Spindle's End

A princess in hiding, a sleeping spell on the tip of a spindle, and a kiss that conquers magic--these are the essential parts of the story of Sleeping Beauty and then Robin McKinley weaves an enchanting, but not too familiar tale in her retelling Spindle's End.

McKinley's good fairies Katriona and Auntie are even (dare I say it?) more endearing than the Disney Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather, mostly because the fairy Katriona's coming of age story is included along with the tomboy princess Rosie's growing up. There's a whole talking with animals storyline that works, but is kind of odd. I'm still not sure why being able to talk to animals is a good skill, although it seems very popular in fairytales.

McKinley is a fantasy writer, so you can be sure that she has an entire country with rich cultural heritage for the setting. One of the best parts of the writing was the parenthetical comments, where McKinley inserts stories for the reader to better understand the magical country where the story takes place. I found an online excerpt here that illustrates McKinley's style. (It's from the beginning, so I'm not giving anything away) Let me know if you get as hooked as both Chris and I were.