Rose Daughter, by Robin McKinley

Rose Daughter is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast (does it seem like I’m repeating myself here?). But unlike her previous book Beauty, which would on the surface appear to be the same story, Rose Daughter is a very different tale.

The story starts much the same, and develops much the same, but it is not the same. In Beauty there is an air of hope that pervades the book. The family makes an easy transition to the country, and they have to struggle for very little. They still have friends who help them, and never do they lack in good cheer. But in Rose Daughter despair is a very familiar feeling. It is a darker book, and a sadder one. The feeling is one of change, and not always for the better. Things get much worse before appearing to get better, and even then catastrophe strikes when the Beast appears and demands that Beauty come to him.

But for all of it’s melancholy, it resounds more deeply within me. I feel the anguish as their known life evaporates, and I take more pride as they adapt to their new one. The greater the downs, the more joyful the ups. For it seems that those who have experienced more sorrow, better appreciate the joy that comes after.

The book has its halting moments: there are several times where I had to reread a passage to make sure of its meaning, and in some places the plot happens so quickly it almost does not seem to happen, because it is over and done with. These parts are always distracting to a reader, because they throw you out of the story, and you must try to fit yourself back in.

But Robin McKinley’s undeniable charm in writing makes it worthwhile to continue reading, and I am always a sucker for the happy ending.

My one question for McKinley about the book is this: How did Beauty at the end make the sorcerous army disappear, and why did the old greenwitch refer to her as having magic?


Editor’s Eye: (spoilers contained)

I mentioned before about halting points in the novel, and in several places this is true. At one point Jeweltongue is talking to Lionheart about the terrible dinner she went to in Longchance, and how she attracted the attention of the Squire’s eldest son. It is inferred that Jeweltongue says many clever things, but we never find out just what she said, and we never find out what she said to reject his advances.

Another halting moment is at the end of the book when the Beast brings Beauty back to Rose Cottage. There is a long moment where we do not know that the Beast is still in his ‘beastly’ form. For a while it is never clearly stated that he keeps his shape, and I had to reread that passage a few times to clearly understand what happened. I wish that would have been made clearer, because then I wouldn’t have minded that he stayed the Beast.


Reader’s Review: (spoilers contained)

I just have a bunch of questions about this book. Where did the mother come from, and why was she searching for something, and what made her leave Rose Cottage? Why was the old Greenwitch there to comfort Beauty when she cried the first night of the dream? Where did the dream come from, and why was it important that she have it? It seemed like a machination of Strix, but how would his curse know to send it to Beauty? And why was it important that she walk down the dark hallway at the end? I love the story, but there are so many questions that are unsolved.

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