Deerskin eBook Robin McKinley
Download As PDF : Deerskin eBook Robin McKinley 
From the Newbery Medal–winning author of The Hero and the Crown the story of a princess who flees her father’s unwanted attention and finds an unexpected new life.
Princess Lissla Lissar is the only child of the king and his queen, who was the most beautiful woman in seven kingdoms. Everyone loved the splendid king and his matchless queen so much that no one had any attention to spare for the princess, who grew up in seclusion, listening to the tales her nursemaid told about her magnificent parents.
But the queen takes ill of a mysterious wasting disease and on her deathbed extracts a strange promise from her husband “I want you to promise me . . . you will only marry someone as beautiful as I was.”
The king is crazy with grief at her loss, and slow to regain both his wits and his strength. But on Lissar’s seventeenth birthday, two years after the queen’s death, there is a grand ball, and everyone present looks at the princess in astonishment and whispers to their neighbors, How like her mother she is!
On the day after the ball, the king announces that he is to marry again—and that his bride is the princess Lissla Lissar, his own daughter.
Lissar, physically broken, half mad, and terrified, flees her father’s lust with her one loyal friend, her sighthound, Ash. It is the beginning of winter as they journey into the mountains—and on the night when it begins to snow, they find a tiny, deserted cabin with the makings of a fire ready-laid in the hearth.
Thus begins Lissar’s long, profound, and demanding journey away from treachery and pain and horror, to trust and love and healing.
Princess Lissla Lissar is the only child of the king and his queen, who was the most beautiful woman in seven kingdoms. Everyone loved the splendid king and his matchless queen so much that no one had any attention to spare for the princess, who grew up in seclusion, listening to the tales her nursemaid told about her magnificent parents.
But the queen takes ill of a mysterious wasting disease and on her deathbed extracts a strange promise from her husband “I want you to promise me . . . you will only marry someone as beautiful as I was.”
The king is crazy with grief at her loss, and slow to regain both his wits and his strength. But on Lissar’s seventeenth birthday, two years after the queen’s death, there is a grand ball, and everyone present looks at the princess in astonishment and whispers to their neighbors, How like her mother she is!
On the day after the ball, the king announces that he is to marry again—and that his bride is the princess Lissla Lissar, his own daughter.
Lissar, physically broken, half mad, and terrified, flees her father’s lust with her one loyal friend, her sighthound, Ash. It is the beginning of winter as they journey into the mountains—and on the night when it begins to snow, they find a tiny, deserted cabin with the makings of a fire ready-laid in the hearth.
Thus begins Lissar’s long, profound, and demanding journey away from treachery and pain and horror, to trust and love and healing.
Deerskin eBook Robin McKinley
This is a beautiful, haunting, sometimes painful book that ends with a message of hope.GENERAL SPOILERS AHEAD:
The first half of the book is really about the traumatic aftermath of a violent assault and rape by the heroine's own father. These dark themes are handled appropriately, realistically, and with great compassion but they do make for some hard reading. If you have any experience with trauma and/or assault, you'll likely recognise a lot of the ordeals and emotions that our heroine processes. There's a lot of darkness in this book and, though beautifully written, absolutely not for the faint of heart (or young readers).
Throughout her suffering, our heroine is supported by her loyal sighthound; her only true friend and family in the world. Possibly a windhund, or long haired whippet, based on the description, though various covers for this book have shown a greyhound and borzoi, respectfully. Either way, if you have ever had the privilege of living with a sighthound, you will recognise so much of their loyalty, grace, and sweetness in this book. Lissar's connection to her canine companion is a huge part of what attracted me to this book, and kept me reading through the painful passages.
The last half of the book is about Lissar healing and joining the world again. Of course, dogs are a huge part of this process; bridging the gap between herself and a young prince who loves and understands dogs almost as much as she does. Her peace is threatened with the return of her father, and the realisation that he might soon hurt another young girl like he once hurt her. This spurs Lissar to face her demons and pull on the strength that was always within her. I honestly found her rising up in protest so powerful; her spirit just burns with the need to protect those who come after her.
The ending is hopeful but makes no foolish promises. Lissar, like all survivors, is forever changed by her trauma but she is also solely in control of her own destiny. As readers, we are left with a heroine who has been through hell and back to come through scarred, but standing, on the other side. Life likely holds moments of pain as her previous trauma is triggered but it is also full of hope; hope that she can be whole, hope that she will continue to live (not just survive), and hope that she will one day be able to trust another with her whole self (and heart).
Even though parts of this book almost physically hurt to read ( I cried a LOT; have tissues at the ready!), it has that soulful, almost nourishing, quality that so many of McKinley's books convey. She is a supremely gifted writer, and reading this book was a privilege. I highly recommend it to those who want something beautiful and complex to read.
