The Hero and the Crown
by Robin McKinley

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Book Reviews of The Hero and the Crown

Book Review: Strength of the Heart: Courage
Summary: 5 Stars

"Aerin-sol, fire-hair."
I wish I had courage burning half as bright as the flame in this woman's heart. This book has inspired me like no other!

In "The Hero & The Crown", things change. Life just happens. And it happens awkwardly and painfully. At times, McKinley's writing may seem slow and deliberate, despite its brevity and economy. But her writing is very tactile, felt physically as much as emotionally. She moves the plot forward with cycles of change in Aerin's life: the school of "hard knocks". As a result, her art is true-to-life,and her ability to express implicit sadness and irony in her writing is uniquely profound.

Refreshingly, McKinley allows precious little room in her writing for self-indulgent sentimentality, (and the average author's editorial commentary). Instead, McKinley thrusts the reader and Aerin into one perpetual change after another. When Aerin emerges from those changes, we see she has matured into a very beautiful and courageous woman. As a female protagonist, her feminine beauty is far more than skin-deep; it is in her heart: she is fiercely devoted, disturbingly self-reliant, and tirelessly determined. She does not give up, even in the face of despair. She is a winner.

I found this book to be a breath of fresh air to my soul. I found that Aerin's challenges in life are everyone's challenges. Give up, or fight. If Aerin could risk all to conquer her obstacles (given the odds that were stacked against her) then so can you and I.

My chief point of annoyance with the book was Aerin's abandonment of a relationship with the love of her life. In a key moment of decision, Aerin is forced to choose between her loves: of country and of her lover. Somehow, she resolves this conflict by acting on her sense of duty, rather than her feelings. Instinctively, I felt that her decision was wrong. In my view, by acting out of duty, Aerin was committing an evil: she was denying her heart's desire, and therefore she was living a lie.

Her decision made no sense to me at the time, and it ruined my ability to adore this work of literary art. After some thought, I later realized that her decision was, on the contrary, the very best form of nobility. Despite the feelings of her heart, she consciously chose the very plain truth that her loyalties---her first love---took priority over her immediate desires. And she was absolutely right, because it saved her family, her future, and her kingdom. True to her nature throughout the book, she made a great sacrifice, based on her amazing ability to discern, and she changed. She grew, and became a better person.

For this revelation of McKinley's ingenious translation of a very difficult life lesson on the road to maturity: the heart's ability to resolve opposing human desires, I give this book a 5-star rating. It is true poetry.

To support my rating, I praise McKinley's style. It is not her style to embellish her descriptions, or to draw-out her depiction of events for the sake of melodrama. Quite the opposite. Her pen is a rapier in the hand of master. She strikes swiftly and simply, with an apparent minimum of effort and with a technique so refined, that she drives the point home to the reader in 1/5th the amount of space (with 1/5th the number of words) that other fantasy writers I could mention would take to tell the same tale.

This book is truly a "master"-piece that you simply must read.

Summary of The Hero and the Crown

Classics by Age Books

• Books > Subjects > Children's Books
• Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy & Magic
• Literature & Fiction
• Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy