Winterspell

by Claire Legrand

Darkly romantic and entirely enchanting, this reimagining of The Nutcracker from Claire Legrand brims with magic, love, and intrigue--and "includes a Victorian mob princess/warrior heroine, an alternate New York City, steampunk faeries and an epic multigenerational battle" (Kirkus Reviews).
After her mother is brutally murdered, seventeen-year-old Clara Stole is determined to find out what happened to her. Her father, a powerful man with little integrity, is a notorious New York City gang lord in the syndicate-turned-empire called Concordia. And he isn't much help.
But there is something even darker than Concordia's corruption brewing under the surface of the city, something full of vengeance and magic, like the stories Clara's godfather used to tell her when she was a little girl. Then her father is abducted and her little sister's life is threatened, and Clara accidentally frees Nicholas from a statue that has been his prison for years. Nicholas is the rightful prince of Cane, a wintry kingdom that exists beyond the city Clara has known her whole life.
When Nicholas and Clara journey together to Cane to retrieve her father, Clara encounters Anise, the queen of the faeries, who has ousted the royal family in favor of her own totalitarian, anti-human regime. Clara finds that this new world is not as foreign as she feared, but time is running out for her family, and there is only so much magic can do...
New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer (Cinder) says "this is not your grandmother's Nutcracker tale."

• ISBN10: 1442465980
• ISBN13: 9781442465985
• Publish Date: 30 September 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[tweetybugshouse]

Wow this book was amazing, it dark, twisted and frighteningly good. It takes the bones of the nutcracker we all know and the author weaves us a tale that wraps you up and just keeps you enthralled. I think that the obsession between anise and clara was a bit out their but the way all the other chracters are painted is just awesome. This is one book you have to just start and give a chance it may or may not be your cup of tea. It perfect retelling better then I expected it to be.

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Beautifully written and wonderfully thrilling, Winterspell is a dark and beguiling fantasy that will entrance readers with many adventures, mystery, and intriguing characters.

Full review coming soon.

[reveriesociety_]

Dark, and enthrancing. Winterspell's writing at the beginning was jarring, but as I was eased into it, I enjoyed Clara's story and how her character grew.

[lindsey]

First of all, I just have to say that the cover is stunning. Also, the quote on the cover of the book is correct - this is definitely not your grandmother's Nutcracker tale.

Winterspell wasn't at all what I expected when I began reading it. Even though I've seen the ballet, I wasn't familiar enough with the story of the Nutcracker to really be able to catch all the bits that tied in to this retelling.

The book is dark and gritty, and filled with magic, peril, and hope. It is a time of danger and corruption, and Clara is at the center of it all. There's also more to her peculiar Godfather than meets the eye. On Christmas Eve, Clara's feeble sense of safety is shattered, and she is faced with a decision: follow her beloved statue, who has only recently come to life, or listen to her Godfather. Her choice leads her to a land that is even more perilous and corrupt than the one she left behind.

I had a really hard time rating and reviewing this book. I think it's harder to review a book when there's no strong feeling tied to it. I liked it, but I didn't love it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either, and I've struggled to try to get my thoughts out. It started out pretty strong, but it slowly started to unravel as I read more of it. Some of the characters were a bit flat, and I had absolutely no attachment to most of them. A couple of the main characters were intriguing and fleshed out a little more, but I don't think we really got to know them as well as we could have, and that was a bit of a disappointment.

The author did a good job of never letting me feel comfortable while reading. The danger and uncertainty that Clara felt was palpable all the way through the book. Though some of the scenes with Anise seemed a bit odd and out of place, I understood what the author was trying to convey with them. I thought Anise was one of the more interesting characters, and would have liked to learn more about her.

Possible spoiler: However, the final battle scene between Clara and Anise seemed lacking, and was quickly finished. It was a little anti-climatic, and I felt as thought the outcome was only decided by accident.

Even though this wasn't my favorite book, I still thought it was very well-written. It has a little of everything: magic, romance, battle, conflict, faeries, with a bit of clockwork and steampunk mixed in.

[jnikkir]

This review can also be found at my blog, There were books involved...

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Actual rating: 4.5 stars!

I was so looking forward to Winterspell. Inspired by The Nutcracker, it promised a handsome prince, romance, a dark faery tale... how could I say no to that?! And let me tell you, this book ended up being seriously good.

Our stories say that near faery haunts things change when you're not looking. Ground becomes sky, and sky becomes fire, and the tree roots over which you stumble are not roots at all but faery arms, seducing you underground.

They say that the faeries will charm you out of your own skin if you let them.

Winterspell, ARC, 24%

Clara Stole, our heroine, starts out as a girl who sees herself as weak and helpless, unable to protect her family or herself in turn-of-the-20th-century New York. She's the daughter of the mayor, but the mayor is also embroiled in a mafia-like crime syndicate and Clara and her family are surrounded on all sides by pretty terrible people. She tries to protect her sister and father (who is pretty useless after the death of his wife a year before), but Clara blames herself for the way she is mistreated by others, and her outlook is pretty bleak in the beginning of this book.

