Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley

Reviewed by Sarah
Start Date: Sept 22ndish
Finish Date: Sept 28th
Star Rating: 9 stars. I love Jake. *********
"Movie" Rating: PG... but I'd almost bump it up to PG-13 for a couple things.

As a fairy tale hero, if someone gave me a vorpal blade I'd probably stick it in my foot. Or get lost in the mimsy borogoves. Life is just one day after another, even when the days are really, really strange.

So re-reading Dragonhaven (for like the fourth time) was part of my Oh Noes No More Lord Peter How Shall We Get Over This Horrible Crisis books. I listened to Sherlock Holmes at work, for the detecting, and Jake MORE than takes care of the rambling, and he even manages a nice literary allusion now and then. This strategy has so far worked... pretty well. Though part of my brain is still stuck on Lord Peter... but oh well.

This book is so... well, rambly, yes, but thats not the word I wanted. Human. Colloquial. Its like Jake is really talking to you the whole time. I, for one, love this. But it Really Doesn't Work for alot of other people, even McKinley fans. If you want an idea of the voice in this book, go take a look at Robin McKinley's blog. Jake's voice is like that, except without all the footnotes--instead of footnotes, Jake does Random Tangents. Which means that Nothing Happens except Jake Rambling for Pages On End, and if you aren't entertained simply by the way Jake talks then this might not be the book for you.

And the whole motherhood aspect of it is interesting. True, this is McKinleys one male protagonist, but by his own account this is the story of him taking on a--well, the--female role. Jake has to learn to be a Mom. Some of the imagery Robin McKinley uses--like Jake with his hand curled around the bulge in his sweat shirt that is(/will be?) Lois--is so mother-y that I kind of get squicked out if I think about it too hard. But thats just another part of what makes this book good.