2010 book 287

Sarah Beth Durst's Ice
Durst writes magical stories set in the modern world (another new one of hers, Enchanted Ivy, set at Princeton, is getting a fair amount of buzz. She also wrote Into the Wild, which I mostly liked). This one involved a fairy tale I'm not familiar with called "East of the Sun, West of the Moon"--something about a polar bear king and trolls and whatnot, with shades of Beauty and the Beast. Anyway, 18-year-old Cassie has grown up in the Arctic with her scientist father, and with her grandmother telling the story of the daughter of the North Wind, who has a whole fairy tale story that ends with her trapped by the troll queen. But then Cassie finds out the story is true, and she's betrothed to the polar bear king. The plotting and dialogue are well done here, but Durst does a bit too much of telling, not showing, especially regarding Cassie's growing fondness for the bear. Still, Cassie's quest is entertaining, and this was a nice light read after The Raising. B+.