She doesn't really write series. "The Blue Sword" and "The Hero and the Crown" go together insofar as they occur in the same world. "The Hero and the Crown" is the prequel to "The Blue Sword", so read it second. It sort of fills in gaps from the previous novel and fleshes out the legend that is introduced. I always sort of placed the world of "The Hero and the Crown" as a sort of alternate Victorian-era England because they had trains but still used calvary for armies.
McKinley also writes a lot of restructured fairy-tales and folklore. "The Door In the Hedge" is a collection of novellas with 3 or 4 stories in it. "Spindles End" is a novel about Snow White. "Beauty" and "Rose Daughter" are both retellings of Sleeping Beauty but are NOT connected except in their reference to the original tale. "The Outlaws of Sherwood" retells Robin Hood. I'm not sure I read "Deerskin" and I haven't read her newest book.
She generally writes very good fantasy that contain a lot of elements of "our" world in them. Very parallel universe type things.
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Date: 2008-02-05 07:21 am (UTC)McKinley also writes a lot of restructured fairy-tales and folklore. "The Door In the Hedge" is a collection of novellas with 3 or 4 stories in it. "Spindles End" is a novel about Snow White. "Beauty" and "Rose Daughter" are both retellings of Sleeping Beauty but are NOT connected except in their reference to the original tale. "The Outlaws of Sherwood" retells Robin Hood. I'm not sure I read "Deerskin" and I haven't read her newest book.
She generally writes very good fantasy that contain a lot of elements of "our" world in them. Very parallel universe type things.