Water: Tales Of Elemental Spirits (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
It's really hard to rate short story collections, because each individual story is different. So rather than my usual rating header, I'm going to break this down by story. There are six stories in this collection, all centered around water (sort of). Three are by Robin McKinley (woo!) and three by her husband, Peter Dickinson (meh). As you can see from the below, I much preferred McKinley's stories. In book order, they all are:1. Mermaid Song by Peter Dickinson: (3/5) This wasn't a bad story. It was the typical girl in a repressed society/family, struggling to get free. Only her family had a secret about mermaids that had been passed along to her, and she ends up discovering and freeing a caught young female mermaid, which makes her father mad and finally gets her moved to a better home. It was a good story but I would have liked it more if she and the mermaid had gotten together, I dunno... they had these moments where they kissed and it was really sweet and I think it would have been a nice subversion.2. The Sea King's Son by Robin McKinley: (4/5) This one was very fairytale-esque, which Robin McKinley always does amazingly well. Again the story was a bit predictable, you could see where it would end up but it was still a very good read. I liked the little romance and how they ended up able to be together.3. Sea Serpent by Peter Dickinson: (2/5) Ugh. I mean the writing was fine, but I'm not the kind of person who is gonna want to read about some all-male religion coming in to basically ruin this all-female religion by stealing their magical standing stones and defeating their Goddess and getting away with it, no thanks. Even if the magic was interesting.4. Water Horse by Robin McKinley: (5/5) This story SHOULD HAVE BEEN A FULL BOOK, wow, I would have loved to read an entire book about Tamia. This little story was about an island at the mercy of the sea, and the Guardians who help keep the water at bay. Tamia is under-appreciated (of course) and then becomes a Guardian and it was just really wonderful but I didn't want it to end. I wanted it to be a lot more.5. The Kraken by Peter Dickinson: (4/5) My favorite of his three stories, this story is about a mermaid princess who sees two star-crossed lovers jump off a ship because they'd rather die together than be killed or separated by the pirates. The moment is so beautiful that she tries to save them, but that shining moment of love catches the attention of a Kraken, who shakes the mermaid city until she brings the two lovers (who the Kraken has in a sort of suspended animation) down to him so he can capture the moment. It was really beautiful and well done.6. A Pool in the Desert by Robin McKinley: (5/5) A return to the world of Damar from The Blue Sword! I was so excited, even if it was only tangentially related. Hetta is another unhappy daughter (that's a theme but I like it) who travels to Damar's past in her dreams, to the time of Aerin and Tor where she meets Zasharan, a Watcher she falls in love with. Her sister finally convinces her that she needs to do what she needs to do, to do something for herself because she's given up everything for her family, and her spirit lives in that Damarian desert in the past. She ends up going through the little pond in her backyard and propelling herself into the past (it's a really well-written scene) to be with Zasharan. I especially love the ending, with her sister looking her up and finding legends about her sister and herself. Overall average rating: 3.8 out of 5, rounded to 4.
A collection of short stories about creatures of the deep. I didn't realize until just before writing this review, however, that the authors are husband and wife--pretty cool. Each contributes three stories, and overall I think I liked Dickinson's better. If I had to rate just the McKinley pieces, I'd probably just give it two stars. Sea Serpent and Kraken were my two favorite stories. I liked it well enough that I'll probably read the next one in the series, which has a theme of fire.I thought it was interesting that none of the main characters (except one) came from a function family. Sad, but I guess it fits the "fairy tale" genre.-Mermaid Song: Loved the ending, but had a heartbreaking middle.-The Sea-King's Son: Enjoyed some of the elements of the story, but a little gushier than I like.-Sea Serpent: Perhaps my favorite story of the compilation. Scary monsters, adventure, magic... this one had it all.-Water Horse: My favorite of McKinley's--interesting ideas of the guardians and how their magic works.-Kraken: Good story, archetypal facing of the unknown. It worked out in the end a little better than I would have expected, but I was expecting more Lovecraft and less Disney.-A Pool in the Desert: This was just weird. Sucky home life for the main character who has crazy parents, enough that I can understand her desire to leave. But I didn't really get why she formed such an attachment for where she was headed (nothing particularly good there for her) and the pacing in the last two pages was so much faster than earlier that it threw me off. McKinley's total shift of momentum left me feeling slightly confused and unhappy about the ending. She should have just cut out one or two paragraphs, or fleshed them out to a few pages worth.Rating: PG-13, for some mild sexuality.
