Robin McKinley Libri

Cinque ragazze, cinque protagoniste diverse che cercano di sperimentare i propri poteri: streghe di ieri e di oggi, streghe buone per le quali la magia è una forza naturale e positiva, da usa per diffondere la gioia attorno a sé, ma soprattutto per acquistare la forza, consapevolezze e capacità di amare. Cinque lunghi racconti fantastici che parlano di fiori fatati, innamorati improbabili, matrimoni insoliti, guarigioni possibili, misteriose scatole che riescono a deviare un'autostrada... Cinque storie da leggere per scoprire in se stesse l'ombra degli incantesimi di cui tutte le donne sono capaci.

La vita di Rae Seddon, detta Sunshine, è serena: lavora nella panetteria del patrigno, è fidanzata con il capocuoco e vive in una casa di campagna. Non pensa più alla sua famiglia, composta da un potente mago e da una nonna che le insegnava trucchi. Una notte, mentre cerca tranquillità al lago, viene aggredita da vampiri che la rinchiudono in una casa abbandonata, incatenandola a un muro. Qui incontra Constantine, un altro vampiro, anch'esso prigioniero. Inizialmente spaventata, Sunshine scopre che lui non ha intenzione di attaccarla. Tra i due si sviluppa un legame speciale, e per fuggire, Sunshine deve riscoprire i poteri che pensava dimenticati, utilizzandoli per proteggere Constantine dal sole, che rappresenta per lei un elemento fondamentale. Tuttavia, il loro carceriere è un avversario potente e non accetterà facilmente la loro fuga. Solo unendo le forze, i due potranno sperare di sopravvivere, mettendo alla prova il loro legame. Sebbene il lago non abbia visto eventi strani per anni, ora che i vampiri sono tornati, Sunshine deve affrontare una realtà inaspettata e pericolosa.

In Robin McKinley’s Newbery Medal–winning novel, an outcast princess must earn her birthright as a hero of the realm Aerin is an outcast in her own father’s court, daughter of the foreign woman who, it was rumored, was a witch, and enchanted the king to marry her. She makes friends with her father’s lame, retired warhorse, Talat, and discovers an old, overlooked, and dangerously imprecise recipe for dragon-fire-proof ointment in a dusty corner of her father’s library. Two years, many canter circles to the left to strengthen Talat’s weak leg, and many burnt twigs (and a few fingers) secretly experimenting with the ointment recipe later, Aerin is present when someone comes from an outlying village to report a marauding dragon to the king. Aerin slips off alone to fetch her horse, her sword, and her fireproof ointment . . . But modern dragons, while formidable opponents fully capable of killing a human being, are small and accounted vermin. There is no honor in killing dragons. The great dragons are a tale out of ancient history. That is, until the day that the king is riding out at the head of an army. A weary man on an exhausted horse staggers into the courtyard where the king’s troop is assembled: “The Black Dragon has come . . . Maur, who has not been seen for generations, the last of the great dragons, great as a mountain. Maur has awakened.”

From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "Sunshine" and "The Outlaws of Sherwood"-now in trade paperback. This is the story of Harry Crewe, the Homelander orphan girl who became Harimad- sol, King's Rider, and heir to the Blue Sword, Gonturan, that no woman had wielded since the Lady Aerin herself bore it into battle.

"This collection of beautifully crafted tales will find a warm welcome from fans of either author, as well as from fantasy readers in general." - School Library Journal This collection tells five tales of creatures who live and die by fire, tales of the present day and the prehistoric past. There is a confrontation in a haunted graveyard, of the Firespace where only dragons can survive, of a boy who is claimed by Fire, of a young man who chases the fireworm through dark tunnels of dream, and the long history of the Phoenix. With characters and storylines as enigmatic as fire itself, these five enthralling tales by master storytellers Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson are sure to intrigue and delight.

A strange imprisonment Beauty has never liked her nickname. She is thin and awkward; it is her two sisters who are the beautiful ones. But what she lacks in looks, she can perhaps make up for in courage. When her father comes home with the tale of an enchanted castle in the forest and the terrible promise he had to make to the Beast who lives there, Beauty knows she must go to the castle, a prisoner of her own free will. Her father protests that he will not let her go, but she answers, "Cannot a Beast be tamed?" Robin McKinley's beloved telling illuminates the unusual love story of a most unlikely couple: Beauty and the Beast. From The Back Cover: "Cannot a Beast be tamed?" Beauty, believing herself plain and awkward, loves roses. But when her father goes travelling and plucks just one magnificent, crimson rosebud from the garden of a magical castle, a fearsome Beast demands revenge. Either Beauty's father must forfeit his life - or his daughter must promise to live with the Beast for ever. A captivating retelling of the story of Beauty and the Beast from a Newbery Medal-winning author.

