I have enjoyed many of Robin McKinley’s children’s novels,
so I got on amazon.com to find more of her books to read.
Deerskin is NOT a children’s novel. The story
starts off just like any good fairytale talking about how the king married the
most beautiful woman in 7 kingdoms and how they were so happy together until
the queen dies and the king is filled with an uncontrollable grief. Before her
death, the queen makes her love promise to only marry again if he can find a
woman that is more beautiful than she ever was and the queen also has a portrait made to
remind the king of her beauty.
Honestly, the first part of the novel made me think that
this was going to be like a Snow White type of story. In a way, it is, but it’s
not a wicked stepmother that drives the daughter away. The king brutally rapes
his own daughter (I guess because she grew up to be as beautiful as her
mother), and the rest of the book is how the princess (Deerskin as she later
calls herself) recovers from such a brutal and utterly wrong experience.
I was somewhat disturbed with what happened in this story. I
still like Robin McKinley as an author, but I think I’ll be a little more careful
with her future books.
I read this book when I was a junior in college and yes, the rape is quite disturbing. Otherwise, I remember very much enjoying the book.
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