Winterspell by Claire Legrand

TL;DR dark Nutcracker-inspired fairy tale

TBR #801

finished 1/20/16

The Nutcracker has been one of my favorite stories ever since my parents taped the Barbie version off the TV one winter, so I've been anticipating Winterspell ever since I'd heard about it. The fact that Marissa Meyer reviewed and praised it was definitely an added bonus.

And Marissa Meyer was right. Winterspell is dark. It's gritty, and knowing it was inspired by The Nutcracker rather than being a full retelling, there were a lot of times I was afraid of what would end up happening. Taking inspiration from the story rather than retelling it definitely allowed for so much more to happen.

I initially bought this book during the beginning of the Christmas season with the intention of finishing it by Christmas, but that didn't go quite as planned. I hit a huge reading slump once winter break started and I had a hard time getting rid of it. I worked on Winterspell as much as I could, but unfortunately the beginning was a little too depressing to be able to sit down and read it for long stretches of time.

It got easier to sit down and focus as time went on and I got more invested in all of the characters. There's a lot going on, and as the stakes kept getting worse, I got increasingly worried for Clara. I'm amazed at her growth and how much she was able to endure.

I loved the fact that Winterspell gave a lot more depth to the characters than I'm used to. There's only so much you can fit in a movie or a story for kids before you lose their interest. Legrand added so much to Nicholas and Godfather while still keeping them easily recognizable; and Anise, holy cow, I feel like I probably couldn't talk enough about her.

And the romance! I won't say too much because there was an entire aspect I wasn't expecting, but that was probably my favorite part. Clara's feelings were treated as valid and I am glad that the romances were treated seriously. They weren't treated as frivlous add-ons or as the main part of the storyline; they were key to what was going on, but the romances didn't overtake the stakes.

The worldbuilding was incredible. Everything felt so thought out, from how the magic worked to how it would cause tension between the races and how Anise's rule affected everything. It was interesting to see a story where the faeries were the ones manipulating iron instead of being weakened by it. It created a really interesting dichotomy where the faeries seemed more modern and capitalistic than the humans did.

I feel like there's so much more that I could say, but it's all stuff that surprised me, so I don't want to ruin that for anyone. Winterspell is definitely one of the books where the blurb only scratches the surface.

TL:DR If you like Marissa Meyer's style of writing, this is definitely a great read! The story is dark but it expands on The Nutcracker story even more than I had hoped going into it.