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gmamartha's review
3.0
Interesting take on a "fairy tale"
I look forward to seeing what my mock Newbery book club kids think of it.
I look forward to seeing what my mock Newbery book club kids think of it.
samruddhi27's review
3.0
Here are my thoughts on the book:
★ First half of the book was fantastic! :D
I began reading the book and it was so gripping that I just read on and on and on and I didn’t even realize that I had already finished half of it- and it was only about 2 hours!
Loved reading that.
#Second part not so much! :(
As quickly as I had read the first half, the second half was just as slow.
It dragged on and on,
Read more here...
★ First half of the book was fantastic! :D
I began reading the book and it was so gripping that I just read on and on and on and I didn’t even realize that I had already finished half of it- and it was only about 2 hours!
Loved reading that.
#Second part not so much! :(
As quickly as I had read the first half, the second half was just as slow.
It dragged on and on,
Read more here...
stephxsu's review
4.0
Please excuse me if I break from my usual review style for ICE. That is because I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK. It had everything I wanted from a book of its kind: a feisty female protagonist, epic adventures, luscious writing, and the kind of romance that stops hearts and makes you remember why romance exists in the world. It was love at first sight for me and this book, and our love will continue to evolve and endure as long as my memory does not fail me.
From the first page, I was ensnared by Sarah Beth’s writing, which I must describe as “clean and fresh”: it’s like wiping away a dirty window and gazing in wonder out at a beautiful, crystalline winter scene. Sarah Beth wastes no words, and yet manages to describe for readers an unbelievably beautiful and mesmerizing world with simple prose. Her writing style will appeal to fans of fairy tale writing, for its gorgeous, ethereal descriptions, as well as those of realistic fiction, so well grounded in our world it is.
Indeed, the way ICE inhabits a perfect space in between fantasy and reality is one of its unique and strong points. I love that this old Nordic legend is grounded in science: a research station with modern characters and real-time technology. We weave easily in and out of the magic and the real, making this an interesting reading experience. Cassie is feisty and snarky enough to make her a great 21st-century protagonist, and yet she is also courageous and incredibly determined, qualities that connect her with other epic fantasy heroines.
Of all the great parts about ICE, I think I like Cassie the best. You don’t find girls like her very often in literature or real life anymore, girls who will do anything for love, girls who tire of domesticity and want to be useful, girls who don’t want romance to consume their identities, girls who are scared of growing up too fast and making decisions that will affect them permanently. I related to Cassie so well and admired her so much, I think I cried. I loved how she faced problems of things like love vs. self-identity with—let’s admit it—mistakes and awkwardness. For a character of a fantasy novel, Cassie is remarkably relatable and can instantly be your best friend and role model for realistic issues.
And of course, I cannot end this review without talking about the romance between Cassie and Bear. Fans of Beauty and the Beast (especially Robin McKinley’s Beauty) will see strong echoes of that kind of gradual love in ICE. Bear easily won over my heart with just a few lines of dialogue; if you want a nice-guy love interest, well, here he is. Gradual development of attraction and love are hard to come by nowadays, which is one of the reasons why I’m so happy the romance in ICE was done so well. Theirs is a love that grows subtly out of undramatic scenes, and is proven to be eternal by a literal “epic journey.” It is, once again, the result of the perfect blend between fantasy and realism.
ICE is certainly not without some weaknesses, of course. Supporting characters, especially Cassie’s parents, are rather underdeveloped, and super-picky readers may have trouble following the occasionally choppy plot. However, readers looking for an old-fashioned fairy tale would do well to check Sarah Beth Durst’s ICE out. Maybe I read it at the right time for me to fall head-over-heels in love with it—but I think that you’ll be able to appreciate the gorgeous world-building and story, no matter what kind of genre you enjoy best.
From the first page, I was ensnared by Sarah Beth’s writing, which I must describe as “clean and fresh”: it’s like wiping away a dirty window and gazing in wonder out at a beautiful, crystalline winter scene. Sarah Beth wastes no words, and yet manages to describe for readers an unbelievably beautiful and mesmerizing world with simple prose. Her writing style will appeal to fans of fairy tale writing, for its gorgeous, ethereal descriptions, as well as those of realistic fiction, so well grounded in our world it is.
Indeed, the way ICE inhabits a perfect space in between fantasy and reality is one of its unique and strong points. I love that this old Nordic legend is grounded in science: a research station with modern characters and real-time technology. We weave easily in and out of the magic and the real, making this an interesting reading experience. Cassie is feisty and snarky enough to make her a great 21st-century protagonist, and yet she is also courageous and incredibly determined, qualities that connect her with other epic fantasy heroines.
Of all the great parts about ICE, I think I like Cassie the best. You don’t find girls like her very often in literature or real life anymore, girls who will do anything for love, girls who tire of domesticity and want to be useful, girls who don’t want romance to consume their identities, girls who are scared of growing up too fast and making decisions that will affect them permanently. I related to Cassie so well and admired her so much, I think I cried. I loved how she faced problems of things like love vs. self-identity with—let’s admit it—mistakes and awkwardness. For a character of a fantasy novel, Cassie is remarkably relatable and can instantly be your best friend and role model for realistic issues.
