Customer Reviews

Snow-walker

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I picked this up because I needed something to read over my lunchbreak. I wasn't expecting much--lately all the epic fantasy stuff I've found tends to be either pedestrian and cliched or monstrously complex and spread over many volumes. Let's just say the book followed me back from lunch onto the subway, and was read intently for several hours before I turned the last page. The snow cast setting was immediately accessible and stunningly described. The main characters came to life as natural elements in the setting. The story wove skillfully from first page to last. This volume is actually made up of three stories, each about 150 pages long. The three tales tell the ongoing story of our band of heroes, but each is complete unto itself. I believe they were orginally published in Britain as three separate volumes: The Snow-walker's Son, The Empty Hand, and The Soul Thieves.

Gudrun, a strange and sorcerous woman of great power and cruelty, has one weakness. That weakness is her son, Kari. Almost no one has seen Kari since he was born, and rumors abound that he is some sort of monster. Exiled to a far northern fortress of Thrasirshall, he has been alone but for his guardian for years while Gudrun and her chieftan husband have tyrannized the people. Now two young people are sent to join Kari in his exile--Jessa and Thorkil. Will they meet a monster? An enemy? Or perhaps . . . a new ally against Gudrun? In this first book we meet a delightful cast of characters, some more developed than others. Most notable among them is Jessa, our young protagonist equipped with enough courage and wisdom to survive her adventures and see the truth and Kari, the Snow-walker's son, the strange being with a powerful and fearful inheritance he doesn't want and can't avoid. Note to readers, I'll outline briefly the plots two and three below, so be aware there will be mild spoilers.

Book two continues our story of Jarlshold. While Gudrun has been defeated, she is not gone, nor has she forgotten Jarlshold. A mysterious creature has arrived in the land, a creature of sorcery and hunger that kills without mercy. Rumors of distrust and betrayal run rampant as people begin to look at Kari with fear and suspicion--is he the one who has created this creature? It's going to take Kari's friends banding together with the help of a young man called Hakon the Empty Handed, to set things right in the hold. In Book three, Gudrun makes good on her threat to steal from the Jarl the thing he loves most, now Kari and his friends must journey beyond the edge of the world to Gudrun's hall in order to end Gudrun's sorcery once and for all.

It is through Jessa's eyes that we see a good portion of this story. She's a delightful character, confident, plenty of courage, and not at all conflicted about her role or who she is. While fantasy stories where the girls are working hard to be considered as good or better than boys are enjoyable in their own right, it's nice to read one where the girl in question has no doubt where she stands and neither do the men who befriend her. But, this isn't really Jessa's story. It's Kari's. Kari is the strange and sorcerous figure cursed with power and constantly having to face the price of that power. That said, these tales are not in-depth character studies, but adventure tales, full of action and event. Ms. Fisher's confident and elegant writing style never falters, providing an icily beautiful backdrop for her story. This is a tale that pulls strongly on the Norse legends and sagas without allowing them to overtake the plot. There are shades of Beowulf here as well--it was no surprise to find that the chapter opening quotes for book 2 are taken from Beowulf. The chapter openings for books 1 and 3 come from a collection of Norse Poems. Ms. Fisher has true grasp of her mythos and setting for this set of tales--the society is that of the holds and halls of Beowulf. It breaks the story out of the rather tired medieval mode with its more familiar kings and dragons and knights in armor. Given all this, it's a light read--with the books themselves only about 150 pages, no story can cover too much ground. The telling is tight and swift and definitely page-turning. The author never forgets to call in the setting at hand, and while the characters don't have the depth a longer story might call for, they aren't one-dimensional chess pieces either. The amount of graphic violence is pretty light considering the story--it's more concerned with the sorcerous struggle than any sort of warfare. I'd say this book would be appropriate for young teens and older readers, particularly those who enjoy fantasy adventure and may be looking for something new to whet their appetites.

This may not be for readers who prefer a more Harry Potter style school story fantasy, but for epic fantasy readers it should be a good fit. Those who enjoy this will probably also like the Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins and may also want to check out Goose Girl by Sharon Hale.

Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad

The malevolent Snow-walker Gudrun came from the ice to use the Ragnar patriarch to become the ruler of the realm. She married Lord Jarl Ragnar, who is her puppet unable to independently think anymore. Recently, she sent a blizzard to put down a resurrection by the rightful ruling family, the Wulfings. Using her spouse, she exiles the next generation of Wulfings, cousins Jessa Horolsdaughter and Thorkil Harroldsson, to remote Thrasseshall on the edge of the world. There they will live with her son, rumored to be a monster that no one outside that isolated frozen hold has seen since he was born.

Jessa meets Gudron's offspring Kari Ragnarsson, who is a Snow-walker with his mother's powers but is different due to the upbringing of his "caretaker" Brochael Gunnarsson who has showered him with love and understanding. Kari is the only hope to free her people from the icy grip of the evil sorceress, but can he commit matricide and if yes, can those who care for him like her keep him from becoming a chip off the maternal block?

SNOW-WALKER combines a wonderful action-packed trilogy into a fabulous single volume fantasy that will thrill middle school readers. The Nordic saga is fantastic because of the cast that are deeper than the snow that is everywhere. The heroes are a superb group while the villain is so terrifically nasty that the audience will shiver as much from her as from the climate. However, the story belongs to Kari, raised in isolation as a "creature", he must decide between his mother's pleas to become her sidekick or the entreaty of those residing in the tundra with him to save the world from her.

Harriet Klausner

This is a fantasy inspired by Old Norse poems and myths. There are two main characters: a young magician named Kari from the frozen wastelands who is coming to terms with his powers, and a teenaged girl named Jessa. The setting is a medieval kingdom of the far north, with a Norwegian influence. The three stories describe different skirmishes in the battle between Kari and his mother, Gudrun. She is a force of evil and destruction; he seeks his own identity and independence, unsure whether her wickedness is an inescapable part of himself, or an inheritance that he can reject and overpower. Jessa is a clever and resourceful girl who becomes his friend, and ally. Part of the allure of these books is their other-worldly feel: the unrelenting cold and ice, clothing made of colorfully decorated sealskin, and remote peoples who wear protective charms and appease their gods through sacrifice. The pace is quick, and the focus is on action rather than complex character development. There are no heavy-handed themes or deep meanings here, just entertaining tales.

I picked this book up because I wanted to read a story related to Norse mythology and was intrigued by the name Gudrun, the wife of mythology's Sigurd. I was hoping for more mythological crossovers, but though I was disappointed in there only being a few of these, I was so enthralled by the story, I didn't mind.

Jessa is a great lead character with spunk and determination. I like how she is trusted by the male characters as an equal, how she is respected by the Jarl as well as by the bard Skapti and Kari who is clearly more powerful than she.

The action is non-stop and our heroes are often in peril. This makes for a page-turning adventure I could not put down. I enjoyed The Snow-walker's Son and The Empty Hand so much, I can't bring myself to finish The Soul Thieves. I am putting it off until I have time to read all day and can enjoy its greatness all at once.

I especially liked the details about the ginungagap and the world serpent. Additionally Fisher's setting details are vivid and remind me of the winters here in Minnesota.

Snow walker is a great book me and my friend both read and loved it. I thought it had a great plot and was fun and exiting. It was worth reading it.

3 books in 1!
Although this seems really wierd, each is a sequel to the other.

A seemingly normal land, ruled by a king.
The king dies,and being controlled by his wife, a snow walker,many people lose their homes.
However, when she banishes Jessica and her cousin, they discover her only rival:her son.

He is the only person who can even defeat her, but will he try?

................................................................

Fisher is a good story teller. There is not a whole lot of action in her books, but there is a lot of description of the weather and area. Her books have one major flaw that made the whole book difficult to read. She doesn't describe many of her characters. The main character Jessa who I really grew to admire is never described. I know she had long hair in the last book and she wore dresses that dragged and got muddy. But what the heck does this girl look like?! I have no idea. maybe she was ugly cause the boys that surrounded her didn't seem attracted to her. And who knows if she was attracted to them cause they were never described either. It would have made the story so much more interesting if she had written about an attraction between the younger characters. Who we have no idea of there age either! But they must have been old enough to go on a quest and be trusted by there elders. We know that the Sorcerer and her son had pale hair and white eyes and he was thin. But that was a major part of the story. I liked her other books about the oracle better but they even had things that bothered me. Like a serious lack of romance! This book is good for younger readers but there are some scary images.