What a great book! My only complaint is that it's not longer, or part of a series, I'd have loved to read more. Guess I'll just have to find other books by this author and read them all. ( )

There are not many stories about this sort of thing. There ought to be more. Perhaps if there were, the Gertas of the world would learn to recognize it.

What a delightful book. Quick and fun, The Raven and the Reindeer is filled with magic and wonder. A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen is clever, modern yet wholly reminiscent of the fairytale I read as a child.

Kay and Gerta are born only days apart, their grandmothers the best of friends. Kay is born with frost in his eyes, blue like a husky's, and it leaves him cold, cold, cold. To Gerta, Kay is her best friend, the one person she loves most in the world. To Kay, she's the neighbour girl and is alright. Then one night Gerta wakes to see an ethereally beautiful woman in a sleigh pulled by giant otters, watches while Kay get into sleigh of the Snow Queen and is driven away.

Thus starts Gerta's adventure, as she loves Kay too much, she cannot leave him to the machinations of the Snow Queen and starts off north. She runs into a witch who enchants her, a talking raven, a clan of bandits, and a whole plethora of fantastical things and people. Among the bandits she endears herself to a beautiful girl with dark skin and a soft heart, who kisses Gerta and puts doubt in her heart about her love for Kay.

I adored the cadence of Kingfisher's writing. It's plain but very, very fairytale, in turns innocent and sweet, at times dark and bloody. Gerta is adorable; she's not the smartest or the prettiest but she's kind, hardworking, and determined, and that's endearing. Janna is a bright spark, brave and bold, changing Gerta's mindset. The relationship between Gerta and Janna is sweet and cute.

The magic in the story is so interesting, mixing Finnish folktales and Sami culture, fitting naturally into the world, as natural as the trees. The idea of the snow queen and changing into animals is more fantasy, but the way it was weaved into the story felt more like magical realism. I liked that Gerta dreams of such interesting things, particularly when she dreams of the feelings of her surroundings. That connection to nature is an important theme.

"Words are like fish and you catch them and you get to keep them forever."

( )

2588

4.5

So freakin cute.
I loved all the characters (man the reindeer ( )

I loved every moment of this story, and I _especially_ loved the ending. It's everything that a fairytale should be, and for me its also everything that a fantasy novel should be. The heroine is every girl who ever loved someone who didn't really love her back, and then discovered someone who did actually love her back and what a difference that makes. She's brave, and kind, and strong, without ever thinking of herself as any of those things. The writing is lyrical (I know, I know, but it is!) and easy to read, and every character is believable.

The Snow Queen was one of my favourite stories as a child, and this is a brilliant retelling. I think that this is how it should have been told the first time. ( )