The Sorceres and the Cygnet was the first ever Patricia A. McKillip I ever read. I think I found it in a second hand store, but I have no idea what drew me to it as until then I hadn't heard of her.

Until reading Cygnet, I had no idea that a book could be written that way. It seemed to start in the middle of the story, take you along with it, and then drop you off before it ended. Which makes sense, when you think about it. When we're reading a book we're looking at a limited period of time in a character's life, there is no starting or ending point, as the life continues in either direction without us as witness. It left me to imagine quite freely how things would go on after, and what had happened before. There's a kind of freedom in that.

Added to that is McKillip's writing itself. I always find upon picking up one of her stories that I have to give myself a bit of time to adjust to her style. It's lovely and lyrical and completely her own.

I'm very glad I picked up The Sorceress and the Cygnet that day. In doing so I found one of my favourite authors, one of the "read any book written by" kind.