Bitchery reader Jessica writes down everything she reads, which I admit is a fascinating and brilliant thing to do, but she forgot to write this one down. Thus, it is driving her nuts to remember what it is:
I never fail to be impressed by the book knowledge displayed by the Smart Bitches and Co. Here’s one that I’ve been looking for since I read it a few times in junior high and high school, and is the leading cause of why I now obsessively write down everything i read.
I read it originally around 1991-2, it was a YA fantasy book about a girl (possibly an orphaned princess?) in a walled kingdom-type place. Things get shifty in the kingdom, and she escapes through a hole in the wall to a community outside of it (maybe in the mountains?), possibly filled with warriors/expats. She learns mad fighting skillz, then returns to the walled kingdom to retake her rightful home. I wish I knew more, but around the same time I read this, I also read the Alanna series and started reading Mercedes Lackey, so I was inundating myself with badass fighting womens. Unfortunately, this was the one that slipped through the cracks of my memory.
I seem to remember it being hardcover, with predominately royal blue cover art, and was shelved in the YA section of my small local library. I’ve actually gone back to the library to try and find it, but with no luck.
Please, help this bitch out! Much thanks to you if you run this, and even if you don’t, I appreciate your time.
Perhaps Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown? Princess Aerin is suspect because of her mother, from what I remember, and winds up in the wilderness learning her destined role as a True Hero.
I was thinking the same thing—but about Robin McKinley’s short story set “The Door in the Hedge” http://www.robinmckinley.com/Excerpts/RM_Excerpts.html#DoorEx
Did this involve dragons? If it did, it could be The Chronicles of the Shadow War by Chris Claremont, which is the continuation of the Willow movie about Elora Danan.
I think this might be Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith, which is YA. Currently the book is available as an omnibus with its sequel, Court Duel.
I seem to recall that one of L. Frank Baum’s Oz sequels involved a walled city. Perhaps everyone was made of china? I doubt this is what she’s looking for, although now I have to go figure out what that book was.
Sounds like McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown, for sure.
Or maybe the prequel/sequel The Blue Sword? (I can never remember which of them is the one about Aerin and which is the one about a heroine much later in time)
Might it be Robin McKinley’s Deerskin?
I agree it could be the Hero and the Crown. I’ve read all those Robin McKinley books. Definitely not Blue Sword (girl is in colony, goes to kingdom, fights on its behalf, and stays there) or Deerskin (“things get shifty in the kingdom” doesn’t line up with Deerskin’s reason for leaving – she gets raped by her father).
It sounds a little like Garth Nix’s Sabriel, but I don’t think the book’s that old. Then again, looking at these suggestions, it seems ‘girl in walled city escapes to lean mad fighting skillz’ is a bit of a YA fantasy staple…
It sounds like Deerskin, but as far as I know that was published in a white cover. And there wasn’t a fighting community outside the walls, just a whole lotta winter.
The other likelies are anything by Robin McKinley. Probably The Door In The Hedge. The Blue Sword doesn’t have her escaping through a hole in the wall, though, and The Hero And The Crown she just marches on out there.
Hi, ladies! No, I know it’s not anything by Robin McKinley (I own them all). It’s not Crown Duel from what I can tell because CD wasn’t published until 1997 (however, I still put it on hold at the library).
I know there’s not really a lot to go on. At this rate, I’m considering trying to track down the YA librarian at the library in my hometown and pick their brain.
I really appreciate everyone helping on this, even if I can’t find it. At the very least, I’m getting a good list of things to put on hold!
It doesn’t sound like anything by McKinley to me; maybe “The Seer and the Sword” by Victoria Hanley?
briefly coming out of lurk (can’t really break the lurk-seal or there’ll be no work done in 2008) to suggest:
A Princess of the Chameln by Cherry Wilder
vaguely remember the plot after having read it almost 20 years ago… and the cover i remember is bluish
http://www.vintagechildrensbooks.com/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=3576
It sounds something like one of the Kingdom books by Cynthia Voight. Elske, maybe.
