Rose Daughter
#7193.79 adjusted 3.80 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 1997 Reading commitment Low Robin McKinley Last reviewed 2026-09-29
Overview
Robin McKinley's 1997 novel is her second retelling of Beauty and the Beast, twenty years after her first, and a different book: leisurely, suffused with roses as flower, metaphor and scent, and as much about gardening and sisters as about the Beast. Beauty and her sisters Lionheart and Jeweltongue lose their wealth and find a happier life in the country at Rose Cottage, where Beauty brings the dead rose thickets back to life, until her father plucks a rose in an enchanted palace and she must go to its Beast. A separate world from McKinley's Damar, Sunshine and Deerskin.
Fairy-tale retelling · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
Rose Daughter (1997) core · 3.79 (21,823 ratings); Greenwillow Books, 1997. McKinley's second retelling of Beauty and the Beast, unrelated in world to her 1978 Beauty (not in this canon) and to Damar.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Rose Daughter? Rose Daughter's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is Rose Daughter finished? Complete (1997).
- How much reading does Rose Daughter take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~320 pages).
- How is Rose Daughter ranked? #719 in this site's official ranking, based on 21,823 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #719?
Ranked #719 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.79 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (21,823 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #718, Even Though I Knew the End (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 1 book · Complete · 22k ratings · Ranks #719 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment fairy-tale retelling fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- No award could be confirmed for this novel.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.79 across 21,823 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: Rose Daughter (Robin McKinley) accepted 2026-09-29
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-09-29
Rule: Core Canon = Rose Daughter (1997) only, standalone.