What do You think about Water: Tales Of Elemental Spirits (2004)?
A fantasy collection based on the theme of sea magic, from husband & wife Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley.I’d say, as far as reading level, this book is probably aimed at young teens, but like classic fairytales, the stories are such as can be enjoyed by all… Young women striving against repressive environments is a recurring theme – hardly a new motif, but it’s generally done effectively. The ending of the last story made me cry!Mermaid Song – PDA young girl in a strict, Puritan-type community is able to pay back a generations-old secret debt – and also escape her abusive home life.The Sea-King’s Son – RMA young woman narrowly avoids marrying a man who does not love her – and finds a more magical future; in the process eliminating a curse that has lain on her village for years.Sea Serpent – PDA fantasy of the end of the times of the chthonic goddess, and her replacement by the gods of men, and their courage and ingenuity. A surprisingly non-strident voice is used to describe the men’s theft of the standing stones of the goddess, and their heroic battle against the priestess’ sea serpent.Water Horse – RMA young and unappreciated woman travels from her village to apprentice as a Guardian – one of the magicians who guards their island against the encroachment of the waves. Although unprepared and untried, her unconventional perspective may save her people.Kraken – PDA pair of illicit lovers jumps into the sea as a last resort… a young mermaid princess tries to save them, but the unknown kraken of the depths may take more than just the bodies of the drowned lovers…A Pool in the Desert – RMSet in the world of Damar (The Blue Sword, The Hero & the Crown). A young woman in a restrictive family environment has been having vivid dreams of a vibrant desert land… it seems real, but when she looks up names and places on the Internet and in the encyclopedia, the nomenclature is out of long-ago legend and myth. Will she have to give up on her dreams and settle for obeying her father and keeping the accounts for his dreary shop?
—Althea Ann
More Robin McKinley is always a joy, and Peter Dickinson, while not in my top favorites, is a reliably interesting writer. In this book I find that I definitely prefer McKinley's work. "The Sea-King's Son", my least favorite in part because it is a very simple romance, is nevertheless quintessential McKinley. All three of Dickinson's stories are imaginative, well realized, and somehow not quite as engaging as McKinley's, even when I don't like them.I have great deal of sympathy for McKinley's problem with short stories tending to metastasize into novels; "Water Horse" in particular has a richness of world-building that seems almost wasted on a short story, and I would love to read the novel (or series!) that seems to be lurking in the background. The last story, "A Pool in the Desert" billed as "a new Damar story" takes place mostly in the Homeland, far from Damar, and in an analogue to what seems to be England's mid-twentieth Century, as The Blue Sword occurs in an analogue to the colonial period in India. It too seems to want to be a novel--indeed, without spoiling the story, I can say there is a page of description, near the end, that seems to be a summary for the novel to which we have the first chapter and epilogue presented here as a short story. Only because of McKinley's sympathetic eye for character does the story stand reasonably on its own, and I would still love to read the novel summarized in that one teasing page.
—Alethea
I was excited to get this book because I love McKinley's writing so much. But I found that I was more disappointed than entertained. The first two storied "Mermaid Song" and "The Sea-King's Son" were by far my favorite. Both McKinley and Dickinson were able to transport me into the simplicity of the worlds they had created for these two short stories. However the following shorts were not nearly as enthralling. "Sea Serpent" and "Water Horse" seemed to drag on endlessly. The little character development they gave was not up to the standards I have come to expect from these authors. I would only recommend this book to people who are already familiar and love Robin Mckinley and Peter Dickinson. Otherwise I would advise against it fearing you might miss out on great books after having read these less than worthwhile short stories.
—Amberle