However, one of my favorite things about Winterspell is how Clara slowly grows into herself. After her father is kidnapped and she's forced to travel to the hidden faery world of Cane to find him, Clara starts to realize that she can change her future - she does have the power to protect herself if she just sets fear and self-blame aside. She's not without her faults - not immune to temptation or naivete - but she's brave and determined. We've seen this sort of character-arc before, but I can say with certainty here that Legrand handled Clara's growth in an exemplary manner, and I loved how realistically her outlook changed over the course of the book.

She screamed out to the world that it would not stifle her. No, she would rise above its violence. She would transcend it and make it her own.

Winterspell, ARC, 71%

The prince, Nicholas, was also wonderful. And (you know I'm here for the shipping) I loved Clara and Nicholas together. But of course I went into this knowing that, like The Nutcracker, Clara would basically be falling in love with an inanimate childhood playmate/confidante-turned-real-person. There are things about that relationship that are kind of weird, but for me, Legrand totally made it work.

The echoes of the statue sat upon him--her statue, which she had cherished and whispered to...

Winterspell, ARC, 21%

Clara grew up telling Nicholas everything about herself, about her life and her fears, so when Nicholas actually becomes a real person in her life, he definitely knows way more about Clara than Clara does about him. To Clara, he's "just" the person she entrusted all her secrets to as she grew up - an obviously one-sided relationship. I wasn't surprised at the way Clara immediately felt an attachment to Nicholas - she'd been attached to him her whole life. But I would've been worried if Clara immediately trusted him and fell for him right away. She doesn't. Despite her feelings, she's immediately distrustful of Nicholas and his position, and the likelihood that he just wants to use her to further his own goals - winning back the land of Cane and defeating its cruel new ruler, Anise.

As the story goes on, though, Clara learns a lot about Nicholas's motivations, his character, his strengths and his failings. He and Clara are always on the same footing - he offers her advice but lets her make her own decisions and supports her when she does. And Clara offers this support right back, being there for him when he himself doesn't think he can handle the situations they're in. They're both allowed to be broken, and they support each other.

He let out a soft, broken laugh. His eyes shone with an anguish Clara understood well. Loss, horrible loss. Pain and anger, and the world being pulled out from beneath one's feet.

Winterspell, ARC, 33%

I think you can tell that I loved these two, yes? Yes. Moving on.

Something else that I adored about Winterspell was the worldbuilding and setting. I loved everything about Cane. Well, maybe "love" isn't the right word - it's magical, but it's also genuinely terrifying and often disturbing. These faeries are not the sugar-plum faeries from The Nutcracker, and they have absolutely no desire to be.

There's also an awesome mix of magic and steampunk/clockwork technology in Cane, mixed with... it's hard to explain... almost a futuristic feel to a lot of their technology. Clara comes from early-20th Century New York, so magical ginormous flatscreen faery billboards and flashing faery lights of the cities in Cane feel wonderfully... alien. There's the word. And I loved that.

But despite all the good, there were a couple of issues I had with Winterspell, which mostly took place near the end and had to do with pacing. I felt like there was a section in the second half that dragged quite a bit, and then the ending felt like it took forever. There was a lot going on, but for some reason it just went on... and on... and on... I love that this is a standalone so I understand why the book is so long, but I do feel like it could've been pared down a little.

However, to contradict myself, another of my issues is that I felt like one character, who was given a lot of time in the second half of the book, wasn't actually given enough time to really flesh out her character and make her truly sympathetic. I don't want to say more than that because spoilers, but it's just something I felt was a little off.

Finally, as much as I loved Clara and Nicholas and Clara/Nicholas, I was left wanting more when I finished the book - like I didn't really get the real closure I wanted from their relationship. This might just be me being selfish and wanting more Clara/Nicholas on those last pages, but... I like to feel totally satisfied when finishing a story like this, especially since it is a standalone and there (probably) won't be a sequel. I could've done with more Clara/Nicholas to help tie up those last emotional strings.

 
In conclusion...

Overall, I'm super pleased with Winterspell. There were a couple rough patches in the second half, but I have to give serious props to Legrand for pulling off this story in a standalone and not stretching it into more books. The character arcs are great, all the threads of the plot are wrapped up by the end; and though I was left wanting more Nicholas/Clara, that's sort of the mark of a great couple, right? GIVE ME MOOOORE. ;)

But I loved the world, the magic, the technology - the fact that this wasn't just a Nutcracker retelling, but rather was just inspired by it, and a whole new world rose up around it. There was so much imagery I won't be forgetting in a hurry - including a killer Christmas tree and futuristic faery cities... All in all, Winterspell is definitely a book I'd recommend - to fans of retellings, fans of romantic fantasy, and fans of dark faery tales. This is definitely one that will stick with you for a while.

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There were books involved...