Rosie Boyes
Autor(a) de The Snow Witch
Obras por Rosie Boyes
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This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
“The Snow Witch” is actually told in two different timelines – the past and the present. It started with Kes and Star and their arrival to St. Flurries where they’re going to live with their grandmother after their parents died. A myriad of weird little things started to happen and it might have something to do with the incident which happened at St. Flurries a century ago – the unsolved mystery of Kitty Wigeon’s disappearance.
This book initially reminded me of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” from the Chronicles of Narnia series because of its cold and snowy setting, the ancient house, and the sibling relationship. In general, it just gives off this magical atmosphere vibe that makes you want to shiver (in a good way) and get cozy in your blanket with a cup of hot cocoa on a cold afternoon. At least, that’s how it felt for me.
As for the story and the characters, I think that the author did a great job in using differing perspectives from the past and the present. The narration flowed smoothly even though it’s told in alternating timelines and I really loved how it all tied up so neatly at the end.
3.75 / 5 stars :)… (mais)
This book initially reminded me of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” from the Chronicles of Narnia series because of its cold and snowy setting, the ancient house, and the sibling relationship. In general, it just gives off this magical atmosphere vibe that makes you want to shiver (in a good way) and get cozy in your blanket with a cup of hot cocoa on a cold afternoon. At least, that’s how it felt for me.
As for the story and the characters, I think that the author did a great job in using differing perspectives from the past and the present. The narration flowed smoothly even though it’s told in alternating timelines and I really loved how it all tied up so neatly at the end.
3.75 / 5 stars :)… (mais)
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
WHAT AN AMAZING BOOK! I felt sad at Kes and Star's experience with being forced to live with an uncaring woman and always being cold. Then the three were summoned to meet with a lawyer, only to confirm that they had a grandmother still alive who never stopped looking for them. As soon as they arrived at the mansion, they were amazed at the warmth of the mansion and of hot food for the first time since they could remember. Their good fortune released a century old curse that no one expected.
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
A nice little middle grade fantasy / mystery. Very whimsical. Some parts got a little dull but overall a good book.
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- Obras
- 2
- Membros
- 15
- Popularidade
- #708,120
- Avaliação
- 3.5
- Críticas
- 6
- ISBN
- 2
I wanted to like this more than I did. There were too many over-complications in the plot, too many unanswered questions, the curse itself was not executed or explained quite to my satisfaction, and, just overall, it was lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. Spoilers abound in this review.
PLOT SUMMARY
First, I'll start with a chronological presentation of the plot and events because I wanted to know if I could logically write out all the things that happened. (It includes some commentary from me at certain parts that I had issues with—I tried to put them at the end with my broader issues instead of mingling them with the plot summary, but they were too out-of-context there.) To me, this is a particularly important "test" for books that involve time elements to verify whether it holds up. This book is told in five parts that go back and forth between the present and the past:
- Part One: Kes's Perspective (2018)
- Part Two: Kitty's Perspective Pre-Curse (1918)
- Part Three: Kitty's Perspective While Cursed (1918-2018)
- Part Four: Kes's Perspective (2018)
- Part Five: Kitty's Perspective After Curse Undone (1918)
A 12-year-old girl named Kitty returns home after spending four years with her godmother during WWI to keep her safe. It's the holiday season and, to help with recovering from the death of Kitty's only brother and re-bonding after Kitty's absence, they attend a Christmas fair. Kitty plays tombola and wins a locket, then meets a gypsy dancer named Gwyn, who randomly tells Kitty that she is going to marry a local farm boy and give up her gypsy heritage, which has angered her mother because Gwyn will lose her gypsy magic and also not pass on any gypsy magic to her children.
For reasons that aren't really clear, Gwyn then forcibly brings Kitty to her home so she can have her fortune told by her mother, Mama Rosa.
Honestly, I don't know why Gwyn even brought Kitty to her home. She knew her mother is not nice (so why introduce a friend to her?) and she acts like she already knew who Kitty was, expected her to show up at the fair, and was bidden to bring Kitty home by force at Mama Rosa's request for a fortune reading (which I would only assume is nefarious, so, again, why expose a friend to that?). I am still not sure how we're supposed to take all this, which (as you'll see) just made more questions later on when the curse is actually put on Kitty.
