East by Edith Pattou Review

 When I was in middle school, I discovered a book by chance at a local library that was a retelling of the fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon. If you are thinking that book was East by Edith Pattou well, you would be wrong. It was actually Sun and Moon Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George. I was completely enthralled by this book that I started looking for other retellings of the tale. After some searching, I discovered a few more including Ice by Sarah Beth Durst, Once Upon a Winters Night by Dennis L. McKiernan, and East by Edith Pattou. Out of all these books East looked the most interesting and so I checked it out and read it. While I don’t remember how I originally felt about the book overtime it would become my favorite book from childhood. Even to this day at age 22 I still get a lot of enjoyment out of this book. The writing style is fantastic, the characters are so well written, and the story keeps you on your toes.  

Rose was born to replace her dead sister Elise, an East facing baby but because of the strange circumstances of her birth she was born a north child. Her mother, fearing an old prediction from a fortune teller, pretended she was born due east and always tried to keep her at home. However, she could not suppress Roses wanderlust no matter how hard she tried. When Rose was a toddler, she was saved from drowning by a white bear with hauntingly sad eyes. Years later that same bear makes an offer to the family at their time of great need. If Rose comes with him, he will heal her sick sister Sarah and the family will once more prosper. Roses father and her brother Neddy are against the very idea of it despite their mothers' protests that Sarah will die if they do not. The day before the bear is to return Rose overhears her parents arguing about the lie of her birth and is angered that her parents had lied to her all her life. This leads her to go with the white bear who takes her to his ice castle where she is waited upon by a strange woman and her son who may not be human. And every night she is visited by a stranger who sleeps next to her at night and vanishes in the morning. Unsure of who it is who sleeps besides her without touching her Rose eventually lights a candle and sees it is a handsome man who sleeps beside her. However, her actions have consequences and soon she finds herself on a journey to save the man who had been a white bear from a wicked troll queen who wants to marry him. The troll queen has been waiting a long time for this man and she won’t go down that easily. Can Rose find her way to the land east of the sun and west of the moon and save the man who has become more important to her then she ever could have dreamed of? 

East is told from the multiple perspectives of Rose, Neddy, Father, White Bear, and Troll Queen. All the characters were interesting to read about since they each have a story to tell. The white bear who talks only in brief sentences explains how he doesn’t remember his past very well. He remembers a white ball and then a voice like rocks and then being lost. The troll queen who is overconfident to the core talks about going to the human lands for the first time and how she first met the boy. You see how obsessed she is with him along with her arrogance and cruelty. She will do anything to be with him and goes to extreme lengths to get what she desires. In Rose’s case you see her bravery, kindness, and cleverness. When she makes her mistake, she sets out to make things right not because she expects the prince will marry her instead but to give him his life back that was so cruelly stripped away from him for at least a hundred years. Neddy and his father are very close with Rose, and they worry for her safety. Her father even sets out on a journey to find Rose and the white bear. You feel his anger towards his wife for so willing to give up Rose for a promise of health and riches that they don’t know will come true. All the main characters were interesting and well-drawn out and interesting to read about.  

The book is set in Europe I think in the 1500s but instead of calling the countries by their real names Edith Pattou gave them new ones. She called France Fransk instead so you could easily guess what country the characters were talking about but still making it original. I liked this detail and really enjoyed the setting as a result. 

To conclude, this book is still a big favorite of mine. Edith Pattou also released a sequel West years later which I still have yet to read. I keep meaning to pick it up and I plan to read it this year or next at the very least. I have high expectations for West and hope it lives up to them. It should be no surprise that I rate this book five out of five stars. Expect three more reviews in the future. Until next time. E.V.A.