I have yet to meet a re-interpretation of my favorite fairy tale 'East o'the Moon, West o'the Sun' that hasn't pleased me greatly and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow (SaM, IaS)does not fail. As a quick comparison to the other two novel length adventures I've read on the fairy tale, East by Edith Pattou and Once Upon a Winter's Night by Dennis L. McKiernan, the story follows a similiar path.

Poor family with many kids, wintery climate, enchanted white bear, evil Troll Princess and plucky, resourceful lass. The manner in which these cornerstones are brought about however is the real fun. I will, more then likely, be doing reviews for both books seperately some time soon and then will do a true comparison review of the three.

Pika, or lass as her beloved older brother Hans Peter calls her, is the youngest child of Frida and Jarl. Frida rejects Pika, going so far as to not even name her (a horrifying occurance since unnamed children can not be baptized and are more easily snatched by trolls) and thrusts the responsbility of raising her into her oldest daughter's hands. Pika doesn't spend a lot of time lamenting this fact--merely takes it as is and does her best to stay out of her mother's way. I thoroughly disliked Frida, I'm not even certain she was meant to be liked at all. She was greedy, selfish and later in the story as their luck changes, downright ruthless. She had more in common with the troll queen and princess then she did her own family.

Aside from Hans Peter, Askeladden ('lucky third son' according to the myths) is featured more heavily then the other siblings. Later in the story one of her older sisters has an important role, but for the most part they are merely there and only occasionally show up. I was grateful for this since remembering 8 other names--and their importance to the story and family dynamic--might have fried my brain. The few random new bits are more then enough and their cameo appearances are short.

Not mentioned in the backcover blurb/synopsis is the fact that Pika can communicate with animals. The importance of this--and ramifications of this--aren't entirely felt until the latter half of the second part, but is important none the less.

At the risk of gushing, I had no problems with this book. It was a fun, enthralling read from start to finish that would keep a teen girl or adult entertained. There is nothing particularly racy involved and only the mildest sort of violence (mostly perpetrated towards the trolls by their own hands).

George's new fairy tale retelling--Princess of the Midnight Ball due out later this month--is a retelling of my other favorite fairy tale, 12 Dancing Princesses. I look forward to that book with great anticipation! ( )

2.5 stars. For me, this was just an ok read. I've never read the original fairytale this was based on but parts of the book reminded me of Beauty and The Beast (except the "Beast" in this case didn't start off as mean and selfish). This book was a pretty straight forward classic fairytale. You have a handsome prince, a beautiful young girl, a curse, an adventure, some talking animals, and of course no fairytale would be complete without an evil queen/princess. This book also seems to be more for a younger audience, although I found it in the YA section of Barnes and Noble, it seems like it's more of a middle grade level book. But overall it wasn't bad. ( )

It's not my favorite of George's books. East of the Sun, West of the Moon is a weird fairy tale that has gotten a few retellings. George's take on the tale seems rather generic and I wish she had taken more liberties with the story.

That said, it was a pretty fast read, though I found the ending a bit unfulfilling. I thought the book begged for at least an epilogue, just to see reactions from the greedy mother and brother.

I did also find it very odd that the main character is basically nameless, but has a secret name the white reindeer gave her. This is a huge deal in the story and seemed like it would play a significant part to the plot later, especially given the "sometimes it's better to be nameless" line, but it doesn't. Instead, by always referring to the main character as "the lass", I felt disconnected with her. ( )

I always love retellings of this particular fairytale, and this one was beautifully done. ( )

A wonderful retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales. ( )