The Blue Sword

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley is a fantasy novel that follows Angharad "Harry" Crewe as she adjusts first to life in the Homelander colony of Daria -- called Damar by its native inhabitants -- and then to being kidnapped by the Damarian king, Corlath. There is also a prequel, The Hero and the Crown, which tells the story of Lady Aerin, Dragon-killer, one of Damar's greatest and most legendary heroes, who is mentioned with some frequency in The Blue Sword. There is also a midquel short story, A Pool In The Desert, which has less swords and horses than the other two.

McKinley has said she wrote the book after reading (and being completely horrified by) The Sheik. She's referred to it as 'the anti-Sheik'.

Tropes in The Blue Sword
""He takes the man's responsibility to his frail female relations very seriously, does Dickie. Drat him.""
 * Abduction Is Love: Subverted. The Riders suspect this with dismay when Corlath kidnaps Harry, but he makes it very clear that's not the case. He only keeps her around because of a premonition too strong to ignore, and later because of her magic and sword skills.
 * Action Girl: Senay and eventually Harry.
 * Affectionate Nickname: Harry calls her brother Richard "Dickie", which doubles as Have a Gay Old Time. Jack calls Harry "Captain". The Hillfolk call her "Hari," which is later lengthened to "Harimad".
 * Authority Equals Asskicking
 * Awesome but Impractical: The Damarian style of riding involves a padded saddle, no reins, and no stirrups.
 * Badass Normal: Jack Deadham, Mathin, and the rest of the King's Riders
 * Big Bad: Thurra
 * Big Brother Instinct: Richard, much to Harry's annoyance.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Richard, much to Harry's annoyance.

""It must be very dreary, being Just, when your wife is out killing dragons.""
 * Colonel Badass: Jack Deadham
 * Complete Immortality: Luthe, although it may be The Ageless, instead.
 * Cool Horse: Tsornin, Isfahel...
 * Corlath recounts a story of Tsornin's ancestor, who was able to bring her master home after he'd been tortured and gone partly insane. That's right, even the horses get a Heroic Lineage.
 * Completely Unnecessary Translator: Corlath to the Homelanders.
 * Easing Into the Adventure: The story begins with Harry's efforts at adjusting to life in Homelander-occupied Daria; after she's kidnapped by Corlath, she goes through another adjustment and training period.
 * Eccentric Mentor: Luthe, to a certain extent
 * Embarrassing First Name: Angharad "Harry" Crewe
 * Empathic Weapon: Gonturan
 * Enemy Mine: Corlath sees an alliance with the Homelanders as this; the lesser of two evils compared to the Northerners.
 * Eyes of Gold: Using the inborn magical talent called kelar turns the user's eyes temporarily bright gold.
 * Fantastic Honorifics: "Sola" for for men and "sol" for women.
 * Fantastic Racism: Homelanders vs. Hillfolk, in both directions. And both of them hate the Northerners.
 * The Federation: The Homelanders
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Corlath, Thurra and
 * Hidden Elf Village: The Filanon.
 * Historical Fantasy: The Homelander Empire's expansion into Daria/Damar bears some resemblance to the British Empire's expansion into India.
 * The Horde: The Northerners
 * Horseback Heroism: Yep.
 * Impoverished Patrician: Harry joins her brother in Daria/Damar because there's nowhere for her to go in their Homeland: her parents are dead, their home and property sold off, and as a "penniless blueblood of no particular beauty" she is not regarded as prime marriage material.
 * In the Blood: The kelar (magic) of the Hillfolk runs strongest in the royal line and their close relatives.
 * The Kingdom: Damar
 * Magic Versus Science: The magic of the Northerners and the Damarians interferes with Homelander technology like guns.
 * Magic Warrior: Corlath, Thurra, and
 * Mentor Occupational Hazard: Mathin
 * Mighty Whitey: Subverted.
 * Naive Newcomer: Harry, after she's kidnapped.
 * Never Was This Universe: The Homelander Empire is a fairly obvious Expy of the old British Empire, colonial possessions and all, but what we learn of the world makes it clear that it's not really an Alternate History.
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: Sir Charles, sympathetically.
 * Old Master: Mathin
 * Only the Chosen May Wield: Gonturan, the titular Blue Sword, which will only work for women and men younger than 20.
 * Overshadowed by Awesome: Harry at first has this reaction about Tor the Just, husband to Lady Aerin, Dragon-killer:


