Rating: 
Summary: Good story, just takes a while to get going..
Review: Being a fan of Anne Rice's books, I was automatically interested when I heard her son had taken up the family craft. While I thought A Density of Souls was a bit on the thin side (I read it in under 3 hours) I still enjoyed it and looked forward to more from Christopher.Bottom line: this book was good.. not great, but good. Mr. Rice is clearly still developing his story-telling skills and character development ideas, but this book was much better in terms of both than his first. He has a clear sense of suspense building and plot twists (some of them are a bit much to swallow) .. and while I did get somewhat bored in the course of reading the book, I never lost interest. It's awesome to see someone so young be so capable at writing and showing an interest in it. Instead of knocking him down for the areas he's still developing, I will continue supporting his books. I look forward to reading his third.
Rating: 
Summary: Christopher Rice out did himself
Review: The Snow Garden is an excellent novel that will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat through every page. I found this to be superiour to his previous novel, A Density of Souls. I experienced so many emotions while I was reading it, making me feel that I was part of everything going on inside. Bravo, Christopher Rice!
Rating: 
Summary: Reallty 3.5 stars . . . good read, but . . .
Review: I loved Density Of Souls, but one cannot fairly compare the Snow Garden to it, they are different works that come from different places. However, the Snow Garden was less than gripping. The story is very s-l-o-w paced. It is not until about half way through that the story picks up, and it is laced with meaningless characters that you are led to believe will have some point in the tale, but later find out they just fill space. (Such as Kathryn's roommate.)
The tale also is a bit hollow, and the characters are not likeable. You feel almost nothing for any of them, which is not necessarily bad I suppose. Though, perosnally, I prefer to feel something. Kathryn is naieve. Randall is her best friend and they've known one another a little over a month and no nothing about each other?? That makes the relationship impossible to buy, and that factor sinks a lot of what the story aspires to acheive.
And, other have commented on this, and I must as well, the book was HORRIBLY EDITED!... There are spellings errors, words used with the wrong definition, characters names change a few times and revert back, and the editing factor creates much confusion if you're an observant reader. Once you get through the first 200 pages though, the book metamorphosises into a nail biting page turner, and the suspense comes to life . . . it's the last half that makes the book worth the buy. (Though, most people toss a book on the shelf by that point if it's boring. I almost did with this one, but it was worth giving a chance.)
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious
Review: What a tedious, poorly written, more poorly edited read this was! I kept plugging away thinking there'd be something redeeming sooner or later. There wasn't.
Rating:
Summary: A FRIGID THRILLER FULL OF SECRETS
Review: The book opens with the mysterious death of Pamela Milford in an icy creek (actually a drainage ditch) that runs through Atherton University in March of 1983. The why and wherefore of this young woman's death is the first secret and the driving force in this book of secrets. Jumping forward to November 2001, we are introduced to three freshmen at Atherton trying to escape from dark, haunted secrets of their pasts. Randall is openly gay with the looks of a male fashion model and is having an affair with one of his married professors. Kathryn is his best friend; straight but affectionately called the Ice Queen for obvious reasons. And Jesse, Randall's roommate is a typical hetero hunk with strange ulterior motives behind his many sexual conquests. Their old secrets are very slow in being revealed while new secrets keep popping up. Since Kathryn won't have anything to do with men other than gay Randall, is she a lesbian? Why won't Randall take his clothes off in front of Jesse while the lights are on? And does Kathryn hate Jesse so much because she's afraid he's trying to seduce Randall? Finally, the secrets of 2001 come face to face with the secrets of 1983, when the wife of the professor Randall is sleeping with is killed when her car crashes into that same icy creek/drainage ditch as before. Is there some connection? Is the new death murder? Soon the past and present become more entwined and the secrets are finally revealed in bits, pieces, emails and newspaper clippings. The third and final part of the book becomes a real page-turner as you race to the conclusion searching to find out not who the murder is, but who will survive? Christopher Rice is an extremely talented young writer and hopefully someday people will review his work without mention of his famous mother and father. I enjoyed his book very much, however I was totally lost with the dynamic theory of mixing wax and water which is not believably explained. (I'd love to hear from anyone who could really explain this.) Other than that I can totally recommend this book to you.