While waiting for Gwyn's mother to appear, Kitty reads a few pages of a secret gypsy spell book called The Witches Cooking Pot that was for some reason laying out in the open for anyone to look at. Mama Rosa catches her reading it and is very angry, but still reads Kitty's palm, tells Kitty that she is doomed, and then shoves Kitty rudely out the door.
While standing outside recovering from that ordeal, Kitty spots Mama Rosa leaving her home a few minutes later, then watches as a man furtively enters the home and leaves a short time later with something he obviously stole. She recognizes the man as one of the soldiers still staying in the hospital wing of her family's home—he is supposed to be temporarily blind due to noxious fumes and he is basically under house arrest until he recovers from his injury before he is put to trial as a deserter.
Later that night, Kitty writes in her journal about her day and includes a few lines that she had memorized from the gypsy spell book. As she is wrapping this up, Mama Rosa pounds on the door of the estate, accusing Kitty of being a thief. Instead of just telling her parents what she knows about who the real thief is, she decides to use the house's secret passageways to get the book back from the "blind" soldier. Along the way, she decides to hide her journal key, which she had accidentally taken with her in all the excitement and which she does not want to take outside with her and risk losing, in the grandfather clock. She finds the book in the soldier's backpack, and decides for some reason to take the entire pack with her to the clearing so she can give it to Mama Rosa. Outside, a twig somehow snags Kitty's new locket and tugs it from her neck unnoticed.
Instead of being appreciative of Kitty's gesture, Mama Rosa accuses her of trying to sneak things back in to avoid being in trouble. She also asks about some missing money, but when Kitty says she doesn't know what Mama Rosa is talking about, Mama Rosa knocks her to the ground and chants the spell to curse her.
So... was Kitty "destined" to become the Snow Witch no matter what and Mama Rosa "saw" that when she read her palm and took it upon herself to make sure it happens (like a self-fulfilling prophecy almost)? But, if so, why? And, why wasn't there already a Snow Witch for it to transfer on its own? Who would Mama Rosa have cursed if Kitty hadn't come along, or would she not have cursed anyone at all? Or, if Mama Rosa hadn't been the one to curse Kitty, would someone else have done it? Was she always destined to be the Snow Witch, regardless of who cursed her? And, if so, how would Mama Rosa or whoever was going to curse her even know that she was destined for it? And if it had to be read as a "fortune" for Kitty, then what sort of curse logic and inner workings marks her as the Snow Witch? Why is cursing Kitty the only way Mama Rosa could think of to punish Kitty for "stealing"? Seems a little extreme and like she had to curse someone anyway, regardless of who was cursed? Has this curse always been around and it just transfers automatically unless someone is actively cursed like Mama Rosa did to Kitty? Did Mama Rosa plan to use it on Gwyn as recompense for marrying a commoner but then got so mad at Kitty for "stealing" that she cursed her instead—except that she already told Kitty that there was death in her future so did she feel justified in cursing her or did she know she had to curse her no matter what to fulfill the curse's prophecy/will? Or, was Mama Rosa not going to use it on Gwyn, but was going to curse SOMEone and Kitty just happened to be convenient? I even considered whether Gwyn knew Mama Rosa wanted to curse her for marrying a farm boy and was hoping to cause a distraction with Kitty so she would get cursed instead. I could go on and on with speculation and circular questions because I just have no idea. None of this was explained adequately.
Inside the family's home, the grandfather clock begins to run counterclockwise to count down the 100-year duration of Kitty's curse.
Honestly, I am not sure why the clock would run backward. It's not like the curse is causing all of time to run backward or the clock is affecting the curse somehow. The best I could come up with is that it mostly is an indicator that the curse is still in effect, except that it is only meaningful to Genevieve who knows about the curse (because, like usual with these people, she didn't tell anyone else about what was going on except for apparently Jay?). To anyone else in the home, it's just a weird thing that happened since Kitty's disappearance not that it has to do with a curse or indicates anything else. I wish that had been explained more because I also have no idea why the clock would care about the curse or how it became connected in the first place or where it came from. Or, I wish that it had just been left out entirely because it's an unnecessary complication that we could have done without. Like the clock, the barometer was for some reason affected by the curse and indicates the weather is the opposite of what it is. I thought this would prove more significant, but it was never really mentioned again.