No, no. This can’t be The Hero and the Crown. Most of the details fit, but they’re the wrong details to remember. I mean, Aerin got most of her mad fighting skillz before she left the kingdom. And there was no “community” outside the kingdom. Just Luthe, and his Lake O’ Immortality. Besides, Aerin escapes a lot before she heads off to have Luthe dump her in the drink.
You’d think the giant dragon, the near-death experiences, the immortality, and the delightfully nonmonogamous HEA would have crept into the memory a bit more.
The other thing is, I just don’t see how anyone could forget reading tH&tC as a YA. So maybe this is reflecting my own peculiar biases.
I read tH&tC just last year and I can’t forget it. Mostly because I remember Luthe from a story in A Knot in the Grain, which I did read as a YA, and that bit of cross-universe continuity was a surprise.
But no, this is not tH&tC, not at all. Aerin learns mad fighting skills long before she escapes, for one thing.
Frankly, kickass, badass heroines exhaust me. I can’t pick up a book anymore that hasn’t a psychopath for a heroine. Whatever happened to identifying with the heroine? And have you seen some of those covers? My thighs cringe every time I see one those poses. You have to be an acrobat with spiky, bad hair day.
It seems like I might be permanently stumped on this one. Bitches, thank you for the suggestions, and at least I’ve got something to read that’s new!
And the Robin McKinley suggestions? I’ve probably re-read those books almost every year since I first read them (around the same time as all the others mentioned), but she never fails to get old for me. But I promise you, it’s not Blue Sword or Hero and the Crown.
I don’t think this is the book, but I noticed that other people have stopped commenting and this is actually the book that caused me to start writing down every book I’d ever read (luckily my life was saved by the memory of a children’s librarian as recent as six months ago—I’d been trying to remember this book for 15 years).
A Necklace of Fallen Stars by Beth Hilgartner. I read it in 92-93 in junior high. The heroine doesn’t learn fighting skills, but she has to escape from the kingdom where she’s essentially a prisoner. Her “magic” power is stories, which she tells throughout the book. It kind of kicks ass.
Even if this isn’t it, maybe it’ll inspire someone else’s memory.
Weird. I’ve been gone for the holidays and I just noticed this thread. I was going to recommend a book that has some similarities to what you’ve described but probably isn’t it. And it’s another Beth Hilgartner book.
Colors in the Dreamweaver’s Loom is a fabulous book about a teen girl who gets somehow transported to another world. The sequel wasn’t nearly as good, but still readable.
Seriously. I think someone needs to start reprinting Hilgartner. Man, if only I were in publishing instead of bookselling. Also, I’ll keep thinking and see if I can come up with your actual title request.
oh, what’s the book about, you may ask:
Jan, recently orphaned, somehow wanders into another world and is found by two children. She ends up on a quest with them to try and save their people and get back to her home. The story involves a quest and a portion of it does take place in a walled city (as shown on the cover, which is also mostly a blue color) followed by a quest into the mountains across the desert.
here’s the amazon link (hope that works).
http://www.amazon.com/Colors-Dreamweavers-Loom-Beth-Hilgartner/dp/0395502144/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199840865&sr=8-1
Hallo, delurking for a long shot here. It’s been a while since I’ve read it, but the first thing that came to mind when I read your description was ‘The Gate to Women’s Country’ by Sheri S. Tepper. Sort of a post-apocalyptic feminist, ecological utopia/dystopia thingy.
I don’t remember any learning of mad fighting skillz, but the main character does live in a walled city, with a nearby garrison of ex-pat warriors (men who choose to leave the city rather than be women’s servants.) When she leaves the city and is captured by a nasty set of neighbors, and returns home to confront the secret of how the order in her city is maintained.
It was shelved next to Lackey and Peirce in the YA section in my library.