Once upon a Winter's Night (Roc Fantasy)

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Summary: A DELIGHTFUL FIND FOR FAIRY TALE LOVERS
Review: A poor crofter is frightened of the enormous bear that finds its way to his door, but what frightens him more is the bear's mission...to take his favorite daughter to fairyland to marry an enchanted prince. The fortune the prince offers in exchange for Camille's hand proves too much temptation for the struggling family and Camille finds herself sacrificed to an unknown fate for the betterment of the rest of her family. A journey through beautiful and dangerous lands with the bear she feels strangely connected to brings her to the door of an amazing palace and into the arms of the man of her dreams. But the wonderful Prince Alan hides a dark secret that will eventually rip him from Camille's life...and plummet her into a quest through the wild lands of fairy.
Robbers, dragons, giants, and trolls cannot keep her from Alan's side, but there is one thing that may...a woman scorned.
An unconventional fairy tale that proved to be my favorite summer read. Romantic, passionate, magical, and full of adventure, anyone who liked the classic fairy tale, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, will fall head over heels for this book.

Rating:
Summary: Stop before it's too late.
Review: Bite me, this book was bad. And I mean bad in the sense that I was faced with a decision:read this thing all the way through or be hit on by the greasy would-be Lothario sitting next to me on the long bus ride home. Even now I'm not sure which was preferable. As a rule of thumb I adore fairy tales, and I was very excited when I discovered this in the book store. But cheese'n'rice this was awful.

Characters? Heck no, we don't need characters - all we need is shallow cardboard cut-outs with vague generlizations of personality. The heroine is beautiful, blonde, and nice, the hero is mysterious and handsome, the heroine's mother is greedy and her father is meek. Forget any sense of intelligence, charm, wit, humor, warmth, or sincerity that make characters worth following. When she wasn't being beautiful or kind, Camille, our lady heroine, was displaying such stupidity and lack of back bone I found myself cheering for the villian. With a year and a day to search before her beloved prince is lost to her, Camille wanders around aimlessly on the hope she'll find someone to tell her where she's going. Again and again she asks if the frog/sorceress/giant lizard-eating alien knows of a place 'west of the sun and east of the moon', and when she's told no, she weeps, faints, whines, moans. It starts to seem like she's doing everything she can not to look for him.

Also, a word about the dialogue. No one speaks like this. I understand that the setting is fantastical and the people live in a time beyond recorded history, but even people then didn't speak in the convoluted, tongue twisting, awkward babble this cast spews. You get the feeling it would take these people twenty minutes to pass the butter. "My lord, do forgive me for my impertinece but I must beg a favor of your supreme worshipfulness. The yonder solidified dairy product which sits so daintily by your hand, if it be not troublesome to your lordship, I beg you would deign to pass it forthwith." "My lady, do not fear..." Sheesh.

In other words, pick something else. Anything else. Go read The Monster At The End Of This Book, with Grover. At least your brain won't eat itself alive to stop the torment.

Rating:
Summary: Stop before it's too late.
Review: Bite me, this book was bad. And I mean bad in the sense that I was faced with a decision:read this thing all the way through or be hit on by the greasy would-be Lothario sitting next to me on the long bus ride home. Even now I'm not sure which was preferable. As a rule of thumb I adore fairy tales, and I was very excited when I discovered this in the book store. But cheese'n'rice this was awful.

Characters? Heck no, we don't need characters - all we need is shallow cardboard cut-outs with vague generlizations of personality. The heroine is beautiful, blonde, and nice, the hero is mysterious and handsome, the heroine's mother is greedy and her father is meek. Forget any sense of intelligence, charm, wit, humor, warmth, or sincerity that make characters worth following. When she wasn't being beautiful or kind, Camille, our lady heroine, was displaying such stupidity and lack of back bone I found myself cheering for the villian. With a year and a day to search before her beloved prince is lost to her, Camille wanders around aimlessly on the hope she'll find someone to tell her where she's going. Again and again she asks if the frog/sorceress/giant lizard-eating alien knows of a place 'west of the sun and east of the moon', and when she's told no, she weeps, faints, whines, moans. It starts to seem like she's doing everything she can not to look for him.

