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1.20.2010

Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

Ice


Free courtesy of the Jefferson Parish Library.


PJV's Quickie POV:  A modern day fairy tale involving a highly driven, eighteen year old that has lived entirely too long in the Arctic and a talking polar bear that has laid claim to her since before she was even born - I went into this book a little skeptical and was not altogether won over.  The book was charming though and I really enjoyed the first part, but when we got into the quest part of the book I began skimming.  Worth the read though, if only for the ending, for like all girls, I'm a sucker for fairy tale endings.

Review:  Cassie has been told only one fairy tale all her life, that of the polar bear and the daughter of the North Wind.  A story of a child stolen by a polar bear for the North Wind and raised as their own, the price that she should marry the polar bear when she was of age.  But the polar bear would not have an unwilling wife, so when the daughter of the North Wind falls for a human explorer the polar bear relinquishes his hold on the North Wind's daughter, but only with her promise that any girl child of her and the human's union shall one day marry the polar bear. The woman had to hide from her father though, because he was a very angry wind and he wouldn't allow his daughter to marry the man.  The polar bear helped her hide with her love - and they hid until their first child was born, a girl child.  The birth was noticed by the wind.  Enraged North Wind swept down on his daughter and swept her away in his anger.  He was so angry he swept her far far away and threw her down, where trolls found her and imprisoned her. You can guess who this girl child is right?

On Cassie's 18th birthday she rushes out into the Arctic night to confront her destiny head on, because she really doesn't believe it is true.  Yet, faced with an actual talking polar bear, Cassie realizes the fairy tales are true and her mother is being held by trolls instead of being dead as her father had her believe.  She agrees to marry Bear if he will secure the release of her mother.

An unwilling wife, Cassie vows to leave Bear at the first possible moment, but day leads to the next and she finds that she is content in the castle with Bear and even might be happy with him.  Yet, like all fairy tales, just as she begins to realize that she might just love her polar bear...tragedy strikes.

I do have to say this book was beyond original.  A love between a polar bear and an feisty red-head.  I enjoyed reading of the Arctic world and the castle of ice that was Bear's home. The idea that was Bear was so very spectacular that I was taken by the idea and really enjoyed the story behind it.  The writing was very romantic, the characters were wonderful and charming.  I really liked Bear and Cassie.

My dislike of the book was in the second part during Cassie's great quest.  At this point Cassie became very tiring on me.  I felt the entirety of quest was her throwing temper tantrums from one creature to the next, either holding different beings hostage by blackmail or threatening.  It was all very tiring and I found myself skimming through her long winded jump from one creature to the next, only slowing down when she finally ran into Jamie and manages to confront her grandfather.

Recommendation:  This might be a little too light-hearted for some adults, I recommend this to teens 15+ and fairy tale loving adults. The polar bear love is sometimes a little strange to wrap your mind around.




8 comments:

Tales of Whimsy said...

O I LOVE lighthearted. Great review!

Unknown said...

Great review can't wait to read this. I watched The Polar Bear king(1991) as a kid so this would be a good read to me. I love crazy fairy tales that just couldn't be true.

Anonymous said...

I loved Ice...because Im a sucker for fairy tales and happy ever after....I liked it mostly because it was a nice clean story....;)

Julie@My5monkeys said...

I'm a sucker for fairy tales and bought the book

brizmus said...

Oh no! I'm so sad to hear you didn't really like this. I've been DYING to read it, so I want to hear it's AWESOME! :-( I do think watching Cassie throw temper tantrum after temper tantrum will get on my nerves, too. :-(

Melissa (i swim for oceans) said...

I've heard a lot of great things about this, but I'm sorry you didn't love it that much. I think maybe I'll give it a go anyway haha :)

Emily said...

I bought myself this book as an after-Christmas present, based on your review it sounds like I'll have to save it for the right mood in order to enjoy it- so probably not after I just finished reading some extra smutty PNRs. Great review!

Teddyree said...

I love the cover on this one but was still undecided about whether to read it. Might be a library borrow rather than a book to buy. Enjoyed your review!

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