Ice by Sarah Beth Durst - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

Mar 13, 2010 Valerie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: retellings, fantasy

I've already read the other two retellings of east of the sun, west of the moon (or was it the other way around?). I thought for sure I was going to love it like I did the other two but it didn't capture me as much as I had hoped. It is still full of romance (more so than the first two) and adventure. I can say that Durst is a good writer. She captures great scenes like the castle and I could vividly imagine characters like Bear. Durst shows real creativity in whole concept of "MOON-awk-sree". I...more

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Mar 26, 2010 Cara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Cara by: Ash

Shelves: 2010, fantasy, fairy-tales, awesome-covers

I was way beyond excited when I heard this book was going to come out. Frankly I was downright giddy with excitement. Like many other reviewers have mentioned I had already read East and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow so I'm already familar with the old Nordic tale. I'm not going to say I didn't like it, I did, but it's hard for me to give it a hearty recommendation.

Cassie is a modern girl, but in her own way is quite different from your "normal" teenage girl. She has been raised by her father and h...more I was way beyond excited when I heard this book was going to come out. Frankly I was downright giddy with excitement. Like many other reviewers have mentioned I had already read East and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow so I'm already familar with the old Nordic tale. I'm not going to say I didn't like it, I did, but it's hard for me to give it a hearty recommendation.

Cassie is a modern girl, but in her own way is quite different from your "normal" teenage girl. She has been raised by her father and his scientific crew out in the Artic. She has never called any other place home and plans to keep it that way for the most part. But a bedtime story that deals with her mother, an enchanted bear, a family of winds, and ugly trolls will become more than just a pretty words in a story.

I don't want to give too much away but I think if I say that the bear in the story has "special" powers that are pretty awesome wouldn't give too much away. It is mentioned toward the beginning of the book. Probably the most original part of the whole story. All the main elements of the fairytale are hit on and it was good to see the story take place in modern times when GPS isn't just 3 letters piled together. Cassie has to go through a tremendous journey and will have to use all her know how about surviving out in the ice, and just surviving in general to pull her through.

This book definitely did bring the tale from a different angle. Since Cassie is modern she is resistant in thinking all the magic around her is possible. She does her best to get accustomed to it and her strong willed personality helps with the changes. Slowly but surely she comes to realize how much she loves Bear, but one mistake could undo it all. The author does give rich descriptions of all the surroundings and makes the world totatlly believable. Humor is sprinkled throughout, but I do have a but... I liked Cassie and I didn't. Sure, it's tough having to feel betrayed and she is entitled to be angry. Honestly though she came off as whiny and another thing, there is this certain place she spends WAY too long in. I was just about to pull my hair out, but now that I think about that may have been the point. What did it in for me was the ending. Not bad, but less climatic than I expected, although I think that may have come from knowing too much about the general plot line. They weren't glaringly bad things, just my personal taste.

I do recommend reading it though and I have read other reviews that actually preferred this retelling compared to the other two. It depends on your personal taste. All the retellings are great and magical in their own way.

Marvelous cover.

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Nov 09, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen for TeensReadToo.com

Cassie has grown up on an Arctic research station in Alaska with her father. She's been told stories of her mother, who made a deal with the Polar Bear King and is now imprisoned by trolls.

Cassie is eighteen and doesn't believe in Polar Bear Kings or trolls anymore - it's just a nice way of saying her mother died. But when she seeks out a polar bear that starts talking to her and promises he can return her mother if she would b...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Nicole rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love unconventional love stories! I was amazed by this story. It was one of the most beautiful tales I've read in a long time--a wonderful fairy tale. The writing was not only beautiful but the plot was intriguing that I had to keep reading and didn't want to put the book down. The depictions of the world in the book were described in a way that I felt I was there in the cold arctic (I recommend reading this with a cup of hot chocolate or else you might be shivering).

The romance was wonderful....more

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Dec 05, 2010 Alicia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-fantasy, fairy-tale-or-folk-tale-retellings, norse-mythology, reviewed, not-so-feminist-themes

Beautiful story, but I disliked the romantic aspects. The relationship between Bear and Cassie felt rushed, and in some ways was quite creepy. The Bear used his magic powers to forcibly impregnate her. Cassie had been taking BC because she had no interest in children, yet without telling her or asking for her consent, the Bear "fixed" her "chemical imbalance" caused by the pill using his magic and she was three months preggers before he told her what he had done. I guess this is the paranormal r...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Nemo (the Moonlight Library) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: new-adult, stand-alone, it-s-a-love-story-ruuuuuun, library, 2012-read, publisher-6-simon-and-schuster

See this review and more on The Moonlight Library!

This novel is based on a lesser-known Norwegian fairy tale, and though I’d never heard of the tale before, this retelling was wonderfully imagined. I can’t say how much is Durst’s imagination, because it’s based on something else already.

Ice is a novel not without its flaws: to me, it promotes bestiality, domestication of women, Stockholm syndrome, and the disturbing fallout from Twilight's bland Bella’s grand ambitions: to give up a promising fu...more See this review and more on The Moonlight Library!

This novel is based on a lesser-known Norwegian fairy tale, and though I’d never heard of the tale before, this retelling was wonderfully imagined. I can’t say how much is Durst’s imagination, because it’s based on something else already.

Ice is a novel not without its flaws: to me, it promotes bestiality, domestication of women, Stockholm syndrome, and the disturbing fallout from Twilight's bland Bella’s grand ambitions: to give up a promising future and be nothing more than a wife and mother.

However, I did enjoy this novel. Cassie, our eighteen year old heroine (so above the age of consent) is independent, wilful, and brave to the point of insanity. She starts out absolutely wonderfully: chasing after a polar bear on the ice for her own ambitions, joy, entertainment and education. She follows through by sacrificing herself to save her mother – although she doesn’t at first grasp what exactly is required of her. When her new husband reveals his grand plans, she rightfully demands to be let go.