When Kitty wakes up, she is cold. Very cold. She makes her way back to her family's estate, only to find that no one can see or hear her. Watching through a window, she hears her father's decision that they are all going to leave the estate because it has too many bad memories now. Kitty runs to the clearing to escape the fear and sadness of what has happened to her, and Gwyn somehow finds her there, despite being unable to see or hear her (she tells Kitty that she can "sense" her). Gwyn informs Kitty that she knows what Mama Rosa did, that she will never forgive Mama Rosa for it, and that, while she cannot reverse the curse, she and her children and grandchildren will try to make Kitty's life more comfortable for the next 100 years.
Gwyn keeps her promise only in two significant ways that I can tell, with a lot of years between each gesture (note that her children never actually do anything, the "help" sort of skips a generation):
- Three weeks after the curse sets in, she sends three animal companions to Kitty: a snow mouse named Pipit, a hedgehog named Bob, and an unusual dog named Buzz.
- In 1951, she sends one human companion, her grandchild named Genevieve, who starts to visit Kitty at the age of 6-years-old.
From 1918 - 2018, Kitty keeps a snow journal, which chronicles what she does to keep herself entertained and fed, and any news from the outside world that she hears about. Of all the things that happened during the 100 years, aside from the death of most of Kitty's relatives, these are the most relevant:
- In 1921, Kitty's sister Linnet marries a soldier.
- In 1929, Kitty tries and fails at making perfume.
- In 1970, Genevieve tells Kitty that her sister Linnet's grandson (Kitty's great nephew), Jay Bunting, married a woman named Merle (who later goes by "Granny Bird") and had a baby, Martin. Merle does not want Martin to grow up in the city, so they are going to move to St. Flurries to live there.
- In the mid-1980s, the family farm that Gwyn married into burns down and Genevieve shows up to inform Kitty, then asks her to come with her to meet someone, who turns out to be an aged Gwyn. In this meeting, Kitty learns a lot of things:
-- Granny Bird has offered Genevieve a home at St. Flurries for as long as she wishes to be there.
I am not really sure why since I never got the impression that Genevieve was close to anyone living at the estate—she was only close to Kitty. I think it is implied that Genevieve was working with Jay to break Kitty's curse and so that is how the Buntings became close to her, but that relationship is also never really explained and only hinted at when we learn about how Jay died.
-- Genevieve is sorry to have failed at reversing the curse despite having spent much time after attending university traveling around to gypsy colonies to ask questions. She did find out a couple things, though:
-- She can see and hear Kitty because she is a half-blooded gypsy (though, if she is Gwyn's granddaughter, wouldn't she be a quarter gypsy, not a half?) and has powers of a fey; however, her powers are not strong enough to break the curse.
Two things: If Genevieve is Gwyn's granddaughter, wouldn't she be a quarter gypsy, not a half? And, where on earth did this "fey" magic even come from that Genevieve has?? Gwyn isn't fey, and neither, as far as we know, was the farmer. None of this was never explained adequately.
-- The curse can be broken by someone else, but only if they are related to Kitty by blood and have "a heart as pure as snow." This is a problem because the vast majority of Kitty's relatives are now dead.
-- The only blood relative who comes to mind is Jay, her great nephew and Granny Bird's husband, because he is not just a blood relative but kind, as well. Unfortunately, Jay was killed the day before trying to go back in to the fire to find the The Witches Cooking Pot book that Gwyn had inherited when Mama Rosa died. He and Genevieve had only just realized how important it was because the clan told Genevieve that there is a spell in it that could help save Kitty—and now the book was gone in the fire along with Jay.
-- They discuss further options, and consider whether Martin could help to break the curse, except that he is "black and twisted."
-- The curse must be broken before midnight on Christmas Eve in 2018 (exactly 100 years from when Mama Rosa cursed Kitty) or Kitty will die and the curse will be transferred to the nearest weak or ill person.
