The Blue Sword

By: Robin McKinley

Narrated by: Diane Warren

Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

From the New York Times bestselling author of Sunshine is the Newberry Award–winning classic novel that has enthralled listeners for decades.

This is the story of Corlath, golden-eyed king of the Free Hillfolk, son of the sons of the Lady Aerin.

And this is the story of Harry Crewe, the Homelander orphan girl who became Harimand-sol, King’s Raider, and heir to the Blue Sword, Gonturan, that no woman had wielded since Lady Aerin herself bore it into battle. And this is the song of the kelar of the Hillfolk, the magic of the blood, the weaver of destinies …

©1982 Robin McKinley (P)1992 Recorded Books

Good book, not so amazing narrator

This story has been a favorite and an annual read since high school. McKinley has a skill for world-building and creating complex, compelling characters. My main problem with this recording is Ms. Warren. She has a good voice, but her phrasing is only mildly tolerable, and sometimes long pauses in the middle of phrases cause comprehension issues. There's also no excuse for pronouncing "misshapen" as "miss-happen." Listen because of the story, and in spite of the vox.

Great book

This has been one of my favorite books for years and it is wonderful that is is now available to listen to as well. The narration is great and fits well with the story.

Narrator a bit stuffy, formal

Narrator a bit dated sounding for informal style of writing imo. My fave book and writer.

I could barely stop listening!

I have two hardcopies of this book. One of them is falling apart at the seams from having been read so many times and needed replacing for future rereading. I’d been dying to read it again but was in the middle of a craft project so I thought why not try the audiobook. I’m pretty picky about narrators but Diane Warren’s voice is just beautiful in tone. I finished the book in two sittings, it would’ve been one but I figured 2am was a good time to stop and sleep before finishing the last six hours. I’ll listen to this many more times just as I’ve read the pages right off the spine of book. Every time I interact with this story something new jumps out at me, I can easily say it’s one of my all time favorites.

Girl Power + Love Story

I have read this book twice before listening. Enjoyed it just as much this time. thank you

Epic fantasy

A well-written story with Diane Warren’s voice bringing it to life.
Robin McKinley so skillfully creates a world filled with customs that the reader soon forgets it is fantasy.

Horses and swords, and a little magic

Great book, I first read in my youth, is as enjoyable today as ever it was. Fun new cultures and heroic personalitys.

Groundbreaking, interestingly dated, & odd

In 1982, when this book was published, I loved it without reservations. It broke new ground mixing magic and alternate history, it had a capable, self-aware heroine, and it built an exotically evocative, engaging, and appealing world.

Thirty-one years later, listening to Diane Warren's excellent performance, I realized that all those things are still true--but there's more to it. Time has brought some disturbing threads and nuances to the surface of the story, as a whole body of other works grew up following in this one's footsteps, and as capable, self-aware heroines became normal instead of oddities. Noticing those disturbing threads adds richness and complexity that, if anything, reinforces simple enjoyment of the story.

To write this book with this heroine and this plot, McKinley had to fight her way out of confining cultural expectations and stereotypes. She succeeded amazingly well--but the lingering strands of those expectations and stereotypes still show. They certainly don't undermine the book's quality or the importance of what McKinley accomplished, but they do add a kind of fey light that casts odd shadows (rather like the heroine's dual vision in the story itself). The book, caught at the hinge of a literary turning point, is, honestly, rather odd.

In some ways, this is a book about possession. The main characters perform brave, unexpected, history-changing deeds--but usually when they perform them, their will and choice is compromised by being under the influence-compulsion-control of another force. In some ways, it's a book about abduction. The main character is kidnapped, and although McKinley carefully foreshadows and justifies the character's change of allegiance, there are still queasy echoes of the Stockholm syndrome in the shift of her loyalty and affection.

Ultimately, it's a tribute to McKinley's accomplishment that even today the book succeeds on its own terms despite the overtones that were invisible (though powerful) more than thirty years ago. One believes in the romance. One cheers the shift in allegiance. The possession is more enviable than creepy.

This isn't a simple book, but it's certainly an interesting, enjoyable, and worthwhile book to listen to.

The BEST ever YA

This has been a favorite young adult novel for over 20 years! I'm so happy to have it on my iPod now! Yay me!! The story is still excellent and satisfies many levels of story telling - who doesn't like war horses, swords and kings, challenges, magic and legends. If you love grounded fantasy and horses and magic swords then this will be a sure win. The narrator has a nice voice, pleasant to the ear.

Enjoy.

Fun story

Fun story. The narration style took me a little to get used to, but eventually I no longer focused on the narration style and just enjoyed the story.