The SF Site: Featured Reviews Archive

The reviews are sorted alphabetically by authors' last name -- one or more pages for each letter (plus one for Mc). All but some recent reviews are listed here. Links to those reviews appear on the Recent Feature Review Page.

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Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
The story begins when Jake is fourteen, and at first the reader might assume that he's writing of very recent events. Jake reminds the reader repeatedly that the idea of a preserve for dragons is a fairly tense controversy. Some, including in the government, insist that dragons are dangerous, expensive, and should be wiped out. Environmentalists, scientists, and dragon-lovers remind everyone that there are no records of them eating humans, even though they're a hundred feet long, fly, and breathe fire. But then a man is killed in the dragon preserve.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
The story begins with our first person protagonist describing her pleasant but claustrophobic life as the baker for a roadside diner that is very popular in her small town. We gain the impression of ordinary folk of the type we recognize in our own lives, an ordinary diner, an ordinary small town. Exactly when the reader feels as closed in by all these cheery, well-intentioned ordinariness as does the protagonist, she takes off to be by herself to the lakeside, which, we are told, is not popular any more since the Voodoo Wars.

The Stone Fey by Robin McKinley
reviewed by Margo MacDonald
The author has given us a tale which is a return to the old world of storytelling; when the cautionary tales told around the hearth fires entertained the children on one level, while they spoke to the hearts of the older folks on another.

Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
reviewed by Robert Francis
In this re-telling of the "Beauty and the Beast" story, the author skillfully creates lush and vibrant realities through painstakingly beautiful descriptions. No doubt you'll recognize the story, but the familiar will be made new again.

Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
reviewed by Margo MacDonald
McKinley's style is simple, elegant and finely detailed. Despite her characters being named out of fairy tales, they are very human, interesting and likeable -- you really care about them.

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