- On the eve of the Millennium, Martin marries a woman named Susan.
- In 2007, Martin and Susan have a child: Kes. Six months later, Kes nearly drowns in a frozen lake when his father is not watching him properly and is rescued by Kitty. This incident causes a falling out between Martin and his mother, so he and Susan leave St. Flurries.
- In 2009, Granny Bird learns through a short letter from Susan that there is another grandchild, Star, but that Martin will not let his mother see either Kes or Star.
- In 2016 or so, Martin's physical abuse of both Susan and the children comes to a head, the police are called, Susan and the children are given shelter for abuse victims, and Martin runs away.
- In mid-2018, Martin is killed while saving a drowning woman.
- In late 2018, Susan passes away suddenly when a drunk driver hits her.
- A few weeks later, thanks to an ad in the paper, Kes and Star are reunited with Granny Bird and come to live at St. Flurries, which means maybe Kitty's curse can be broken after all.
I am not sure I really believe that the ad in the newspaper worked to find the children, especially in this day and age. I realize everyone in the house is elderly and maybe still reads the paper, but, honestly, it is just a little far-fetched to me.
Upon arriving at St. Flurries, Kes and Star meet their grandmother and the rest of the estate's quirky inhabitants, are told some family history, experience some odd happenings, and some items go missing (it is later revealed that these were given to Kitty by Genevieve or taken by Kitty herself). Additionally, Granny Bird tells Kes and Star she must sell the estate and move to a smaller house on the grounds because, after spending her life savings trying to find them, she cannot afford the estate's upkeep any longer.
I think this is meant to be sweet and show the children how much she cares about them because she spent every last penny she has searching for them, but honestly I felt like it just wasn't something they needed to know, especially at their young ages and given what has happened in their life so far. How is knowing that they are indirectly responsible for her basically losing her ancestral home supposed to be very comforting? This is conveniently resolved when Granny Bird inherits the perfume company, which is worth millions of dollars, and overall just seems like another unnecessary complication that the story could have done without.
Oh, and multiple people remark on Star's resemblance to Both Granny Bird and Kitty.
A big deal is made of this, but I'm not sure why, except to maybe foreshadow that she looks both like Granny Bird and Kitty because she is Granny Bird's granddaughter and she looks like Kitty because she is Kitty's great great niece.
They are also confused by the arrival of an additional (and mysterious) visitor. Star recognizes him from the solicitor's office and from the train, and for some reason the visitor is intent on what he calls "bird watching," which apparently consists of wandering around the house and grounds checking all of the taxidermy and statues for... something.
Unfortunately, not long after arriving, Star becomes ill with the flu and must stay in bed, which is most inopportune because this means Kes must find the Snow Witch and solve the mystery of Kitty on his own. Upon finally locating Kitty/Snow Witch's cottage, Kes's troubles increase when finds out from her that if he cannot help her break the curse, she will die and the next person to become the Snow Witch is the person nearest who is weak or ill—Star. Instead of focusing on that, he for some reason then grills the Snow Witch about where Kitty is, which angers Kitty/Snow Witch and, in a disproportionate fit of rage and frustration, she thrusts an icicle through his chest, freezing him into a pillar of ice.
This was just bizarre to me. Why would she get mad instead of just being like, "Oh, I am Kitty, you got my messages, thank God you're here to help me!" There was no reason for Kes to be frozen, it wasted a bunch of time, and it didn't have to happen. If Kitty was so fed up about being the Snow Witch and no one knowing what happened to her but Genevieve, why would she intentionally hurt the one other person who could see and hear her and understand her story AND CURE HER, especially after she practically led Kes to her cottage for this purpose??
Stunned at what has happened, Kitty asks Bob to find Genevieve, hoping that perhaps her fey magic can help. Genevieve arrives and tells Kitty that before she died, Gwyn told her that she can use her fey powers, but only once in her entire lifetime; meaning, she could help to free Kes but not subsequently help Star or Kitty. They both see no other option and go ahead with the plan.
