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Review at MyShelf.Com | ||||||||||||||
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by Robin McKinley Mirasol has been chosen as Chalice, the one who prepares and serves up the Cups used to influence and bind the people, the land, and the ties between them. It's a benign but powerful magic, filling an old and honored position—most important of the Master of the Demesne's Circle. However, the position is usually filled by someone experienced, who learned how through apprenticing with the prior Chalice. Beekeeper Mirasol didn't have that chance. It wouldn't matter so much if everything else was normal, giving her space to learn on her own, but the land has been unsettled for a while and was made even more so by the crisis which unexpectedly catapulted her into the job. That same crisis also brought the demesne a new Master, which would unsettle things even under normal conditions... which these aren't. The new Master is a priest of Fire, someone whose slightest touch can burn and who may no longer be wholly human. Can he and Mirasol find a way to reconcile who they are with their new positions and each other, to earn the people's and land's trust in hopes of providing the healing they're in need of? And what exactly is the Overlord's interest in all this? Robin McKinley writes fantasies about young people feeling to some degree like round pegs in square holes, and how they either find their true place or come to realize they're already in it. Most often a bit of both, while also finding unexpected depths in themselves, proving them capable of much more than they ever imagined. Sounds horribly preach-y and lesson-ish, doesn't it? I know; but it's not even remotely that way, here or in any of her other stories. Ms. McKinley is a master storyteller, using beautiful prose to tell compelling stories which draw you completely in, so that whatever life lessons are in them are things you realize simply through experiencing them—as in life—and not because she's been hitting you over the head with them. Chalice is no exception. This story has a bit of a folktale feel, but that doesn't keep you from believing in what's happening and caring deeply about its characters and their fates. Maybe not my favorite of her stories ( The Blue Sword and its sequel if you're really curious), but still heartily recommended. |
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Chalice