It's official: Robin McKinley is a master of fantasy and we didn't appreciate her nearly enough when we read her books as kids. Today, we're ready to gush over Spindle's End. This perfect inversion of the Sleeping Beauty story offers a princess who saves herself (and really doesn't sleep much at all), as well as her motley crew of loyal animals and a very grumpy fairy. Faithful listeners may be disappointed by the briefer than usual Pretend Food, but will enjoy the new addition of "Just, like, Animals... Animals in This Book." Celebrate beautiful (and safe!) spindles, kind foxes, and one of the most poignant birds in literature. Katriona, Aunt, Rosie, Peony and countless other excellent female characters are here to whisk you away to a land of a little too much magic.

Robin McKinley fans should be sure to also check out our episode on The Hero and the Crown!

MUSIC - Pippin the Hunchback and Thatched Villagers by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) - Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/