Once freed, Kes sees the Snow Witch on the floor and realizes she is almost dead. It was not clear to me whether Kes realizes Kitty is the Snow Witch because he overheard them talking while he was frozen or if he overhears the Snow Witch saying to Genevieve that "she still had something" before she fell unconscious, but, either way, he realizes that Kitty is the Snow Witch. Genevieve explains that they need to work quickly to save Star, so they head back to the estate. While they walk, Genevieve explains the parts of the past to Kes that he had not been aware of, particularly where his father and mother were concerned.
As they get back, they see Goldie who tells Kes to go in and get warmed up, but not before Mr. Garganey appears and Kes finally tells Goldie that Garganey has been following him and Star since the solicitor's office. Goldie gets mad and "has a talk" with Garganey.
I have no idea why Kes and Star never said anything about Garganey following them to the other adults before this, or why Goldie and the other adults put up with his obviously false pretense for so long. I mean, for heaven's sake, they just let Garganey wander freely around the house examining all the taxidermy and statues with no explanation!
Genevieve and Kes come up with a plan, but before they can start, Granny Bird shows up and asks them what they are doing. All of a sudden, in a masterful display of emotional manipulation, Kes decides that the way to stop the women from arguing is to tell Granny Bird he loves her and, when she tells him she loves him back because he has finally had a change of heart in making himself vulnerable, he asks her to trust his judgment about Genevieve.
This made Kes's "inability to trust" feel like it was just a mechanism for him to coerce his grandmother and Genevieve into trusting each other so he could get what he wants, which just made me feel uncomfortable and squicked-out instead of touched.
When Genevieve tries to explain it all, Granny Bird demands proof that Kitty is still alive and has been all this time, that Kitty was cursed, and that Star is about to undertake that curse. So, Genevieve sings the lullaby that Granny Bird used to sing to Martin when he was a baby and says that she learned it because Kitty used to sit outside the window and listen. Granny Bird accepts this as proof, and tells them she will help with their plan.
I have no idea why Genevieve knowing the lullaby that Granny Bird sang to Martin when he was little serves as adequate proof that Kitty is alive, and it most definitely doesn't serve as proof that Star is about to be cursed?? I would have thought explaining how Kitty saved Kes from drowning when he was a baby and that coincides with dreams Kes still has would have been better proof that at least someone was still alive way longer than they should be and that could probably be proof of a curse of some sort, though it still wouldn't prove that that someone is Kitty. And, the way Star looks as she is very obviously turning into something else would be proof of the curse coming upon her.
Genevieve chooses to reveal at this critical moment that even though she knows where to find the information about how to undo the curse, she can't tell Kes without violating the laws of her gypsy heritage.
Honestly, I am not sure why Genevieve still cares about the laws of the gypsies since so many people are in danger and none of her family is really alive anymore. Also, it's not like she is telling Kes the potion ingredients, she would just have to be like "there's a journal, look for it."
She figures out a way to help Kes without directly revealing anything to him by giving him a riddle. Kes figures out the riddle Genevieve gave to him and together he and Granny Bird go to Kitty's cottage to find her snow journal and to see how Kitty is doing.
Once they get in (Kes has to help Granny Bird see both the cottage and Kitty), they locate the journal, but Kitty awakens long enough to tell them it's not the right one. After tending to the animals and Kitty, Kes and Granny Bird head out back to the estate to locate the other journal that Kitty had before she was the Snow Witch (this is the item Kitty whispered to Genevieve about before she went unconscious that Genevieve couldn't directly tell Kes about without violating her gypsy heritage). They locate the journal in her bedside table, Kes retrieves the key from the grandfather clock (he knew it was there, thanks to the clue from the glass locket), and they open the journal to discover that even if they no longer have Mama Rosa's book, Kitty had unwittingly written down the cure for her own curse in her journal.
It is never explained how the message about the key in the grandfather clock even got inside the locket?? It's not like Kitty put it in there before she became the Snow Witch and it's not like she had access to the locket once she was the Snow Witch.
From this, they learn they need three mistletoe berries, a teaspoon of snow, and two cat hairs to create the remedy. Once the potion is ready, they administer it to Star and cure her; however, Kes realizes that the clock is still running backward and that they must also administer the remedy to Kitty.