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Deerskin eBook Robin McKinley Reviews
This was my first time reading Robin McKinley, and I’m hooked. Next up will be ‘The Hero and the Crown’, then ‘The Blue Sword’.
Much has been made of ‘Deerskin’ being too dark and not suitable for younger kids, and I would advise parents to judge this – and their childrens' reading maturity – for themselves. It is dark, especially in the scenes between Lissar and her evil father, but she is such an irrepressible heroine that I think most teens will love her. And the love between Lissar and her dog Ash, and later between her, Ash, and the puppies she nurtures from near-certain death, more than makes up for the dark stuff.
Is ‘Deerskin’ for everyone? No. But if you go in with an open mind, and read the book’s plot summary first, you will be rewarded with an enchanting, lyrical read.
DISCLAIMER The following review was originally posted on my book blog The Book Challengers.
Repetitive, yet wonderful. Telling more than showing, yet almost perfect the way it is. Not for every reader out there as it is pretty slow, but it's just the story for this particular reader here.
The author herself has said that this story is a retelling or Charles Perrault's story Donkey Skin* and while I admit that there are some similarities between the tales, this one is far more grimmer with the topic of incestuous rape as the first dark thing coming to mind. Deerskin is far more difficult and yet oddly more rewarding to read. It is somewhat repetitive and slow, but it also conveys all these horrifying themes quite well and although the writing style is somewhat odd with a whole lot of telling and rather little of showing, but it also gripped just like McKinley's Sunshine did and kept me on the edge of the seat all the way through.
What the original story failed to convey, in my mind, was the journey of healing the heroine of the story has to go through after her father loses his mind and forces himself on her. McKinley doesn't show exactly how she escapes, but she puts a lot of emphasis on the (lack of) emotion going through the young girl's mind after that awful ordeal. It is compelling and while I can luckily never truly understand what goes through someone's mind after something like that, I somehow understood Lissla Lissar's state of mind perfectly.
The original story also puts a lot of emphasis on how all the beautiful people get together, but Deerskin does not do that. It features all kinds of people and most important of all, in my mind, is the fact Lissla Lissar has time to heal and find her love through emotional connection. Sure, there is physical attraction as well, but first and foremost the attraction comes from the way she and her love interest connect on the emotional level and thanks to their mutual love for dogs. He is not handsome by conventional standards as his chin is a bit too big and eyes a bit too far apart and he's a bit overweight, but the way he and the heroine connect on the emotional level is simply the best thing to have ever happened. And it's wonderful. Wonderful, I tell you!
I fear a re-read is in order...
*The Brothers Grimm have a similar story - All-Kinds-of-Fur. In the end, I think Robin McKinley's version is the best of the lot.
This is a beautiful, haunting, sometimes painful book that ends with a message of hope.
GENERAL SPOILERS AHEAD
The first half of the book is really about the traumatic aftermath of a violent assault and rape by the heroine's own father. These dark themes are handled appropriately, realistically, and with great compassion but they do make for some hard reading. If you have any experience with trauma and/or assault, you'll likely recognise a lot of the ordeals and emotions that our heroine processes. There's a lot of darkness in this book and, though beautifully written, absolutely not for the faint of heart (or young readers).
Throughout her suffering, our heroine is supported by her loyal sighthound; her only true friend and family in the world. Possibly a windhund, or long haired whippet, based on the description, though various covers for this book have shown a greyhound and borzoi, respectfully. Either way, if you have ever had the privilege of living with a sighthound, you will recognise so much of their loyalty, grace, and sweetness in this book. Lissar's connection to her canine companion is a huge part of what attracted me to this book, and kept me reading through the painful passages.
The last half of the book is about Lissar healing and joining the world again. Of course, dogs are a huge part of this process; bridging the gap between herself and a young prince who loves and understands dogs almost as much as she does. Her peace is threatened with the return of her father, and the realisation that he might soon hurt another young girl like he once hurt her. This spurs Lissar to face her demons and pull on the strength that was always within her. I honestly found her rising up in protest so powerful; her spirit just burns with the need to protect those who come after her.
The ending is hopeful but makes no foolish promises. Lissar, like all survivors, is forever changed by her trauma but she is also solely in control of her own destiny. As readers, we are left with a heroine who has been through hell and back to come through scarred, but standing, on the other side. Life likely holds moments of pain as her previous trauma is triggered but it is also full of hope; hope that she can be whole, hope that she will continue to live (not just survive), and hope that she will one day be able to trust another with her whole self (and heart).
Even though parts of this book almost physically hurt to read ( I cried a LOT; have tissues at the ready!), it has that soulful, almost nourishing, quality that so many of McKinley's books convey. She is a supremely gifted writer, and reading this book was a privilege. I highly recommend it to those who want something beautiful and complex to read.
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