The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

272 pages

"When Harry Crewe's father dies, she leaves her Homeland to travel east, to Istan, the last outpost of the Homelander empire, where her elder brother is stationed.

Harry is drawn to the bleak landscape of the northeast frontier, so unlike the green hills of her Homeland. The desert she stares across was once a part of the great kingdom of Damar, before the Homelanders came from over the seas. Harry wishes she might cross the sands and climb the dark mountains where no Homelander has ever set foot, where the last of the old Damarians, the Free Hillfolk, still live. She hears stories that the Free Hillfolk possess strange powers--that they work magic--that it is because of this that they remain free of the Homelander sway.

When the king of the Free Hillfolk comes to Istan to ask that the Homelanders and the Hillfolk set their enmity aside to fight a common foe, the Homelanders are reluctant to trust his word, and even more reluctant to believe his tales of the Northerners: that they are demonkind, not human.

Harry's destiny lies in the far mountains that she once wished to climb, and she will ride to the battle with the North in the Hill-king's army, bearing the Blue Sword, Gonturan, the chiefest treasure of the Hill-king's house and the subject of many legends of magic and mystery." -Dust Jacket

My friend and neighbor works at our city library and now that we're visiting the other side of the library more where she works, (teen/young adult/adult section) we can ask her for book suggestions. This was one that she recommended and it was great. Harry is an awesome female character--strong, independent and more than a bit feisty/stubborn/headstrong. It's unclear throughout the entire book just how old she is. I thought she was younger in the beginning than she really was--she's probably in her late teens, early 20's. After she's kidnapped by Corlath, the king of the Hillfolk, she's trained as a warrior, because Corlath recognizes the kelar, the power that he himself possesses, is strong with her and the kelar has shown him that Harry is important to his people somehow. He and his people treat her with great respect but are also wary of her, which makes her feel lonely. Corlath gives her one of their renowned horses which becomes her friend. She also has a big hunting cat named Narknon that takes a liking to her and follows her everywhere. She is sent to train with Mathin, one of the King's Riders, in preparation for the laprun trials, a series of events where young, untested warriors go to prove themselves. During her training, the kelar begins to take over her at times, giving her extraordinary power. She's also given Lady Aerin's blue sword which has not been used in battle since the time of Lady Aerin and which gives the Hillfolk people hope. The ending was great. There's a nice little bit of romance and ends are tied up nicely. I read the book Graceling a few years ago and really liked that the female character was strong and independent, but I hated how she treated men at the end, so much so that it ruined the book for me and I didn't read any of the others in the that series. I'm glad that didn't happen in this book. Strong women can need men without sacrificing what makes them strong. I'm excited to read the prequel and plan on adding this one to my library.