'As Princess Lissar reaches womanhood, it is clear to all the kingdom that in her breathtaking beauty she is the mirror of her mother, the queen. But this seeming blessing forces her to flee to safety from her father's wrath. With her loyal dog Ash at her side, LIssar unlocks a door to a world of magic, where she finds the key to her survival - and an adventure beyond her wildest dreams...' -- cover.

A captivating tale, from bestselling and award-winning author, that reveals the healing power of duty and honour, love and honey. Mirasol is a beekeeper, a honey-gatherer, with an ability to speak to the "earthlines"—the sentient parts of Willowlands, where she lives. The concerns of Master, Chalice, and Circle, who govern Willowlands, have nothing to do with her-until the current Master and Chalice die in a fire and leave no heirs to take their places. The Master's closest relative has been a priest of Fire for the past seven years; he is not quite human anymore. And then the Circle comes to Marisol and tells her that she is the new Chalice, and it will be up to her to bind the land and its people with a Master, the touch of whose hand can burn human flesh to the bone. . . .

"Spindle's End" is a retelling of the fairy tale, "The Sleeping Beauty", which takes the reader into a magical world filled with modern characters who encounter adventure, love and loss. The curse placed on Rosie at her christening will hunt her down through the years.

A fantastical collection, available again, of four stories: two stunningly original, and two superb re-creations of favorite tales. "All four stories are linked by a leisurely richness of expression and by their motifs: the temptation of fairy magic versus the joyful acceptance of human mortality and the immutability of love in the face of enchantment."--Horn Book.

Six fabulous tales - vividly imagined and powerfully told.A long-told story of the sea people and their song - and a golden eye, glittering in a pool at the edge of a desert .A ferocious serpent, its body as think as the trunk of a huge tree - and the immense, unknowable Kraken, dark beyond black, cold beyond ice, waking on the ocean floor .

The New York Times bestselling author of Sunshine and Hero and the Crown presents a beautiful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. When their father’s business fails, a young woman named Beauty and her two sisters leave their fine house in the city and move to a tiny cottage far away from everything they’ve ever known. The neglected cottage is engulfed by the long thorny stems of some unknown plant. Beauty patiently tends to them, and when, the following summer, the mysterious flowers are the most beautiful things the sisters have ever seen, an old woman tells Beauty: “Roses are for love. Not silly sweethearts’ love but the love that makes you and keeps you whole…There’s an old folk-tale that there aren’t many roses around any more because they need more love than people have to give them to make them flower…” When Beauty takes her father’s place in the terrifying beast’s palace, she discovers that his beloved rose garden is dying; and because she needs something to do to distract her from missing her family, because she loves roses—and because she pities the Beast—she determines to bring it back to life…

A gorgeously written fantasy about the friendship between a princess and her Pegasus. Because of a thousand-year-old alliance between humans and pagasi, Princess Sylviianel is ceremonially bound to Ebon, her own Pegasus, on her twelfth birthday. The two species coexist peacefully, despite the language barriers separating them. Humans and pegasi both rely on specially-trained Speaker magicians as the only means of real communication. But its different for Sylvi and Ebon. They can understand each other. They quickly grow close-so close that their bond becomes a threat to the status quo-and possibly to the future safety of their two nations. "New York Times" bestselling Robin McKinley weaves an unforgettable tale of unbreakable friendship, mythical creatures and courtly drama destined to become a classic.

In Robin McKinleys Newbery Medal-prämiertem Roman muss eine verstoßene Prinzessin ihr Erbe als Heldin des Reiches beweisen. Aerin, die Tochter einer ausländischen Frau, gilt am Hof ihres Vaters als Außenseiterin, da Gerüchte über ihre Mutter, eine vermeintliche Hexe, kursieren. Sie findet Trost in der Freundschaft mit Talat, dem lahmen, pensionierten Kriegspferd ihres Vaters, und entdeckt ein altes Rezept für drachenfeuerfeste Salbe in der Bibliothek. Nach zwei Jahren des Trainings mit Talat und Experimenten mit der Salbe wird Aerin Zeugin eines Berichts über einen marodierenden Drachen aus einem abgelegenen Dorf. Entschlossen, sich zu beweisen, macht sie sich heimlich auf den Weg, um ihr Pferd, ihr Schwert und die Salbe zu holen. Die modernen Drachen, die als Ungeziefer gelten, sind zwar gefährlich, aber es gibt keine Ehre im Drachen töten. Die großen Drachen sind Legenden der Vergangenheit. Doch als der König mit einer Armee ausreitet, bringt ein erschöpfter Mann die alarmierende Nachricht: "Der Schwarze Drache ist gekommen . . . Maur, der letzte der großen Drachen, ist erwacht."