The Door in the Hedge: And Other Stories

Robin McKinley is known for retelling fairy tales with more depth and complexity than the originals, in a graceful fantasy style vivid with colorful imagery and occasional wry commentary on the characters. This collection includes four stories of roughly novelette length. The title's "door in the hedge" turns out to be a major element of "The Stolen Princess," rather than the name of a story. This tale seems to be original, though it uses classic fairy tale themes and intends no surprise when the princess is stolen. The resolution of the crisis is not typical, but it threatens a negative turn that never quite materializes. Similarly, "The Hunting of the Hind" borrows the idea of a Golden Hind from Greek mythology, then follows its own path from there. I'm afraid I didn't find the magic in this one convincing, as it comes too easily to a princess who is not a magician. I much prefer the retellings of two classic tales, "The Princess and the Frog" (aka "The Frog Prince") and "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." Both add evil characters that are not in the Grimm versions. These give the stories added tension and change the princesses in both stories from self-indulgent girls to young women struggling against wicked villains.

DISCLAIMER: The following review was originally posted on my book blog (link in bio).Oh how I adore McKinley's writing although I do have to admit that I prefer her longer stories to these shorter ones even though these stories were very good as well.The Stolen Princess was about changelings ... er, almost as the fae kind of stole a kid from a family (boys in their infancy, girls in their late teens), but didn't quite give a child in return. One of the kids who gets taken in the middle of the night is a princess as the story's name indicates. Both the premise and execution were really good BUT the story didn't quite resonate with me as I would've liked to.My least favourite story was actually the the first story in this collection - The Stolen Princess. It was good, but I have to say that the second story - The Princess and the Frog stole my heart and that story was definitely way too short. I would usually say that The Princess and the Frog is one of my least favourite fairy tales but McKinley's version was awesome and I was left wanting a story at least three times as long.The third story - The Hunting of the Hind - was also really good and I think if McKinley had written more, it could've been magnificent. But what I really liked about this story was the fact that the savior of the day was a princess no-one actually seemed to believe in.And the last story - The Twelve Dancing Princesses - is a story that I've always liked about princesses who dance away their dancing shoes in the middle of the night. McKinley's version was also really good but I think I kind of prefer the original to this one.All in all, a very pleasant reading experience.

My favorite book as a tiny child was a book of fairy tales my parents had to have gotten tired of reading over and over. Sixty years later and l still enjoy them.I love the retelling of the old stories, and Robin McKinley is among the best of the authors who write these sorts of stories. She is an author whose books l read because l see her name on the cover of a book. Her description is marvelous. Her characters are usually fully fleshed out. I read her not just to enjoy a story, although that is reason enough, but also to try to discern how she does it.

McKinley's "Blue Sword" series has long been one of our favorite 'keepers'. However, although she has written many books since then, we have read but not kept any of them. This, too, is a reasonably good read but not good enough to be a keeper for us. The first story, in particular, is an incredible bore. There's hardly any dialogue; it's just long, long paragraphs of descriptions and narrative text. It's like reading an essay on a not-very-interesting fairy tale.The last story is beautifully written, but the tale is familiar and McKinley's lyrical writing breaks no new ground, creates no variant from the original storyline - it simply adds more pages to the same old story.If she were a brand new author one would say this was a 'promising work.' But McKinley is a well-established author. That she came out with this 2014 rehash of old fairy tales is very disappointing. If you want to read fairytales that are brilliantly original, "Bone Swans" by C.S.E. Cooney and Gene Wolfe, beats this "B-level anthology" by McKinley, hands-down.

I remember the Fairy tales these are based on, but I don't remember them exactly like these. While the basic outline is similar, the details and the flow of information is different.The book is supposedly written for middle school students but, if so, it's a huge improvement over what the kids today usually get. The words are simple but so lovely and flow like poetry. Definitely something that belongs in every library.

I have loved this colection for years! For some reason, the first story, The Stloen Princess, always moves me to tears. It is an easy read. Very highly recommended.

If you ever wish for a refreshing read after a heavy tome, this book will satisfy. A lovely interlude for the soul.

This was a nice and easy read of some fairy tales. The writing was as if someone was narrating a Disney movie or classic fairy tale to you. There wasn’t a lot of depth but it kept my interest through each story.

As always Robin McKinley is so good.

Robin has reminded me with these tales why fairy stories used to hold me in thrall as a child. A wonderful collection of new and old that stir deep memories of times and things long gone.

Love her short stories