When Gerta’s friend Kay is stolen away by the mysterious Snow Queen, it’s up to Gerta to find him. Her journey will take her through a dangerous land of snow and witchcraft, accompanied only by a bandit and a talking raven. Can she win her friend’s release, or will following her heart take her to unexpected places?
A strange, sly retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Snow Queen,” by T. … by T. Kingfisher, author of “Bryony and Roses” and “The Seventh Bride.”
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I was very pleasantly surprised by this book- I was attracted to the title and premise and I am very glad to say it did not disappoint! I am not too familiar with the original fairytale (though I do recall bits and pieces) but this is a very enjoyable take on the source material.
STORY: We follow Gerta who decides to chase after the Snow Queen once she abducts the ‘love of her life’ Kay. The story itself is pretty entertaining with a variety of adventures and mishaps along the way. It is a little bit slow to get started pacing wise, but I forgive it this as it lends to better character development at the expense of moving the plot forward.
CHARACTERS: Gerta is a lovely protagonist who really develops through the course of the book. I didn’t really take to her much at first, with her love sickness over Kay and putting more stock in how others define her rather than how she defines herself, but this is integral to the fascinating and wonderful development she undergoes as a result from starting off as a bit of a bland slate.
Having said that, her well rounded and deep development does come at the expense of most of the other characters. Kay is understandable, as he is basically plot fuel, but I did feel there was a bit of a missed opportunity with Janna.
Janna herself is a lovely foil to Gerta and contrasts nicely in terms of her more active, fiery personality, but doesn’t really evolve much as a character. The plot doesn’t really call for it, but her introduction and whirlwind romance with Gerta was a little too fast paced for me, and I didn’t really get much sense of Janna confronting aspects of her own character nor the chemistry developing between the girls.
The Snow Queen herself was also a fairly weak villain and I was disappointed at the ease of her eventual defeat (though I did really like the means by which she was deafeated). She had been built up to be this formidable villain and shrouded in mystery, but ended up being a bit of a wet blanket (or melted ice blanket). It would have been nice for her to have a bit more personality.
Mousebones is a great addition and he added levity and fun to the interactions.
The other minor characters performed their roles as typical fairy-tale like archetypes which fit the tone of the story well.
SETTING/ VOICE: The worldbuilding and setting was well done and felt believable, without a 20 page exposition on the details of magic systems and towns and the like. It’s grounded enough to be real but omits enough detail so that your own imagination fills in the blanks, which I enjoyed. Gerta’s voice was a mix of archaic and modern and while for most this would clash too much the author did a good job blending them together and not making it too jarring when adding in modern additions.
PRESENTATION: The book has a lovely down-to-earth cover which reflects the tone of the book well, and it was well formatted without obvious errors.
OVERALL: A very enjoyable and entertaining read written in a beautiful style with an interesting and well developed protagonist. Alas I have to deduct some points for a weak villain, less fleshed out side characters and some overly slow pacing in places, but I would still recommend this to those who enjoy fairytales with a twist.
I really enjoyed this book. It’s easy to pick up and has very short chapters, which makes it great for reading between tasks or while waiting for something. I read the last three quarters of it in one sitting though. The balance between humor and darkness is very nice. The main character is quite relatable as are many aspects of the situations she finds herself in. The vast majority of major characters are women, which is refreshing. I liked this version of the fairy tale a lot better than the Disney version (which barely has any connection to its source material).
My only complaint is that there isn’t enough detail about where the Snow Queen came from and what she even is. I think you can read her as being a symbol for something though, so that’s interesting.
One of the critical reviews says this isn’t appropriate for children, but they’re just being homophobic. It doesn’t go beyond kissing and one euphemistic mention of sex (I doubt if most kids would pick up “tumble” as a word for sex unless they already know enough that one mention can’t “corrupt” them further). The characters are naked a few times, but they’re naked for practical reasons rather than sexual ones and it’s not like there are illustrations.