The Blue Sword is the companion book to The Hero and the Crown. The latter is a prequel but I don't think it matters which order you read them because you are bound to be confused. I was hoping that when I read The Blue Sword that it would clear up some questions that I had while reading The Hero but it didn't. This is because McKinley writes in a circle. She can't just follow and event or a person from A to B. Instead you start at A and then visit C and D and then back at A to finish with B. I hope you'll pardon the crappy analogy. I will say that she did this much more in The Hero and the Crown....it just took reading The Blue Sword to figure out what the problem with her writing style is. My other criticisms are that there is little dialogue and lots of description, which call me ADD, but I didn't find this enjoyable and made the book drag for me in places. In addition, she couldn't decide whether she was writing this book in the first or third person which also bothered me.The story follows an unlikely hero, Harry (a woman) an Outlander who becomes the heir to the blue sword and defends the Hillfolk from the Northerners. I liked the progression of Harry as she starts out timid and grows to be self-assured and the hero that the Hillfolk hang all their hopes on. The story is more fantasy than love and that disappointed me. I don't want a romance novel but the loves story between Harry and the Hill-King Corlath had a lot of promise but not much page time. It was a good read but it didn't pull me in. It's not a must read but it was good. For that I'm giving it 2.5 stars out of 5.
Reviewed by: Jessica
I enjoyed your review. It seems like I always feel the same way about her books, which is why I have started avoided them. I think I will give Hero a try but skip Blue. I prefer more conversation then descriptions in books. I also dont really like it when female characters have male names, but I guess that's just a personal preference.
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