonist sleep with someone, especially when in the next chapter she goes back to her (presumed) fiance and cousin Tor. First off, I am totally over love triangles, thank you very much, even ones that are trying to symbolize the protagonist having a foot in two worlds. Then as far as Aerin sleeping with Luthe I know I’m pretty prudish, and some people aren’t going to find it a problem, but it does give me pause to recommend it widely to kids. And that’s a shame, because it’s such a lovely book in so many other respects, and I didn’t think it needed that narratively speaking. Honestly, there was a little bit of this issue with the wonderful other book in the series, The Blue Sword, as well. Again, as an adult reading it, I barely noticed, but in thinking about kid lit, I like my middle grade novels to not have the protagonists sleeping around. (Personally, I’d like less of that in YA too, but I feel like I know that when I read YA it might have mild sexual content, and I read it knowing that’s the case.)
Similarity to other Newbery winners. It probably shares the most with fantasies like Susan Cooper’s The Grey King, Lloyd Alexander’s The High King and Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (and those are all part of larger series as well). Also, with her faithful stead Talat, it’s been a while since we’ve had a horse play a big role in a Newbery like one did in the King of the Wind and Smokey the Cow Horse.
Have you read The Hero and the Crown? What are your favorite middle grade fantasy books?
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