Also, a word about the dialogue. No one speaks like this. I understand that the setting is fantastical and the people live in a time beyond recorded history, but even people then didn't speak in the convoluted, tongue twisting, awkward babble this cast spews. You get the feeling it would take these people twenty minutes to pass the butter. "My lord, do forgive me for my impertinece but I must beg a favor of your supreme worshipfulness. The yonder solidified dairy product which sits so daintily by your hand, if it be not troublesome to your lordship, I beg you would deign to pass it forthwith." "My lady, do not fear..." Sheesh.

In other words, pick something else. Anything else. Go read The Monster At The End Of This Book, with Grover. At least your brain won't eat itself alive to stop the torment.

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Summary: A Faerytale of Love, Courage, and Strength
Review: I recieved this book for Christmas last year from my husband. I have always loved fairytales. This one had me hooked by the first page. I fell in love with it and have not found another as good since. I have since then read it twice and am about to read it a third time. It is a great tale about love and what people do for true love. I would reccomend this to any adult who still loves fairytales. I am now pregnant and plan to read it to my daughter, only omitting a few scenes that are defined as clean sex. The fact that it was changed from Scandanavian and made with french twist drew me to it even more. It is a classic tale witha new twist that everyone should read.

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Summary: A Wonderful Tale
Review: Reading "Once Upon A Winter's Night" is a bit like eating a brick -- it's unpleasant, it's difficult, and you'll feel pretty bad after the end of it. Fantasy writer Dennis McKiernan's latest novel is no better than his previous outings, and by recycling old material and bringing in new and unoriginal elements, managed toi drive me nuts in entirely new ways.

Camille lives in a decrepit cottage near the border of Faery, with her meek father, money-hungry mother, sickly brother, and five sisters. One day a massive bear appears at the door, saying that Lord Alain of the Summerland (in Faery) wants to marry Camille (why? He saw her dancing). At first she doesn't want to, but she agrees because of her brother's illness. The bear takes her into Faery, past evil goblins and a year-round blizzard, to the beautiful mansion of Prince Alain.

Of course, they fall in love, even though Alain is never around during the day and always wears a mask. What's more, although they're in bed for what seems like half the book, they can't get married -- why? Alain won't say. Under pressure from her mom, Camille uses a candle to peek at her boyfriend's face during the night, only to have him and all his servants vanish. She sets off across Faery to find her beloved and lift the curse.

The book is based on the "East of the Sun and West of the Moon"; that story itself is a rather mangled retelling of the legend of Eros and Psyche. (The original is the best one) And this retelling of the fairy tale is somewhat marred by the cheesy romance, unappealing and clueless heroine, and meandering plotline.

The dialogue is beyond absurd; at one point, Camille says to the bear, "Oh Bear, I am wholly apprehensive. Remain my protector, please." Who talks like that? What's more, McKiernan writes almost all of the dialogue in "ye olde fantasye" language, derived from old English, with lots of "mayhaps" and "nonces," but sprinkles it with random French words like "fille" and "bonjour." It's enough to make your head spin. There's also a seemingly random sprinkling of dragons, dwarves, undying fey, wee folk ("wee" is not a French word), serpent-men and goblins. Same ol' same ol', but in a retelling, that's okay in moderation.

Thankfully McKiernan's tendency to dwell on insignificant details of travelling was pretty much nowhere to be found, although quite a few not-so-insignificant details in the bedroom are included. The preaching is also toned down, but I don't particularly want to hear about McKiernan's views on virginity. One irritating tendency that was also in "Caverns of Socrates" is that McKiernan copies stuff from his own Mithgar books -- the serpent-horses, for example, and the "lynx riders." (Nothing like Fox Riders, right?) And as some of what he lifted (the serpent-horses/helsteeds) was also lifted from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, it becomes especially weird.

