Book Review: Winter's Child by Cameron Dokey

 From the back cover:

Free-spirited Grace and serious Kai are the best of friends. They grew up together listening to magical tales spun by Kai's grandmother and sharing in each other's secrets. But when they turn sixteen and Kai declares his love for Grace, everything changes. Grace yearns for freedom and slowly begins to push Kai -- and their friendship -- away.

Dejected Kai dreams of a dazzling Snow Queen, who entices him to leave home and wander to faraway lands. When Grace discovers Kai is gone, she learns how much she has lost and sets out on a mystical journey to find Kai...and discover herself. 

Although I'm familiar with many of Hans Christian Andersen's stories, I've never been acquainted with "The Snow Queen".  I've loved many of his fairy tales, from "The Little Mermaid" to "The Emperor's New Clothes." Unfortunately, Cameron Dokey doesn't give me much motivation to pursue the Snow Queen story in her retelling, "Winter's Child".

Using many, but not all of Andersen's original elements, Dokey didn't draw me into this fictional world very well.  Never once did I find myself getting lost in the story.  It was difficult to get immersed in the world of the Winter Child, especially when the story kept shifting it's perspective between the three main characters. This may have been a writing device that Andersen used, but it doesn't work well here. Cameron's writing is quite weak and forgettable. If I needed to put the book down, upon returning to it I frequently forgot where I was in the story.

I understand this is a YA book, designed for 9-12 year olds, but this 38 year-old has read many YA's in recent years that are of much higher quality than this one. It's a small paperback, printed on cheap paper that hearkens back to fluffy romance novels, without all the tawdry romance. The story is harmless and sweet, but if you have other quality novels on hand, don't waste your time with this one.



This book was provided by the Amazon.com Vine reviewers program.  You can also find my review on their website.

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