The country of Damar... oh, to be there.

This is another one of my very favorite series / authors from when I was younger. I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but my addiction to SF / Fantasy stemmed from my junior high years when I first came into contact with Lloyd Alexander and his Prydain series (see my previous post on a that subject) , and C. L. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia (which I read in jr. High, but didn't really scope out ALL the meanings behind the fun adventure story at the time). By high school, I was fixated on SF / Fantasy and that's when the two books about Damar by Robin McKinley were first published. I had found a copy of Beauty (her first book) at the library and gotten hooked. The Damar books, however, were fantasy that made me dream I WAS Harry Crewe (the heroine of The Blue Sword), or Aerin (The Hero and the Crown) off saving Damar from encroaching baddies by wielding my sword and making magic happen...

I never got to the point of dressing up in costume and pretend whacking at my sister with verve (though there were lots of times I WANTED to whack my sister during our high school years...) but this series was one I read over and over again and never forgot, no matter what other reading material I went on to. It is one of the first books I recommend for younger SF / Fantasy readers (especially girls just starting out with the genre) and it's a series that I'm going to foist on my sons (number one son already got handed a set of Andre Norton paperbacks that he actually read when my back was turned....) when I get a couple of cheap copies. (Heaven forfend that my sons get anywhere near my first edition copies.)
I just got this pristine set in two days ago and yes, they are going on the website ( I have a set already, you see).

If you haven't read the series --- DO.

Yes, the books are generally considered Young Adult but Phooey to that. They are both wonderfully written works of fantasy and it doesn't matter if you're old or young.

PS: I know I've mentioned Robin McKinley here before and posted a link to her blog, but I'm going to do it again.

I read her blog nearly everyday & enjoy it immensely - Be warned. Robin McKinley's blog does read somewhat like her novels (how can she not?) but she is a PERSON just like any other, not a book. Robin McKinley's Blog

Enjoy!
(I'd say I was going to sit down & read both of these again soon, but I just finished the series last December for my article... I think I'll wait to read them again til next year).