Collection
Publication
Description
Fantasy. Short Stories. Folklore. Young Adult Fiction. HTML: From ensorcelled princesses to a frog that speaks, an enchanting collection of fairy tales from the Newbery Medal�??winning author. The last mortal kingdom before the unmeasured sweep of Faerieland begins has at best held an uneasy truce with its unpredictable neighbor. There is nothing to show a boundary, at least on the mortal side of it; and if any ordinary human creature ever saw a faerie�??or at any rate recognized one�??it was never mentioned; but the existence of the boundary and of faeries beyond it is never in doubt either. So begins "The Stolen Princess," the first story of this collection, about the meeting between the human princess Linadel and the faerie prince Donathor. "The Princess and the Frog" concerns Rana and her unexpected alliance with a small, green, flipper-footed denizen of a pond in the palace gardens. "The Hunting of the Hind" tells of a princess who has bewitched her beloved brother, hoping to beg some magic of cure, for her brother is dying, and the last tale is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses in which an old soldier discovers, with a little help from a lavender-eyed witch, the surprising truth about where the princesses dance their shoes to tatters every ni… (more)
User reviews
"The Stolen Princess" is a charming, graceful, and even somewhat haunting story that tells of the last mortal kingdom on the border to Faerieland. The focus is on the royal family and their immortal neighbors' custom of stealing mortal children. I loved all the characters, but was more interested in the elder generation than the young, love-at-first-sight romance. I thought Galvin a particularly well-developed character, and found he and Alora's story beautiful, and McKinley's description of it as being unpoetical quite hilarious. My only criticism is that I felt, given the author's treatment of the fairies, she ought to have come up with a reason for their child-stealing customs.
The shortest tale in the collection, "The Princess and the Frog" used to be by far my favorite of McKinley's short stories, and it is still stunning what she is able to do with so simple and childlike a story as "The Frog Prince." Here it becomes a highly-wrought family drama set against the backdrop of an epic battle between good and evil. It is the most action-filled tale in The Door in the Hedge, which is probably why it appealed to me most as a child.
"The Hunting of the Hind" has its faults, which have been enumerated many times by other reviewers; in addition to a woefully short climax and a magic that seems to operate without rules (which will appeal to some as much as it alienates others), it is one of those everyone-finds-a-mate-even-though-it's-not-necessary-to-the-plot stories. Yet it also boasts a quiet but resilient heroine, and the atmosphere and use of illusion invite the most delicious comparisons with Patricia McKillip's work, as well as McKinley's own The Hero and the Crown.
Surprisingly, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," which I used to find deadly dull, may now be my favorite story in the collection. It is a fairly unassuming retelling, but full of striking images, from the doe-like appearance of one princess at the dinner table to the vision of them dancing with their dark suitors in the palace beneath the earth, looking like captured butterflies. I've spoken about the great characters in almost all of the other stories, but in my opinion the protagonist of "Princesses" takes the cake. McKinley emphasizes the description of him in the original tale as sad and old (at 38!), but he has the good humor to joke about it with his friend the ostler, and a ready, spontaneous smile that wins him into the heart of the king—and into the heart of this reader. There is a kind of silent communication between he and the eldest princess throughout the tale, and when he chooses her as his bride at the end, it is no longer a random decision, but the beautiful climax of so many hopes and whispers.
I don't think The Door in the Hedge ranks quite as high on my list of favorites from McKinley as it used to, and it would not be my first recommendation as an introduction to her work, but it is a lovely memento of one of our best young adult fantasy authors in her prime.
Not as memorable or powerful as The Blue Sword (but that's one of my favorite books EVER). A quick read, and wholly enjoyable.
Short but enjoyable.
Highly recommended for fans of retold fairy tales.