Claire Legrand

To find her abducted father and keep her sister safe from the lecherous politicians of 1899 New York City, seventeen-year-old Clara must journey to the wintry kingdom of Cane, where Anise, queen of the faeries, has ousted the royal family in favor of herown totalitarian, anti-human regime.

Winterspell

taryn a.

Admittedly, this book confused me. I wouldn't say Winterspell had unreached potential -- the potential was genuinely executed and could be found, at times, within the novel. Unfortunately, these sparks of originality were doused by formulaic tropes and language.

What Winterspell does best is namely showing the duality of characters - Anise, the antagonist/archetypical Evil Queen is not absent humanity, and even the brooding, dashing prince is shown as having some malice in him. Duly, as an exciting development for me in YA fiction, our protagonist Clara is depicted (albeit in vague terms) as being bisexual - or so it seemed clear to me. Regardless of how the author intended to demonstrate the sexuality of her lead character, there is certainly a lack of heterosexuality and a willingness to explore.

Unfortunately, this was marred by a stock, generic love interest and otherwise unimaginative lead character imbued with ~*~*special powers.*~*~

Savannah Winchell

Steysha

Me after finishing this book:

My momma always told me: Never judge a book by its cover. But I always do. So, can you imagine my disappointed when I found such a wonderful cover for such a lame story? I mean, it`s a retelling of a Nutcracker, I never thought it could be twisted into a boring tale. Thanks to Clara, now i know it`s possible.

So, Clara lives in New York (19th century) with her shitty father, who drinks a lot after death of his wife, and a sister, who is all sunshine and butterflies. Her father works for the Mafia, but now that he got batshit crazy, they don’t need him anymore. It means two things: 1) they’ll kill him; 2) Clara will become a wife (or rather a sex toy) for Dr. Victor – mad pervert who claims to be a doctor but in reality he just tortures poor young girls. Clara also has a Godfather who taught her to fight, so in a tough moment she could flip her inner badassness. Do you think it helped? Nah. While at the training, Clara is all catlike and strong, but when she meets one of the Mafiosi, she’s quiet, scared and submissive. 
I also couldn’t grasp why nobody tried to protect her. She has a father, though drunk but still loving, as I understood, and a Godfather who obviously had a thing for her mother, but still won’t say fuck off to the guy who wants to rape his Goddaughter. 
The second thing I couldn’t grasp was Clara’s love to a statue. Yes, you heard me right. She touched it, kissed it, had dirty thoughts about it and all that went with a bubbling of a prude girl from 19th century.
I was like:



It’s not right, it’s sick! 
The funny thing is, imagine her shock when the statue became a boy! Who was there every time Clara decided to touch her statue in inappropriate way. Seriously, even I felt embarrassed for her and sat with a facepalm for a minute or two. 

Okay, back to the plot. So, the Mafiosi guys decide that it’s time to get rid of her father, and Clara incidentally overhears them. Her training doesn’t help her much, and she gets caught. The Bad Guys give her an ultimatum: either she won’t tell anybody, or she and her sister are as good as dead. She agrees, and at that moment I was like: well, of course she agrees, and now she will think of some devious plan to save her family and kill all her enemies, MUAHAHAHAH. Like hell! She seriously thought about giving up on her father. What a role model! 

But then she is temporary saved from decision-making by a sudden attack of some iron monster mice. Turns out her Godfather is not who she thinks he is, and he CAN kick some asses! Then the statue turns to a boy, all is cool, blah-blah-blah, I want to know who killed my mother, blah, it’s all your fault, blah and then, suddenly, whoopsy, her father is taken by one of the attacking mice through some portal to who knows where. Or, the statue boy knows where, actually. He says that the portal will take them to his kingdom that was conquered by Anise, the queen of the fairies and the most powerful creature in Cane. He offers to help Clara to find her father, and though the Godfather told her this statue boy (Nicholas) isn’t trustworthy, she agrees and jumps with him through the portal. That’s where the real adventure starts. 
And now I want to show you some examples of why I didn’t like this book:

1) Clara is illogical. Like, when she fist came in Cane and saw a train, she immediately thought that her father was on it. Why the hell did she think so?
Oh, yes, there’s a train, so my father must be on it! Oh, but here is a tree, maybe my father is on it? Oh, but there is a stone, maybe my father is under it?
She often makes strange assumptions without any facts. She thinks that it’s her fault that this old pervert Dr. Victor dreams about raping her. How sick is that??? She claims that her only goal is to save her father as fast as she can, but she takes her time, all the way thinking about how beautiful Nicholas is. She easily leaves her friends and family in trouble.

2) The romance was just plain. I felt no chemistry, even more, it annoyed me. Nicholas was a simple character to whom I didn’t feel any connection. In the middle of the book he did something ugly, horrible, UNFORGIVABLE. I started to think that maybe he was the bad guy and the story would have an interesting twist. Ha-ha, nope. Then he just said sorry to Clara for his UNFORGIVABLE deed, and she was like: “Well, he’s so cute, so why not?”



3) I disliked ALL the characters. Really, they all were full of shit. I understand that nobody’s perfect, but those were more bad than good. The plot was okay, but it didn`t save the case. The final battle was just gross and ended before started. The only thing I liked was the writing style. It was pretty, it didn’t bug me.

