Chalice

Chalice by Robin McKinley (Firebird,2008)

What an interesting book! I recently read one of McKinley's books, and enjoyed her fun writing. So I checked out a few more of her books.

Chalice is basically a fairy tale, and a quick easy read. Nice for falling into bed and enjoying a bit of a good story (or a page or two) before my eyes shut.

Classic fairy tale stuff, with the evil guy, the nasty older brother, disaster, failing lands...and then the Chalice (it's a title? job? calling? appointment?) is chosen and begins to try and pull the land together. In comes the Master of the land, hero in disguise. No spoilers for you on this one either!

Just let me say, the part I like best is the way the Chalice works with bees and nature and uses all sorts of natural remedies for everyday problems.

Girl hero + overwhelmingly hard tasks + negative situations = a great fairy tale.