Camille is pretty annoying: sweet, innocent, adoring, pure of heart, gorgeous, golden-haired, and essentially perfect in every way. In other words, cloying and sugary. She cries, she weeps, she collapses, she's constantly being rescued by the bear or big strong men (or sometimes tiny strong men). Alain is similarly perfect, angsty and tormented and of course, incredibly handsome. And similarly boring. The supporting characters are all pretty dull, especially Camille's money-obsessed mother and man-obsessed sisters, and the Galadriel-like Lady of the Bower. Only her brother Giles and Scruff the sparrow are endearing. It certainly says something when a bird has more appeal (and mental power) than either of the lead characters.

If you really, really like retellings of fairy tales or old stories, then this might appeal to you... or if you are looking for a doe-eyed, imperiled heroine to mock. Silly, cheesy, and overall rather boring.

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Summary: Good solid fairy tale rewrite.
Review: The author states this novel is a retelling of a short story he read as a child. A short story titled "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" written by a Scandinavian author. If it was a Scandinavian tale that inspired the author I can only say that Nordic bard was a lover of myths for I know it as a re-telling of one of my favorite classical Greek myths that I read as a child - the myth of Eros and Psyche (i.e. Love and Soul). Right down to the need for Alain (Eros) to wear a mask and hiding his true form to prevent a curse enacting. Right down to Camille (Psyche) invoking the curse when she sees Alain's true form unmasked by candlelight as he sleeps. Right down to the drip of the candle wax on Eros'- I mean Alain's - chest. And of Psyche's - I mean Camille's - subsequent quest to find her lover again and break the curse. For as the Greek myth makes clear, Love and Soul were meant to be together for the blessing of mankind.

It was enchanting as a Greek myth and even more so as Mr. McKiernan's re-telling. Here the Greek myth is given life so compelling I think it better than the source. Unlike some previous reviewers I didn't have any problem with the occasional touches of archaic phrasing. They only happened sporadically and even then only in small touches. That must be something that is strictly a personal preference - you're either allergic to it or you're not. I actually liked it as it added to the over-all feel of what a myth should be when read. To anyone who likes myths and fairy tales this is a wonderful read. And if you ever get the chance - read the original myth from whence it came. You'll be glad you did.

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Summary: If you love fairy tales...
Review: This book was phenomenal! I read it in 2 days and restarted it on the third. It was all I could think about. The love story is wonderful and touching and happy, the adventure is full of wisdom and philosophy, amd the language is beautiful--everything I love best about McKiernan. When I finished it all I could think about was what the characters are doing now. I can't wait for the sequal, I only hope it is as touching and fantastic as the first. This is my new favorite book. I think I will read this one again and again.

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Summary: A Sad McKiernan fan am I...
Review: Well what can I write that one keen reviewer hasn't already so eloquently described... This book drew me in for far to long just out of my sick need to finish, but I regretted it every step of the way. The heroine is easily the most naive and blind character you are ever intended to love. I was REALLY hoping to be proved wrong on many occasions, I mean just hoping that Mr. McKiernan would trick the reader a bit and say, "no, no she was not being stupid she was being prudent and LOOK, she was right." But no, sorry folks, he IS in fact the bear and there's no looking back from there...

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Summary: New McKiernan, Same Great Story
Review: Well, I just finished Once Upon a Winter's Night and my only problem with it is I can't wait for the sequal(s)! That's all that's bad about it... McKiernan definately has a winner on his hands. The book is _almost_ as good as his Mithgar arc, but totally in a different way. All I can say is it's magical. I felt like a little kid reading this book, because it defiantely has a fairy tale storybook feeling, but you can tell this one is written for us big kids too. It has very tasteful adult scenes including a little bit of intimacy and Dennis' trademark descriptions of battles, and all things magical. I think it is better than his other non Mithgar book, Caverns of Socrates, and will reach a broader audience, including female readers of fantasy and romance. The book is well written and everything ties together beautifully. You might even say there are even some "red slipper" token items sprinkled throughout that McKiernan always uses so skillfully. The book will may you think a lot about people, the world, and the nature of why we're all here. Bravo Dennis, and keep 'em coming!