This is one of my favorite books. I first read it when I was in fourth grade and I didn’t really understand the whole thing, but I just recently got my hands on my own copy (the one I read I borrowed from the library) and I re-read it, and I still love it. I made my sister read it at the same age I was but she didn’t really like it (she’s not really into reading at all though). I think that Aerin (protagonist) represents all those girls out there who believe that no one thinks they can make anything out of themselves because they’re not pretty or whatever. McKinley’s protagonists in the books that I have read are usually female and believe that they’re insignifigant in the world. I thought that in the fantasy genre, you get to see a lot of heroes who are strong warriors, but rarely do you get a woman-warrior who is both distinctly strong as well as vulnerable. She doesn’t lose sight of who she was in the beginning (a plain girl) to who she is now (highly respected).
The book is rather wordy, but I like that personally. It’s a lot to get through because of its verbosity. Sometimes you kind of have to take it slow so that you can fully absorb everything that McKinley tells/shows you. I really highly recommend this book. Even though it’s a moderately hard read, it’s worth it.