McKinley, Robin. The Hero and the Crown

Watt-Evans' Law of Literary Creation: There is no idea so stupid or hackneyed that a sufficiently-talented writer can't get a good story out of it.

I picked this book out of the library knowing only that it had won a Newbery honor book, and it was generally well-liked among people in the know (though a very good friend has a severe allergy to Robin McKinley in general). This is a good thing, because if I had known it was about a spunky tomboy princess and her very special friendship with a lame horse and her adventurous questing that eventually allowed her to win out over the disdain of everyone, I never would have picked it up off the shelf, and that would've been my loss.

So what do I like about it? I think it gets the tone just right: it's not all self-satisfied and smug about how feminist it is, and it takes itself very seriously, but it does seriousness well. Many fantasy books go for the high epic tone and don't pull it off, leaving the impression of a six-year-old girl wearing her mother's best ballgown. This story's tall enough and old enough to wear its clothes with dignity. It doesn't shy away from its implications; and for a children's book from the mid-80s it's surprisingly honest about sex, although it's only present for a single modest sentence or two.

Mostly, I think it's that the story spends long enough on small details and simple things and honest moments to rise above its clichés. And if it does, in the end, rely a little bit much on wise beasts and dreams, that's a flaw I can quite easily overlook.