A Crown of Snow and Ice by Melanie Cellier Review

The Snow Queen is a very mysterious and dark story written by Hans Christian Andersen about a young boy who is kidnapped by the titular villain and his best friend Gerda who goes on a journey to find him. While the story sounds simple enough there are actually several plot holes in it that have always annoyed me. For example, we never learn who the Snow Queen is nor why she kidnap's Kai in the first place. She is a character whose motivations and fate are shrouded in mystery and left unknown. Thankfully other authors have written their own spin on the tale giving her more character and clearer goals. While no one may ever know what became of Hans Christian Anderson cold-hearted villain we can find satisfaction with fairy tale retellings based off the tale such as A Crown of Snow and Ice by Melanie Cellier.

The story opens with Princess Celine traveling to the kingdom of Eldon after accepting an invitation from its two cold princesses Emmeline and Giselle. Along with their brother crown prince Oliver Celine travels to the mysterious cold and icy kingdom resolving to discover the mystery behind the three royals strangely detached and emotionless behavior. However, on the way they are attacked by mysterious soldiers and during the scuffle Celine somehow sends a warm breeze toward Oliver sending his horse to bolt. Escaping their abductor Lord Treestone's manor house with the help of his niece Cassandra they are reunited with Oliver (who seems less detached than before) and make their way to the capital. Upon arriving Celine finds the state of things are much worse than she feared. The castle's inhabitants are slowly losing the will to do anything (possibly even live) and are as cold and detached as its prince and princesses. Seeing Oliver start to descend back into a frozen state and shocked to learn his parents won't seek retribution on their kidnappers Celine is filled with strong fiery emotions which frees Oliver (and later Giselle) from his curse. Discovering that her fairy godmother gave her fire powers as a late Christening gift and learning of a mysterious godmother object that could fix their problems, Celine, Oliver, Giselle, and a suspicious servant named Sterling set out on journey to obtain it and save their kingdom from utter destruction and a coup. Little do they know of the many threats they would face. For their adversary is one as deadly and cold as ice and when Celine makes an impulsive mistake will her fire be enough to save man she loves? 

A Crown of Snow and Ice is the first Snow Queen retelling I have ever read, and it has certainly set a high bar for any others I will read. It's not the most faithful retelling to the original but it includes many more similarities than the Disney movie Frozen. Unlike Frozen the inhabitants of the kingdom of Elden have not been turned to ice. It's their behavior that is cold and distant as they slowly lose the will to do anything. Their predicament is truly one of the scariest in any of the books Melanie Cellier has written. As someone who sometimes struggles to find motivation this concept was truly terrifying to me. The main villain was also one of the most twisted and disturbing characters I have ever read about. Her tragic backstory makes Celine and the reader wonder if they could have turned out the same way if people saw their worst self.

On a more cheerful note, it was wonderful to see Princess Celine finally get her own adventure. After seeing so much of her in previous books I was left with high expectations for her story and was not let down. She and Oliver were so cute together as he helped her learn to control her new powers. Despite the cold reality of their situation, their love for each other keeps them going even in the most difficult of times. While I wish Oliver was a little more fleshed out as a character, he was still one worth fighting for. The friendship between Celine and Giselle was also really sweet and reminiscent to the previous book The Princess Search. On a side not Giselle also gets her own story in The Secret Princess A Retelling of The Goose Girl. I recently read it so expect a review for it sometime this year.

Overall, A Crown of Snow and Ice is one of my favorite books by Melanie Cellier and a great first Snow Queen retelling to read. You don't need to read any of the previous books in the series to understand the plotline, but you'll probably enjoy it more if you have. I give it five out of five stars.