Fire (Firebird Fantasy)

by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson

[ladygrey]

Admittedly, I only planned on reading the [a:Robin McKinley|5339|Robin McKinley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1314406026p2/5339.jpg] stories. I did read Phoenix and realized I don't love Peter Dickinson as much, so *then* only read her stories.

Hellhound
I don't know what to say except that it's, rather surprisingly, classic Robin McKinley and that's why I liked it. It's a little bit deprecating and a little bit complicated. I enjoyed the horses and the dogs even before the plot really got rolling. And I don't enjoy dogs, but I liked Flame. I was quickly immersed in the story and really liked the characters.

First Flight
One of [a:Robin McKinley|5339|Robin McKinley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1314406026p2/5339.jpg]'s particular talents is creating not just worlds, but societies with very particular rules. They influence the characters motivations when they wouldn't make sense to us otherwise and provide a great context for the world she's establishing. I didn't enjoy this story quite as much as Hellhound because I think she's a much stronger writer in third person. And still, this was a fascinating story about dragons and wizards and well developed characters in a wholly new world.

The thing I found frustrating with First Flight is very similar to what I found frustrating about [b:Dragonhaven|149338|Dragonhaven|Robin McKinley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568849590l/149338._SY75_.jpg|3111323]. Lately, when she writes in 1st person, it's so much more *her* than a separate and unique character. And the difficult part of it is, I adore her as a writer, and I am infuriated with her as a character.

I know it's rather presumptuous to say that she is writing herself instead of a character. It is. Having said that, I've read her a lot. I recognize the shying away from attention, the stumbling into doing something good because the character assumes everything they do is a mistake or handled badly.
- I understood it in both Aerin and Harry who are uncomfortable with the attention that royalty gives them. And the self-deprecating nature of the characters was understated enough and these girls were sort of coming of age, being thrown into these big adventures where they were in over their heads and making it up as they went along but managing to somehow happen into getting it right.
- The self-deprecating was ok in [b:Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|41424|Beauty A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|Robin McKinley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1294192311l/41424._SY75_.jpg|2321285] because she was overshadowed by her sisters and she lived in a world without a lot of mirrors.
- In [b:Spindle's End|77368|Spindle's End|Robin McKinley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1308815054l/77368._SY75_.jpg|2984336] these qualities were present in smaller measure in both Rosie and Kat but were somehow balanced by the things they knowingly did well and Peony and Aunt.

I could keep citing examples, but the point is these qualities exist in almost everyone one of her books in one measure or another. But in First Flight the incessant self-deprecating of the main character (whose name I will have to look up) just drove me crazy. I loved at the end how Ralas just verbally sort of hit him over the head saying essentially, "you didn't screw this up. Stop being an unobservant dolt who insists he's incompetent because you're obviously not!" It was that quality more than the shying away from attention that just drove me crazy. It was so pervasive through the whole book and so obvious to the reader that it's completely wrong that I just wanted to hit the main character, if they were real and tangible enough to hit.

Still, I love McKinley's sense of language and how beautifully complicated she writes. I have just realized I much prefer her in the third person and I understand why.