Rating:
Summary: Christoper Rice does it again
Review: Christopher Rice serves up a unique and dark look at the lives of three freshmen at a fictional New England college, each escaping secrets, and each embroiled in a strange and sexual mystery with enough plot twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end of the book. Editing mistakes aside -- and there are some glaring ones -- this is an excellent book, and one that's almost impossible to put down. The characters, especially the younger ones -- Kathryn, Randall and Jesse, are intriguing, and their secrets are slowly and tantalizingly revealed. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: From the ever so slightly twisted mind of Christopher Rice..
Review: Alfred Hitchcock would make this book into a movie in a New York minute! I guarantee that you won't guess the ending, and your imagination will run wild until you get there. Bravo Christopher! I read The Snow Garden while relaxing on the beach this Summer, and I found myself so completely absorbed in the story that every time I put it down, I experienced a little bit of a shock to find that I wasn't someplace cold and dark. I feel that extraordinary character development was another key element to this book. It's stuffed full of people you'd like to get to know, and a few that you'd like to kill. One in particular, Randall's roommate, Jesse, was so darkly fascinating, that he deserved a book of his own. I was prepared to like this book, just because it was written by Christopher Rice, and that's probably the main reason I bought it, (not being a murder mystery fan) but in all honesty, it's a well told tale, and I would have enjoyed it regardless of it's author. I anxously await the next Christopher Rice novel.
Rating:
Summary: 3 stars is kind cause the kid's got heart
Review: compared to "A Density of Souls," "The Snow Garden" is complete [junk]. i wanted to like it, i really did. i liked "A Density of Souls" so much (aside from the extremely Mommy Rice-esque ending)--for a first novel from such a youngster, it was truly impressive. unfortunately this second effort just didn't match up. the story was good, it was interesting, but i think it suffered from his trying to fit too many subplots into the action. the characters were flat, the relationships were unbelievable, some of the situations just too pat. and i will not even mention the many, many, MANY typos and just the overall poor editing (did anyone notice in the last chapter how Kathryn's boyfriend was referred to as Tim in one sentence, Ken the next?). call me picky, but i have a hard time putting my full faith into a book that's been poorly edited. in the afterword, Christopher mentioned that this novel was written during a transitional phase in his life, and it sure showed. i just hope that whatever he's transitioned into puts out some better writing in the future. based on his first book, he has a lot of potential; hopefully "The Snow Garden" was his sophomore slump.
Rating:
Summary: Well...
Review: I was a HUGE fan of A Density of souls, but this book was just not up to par. It was good....but it seemed like a 16yr old wrote this.The story it self was good, but the evolution was minimal and it just seemed i read and read forever before getting anywhere.All in all, i think you should read this book, but don't get too excited over it, or you'll be throughly disappointed.(i give it a 4 b/c i can't give it a 3.5..)
You should definately read this before DofS if at all possible.You should also check out Poppy Z. Brite if you like Chris.You should read Lost Souls or Drawing Blood by Poppy even if you don't like Chris.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: To read this book one must be open-minded. Yes, it does include sex, and yes, it does include same sex relationships. There, you have been warned.
Snow Garden, Rice's second novel to date, is based around two main characters, Randall and Kathryn, and the their freshman year of college. They both have problems from their pasts which continue to haunt them. They came to Atherton University for diferent reasons, but they manage to meet and become instant friends. However, there are forces at work which could destroy the friendship they value so dearly.
My review DOES NOT do this book full justice; therefore, I suggest you give it a try and see what you think. I believe you'll find that it was worth the time and the money.
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