And of course, I cannot end this review without talking about the romance between Cassie and Bear. Fans of Beauty and the Beast (especially Robin McKinley’s Beauty) will see strong echoes of that kind of gradual love in ICE. Bear easily won over my heart with just a few lines of dialogue; if you want a nice-guy love interest, well, here he is. Gradual development of attraction and love are hard to come by nowadays, which is one of the reasons why I’m so happy the romance in ICE was done so well. Theirs is a love that grows subtly out of undramatic scenes, and is proven to be eternal by a literal “epic journey.” It is, once again, the result of the perfect blend between fantasy and realism.
ICE is certainly not without some weaknesses, of course. Supporting characters, especially Cassie’s parents, are rather underdeveloped, and super-picky readers may have trouble following the occasionally choppy plot. However, readers looking for an old-fashioned fairy tale would do well to check Sarah Beth Durst’s ICE out. Maybe I read it at the right time for me to fall head-over-heels in love with it—but I think that you’ll be able to appreciate the gorgeous world-building and story, no matter what kind of genre you enjoy best.
jgintrovertedreader's review
4.0
Cassie Dasent is growing up in an Arctic research station with her dad and his team. Her grandmother has always told Cassie stories about her mom and how the family lost her to the North Wind and the Polar Bear King. When Cassie was younger, she believed these stories, but as she's grown older, she hears them as a metaphor for her mother's death.
Until she meets the Polar Bear King.
Cassie has a chance to save her mother. All she has to do is marry the King. Can she be that brave for a woman she doesn't even remember?
I enjoyed the way that this fairy tale has such a very scientific background. I forget sometimes, but I did earn my biology degree back in the day, so to have that mixed in with a fairy tale was absolutely perfect for me. Don't get all weirded out by that. There's nothing difficult to understand (I promise), it's just that Cassie has been trained as a scientist all her life and suddenly she's in the middle of a fairy tale. I liked seeing her adapt to that and shift her world view. I also liked the way that her training made Bear's job easier. Now that I think about it, having the book set in the modern world makes me feel like magic can be around any corner. And isn't that nice to think about?
I liked Cassie as a heroine because she was feisty and because she took this changing world in stride. She knew what she wanted to do and she went for it. Absolutely nothing stood in her way.
I even liked Bear and how much he cared about his duties. There is one scene that really bothered my latent feminist tendencies though. I understand where he's coming from, but it really, really bothered me.
I really liked this take on "East of the Sun, West of the Moon." I've also read Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, and I have to say that I prefer Ice. I always do better with characters I can relate to and understand, and Cassie did that for me. I liked the twists the story took. I did guess what was going to happen at the end, but not until I was already in the middle of the big climax.
My one real complaint is that the book just stopped. Things are technically resolved, but I do like some sort of epilogue or afterward, and I didn't get that here.
I do recommend this for fans of fairy tale retellings. It's an enjoyable take on the original tale with a likeable heroine as well.
Cross-posted to my book blog, The Introverted Reader
Until she meets the Polar Bear King.
Cassie has a chance to save her mother. All she has to do is marry the King. Can she be that brave for a woman she doesn't even remember?
I enjoyed the way that this fairy tale has such a very scientific background. I forget sometimes, but I did earn my biology degree back in the day, so to have that mixed in with a fairy tale was absolutely perfect for me. Don't get all weirded out by that. There's nothing difficult to understand (I promise), it's just that Cassie has been trained as a scientist all her life and suddenly she's in the middle of a fairy tale. I liked seeing her adapt to that and shift her world view. I also liked the way that her training made Bear's job easier. Now that I think about it, having the book set in the modern world makes me feel like magic can be around any corner. And isn't that nice to think about?
I liked Cassie as a heroine because she was feisty and because she took this changing world in stride. She knew what she wanted to do and she went for it. Absolutely nothing stood in her way.
I even liked Bear and how much he cared about his duties. There is one scene that really bothered my latent feminist tendencies though. I understand where he's coming from, but it really, really bothered me.
I really liked this take on "East of the Sun, West of the Moon." I've also read Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, and I have to say that I prefer Ice. I always do better with characters I can relate to and understand, and Cassie did that for me. I liked the twists the story took. I did guess what was going to happen at the end, but not until I was already in the middle of the big climax.
My one real complaint is that the book just stopped. Things are technically resolved, but I do like some sort of epilogue or afterward, and I didn't get that here.
I do recommend this for fans of fairy tale retellings. It's an enjoyable take on the original tale with a likeable heroine as well.
Cross-posted to my book blog, The Introverted Reader
missbookiverse's review
4.0
This book is a fantastic read for the cold months. Most of it takes place in the Arctic, snow and ice and white wherever you're looking. That's Cassie's home and she couldn't feel more comfortable anywhere else.
