I read this first in junior high and I don't think I ever reread it.  Such a shame.  I think this book does many things well.  It's intelligently written, and yet doesn't divulge into frivolous details.  That's something I could use a few lessons in.  I know this was written after The Blue Sword, so there is a good deal that draws on the lore established first in that book but changed to fit this setting.  It's a great story of a girl who does things.  I like the McKinley books for that reason.  The Setting is vivid, the Characters are alive in your mind, and the Plot isn't one-dimentional, it doesn't end with the slaying of a dragon or the self-realization of a character; there is far more there.  I sort of wish I knew what happened to Luthe, that wild, free side of Aerin's life.  Tor was everything that was familiar, everything she was supposed to be.  Parts of me wonder what would it have been like if Aerin was indeed the Hero, but chose a different end to the story.  I adore this book, I really do - even if I still don't get why some surka and the dragonheart were enough to kill her uncle....