Snow-walker

Rating:
Summary: Repacked for your confusion
Review: Originally published in England as three separate volumes, Snow-Walker combines The Snow-Walker's Son, The Empty Hand and The Soul Thieves. Using Norse and Celtic mythology to build on, Fisher creates a frozen world dominated by a Sorceress name Gundrun who has dethroned the Jarl. Her equally powerful son, Kari, has been banished to Thrasirshall where he is befriended by fellow outcasts, Jessa, Skapti, Brochael and others. Set upon by runebeasts and other magic the travels bring hardship to many as Gundrun steals the souls of loved ones, including Wulfgar's fiancé. Their journey to lands steeped in old, dark traditions should put them in peril more often but the characters seem fated to live happily ever after and no permanent damage to done. The novel has a choppy pace to its construction from three individual works but this alone cannot explain the work's awkward plot and minimal character development. The story is difficult to follow in places making it more suitable for older readers who will enjoy the challenge of making sense of things. The action is limited and not sustained, leavening the reader bored and disappointed. A re-read may highlight missed intricacies but it's probably not worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: excellent fantasy
Review: The malevolent Snow-walker Gudrun came from the ice to use the Ragnar patriarch to become the ruler of the realm. She married Lord Jarl Ragnar, who is her puppet unable to independently think anymore. Recently, she sent a blizzard to put down a resurrection by the rightful ruling family, the Wulfings. Using her spouse, she exiles the next generation of Wulfings, cousins Jessa Horolsdaughter and Thorkil Harroldsson, to remote Thrasseshall on the edge of the world. There they will live with her son, rumored to be a monster that no one outside that isolated frozen hold has seen since he was born.

Jessa meets Gudron's offspring Kari Ragnarsson, who is a Snow-walker with his mother's powers but is different due to the upbringing of his "caretaker" Brochael Gunnarsson who has showered him with love and understanding. Kari is the only hope to free her people from the icy grip of the evil sorceress, but can he commit matricide and if yes, can those who care for him like her keep him from becoming a chip off the maternal block?

SNOW-WALKER combines a wonderful action-packed trilogy into a fabulous single volume fantasy that will thrill middle school readers. The Nordic saga is fantastic because of the cast that are deeper than the snow that is everywhere. The heroes are a superb group while the villain is so terrifically nasty that the audience will shiver as much from her as from the climate. However, the story belongs to Kari, raised in isolation as a "creature", he must decide between his mother's pleas to become her sidekick or the entreaty of those residing in the tundra with him to save the world from her.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Cold and beautiful
Review: Welsh author Catherine Fisher strikes gold in an icy, shimmering new fantasy, "Snow-Walker." With likable characters and vidid writing, Fisher demonstrates her talents in the arena of Norse mythology, filled with shapeshifting wolf-men, soul-stealing ghosts, and icy witches.

Jessa is horrified when she learns that the Jarl (a sort of king-chieftain) has exiled her to Thrasirshall -- where Kari, the son of the Jarl and his cold, evil wife Gudrun, lives in complete isolation. He's rumored to be a monster. But when Jessa arrives, she finds that Kari is not a monster -- but a lonely young boy who has the power to destroy his scheming sorceress mother, and has been sent away because of that.

After the death of the Jarl, Gudrun vanishes, and a new Jarl, Wulfgar, is chosen. And Kari vanishes back to the north for a few years, honing his magic abilities. But with power comes greater fear. Kari fears becoming like the evil Gudrun, and others fear his dark magic. Even Wulfgar begins to doubt him, especially when Kari is accused in a prophecy by a priest.

But Kari and Jessa have more than just accusations to deal with. A monstrous, bearlike creature is coming to the Jarlshold, with Wulfgar as its target. And Wulfgar's bride's soul is stolen by Gudrun. Kari and his loyal friends band together to defeat the evil Snow-Walker -- but is the good in Kari enough to keep him from becoming like Gudrun?

The first book by Catherine Fisher, "The Oracle Betrayed," was a tepid mix of Greek and Egyptian cultures. She fares much better with the rich Norse mythology, against a backdrop of monsters, snow, ice, and sorcerous people with eyes like bits of ice. Werewolves, armies of dead men, villages on lakes, and spirits conjured out of loneliness and misery are only part of this story.

It's actually like a trilogy of novellas, each a little over 160 pages long -- "The Snow-Walker's Son," "The Empty Hand," and "The Soul Thieves." With plenty of room to stretch, Fisher's writing is tense, descriptive, poetic, and simple. Her descriptions of magical beasts and phantoms are spellbinding. The main problem is that the climactic battles in "Soul Thieves" and "Snow Walker's Son" seem to finish too quickly and cleanly, although the finale is a satisfying one.

Though the strong-willed Jessa is the lead character, Kari is the center of the novel -- a boy who never had a normal life, and has a lingering fear of being turned to evil. The supporting characters like Wulfgar, Kari's loyal guardian Brochael, crippled thrall Hakon and others are well-drawn. Gudrun isn't given much dimension (okay, she's evil and cruel, we got it), but her chilly plotting is well-done.

Catherine Fisher is well-suited to the robust Norse legends of the snowy north, and the solid "Snow-Walker" is an excellent fantasy read for adults and teens alike.