Chalice by Robin McKinley
A beautiful fairytale for the YA reader, Chalice is a very loose reinterpretation of a Beauty and the Beast story. Mirasol is a beekeeper who is forced to become the Chalice for her demesne after the previous Chalice and Master are killed in an accident. Her role is to bind her abused land back together and to the new Master, a Priest of Fire, a being who isn’t quite human and can burn both the land and human flesh with the barest touch. Uniquely, her source of magical power is the honey she makes with her bees.
Honey serves a central role in the story, and is also a good descriptor for the story for it’s a sweet tale, and moves slowly along. Mirasol is believable as a humble woodswoman forced into the second most powerful role in her country by magical forces beyond her control and is struggling to find her way. The pacing suffers at times, with jumps of months in the action at times, and a liberal use of flashbacks. At times, the book seems like a series of vignettes rather than a connected plot, but these are eventually woven together to describe how Mirasol gets to the situation she is in, with the classic “show not tell” mantra of good writing.
Robin McKinley is a master of lush, beautiful prose. You can hear the hum of the bees in your ears as you are reading Chalice, and you can feel the weight of the burden Mirasol is struggling under.
My two main complaints about Chalice are with the Master character. He isn’t given a lot of time in the story, so he remains kind of an enigma. I would have liked to have known more about his struggle against Fire to return to humanity, which would have added a layer of intensity to the story that was missing through most of the book. It also is the cause of my second complaint: the romance feels grafted on. Of course, in any good fairy tale they have to live happily ever after, but the happy ending between Chalice and Master seems rushed. I could see it heading in that direction, with the relationship between the two blossoming, but it bursting into full bloom at the end seemed premature.
But, those minor quibbles aside, Chalice is a beautifully written fairy tale. Though intended for a YA audience, I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys fairytales or stories of nature magic.
Wow, sounds terrific. Adding it to my list.
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I like the title, too, Marion.
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