At least Kes realizes this, as I was kind of wondering why Kes gave the potion to Star first when it was Kitty who needed it—even though the curse was transferring to Star, it was Kitty who still had it until midnight and we kept being told that Star could only be helped by relieving Kitty of the curse (which, to me, also means that really the cure should not have worked on Star at all).
Anyway, in a moment that is both scarring and anticlimactic, Kes gives Kitty the potion just in time, only to have the resulting after effects cause the cottage to come down upon Kitty and crush her.
Is this to kill her body in the future so that her other body in the past can be revived? Also, doesn't this kind of mean that, either way, whether she's cured or not, she would be killed, so doesn't that make breaking the curse moot? Maybe if it wasn't cured she would be dead completely as both Kitty and the Snow Witch and if she was cured she would be dead as the Snow Witch only and get a second chance to be Kitty? It just felt like a copout to me in an attempt to avoid having to explain intricacies of the curse that would be very complicated and probably had not been figured out by the author, especially since the rest of the book is very rushed and left so much else unexplained.
The next day, Christmas Day, Goldie calls everyone into the library. Finally, we learn that Garganey was supposed to deliver a letter at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, but he failed because he couldn't find find the "blackbird" he was supposed to deliver it to.
Why Garganey didn't just ASK someone about the "blackbird" is beyond me, particularly since I also don't understand why he was apparently trying to deliver it to inanimate objects?? I am also not sure why Kitty couldn't just tell him to deliver it to Lady Merle Bunting as a part of her will instead of creating all the shenanigans over calling her the "blackbird."
Granny Bird tells them that her first name, Merle, is another name for blackbird (thus, Granny Bird). Garganey hands Granny Bird the envelope from his "extremely important client" who is a person who makes perfume. He then tells Granny Bird that, as of now, she owns the very profitable company that makes the Snowquet perfume of which she is so fond—which means they will no longer have to sell the estate. When Granny Bird reads the letter, they realize the owner of the perfume company is actually Kitty.
This was just strange to me because it's not like the perfume thing was super-significant for Kitty at the time she tried making it as an experiment while she was the Snow Witch. Yet, in the letter Kitty writes to Granny Bird as a part of her will, she says her "simple mistake" with the perfume led to her empire but it doesn't really explain how, after not being the Snow Witch anymore, Kitty decided that somehow this perfume experiment was her salvation?? It was also just too much that Granny Bird just happens to favor this perfume AND somehow is able to afford it (it is mentioned that it is very expensive) AND somehow Star recognizes it when they first arrive and says it's "Snowquet" without ever having actually smelled it and seen only commercials on TV?
Back in 1918, Kitty wakes up where she had first collapsed after Mama Rosa had cursed her, watches her snow journal crumble to pieces, and then hears her father calling her name. She races toward the house, only to find a sort-of familiar face on the doorstep: Buzz, only he is colored differently.
Why did only Buzz stay with Kitty? What happened to Bob and Pipit? I feel like this is supposed to be significant but I don't know why. Or, it's an oversight.
After picking up the dog, she heads into the house to be crushed by her father with hugs and presumably live the life she would have had if she had never been the Snow Witch.
So... that's it?? The whole ending was really rushed, like the author just couldn't be bothered to make sure we really understand what happened with the logistics of the curse and time aspects. Despite the issues I had, I was kind of with everything until right here where everyone is cured and there is no real explanation about how it worked when Kitty was restored, especially since so much about the perfume company stuff also didn't make sense to me. I guess Kes saved Kitty, but there is no explanation about what that really means. Apparently, Kitty goes back to her original time and lives her life from then and lives to be 91 years old in this "normal" life and creates the perfume company for no reason, but if the curse is broken and Kitty goes back to her original time, why does any of that stuff ever happen with Kes and Star because it should all have been undone? Doesn't that just make the whole book moot? And, why does she still remember everything about being the Snow Witch? Does this mean there is another Snow Witch now, or that no Snow Witches are needed any longer? SO MANY QUESTIONS.
Despite the issues I mentioned above, overall this book passes my "test" for at least having made sure that all of the clues and strange happenings were explained, and the timelines line up (except for the parts we don't understand when Kitty was uncursed).
