Deerskin

Finally finished Robin McKinley's Deerskin

As Princess Lissla Lissar reaches womanhood, it is clear to all the kingdom that in her beauty she is the image of her dead mother, the queen.  But this likeness forces her to flee from her father's lust and madness; and in the pain and the horror of that flight she forgets who she is and what it is she flees from:  forgets almost everything but the love and loyalty of her dog, Ash, who accompanies her.  But a chance encounter on the road leads to a job in another king's kennels, where the prince finds himself falling in love with the new kennel maid... and one day he tells her of a princess named Lissla Lissar, who had a dog named Ash.

The Breakdown:
1. Deerskin is a very hard book to get into.  McKinley spends a lot of time describing Lissar's childhood, and the relationship between her parents.  They are not likable people, and since she gives very little of Lissar's personality, there is not really a good character to connect with.

2. After some serious trauma, Lissar goes through this whole dissociation event in which the writing feels muddle and at times it is hard to follow where the story line is going.  The story drags a lot while Lissar deals with this, and I really just wanted to move on.

3. It felt like that McKinley spent so much time dealing with Lissar's background and issues, that the ending with her meeting Ossin and their relationship was super rushed. I wish she had spent more time on that aspect of the story.

To Read or Not to Read:
Skip It

Currently Reading:
Boundless
by Cynthia Hand