The Raven and the Reindeer
by T. Kingfisher
Adventure
Fantasy
Retelling of the Snow Queen
Romance
* * * * * Stars (Amazing!)
In her author’s note, T. Kingfisher says this has its roots Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” but it’s much more palatable. “Hans Christian Andersen was a weird dude…His idea of a happy ending is that everybody died attended by angels (or if you are very fortunate, in church with your feet cut off.)” This has a much better ending than the original. The Snow Queen is chilling and terrifying, but the heroines who stand up to her are plucky and determined and no one loses their feet. If I’m remembering correctly. Also there’s a wonderful talking raven whose full name is The Sound of Mousebones Crunching Under the Hooves of God. If that doesn’t immediately make you want to pick this up then there’s no hope for you.
Spoiler: I don’t even remember what the original Snow Queen was about, but in this version, Gerta’s friend (the boy next door) gets kidnapped by the Snow Queen and she decides to rescue him. Only stuff keeps happening to her that delays the rescue and reveals to her that she’s also not really crushing on him anymore but has instead fallen for the bandit girl who offers to help her get Kay back. And there’s the talking raven, Mousebones. And Gerta can turn into a reindeer. And no one really wants Kay back in the end (nor does he want to be rescued), but they defeat the Snow Queen anyway and spend a long time in the hot springs afterwards, resting up and chatting with her flying otters before returning home, triumphant, mostly.
Fun fact: T. Kingfisher is actually a nom de plume for Ursula Vernon, but I don’t think I’ve read any of the books she’s written as herself. (This sentence has become incredibly confusing even to me.) I keep loving everything I’ve read by T. Kingfisher, however, whose characters feel like good friends, who writes animals so well (even when they’re horses, which terrify her), who makes me laugh (regularly) with delight.
This was published for adults, but older teens may enjoy it as well.
Reviewed by YA Librarian