4) This book is also about sexuality, sexual slavery, sexual awareness, sex and so one. Clara seems to be prude at the beginning, but then we find out about the statue. There was the moment, when Nicholas kissed her, and she was like: “Don’t touch me, stop it! Why the hell did you stop?!”, so she’s that kind of girl. Dr. Victor rapes the girls, and it has a lethal effect on them. Clara and Nicholas end up in a whorehouse for fairies. Anise, apparently, is a bisexual. You can see the pattern. I think there should be books about all this, but not in a retelling of the Nutcracker. There it just seems weird and out of place.

I can keep on and on, but I think it’s time to stop. Though I dislike this book, I`m still thinking about reading other books of this author. Hope they will be better.

Tatiana 

A very dark version of the nutcracker, but is a perfect Christmas read still.

Patricia Santos

Opinião do blogue Chaise Longuue: http://girlinchaiselongue.blogspot.pt...

Há muito, muito tempo, houve um conto chamado Quebra-Nozes. Era um conto sobre ratos malvados e brinquedos aterrorizados, princesas de mau carácter e príncipes amaldiçoados. Uma história que nunca mais irão ver da mesma maneira. Winterspell não é a história que conhecem. Claire Legrand não se limitou a recontar o conto. Reinventou-o, levou-o de volta aos tempos em que os finais felizes demoravam décadas, aos tempos em que custavam sangue derramado e inocência perdida. Dotada de uma escrita elegante e sombria, Claire pegou nos alicerces da história de Hoffmann de 1816, e escreveu outra sobre vingança, preconceito e perda, construída sobre feitiços, inverno e mecânica, uma história que anseia por esperança e nos toma de surpresa.
Nas primeiras páginas deste livro senti-me perdida, desapegada à história. É, o único defeito que tenho a apontar a Winterspell, o tempo que demorei a entrar na história, o tempo que perdi sem perceber afinal, o que Claire nos iria contar. Mas, de um momento para o outro, algo aconteceu e, de repente, dei por mim embrenhada num conto tão cruel quanto belo, um conto feito de lágrimas e erros, um conto que supera, em muito, aquele em que foi inspirado. Numa narrativa feita de complexas teias de sentimentos, segredos e passados, somos despedaçados, enfeitiçados, tentados. Estamos perante uma história afogada em mágoas, onde a vingança é um doce desejo e, a esperança, há muito se desvaneceu. Marcada por traições, pela guerra e pelo desespero, esta história é um ciclo de ódio, de frio e sombras, mas é nestes alicerces de malvadez e ressentimento que surge um amor incondicional à terra, ao povo, ao outro. 
Este é um mundo destruído por sonhos impossíveis de se realizar, por um desejo de pertença imposto à força pelo ressentimento e a vergonha. Foi outrora, um mundo belo e encantador que escondia nos seus calabouços um ódio que marcou gerações e que, agora, o demonstra num inverno permanente. Esta história, fala-nos pois, de um ciclo vicioso que ninguém tem a coragem de terminar, a menos que se aprenda a perdoar, a menos que se aprenda a esticar a mão em nome da paz. Isso leva-nos a acompanhar uma possibilidade de escolhas, que ora podem fazer cair as personagens numa escuridão sem fim, ora podem trazê-las para a luz. Essa é uma lição que vemos imensas vezes ao longo desta leitura, que temos a capacidade de escolher um caminho diferente daquele que nos impuseram ou que nos foi ensinado. Podemos ser vítimas ou podemos ser donos do nosso destino, podemos odiar ou podemos amar, podemos castigar ou perdoar. 
Por isto tudo, esta é uma leitura que nos devora. Somos arrastados num enredo onde não falta acção e romance, reviravoltas, segredos e traições. Somos enfeitiçados pela magia misturada com mecânica, pelas criaturas malévolas que habitam este mundo. E assistimos ao despertar de um mundo e de uma rapariga. De um mundo, para aquilo que ele poderia ser, para aquilo que ele tem deixado escapar, para aquilo que perdeu. De uma rapariga, para o amor, para a sexualidade, para quem ela pode ser, se deixar de ter medo. 
Não estámos perante um conto de fadas normal e, se não bastar a história para o demonstrar, rapidamente o percebemos pelas personagens. Elas têm defeitos, muitos. Elas cometem erros, muitos. Têm preconceitos, dores, ressentimentos. Umas nunca aprendem, outras florescem ao longo do livro. Esse é o caso de Clara, a protagonista. No início do livro temos uma menina cheia de medos, que se sente culpada por tudo o que existe de mau na sua vida, uma menina incapaz de sonhar e querer algo para si. E depois ela cresce, aprende, e torna-se uma guerreira, uma mulher capaz de perceber que o perdão só se dá a quem aceita mudar. Ela é o elo de ligação entre Nicholas e Anise e, se com Nicholas tem uma relação de, primeiro, amor infantil, e depois de primeiro amor, com Anise, tem uma relação de igualdade, de desejo, uma relação que me faz lembrar a de Lestat e de Louis de A Entrevista com o Vampiro. São eles três que reflectem o simbolismo desta história, e é através deles que aprendemos a conhecer este mundo.
Winterspell é uma história que não agradará a todos, verdade. Mas para mim, fez algo impensável: foi melhor que o conto que lhe deu vida. Incentivou-me a conhecer melhor Quebra-Nozes e fê-lo cair do pedestal. Claire Legrand dá-nos um chocolate, negro e denso, e desafia-nos a degustá-lo, a apreciá-lo. A verdade, é que o chocolate preto sempre foi o meu preferido. 

**I received a digital arc from Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review**

Pamela Alvarado

Dark, and enthrancing. Winterspell's writing at the beginning was jarring, but as I was eased into it, I enjoyed Clara's story and how her character grew.

Winterspell

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