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
I've already touched on some of the issues I had as they were specific to bits in the story as I wrote out the plot, but I also wanted to discuss a few broader issues.
Unexplained Quirky Nature of Supporting Characters
Like the clock and the barometer, there are weird details and quirks about some of the characters that seem like they are supposed to be significant but in actuality don't mean anything or aren't explained. I thought it was going to mean that actually they are all in on the Snow Witch thing and live in that world as mystical creatures or something, but no. For example:
- Goldie and Mrs. Gold are also unusually tall and Mrs. Gold dresses like a tree.
- Chat the cat seems like more than a cat, but his existence is never explained the way Bob, Buzz, and Pippit are. Is he magical? Does he belong to Kitty? How does he know to help Kitty when he isn't one of her pets? How would he know there is a message in the locket? And how would he know its hairs could help cure things so he shouldn't make a fuss when they retrieve them?
- Mrs. Chiffchaff's arrival at the house is odd, and it was like she knew she was needed.
- Great Aunt Bubo is very peculiar and sort of a drunk. Is she just comic relief?
Captain Finn’s Fall
Several things don't stand up for me: there is no explanation for why he would target Mama Rosa specifically or even know a gypsy has enough money worth stealing to make the risk of sneaking out worth it, there is no explanation for why Finn would even think the book is valuable and take it along with the money, and there is no explanation for why Kitty's father, the butler, and the police even suspected him in Kitty's disappearance or the robbery, except that he is a traitor. Sure, they were right about it, but that is beside the point if I can't be convinced of the logic concerning why they suspected him in the first place or even believed that Mama Rosa wasn't blowing smoke. There was no reason for them to go looking at Finn specifically, especially since they didn't even know he was pretending to be blind and Kitty never told them her suspicions before she was cursed and afterward she couldn't tell them. Basically, what I'm saying is that us knowing through Kitty that Captain Finn is guilty is not enough—we have to be able to reconcile her father and the police coming to that conclusion on their own and that was not successfully done, in my opinion.
“Family Sticks Together”
Kes goes on and on about how his mother taught him that "family sticks together." I get that this is the mantra that gives Kes the bravery he needs to help his sister and to manipulate Granny Bird into taking Genevieve seriously, but it just came off as weird to me, particularly since I am not sure why his mother would find value in this statement. For one thing, her family didn't stay together because she allowed Martin to drag her away from the family home during one of his tantrums. After the dad abandoned them, the mom had years to contact Granny Bird to reconnect and didn't (then dies suddenly and of course has no chance then). How is that a demonstration of family sticking together? Plus, Kes sort of rationalizes his emotional manipulation of Granny Bird and Genevieve using this mantra, which only added to the squickiness of that moment.
Why Don’t People Just Tell Other People Stuff
I kind of already talked about some of this earlier, but this mechanism was so prevalent throughout the book that I feel it needs to be mentioned on its own. I realize that often this tactic is used to create misunderstandings so plot things can happen. However, basically everything that happens in this book could have been avoided if people had just been honest with each other, which is kind of annoying because there was no reason not to tell stuff!
Who Can See Kitty and Why
Why can Kes see Kitty and her cottage unaided if he doesn't have any fey blood or gypsy blood? He is not from Gwyn's line, he is from the non-magical Bunting line. For that matter, why couldn't Gwyn see Kitty when she was a full gypsy, if Genevieve is her granddaughter and could see Kitty despite being only half gypsy and by rights shouldn't have any gypsy blood at all since Gwyn gave all that up when she married the farmer? I could maybe see Gwyn losing the ability to see Kitty after she married and gave up her gypsy heritage, but she could not see Kitty even before she got married. None of this was never explained adequately.