 * However, she later decides he can't have been all that boring if he was also a noted general, able to hold off the Northern army for 9 consecutive days of battle.
 * Plot Induced Stupidity: Really, Corlath?
 * Rain of Arrows: In the climactic battle against Thurra's Army
 * Scars Are Forever: The King's Riders all have ritually scarred hands, with the aid of a special salve.
 * Shout-Out: Corlath telling Harry if she's so worried about sneak attacks, she might as well keep an eye out for eagles carrying rocks.
 * Sword Fight: many
 * Time Abyss: Luthe is at least 2000 years old by the time of The Hero and the Crown, and has not changed a bit however many hundreds of years later it is when we meet him in The Blue Sword.
 * Tomboyish Name: Harry, whose real name - Angharad - isn't revealed until a good ways into the story.
 * Uncoffee: Malak.
 * Vagueness Is Coming: Lampshaded by Luthe, who points out that he's given Harry a much straighter answer than she has any reason to expect from any ancient oracle on a mountain.
 * You ALL Share My Story:
 * You ALL Share My Story:

Tropes in The Hero and the Crown
""I will love you until the stars crumble, which is a much less idle threat than is usual for lovers on parting.""
 * Action Girl: Aerin.
 * Artifact of Doom:
 * Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence:
 * Break the Haughty:
 * Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Aerin suffers a great deal through her heroics.
 * Black Sheep: Aerin. The only people who don't dislike her for her mother's sake are her father, cousin, and nurse.
 * Body to Jewel: The last drop of a dragon's blood shed when it dies becomes a gemstone. In the case of most dragons, it's too small to bother looking for, but one that comes from a great dragon is a very valuable treasure.
 * Cool Horse: Aerin inherits her father's retired cavalry charger, Talat. Somewhat played with in that she only gets him because he's crippled and useless to everyone else. At first.
 * Death by Childbirth: assumed to be the reason behind Aerin's mother's death.
 * Evil Sorcerer:
 * Fantastic Racism: Against the Northerners. Aerin's Northern heritage on her mother's side is often held against her; and sure enough, in The Blue Sword nobody in Damar even remembers that their national heroine was related to their worst enemies.
 * Gentleman Snarker: Perlith.
 * The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: The cousinly version, with Galanna.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Aerin and the royal family, Luthe.
 * Hannibal Lecture:
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: "Now that is nonsense. If you can do no better than cheap insults, The Prophecy overestimates you."
 * The Horde: The Northerners
 * I Fell for Hours: Aerin climbs an insanely long staircase, then falls back down. Both the climbing and the falling take quite a long time.
 * Incurable Cough of Death:
 * Immortality: Luthe has either Type I or Type II.
 * Aerin might possibly have Type XI following her dip in the Lake of Dreams.
 * It might also be Type II, depending on how you interpret her climb and fall.
 * The Jeeves: Teka, Aerin's maid and the closest thing she has to a mother, who feels free to scold and fuss over her mistress even when the rest of the court reveres her as a heroine.
 * Important Haircut:
 * Jerkass Has a Point: It's who first points out to Aerin that Tor is in love with her.
 * The Kingdom: Damar
 * Late Arrival Spoiler: Aerin kills a dragon.
 * Love Triangle:
 * Magic Warrior: Aerin
 * Mayfly-December Romance:


 * Mushroom Samba: non-comedic version. Aerin is tricked into eating the herb, which is supposedly poisonous to non-Royals, and spends several months being frightened of purple smoke demons.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: Used, in that most Damarian dragons are little more than dumb beasts which are considered pests (although they do breathe fire). Averted by the great dragons, which are evil, ancient, and generally fit the description of classic Western-style dragons, although without the piles of gold or kidnapping of maidens.
 * Rapunzel Hair: Aerin's hair is originally around knee-length. Galanna also has waist-length hair.
 * Rebellious Princess
 * Redheaded Hero
 * Secret Legacy
 * Sleep Cute: Aerin watches Luthe this way
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Aerin versus her cousin Galanna.
 * Time Abyss: Luthe.
 * Victorious Childhood Friend: Aerin and Tor.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Aerin and Tor both feel this way about King Arlbeth, although in Tor's case it's "well done, nephew".

Tropes in A Pool In The Desert

 * Abusive Parents: Hetta's father is domineering and emotionally manipulative. Hetta's mother is an Ill Girl only slightly less self-centered than him.
 * The Caretaker
 * Holding Hands
 * Promotion to Parent: she raises her younger siblings.
 * The Storyteller
 * Talking in Your Dreams: How Hetta and Zasharan meet.
 * That Was Not a Dream: after waking up the first time around, Hetta finds sand in her bed.