The Veil of Snows [Hardcover]

Mark Helprin (Author), Chris Van Allsburg (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

After many years of peace, a queen prepares for the birth of her first child, only to be forced to confront impending danger, as the Usurper once again threatens her city, while her husband and his army vanish into the wilderness.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8. This sequel begins some years after A City in Winter (Viking, 1996) ended. The queen, now a young woman, worries over the fate of her missing husband and watches in dismay as her kingdom is distracted and corrupted by the foolish games and amusements of the vulgar Tookisheims, a large and powerful family of Usurper supporters. After his defeat, the Usurper disappeared into the Veil of Snows, the far distant and icy mountains, and now the queen's husband has disappeared while leading an army in the same area. All signs point to the Usurper's return, and this is in fact what happens. Once again, full-page color paintings illustrate pivotal moments in the story but with one jarring note?the text specifically describes how the queen's hair had darkened from its youthful golden to a dark chesnut color, but the illustrations still show her with shimmering golden hair. The Veil of Snows is unremittingly sad, as it is told decades after the events in question by a loyal soldier who loved and guarded the queen until her untimely death at the hands of enemy soldiers. However, it ends with a ray of hope, and a definite need for a sequel, when the narrator, as an old man, sees the queen's husband and son, now fully grown, riding together at the head of a vast army descending at last from the Veil of Snows. This poignant and sophisticated fairy tale will appeal to those who enjoyed A City in Winter, and will create demand for a sequel to complete the story.?Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The distinguished collaborators polish off a trilogy that began with Swan Lake (1989) and continued in A City in Winter (1996). Polish is the operative word; Helprin's unnamed narrator illuminates this dark, poignant story with characteristically refulgent prose, to which Van Allsburg's 13 color scenes of theatrically posed, golden-toned figures add sparkling elegance. A troubled peace follows the usurper's flight behind the remote Veil of Snows, and he soon returns to shatter the Queen's army, kill her husband (seemingly), and oppose her and her infant son with two million men. After a bitter siege, the Queen and her last 100,000 loyal followers escape the capital city and disperse into the mountains, where she is pursued and killed. Helprin injects a garishly satiric hue into this tale by filling it with corpulent, venial, opportunistic Tookisheims, a family whose government is headed by the Duke, a media mogul whose papers are relentlessly critical of the Queen, and Branco, who ``makes the talking boxes that take the place of books.'' After 25 years of waiting beside the Veil, the narrator symbolically casts away the last of his hope--just as the Queen's husband and grown son march out of the mists at the head of a new army. As with the previous books, the language, imagery, and wit are aimed at sophisticated sensibilities; Helprin's bottomless imagination and Van Allsburg's monumental visual style create a collaboration that glitters with star quality. (Fiction. 11-14) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Viking (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670874914
• ISBN-13: 978-0670874910
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #531,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Educated at Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford, MARK HELPRIN served in the Israeli army, Israeli Air Force, and British Merchant Navy. He is the author of, among other titles, A Dove of the East and Other Stories, Refiner's Fire, Winter's Tale, and A Soldier of the Great War. He lives in Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The end of the Triology..., November 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Veil of Snows (Hardcover)

I was read Swan Lake when I was the age of the little girl in the story, and waited for years for a sequel not knowing that there would be one. I loved the idea of a sequel, and I loved being able to live in the world that Mark Helprin created for little longer, but I thought that the social commentary he was making through the Tookisheims detracted from the main theme of the book and made it less timeless. I would never advise anyody not to buy it, I think that the whole trilogy should be part of everyone's library, but my first love will always be Swan Lake, although if I come across a deep blue jar at a garage sale someday, I will pick it up as tribute to the memory of these wonderful stories.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helprin delivers an elegant masterpiece, September 12, 2000

By 

William Jablonsky (Vincennes, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Veil of Snows (Hardcover)

In "Veil" Mark Helprin and Chris Van Allsburgh offer up a mythic tale which, while dark, will disturb and delight readers of all ages (though the elegant, sometimes labrynthine prose style will probably appeal more to older, more sophisticated readers). This book (as well as its predecessor, "A City In Winter,") is no doubt destined to become a classic, both to fans of fantasy and of children's literature for its moving story and its religious/philosophical themes.

Van Allsburgh's illustrations, while charming, are not essential to the understanding of the story, often interrupting the imaginitave "flow" of the prose itself. However, younger readers will still appreciate the bright, colorful images.

With this title, Mark Helprin has solidified his reputation as one of, if not the, premier American fantasists, a reputation which began with the mythic "Winter's Tale." It will remind Helprin fans why they are fans to begin with, and is no doubt destined to create some new ones.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Skip this one altogether--A City in Winter is a better ending to the trilogy!, May 28, 2009

By 

Swimming Rabbit - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Veil of Snows (Hardcover)

Oh, it should have been stunningly beautiful and creative like the first two books. Instead, it was a truly depressing and 2nd rate end to the trilogy. While clearly others disagree, both my sister and I (we both love Swan Lake and A City in Winter) agree that it would have been better to have never read this ending. Trust me on this...there is no redeeming feature of this 3rd book that warrants you marring the beauty of the others. You'll be missing out on nothing but disappointment and lackluster gloom.