Curse Mechanics
I've already alluded to some issues about the curse, but *sigh* as with most books about curses, I have a lot of problems with this area. What is the point of the curse? The curse doesn't seem to serve any function, like thwarting evil or making sure the world continues to revolve. Kitty was just cursed to be cold and invisible and trapped on the estate grounds for 100 years. She didn't have to make sure winter happens or carry out any responsibilities having to do with cold weather or fight some sort of snow war or ANything. What happens to the Snow Witch if she breaks the curse and it does not transfer to someone else? Why can't she leave the grounds? Why can she eat the food there and interact with the "normal" world if she has "phased" outside of it to a point where she doesn't exist in it? And, what does this mean for all of the other "calendar year" witches in the Witch's Calendar Year book that Genevieve wrote?? None of this is explained, not how the multiple witch thing works, not why Genevieve wrote this book, not what the whole book is even about exactly, not why these witches/curses exist or are needed, and not even how Genevieve even learns this information because she doesn't mention it as something she learned from the clan when she talked to them later in life. Does this mean that there are, at all time, 12 cursed women for 100 years each? What happens if there is no witch for a particular month? And, what does it mean when some curses are broken but not all? I just, UHHHH.
Gypsy Magic and How It Works
I have heard about gypsy magic; however, I feel like it was a bit vague in this book and it sort of didn't really have a direction or explanation. All we learn is that gypsies have magic (though we don't know what kind of magic, exactly) and that they only keep it if they stay in the clan or else they lose it entirely and also cannot pass it on to offspring. This just seems weird to me—like if you are born into a gypsy clan then you are blood of that clan, which you cannot undo, no matter who you marry or how far you move away, so it seems to me the magic should stay with you for as long as you live and that, if you were to have children with a non-gypsy, then your children would, by blood, be half-gypsy and have half the magic you do. If it is all about whether you are part of a clan, then wouldn't that mean that if a non-gypsy marries INTO the clan that they would then gain gypsy magic (so, actually, Gwyn wouldn't lose her magic and her husband would have gained magic)? I don't know enough about gypsy magic lore to know if any of this is based on actual beliefs or if the author just used "gypsy magic" as a generic way to introduce some solutions.
Unexplained Bird References
I don't really get the bird references and why they are so significant, especially since this book isn't called something like "The Snow Bird" or "The Bird's Curse" or even "The Bird Witch." Everyone has bird names (creating the "nest" of characters the author lists in back) for no reason I can discern other than to make it easier to give them personalities and appearances based on those birds. I realize there's the whole "blackbird" thing in finding Granny Bird to tell her she has inherited Kitty's perfume business, but I don't really understand why it had to be a bird reference for that mystery instead of some other naming convention, like one having to do with SNOW or WINTER. It all just seems totally random and I don't get it.
Reading Level
One thing to note is this book is marketed toward children/middle grades. I am not sure what "middle grades" refers to, exactly, because I think all educational systems divide this differently. I would put this at closer to 8th grade (13-year-olds or even 14-year-olds), rather than 5th-6th (10-11-year-olds). Not because of the content, but because the writing level almost borders on young adult with some complicated words (for example, words like "paraphernalia," "ensconced," "viaduct," "metropolis," "prefabricated," "velocipede," and "pneumatic" are all in the first chapter alone). Parents who are considering this book for their child may want to take a look first at a couple chapters to check if they feel it falls within their child's reading comprehension abilities (regardless of their age). If it doesn't, maybe reading it together or making sure a parent is available to help with the harder words as the child goes through it might be good? Not that a challenge isn't a good thing because that is how we advance our reading skills, I'd just hate for reading this to become a point of frustration where comprehension (which would affect enjoyment) is concerned for a child if they struggle with unexpected high-level words within.
Target Audience
As I said in my introduction, this book just... lacked something for me. Now having written all this out, I realized it may actually have to do with the in-between nature of the reading level. I think (especially if the issues I noted were fixed) it had the potential to be an amazing dark young adult book (sort of on the lines of the His Fair Assassin or Poison Study series—something aimed at late teens/early 20s and more strongly young adult), but it sort of reads like it was written for a much older audience, but someone suggested that it should be written for younger children so it was modified, then it just had no focused audience in the end.
A final note: I did appreciate that this was a standalone book. I grow weary of so many books these days being forcibly made into a series that it was refreshing and felt like an accomplishment to just, like, read a book and have closure when it came to an end, even if I didn't feel that all the points were addressed completely. (Though, thinking on it now, this is assuming the author is not planning to write 11 more books, one for each of the "calendar year witches" that are briefly mentioned but never explained in the The Witches Calendar Year book.)… (mais)