So, Cassie the main character is a very likable, smart girl. She's strong from the beginning, she grew up without a mother and without any friends her own age. Throughout the book she grows even stronger and keeps pushing herself far beyond her own limits. I was reading in awe when she stubbornly kept going and going despite the baby growing inside her, when she actually gave birth to her child in front of the troll castle, when she never gave up. It was close to not believable anymore but I liked Cassie a lot and I believed in her love to Bear, so I never doubted her strength.
The book is separated into 3 units. The first one deals with getting to know Cassie and the Polar Bear King. They bargain and she has to marry him. Over time she actually falls in love with him but her curiosity takes him away from her. The love part was sweet, Bear was likable right from the beginning, all cute and innocent while he was eating a bloody seal at the same time. It was easy to fall for the two of them. Part 2 is about Cassie's journey to the troll castle where she wants to free Bear, she is forced to stay with Father Forest for a long time which might have been just a little bit too long for the reader but maybe I just should've read more quickly ;)
In the last part she finally reaches the troll castle and manages to get herself (and basically everyone else) a happy ending.
I was impressed when I had only a few pages left and Cassie had only just reached the troll castle. This book is filled with action until the very last page. The last few sentences are cheesy but there was no blah-blah chapter at the end that described how life went on after Cassie's great adventure.
I enjoyed all the fairytale elements, including the bargains and promises that were made in the past and present. The way the trolls were described was unexpected but I really liked them as colourful spirits, much better than the usual ugly goblins. Also the final solution was a good one, I didn't see it coming and wouldn't consider it 100% plausible but it was satisfying and I was really glad Cassie got to free her Bear and keep their child.
The only thing I had problems with was the humour. It only came up from time to time and was always coming from Cassie herself. She liked to say "cute" a lot when it didn't really fit but it was one of her traits and I could accept this one. What I couldn't accept was when she called the polar fox munaqsri "Fluffy", that was just weird and out of place. I guess the author tried to mix arctic-fairytale and modern-Cassie together but it just didn't work and it wouldn't have done the book any bad if it had been left out.
So, Cassie the main character is a very likable, smart girl. She's strong from the beginning, she grew up without a mother and without any friends her own age. Throughout the book she grows even stronger and keeps pushing herself far beyond her own limits. I was reading in awe when she stubbornly kept going and going despite the baby growing inside her, when she actually gave birth to her child in front of the troll castle, when she never gave up. It was close to not believable anymore but I liked Cassie a lot and I believed in her love to Bear, so I never doubted her strength.
The book is separated into 3 units. The first one deals with getting to know Cassie and the Polar Bear King. They bargain and she has to marry him. Over time she actually falls in love with him but her curiosity takes him away from her. The love part was sweet, Bear was likable right from the beginning, all cute and innocent while he was eating a bloody seal at the same time. It was easy to fall for the two of them. Part 2 is about Cassie's journey to the troll castle where she wants to free Bear, she is forced to stay with Father Forest for a long time which might have been just a little bit too long for the reader but maybe I just should've read more quickly ;)
In the last part she finally reaches the troll castle and manages to get herself (and basically everyone else) a happy ending.
I was impressed when I had only a few pages left and Cassie had only just reached the troll castle. This book is filled with action until the very last page. The last few sentences are cheesy but there was no blah-blah chapter at the end that described how life went on after Cassie's great adventure.
I enjoyed all the fairytale elements, including the bargains and promises that were made in the past and present. The way the trolls were described was unexpected but I really liked them as colourful spirits, much better than the usual ugly goblins. Also the final solution was a good one, I didn't see it coming and wouldn't consider it 100% plausible but it was satisfying and I was really glad Cassie got to free her Bear and keep their child.
The only thing I had problems with was the humour. It only came up from time to time and was always coming from Cassie herself. She liked to say "cute" a lot when it didn't really fit but it was one of her traits and I could accept this one. What I couldn't accept was when she called the polar fox munaqsri "Fluffy", that was just weird and out of place. I guess the author tried to mix arctic-fairytale and modern-Cassie together but it just didn't work and it wouldn't have done the book any bad if it had been left out.
ginandcats's review
5.0
I loved this book so much! i Was surprised at the when the troll people were actually souls. I had talked to the author and she said that this book was based loosley off the norweigen folk tale "east of the sun, west of the moon." if anyone is looking for an adventure/fantasy/romance, this is the book. and everyone knows, beastality is TOTALLY ok if the animal in question is magic and talks.......
justlily's review
DNF at 30%.
This book is creepy and skeevy as fuck. Honestly, I'm too squicked out to even keep going with it. I read a spoiler and I know it only gets worse from here so no thank you goodbye.
This book is creepy and skeevy as fuck. Honestly, I'm too squicked out to even keep going with it. I read a spoiler and I know it only gets worse from here so no thank you goodbye.