stacia_reads's reviews
982 reviews

Beautifully written though the plot seemed a bit unfocused at times.

The bleak backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness parallels well with the desolation experienced by the main characters of this book, Mabel and Jack. Nevermind that they have deliberately sought out this lonely situation, separating themselves from their family and friends and life back east.

The book begins horribly sad but eventually there is hope and life, brought to them by the titular Snow Child. The author does a good job of making the reader experience the book much as the characters lived their lives - dull and just waiting for another appearance of the wild child from the woods.

I'm still parsing how I feel about the ending and really the book as a whole. It was a very different reading experience and I appreciate that it was an unconventional bit of storytelling in that it didn't wrap up with a neat bow at the end, all questions answered.

Quick read and I think best to read it all in one sitting if possible as it's a one-act play with no intermission. I'm not really sure how to rate or review it as this isn't the kind of thing I usually read but I appreciated that the two characters had different dialogue styles. It was cool to read something different like this - I haven't read a play since high school or maybe college.

I'm not sure this series is aging well. Like a lot of series, now that the couple has overcome the obstacles keeping them apart, Simon and Magdalena are a lot less exciting together. I found her petty and whiny at times in this book. I also found a lot of things to be repetitive, like references to Jacob's age, etc.

The story itself was interesting in its exploration of faith vs science and how science at the time was often equated to witchcraft. However the central mysteries were often a letdown due to the way twists and resolutions were telegraphed, taking away the element of surprise. The biggest question for me was how they'd resolve the status of the Hangman's wife and her illness at the end. No spoilers here - don't want to give away the only thing the book doesn't spoil for you.

Such a lovely holiday read! Baum's explanations of all the things that make Santa Santa was a lot of fun. I read most of it in front of the Christmas tree and enjoyed it.

I'm not sure there's anything here in terms of his steps to ideas that I haven't read before but this is a nice short book and I enjoyed reading it, especially right at the end of the year as I'm preparing to start a couple of new projects.