After reading this book, you will never read a fairy tale the same way again. Robin McKinley is telling a whole new sort of story, the kind of redemption that you never really see in this genre.
She explains her source material and the impetus behind the book's creation far better than I ever could, but that doesn't keep me from being amazed every time I read it at the character of Lissar.
McKinley's forte is in character creation (especially in her earlier works) and this is new exception. She pulls no punches, making sure the reader has a clear view into Lissar's consciousness and never once putting us in the situation of feeling as if the character is saying or doing something incongruous.
Deerskin is the story of a young princess, whose parents were madly in love; the sort of love that burns and burns and consumes all around it, including Lissar. Her mother dies and her bereaved husband vows never to remarry until he has found a woman as beautiful as his first wife.
Lissar grows up to look remarkably like her mother, which gives her father an idea. Lissar is wed to her father against her will and the rest of the story is her escape and attempt to rebuild her shattered life and find some peace in the world.
It's a beautifully told story and something that everyone should read, at least once.