Customer Reviews

The Snow Queen

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My copy of _The Snow Queen_ was in my mailbox when I came home from work on one of the coldest nights of the winter. (Here in Missouri, the fact that it was technically March and not January didn't necessarily mean anything.) I curled up in my favorite chair with a blanket, and read the book in a matter of a few hours.

_The Snow Queen_ is a short novel, a single-sitting book, and more enchanting than many longer works. Nothing in this book is superfluous; Kernaghan tells the story she has come to tell--a reworking of Andersen's fairy tale of the same name--and that's it.

The enchantment begins with the cover, graced with a lovely illustration drawn from a 1913 book of fairy tales. Then, in the first paragraph, I was taken back to my childhood storybooks as Gerda and Kay sat among the flowerboxes, conversing across the narrow space between their townhouses. The setting is homey, but all is not well--Kai has grown snobbish and callous, insulting Gerda's poetry as "childish". He has set aside poetry and dreams for the coldly logical world of mathematics. And now a stranger, the mysterious Baroness Aurore, has come to town. Kai is quite taken with her, and she takes him on a long journey. He does not return.

Gerda, worried, sets off to find him--but the journey proves much longer and more difficult than expected. Along the way she is robbed, and taken in by the robber-girl, Ritva, who has a story of her own. Ritva is a shaman-in-training who isn't so sure she wants those talents, and longs to run away from her family. When Gerda resumes her adventure, Ritva goes with her--both as an excuse to run away, and because of the girls' budding friendship. Ritva is as street-smart and cynical as Gerda is trusting and naive, and they [but] heads at first, but in the end they forge a wonderful bond. Neither of them could accomplish this mission without the other, and together they face the Snow Queen.

I long for a sequel--the ending leaves me wondering what happens next--what Gerda and Ritva do with their lives, and whether Kai ever grows up.

All in all, a lovely book, which makes me want to go and read the Kalevala, not to mention the original fairy tale. Well done. The obscurity of this book belies its quality.

Hans Christian Andersen wrote deliciously imaginative stories for young people. Eileen Kernaghan has taken one of his most famous, The Snow Queen, and wrapped it in ancient Scandinavian myth and folklore. The result is a captivating book which, though aimed for the young teens, can be enjoyed by adults and younger people too. Kernaghan takes the two leading characters Gerda and Kai, and supplies her own twists to their adventures. In addition she gives the name Ritva to Andersen's Robber Girl, and turns her into a most acceptable minor villain. With Ritva's help, along with Ba, the Robber Girl's spavined reindeer, Gerda survives dangers both real and magical. She travels to the Snow Queen's castle in the far, frozen north, where her heart-friend Kai is ensnared. Gerda, Nitva and Ba rescue Kai and escape to Denmark. But Kernaghan is too wise to end with soft, happy ever afters. Kai and Gerda both are changed by their experiences. The domestic bliss Gerda has always envisioned will satisfy her no longer. She has grown in age and wisdom through her travels and the people she has met. New horizons, and new friendships beckon. Gerda has become much more a twenty-first century girl than Andersen's sweet sample of Victoriana. When the hot summer sun beats down, this journey through a young girl's development, laced as it is with the iciness of the Snow Queen's far north, is a sure bet to hold your interest and keep you chilled just enough to avoid heat prostration. And don't be afraid to read it aloud to the younger ones. Kernaghan never writes down to any aged reader. Instead, she lets her characters pull them along in their travels and dangers, just enough to keep their own chill quotients at a high level.

Gerda, a naive though endearing teenage girl living in nineteenth century Denmark, could never be called the adventurous type. And yet, when her dear friend Kai is stolen by a mysterious woman known as the Snow Queen, she knows that there is nothing she can do besides follow him to the ends of the earth to rescue him! And this she does, until she is captured by the warrior robber-maid Ritva...
This truly was an entertaining story; with two interesting and unusual heroines, who are sure to win the heart of anyone who reads this book. The plot was fast paced enough so I didn't get bored, but not so unbearably tense (at least not til the end) that I couldn't relax while I was reading it. I adore fantasy stories, and yet I'm also completely sick of the repetative rendition of the young boy hero rescuing the girl from evil. This refreshing, unusual tale is a real gem, completely turning things around, which I greatly enjoyed. Good for anyone twelve or older.

The Kalevala, Saami shamanism, Arctic exploration and Victorian lady travellers all play a part in this imaginative reworking of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale. Kernaghan's version of The Snow Queen won an Aurora (Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy) Award in 2001. The story begins in the real world of mid-Victorian Scandinavia, and moves across the polar ice to the Snow Queen's fantastic country "beyond the Cave of the North Wind where earth and day end". Carefully researched, and with a surprising twist at the end, the novel will appeal to both young adults and older readers.

This is a really interesting version of the Snow Queen. It often when directions that I wasn't expecting, which I love. The writing is great. I had never read Eileen Kernaghan before so was happy the authors voice was so clear and interesting. It feels like a old time fairy tale or fable. It is a very short novel, which was a little disappointing.

Once again Kernaghan brings thorough research and a new twist to an old favorite. The Snow Queen is a delightful blend of Victoriana and magic that young readers will be unable to put down. I'm over 50 and I loved it too.

Kernaghan has taken Andersen's fairy tale, added a good deal of Saami traditional wisdom, a smattering of much-needed humor, a refreshingly plucky heroine and stirred it all up in a pot to delicious effect. She's a fine writer and I'm most grateful to her for a wonderful and somewhat subversive twist at the end. I always loathed Andersen's somewhat sappy ending and was most satisfied by Kernaghan's inventive flip. Although probably intended for children (who will certainly enjoy it), there's much for myth-loving adults here as well.

An intriguingly developed take on the traditional Snow Queen tale. Views of Saami life, the magical palace of the Snow Queen, and the vast snowy landscape of the north lend richness to a fascinating story. Eileen Kernaghan succeeds admirably once again.