Review 126. Cameron Dokey – Winter’s Child.

Title: Winter’s child: a retelling of the Snow Queen.
Author: Cameron Dokey.
Pages: 173.
Published: September 8th 2009 (first published September 3rd 2009).
Publisher: Simon Pulse.
ISBN: 1416975608 (ISBN13: 9781416975601)
Sort: Stand alone in the ‘Once upon a time’ series.

Free-spirited Grace and serious Kai are the best of friends. They grew up together listening to magical tales spun by Kai's grandmother and sharing in each other's secrets. But when they turn sixteen and Kai declares his love for Grace, everything changes. Grace yearns for freedom and slowly begins to push Kai - and their friendship - away. Dejected Kai dreams of a dazzling Snow Queen, who entices him to leave home and wander to faraway lands. When Grace discovers Kai is gone, she learns how much she has lost and sets out on a mystical journey to find Kai...and discover herself.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5. 

 



One thing that bothers me is the fact that the blurb is incorrect. How is that possible? Grace’s grandmother always tells the magical tales and it is strange that they talk about the Snow Queen, since the book only mentions the Winter’s child.


Kai and Grave grew up together. Grace’s grandmother loved to tell magical tales, especially the one about the Winter’s child; there were a King and a Queen and they loved each other. When the Queen gave birth to a daughter, she started to get worried about her looks. If she would lose her beauty, surely, the King would stop loving her. She became so obsessed with it, that she locked herself away in a tower in front of a mirror. One day, the Northern Wind caught sight of her beauty and he wanted to get her attention. He decided to pick up her baby, but when that didn't work, he dropped the child in the snow. From that moment on, the baby girl was the Winter Child. She must mend the hearts of other people in the hope to become a normal girl again.

When Kai asks Grace to marry him, she declines the offer for now. She wants to see more of the world; she isn’t ready to settle. Kai is hurt and when he sees the Winter’s child, he wants to help her. He will return with her to her home. Grace is going after him when she finds out that Kai is gone and this is the start of a huge adventure.

There are different POV’S in this book and I liked them. They gave insight in every story; the Winter’s child, Grace and Kai. The background story from the Winter’s child was fascinating. I liked the original approach of the Snow Queen. Most of the time, we get to know her as an evil character. Here, she is just a girl with her own quest. I liked Grace’s POV the most. She is a brave and stubborn girl. I admired her strength to follow Kai on her own. This decision will change the life of many characters.

What I didn’t like was the rushed ending. I don’t mind the fact that they all end up happily ever after, but I wished Dokey spent more time on the romance. There was definitely room for a more developed ending.

This book was filled with some gorgeous quotes and I will share one:

Pick any time of the day or night and somewhere, everywhere, stories are being told. They overlap and flow across one another, then pull away again just as waves do upon a shore. It is this knack that stories have of rubbing up against one another that makes the world an interesting place, a place of greater possibility than it would be if we told our tales alone. This is impossible, of course. Make no mistake, everyone’s story touches someone else’s. And every brush of one life tale upon another, be it ever so gentle, creates something new: a pathway that wasn’t there before. The possibility to create a new tale.