The clock chimes midnight, a curse breaks, and
a girl meets a prince…but what follows is not all sweetness and sugarplums.
New York City, 1899. Clara Stole, the mayor’s
ever-proper daughter, leads a double life. Since her mother’s murder, she has
secretly trained in self-defense with the mysterious Drosselmeyer. Then, on Christmas Eve, disaster strikes. Her home is destroyed, her father abducted—by beings
distinctly not human. To find him, Clara journeys to the
war-ravaged land of Cane. Her only companion is the dethroned prince Nicholas,
bound by a wicked curse. If they’re to survive, Clara has no choice but to
trust him, but his haunted eyes burn with secrets—and a need she can’t define. With the dangerous, seductive
faery queen Anise hunting them, Clara soon realizes she won’t leave Cane
unscathed—if she leaves at all.
Inspired by The Nutcracker, Winterspell is a dark, timeless fairy tale about love
and war, longing and loneliness, and a girl who must learn to live without
fear.
Do you like stories inspired by classics? Do you like steampunk? Maybe magic, mystery, and journeying to other worlds? If you said yes to any of these this is the book for you. As I read Winterspell I was drawn in by it's unique plot, and refreshing characters. It wasn't as closely bound to the traditional Nutcracker tale as I expected, and I was okay with that. I wouldn't say it put a new twist on something old, I definitely think Clare Legrand took the story and made it completely her own.
As I read I found our main character Clara to be a refreshing to read. So many of our heroes and heroins these days are just too ready to jump into the fray, strong and fearless. Clara's fears and flaws made her so much more real to read. I really felt like I got to see her grow and progress throughout the course of the book. She starts out shaking and shuddering with fear, despite her lessons in self defensem and grows into a young woman ready to lead Cane to peace. On top of this, her interactions with our "Nutcracker Prince" Nicholas were also very real. He was simultaneously her guide, her enemy, and her biggest temptation throughout the story. No one in this book came across as a flat character to me and it was nice to journey with these characters till the end.
I also enjoyed the land of Cane. It was so drastically different from the setting of New York City in the 1800s where we begin the tale. If I had expected a pretty and proper fairy land I was disappointed. Cane turned out to be war ravaged and broken, whirring and grinding with magical clockwork contraptions. I definitely thought everything about Winterspell was enchanting. It was a book that really sucked me in and made me want to abandon everything else until I was finished reading.
I'd definitely suggest Winterspell to anyone who's looking for a good stand alone fantasy adventure. It had a bit of everything intersperced within it's pages, so whether you like futuristic technology or good old fashoned magic then you'll like Clare Legrand's Winterspell. That's all for now! Happy reading!
Theresa
I also enjoyed the land of Cane. It was so drastically different from the setting of New York City in the 1800s where we begin the tale. If I had expected a pretty and proper fairy land I was disappointed. Cane turned out to be war ravaged and broken, whirring and grinding with magical clockwork contraptions. I definitely thought everything about Winterspell was enchanting. It was a book that really sucked me in and made me want to abandon everything else until I was finished reading.
I'd definitely suggest Winterspell to anyone who's looking for a good stand alone fantasy adventure. It had a bit of everything intersperced within it's pages, so whether you like futuristic technology or good old fashoned magic then you'll like Clare Legrand's Winterspell. That's all for now! Happy reading!
Theresa
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