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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was very intriguing..., March 30, 2005
I have never read a fantasy book quite like this one. It took quite a bit from Norse mythology and some of it reminded me of Beowulf. It takes place in a very cold country in the north.
In the first book, Jessa and Thorkil are banished to Thrasirshall because their parents were not loyal to the present Jarl (ruler) and his evil Snow-walker bride from the north. The snow-walker, Gudrun, banished her monster son, Kari, to Thrasirshall with only one man to look after him. When they arrive, they find Kari to be the mirror image of his mother. (This theme recurrs over and over in the book; the same, but opposite, etc.) He hates his mother as much as the rest of the country does. Soon the Jarl dies and Gudrun sends assassins to kill Kari. He escapes with his few friends and heads back to the Jarlshold. At the end of this book, he defeats his mother and she goes back to the land of the Snow-walkers, beyond the end of the world.
In the second book, a strange monster begins terrorizing the Jarlshold and surrounding countryside. Thorkil is dropped as a main character. Now the 6 main characters are Jessa, Kari, Brochael (Kari's guardian), Wulfgar (the new Jarl), Skapti (a poet) and Hakon (a servant or slave). This book takes place at the Jarlshold for the whole book and is mainly about how no one, not even his friends, will trust Kari because he has power to control people and looks like his mother. At the end of this book, the monster is neatly disposed of, though it had a satisfying ending.
In the third book, Wulfgar is about to be married when Gudrun sends a soul-stealing spell and takes his bride. It soon begins to affect the whole Jarlshold and the friends, except for Wulfgar, journey to the land of the Snow-walkers to try to defeat Gudrun once and for all. Along the way they meet a ghost army, a shape-shifter named Moongarm, a settlement that performs human sacrifice to appease the gods, etc. It was very fast paced. Eventually, they reach the Snow-walkers' land and good triumphs again. It has a happy, but strangely, also sad ending. You feel like something is missing for the characters and they will never completely have a happy ending where everything ties up perfectly. For this reason, the ending is well done. Good never triumphs completely.
The book was narrated from Jessa's point of view, except for a few changes to Hakon or Kari. I thought putting the Norse myths in gave it a very different feel than most other fantasy books I've read. Although it was a VERY long book, it moved along at a breath-taking speed and was never boring, just sort of dream-like. You were never sure what was real and what wasn't. It was definitely a unique read and I recommend it to any fantasy lovers who love a long, cold read! Im planning to look up other books by this author and I'm very glad I took the time to read it.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Repacked for your confusion, January 13, 2005
This review is from: Snow-walker (Hardcover)
Originally published in England as three separate volumes, Snow-Walker combines The Snow-Walker's Son, The Empty Hand and The Soul Thieves. Using Norse and Celtic mythology to build on, Fisher creates a frozen world dominated by a Sorceress name Gundrun who has dethroned the Jarl. Her equally powerful son, Kari, has been banished to Thrasirshall where he is befriended by fellow outcasts, Jessa, Skapti, Brochael and others. Set upon by runebeasts and other magic the travels bring hardship to many as Gundrun steals the souls of loved ones, including Wulfgar's fiancé. Their journey to lands steeped in old, dark traditions should put them in peril more often but the characters seem fated to live happily ever after and no permanent damage to done. The novel has a choppy pace to its construction from three individual works but this alone cannot explain the work's awkward plot and minimal character development. The story is difficult to follow in places making it more suitable for older readers who will enjoy the challenge of making sense of things. The action is limited and not sustained, leavening the reader bored and disappointed. A re-read may highlight missed intricacies but it's probably not worth the effort.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cold and beautiful, September 6, 2004
Welsh author Catherine Fisher strikes gold in an icy, shimmering new fantasy, "Snow-Walker." With likable characters and vidid writing, Fisher demonstrates her talents in the arena of Norse mythology, filled with shapeshifting wolf-men, soul-stealing ghosts, and icy witches.
Jessa is horrified when she learns that the Jarl (a sort of king-chieftain) has exiled her to Thrasirshall -- where Kari, the son of the Jarl and his cold, evil wife Gudrun, lives in complete isolation. He's rumored to be a monster. But when Jessa arrives, she finds that Kari is not a monster -- but a lonely young boy who has the power to destroy his scheming sorceress mother, and has been sent away because of that.
After the death of the Jarl, Gudrun vanishes, and a new Jarl, Wulfgar, is chosen. And Kari vanishes back to the north for a few years, honing his magic abilities. But with power comes greater fear. Kari fears becoming like the evil Gudrun, and others fear his dark magic. Even Wulfgar begins to doubt him, especially when Kari is accused in a prophecy by a priest.
But Kari and Jessa have more than just accusations to deal with. A monstrous, bearlike creature is coming to the Jarlshold, with Wulfgar as its target. And Wulfgar's bride's soul is stolen by Gudrun. Kari and his loyal friends band together to defeat the evil Snow-Walker -- but is the good in Kari enough to keep him from becoming like Gudrun?
The first book by Catherine Fisher, "The Oracle Betrayed," was a tepid mix of Greek and Egyptian cultures. She fares much better with the rich Norse mythology, against a backdrop of monsters, snow, ice, and sorcerous people with eyes like bits of ice. Werewolves, armies of dead men, villages on lakes, and spirits conjured out of loneliness and misery are only part of this story.
It's actually like a trilogy of novellas, each a little over 160 pages long -- "The Snow-Walker's Son," "The Empty Hand," and "The Soul Thieves." With plenty of room to stretch, Fisher's writing is tense, descriptive, poetic, and simple. Her descriptions of magical beasts and phantoms are spellbinding. The main problem is that the climactic battles in "Soul Thieves" and "Snow Walker's Son" seem to finish too quickly and cleanly, although the finale is a satisfying one.
Though the strong-willed Jessa is the lead character, Kari is the center of the novel -- a boy who never had a normal life, and has a lingering fear of being turned to evil. The supporting characters like Wulfgar, Kari's loyal guardian Brochael, crippled thrall Hakon and others are well-drawn. Gudrun isn't given much dimension (okay, she's evil and cruel, we got it), but her chilly plotting is well-done.
Catherine Fisher is well-suited to the robust Norse legends of the snowy north, and the solid "Snow-Walker" is an excellent fantasy read for adults and teens alike.
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