by Robin McKinley
ages: 12+
First sentence: “Because she was Chalice she stood at the front door with the Grand Seneschal, the Overlord’s agent and the Prelate, all of whom were carefully ignoring her.”

I’ve tried to type a summary of the book, but I’m not getting very far. Part of that is because it’s a Robin McKinley book; none of which are really easy to describe. She doesn’t write in a way that’s easy to sum up, or even to describe: lyrical, circular, dense, narration-heavy, internal… yet totally captivating.

I liked this one less than I thought I would. Perhaps it was because I wanted something lighter, something with more romance, something that would take less brain energy. But, that said, I liked it a lot. I especially liked the world that McKinley created: the heirarchy of magic from the (power-hungry) Overlord to the Master and the Circle. I liked how the magic was heavily entertwined with nature, how the whole purpose of the magic was to hold nature together; without it, or without it being used responsibly, the natural world would rend and fall apart. I liked the use of honey and bees; I’m not an insect person, but I liked the way McKinley gave the bees a personality in this book. I did like Marisol, the main character, the Chalice of the title (and the first sentence). I liked how she struggled, but was willing to make a go of it, to find her own way, not willing to be cowed into following tradition. And I liked the Master — the younger brother of the Master that caused havoc and disharmony and perished with the Chalice in a horrific fire — and how he, too, had to make a go of it, coming back from seven years training to become a priest of Fire. I admired their partnership, their trust, and while the romance was kind of ho-hum, it fit.

What I’d really like, though, is to spend more time in this world that McKinley created. So, I can only hope (and hope it is, since she rarely does this) that she is willing to revisit this world another time or two. And maybe I will find myself enjoying the stories even more.