Curiously, it’s when she’s separated from her husband that she yearns to return to her more ‘exciting life’ – one of dancing in frozen ballrooms, eating delicious food and sleeping chastely in the same bed as her husband. Cassie actually thinks this life of no ambition – trapped in an ice castle while her husband works away from home, essentially – is more thrilling than any future her human family can provide: family, friends, a future college and a better than average chance of running her own research station in the Arctic.

So as you can see, I did have some issues with Cassie.

But Cassie is also insanely brave and incredibly resourceful. She manipulates people to get what she needs, and she had a single-minded wilfulness to get what she wants. Despite an ever-growing hurdle against her own body, Cassie manages to do what no one else has been capable of doing: rescuing someone from the troll castle. It’s breathtaking, to look back on the novel and see Cassie’s will, her grand ambition played out, and the mastery of manipulating others, even if it tries her own patience. She fearlessly takes on characters other are terrified of, and puts her own self at risk over and over to achieve her incredible goals. In a away, her loyalty to her husband is the most amazing thing to come out of this book, even at the expense of other things that are precious to her: her family, her friends, her future.

Durst is a fine writer. Her descriptions are lush and cinematic, and her dialogue is believable – if you find a talking polar bear believable, that is. However, the locations work against the novel: there’s only so many ways you can describe ice and snow. When I first started the novel, it wasn’t difficult to put it down and go about my daily life. Not that it was bad in these instances – in fact, the more I read of this novel the more awesome it became. It took until close to halfway when I realised I didn’t want to put it down, and the last quarter of the novel I simply devoured, desperate to know more.

If you like fairytale retellings, you’ll probably like this. If you like romance novels, you’ll probably also like this. I didn’t particularly like seeing Cassie go from career-woman to housewife but that’s just me. The novel, apart from that flaw, was still very good. It entertained me, made me laugh and cry. I am glad I read it and if it sounds like your thing, I hope you enjoy it as well.

PS - just LOOK at this German cover. Isn't is beautiful?

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Aug 10, 2012 Aarati rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: aarya, young-adult, fantasy, romance, pregnant

Just OK.

The good: This retelling of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" is fresh because Cassie is a modern girl who grows up on an Arctic research station. The underlying mythology (Munaqsri, trolls, etc.) is well developed and interesting. Also, the German cover is GORGEOUS.

The bad:

The romance (or more to the point, what romance?). The relationship between Cassie and Bear was rushed and there were no substantive interactions between the two. We weren't shown enough for even a friendship, let a...more Just OK.

The good: This retelling of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" is fresh because Cassie is a modern girl who grows up on an Arctic research station. The underlying mythology (Munaqsri, trolls, etc.) is well developed and interesting. Also, the German cover is GORGEOUS.

The bad:

The romance (or more to the point, what romance?). The relationship between Cassie and Bear was rushed and there were no substantive interactions between the two. We weren't shown enough for even a friendship, let alone the deep love that had Cassie risking her life to save Bear. The author skipped over huge intervals of time when Cassie and Bear were married and lived together, which may be why the reader never sees their relationship develop. As a result, Bear's character is also never developed.

Cassie. I liked her for all of one chapter (when she determinedly chases Bear with the intent of tagging him for research purposes) before she started to rub me the wrong way. She was constantly petty and manipulative. She was also a typical angsty self-centered (stupid) teenager - this wouldn't usually bother me in a YA novel, but she is both married and pregnant in this story.

The pregnancy. Cassie's baby was conceived in a way that left a bad taste in my mouth ((view spoiler)). However, I was more bothered by how Cassie was scaling mountains and engaging in other physically strenuous tasks while heavily pregnant. I also had no sense of time because of the random time skips in the story (which I also disliked). The resolution of the pregnancy was weird and confusing((view spoiler))

I could keep ranting, but I'll be concise and just say that this author's characters and style (blending modern with fairytale) didn't work for me.
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Mar 29, 2012 Sandra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Sandra by: Sally

Shelves: books-i-own, fantasy, in-english, read-in-2012, read-in-vienna, fairytale

This book was based on the fairytale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon", which I am not at all familiar with, but this retelling was highly enjoyable. It's a very quick read, with a very stubborn but still loveable female protagonist, who quite stole the book if you ask me. This girl somehow ends up being married to a Polar Bear, which is less ridiculous in the book than it may sound at first.

I quite liked Bear. The other secondary characters could maybe have been worked out a tiny bit more...more

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May 17, 2013 Andie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memorable, y-a-lit

First and Foremost: this is a fairytale. Therefore, abandon the logic with which you would normally review books with, in regards to the story.

For example, if this were a regular YA novel, I'd be seriously concerned about Stockholm Syndrome (ah, ever the favourite problem with "beauty and the beast" stories), and how Bear tricked Cassie into becoming pregnant. Normally, things like this would make me put the book down in disgust and never pick it up again.

But you know what? This is a fairytale,...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Toria rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I love fairy-tale retellings, so I was excited to pick this one up. I was a bit disappointed. Cassie has lots of determination, but that seems to be her only positive attribute. Frankly, I only wanted her to survive for the sake of the others who cared about her. She's just kind of selfish. Also, the use of birth control disgusted me - I mean, for heaven's sake, it's a fairy-tale retelling! Can't we leave out such horrible stuff? The story delved a bit much into Cassie's marital relationship wit...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Diana - FantasySeiten rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sarah Beth Durst hatte eine echt tolle Idee, aus der sie aber etwas mehr hätte herausholen können. Vielleicht lag das aber auch an der knappen Seitenzahl.

Die Protagonisten im Buch werden eher oberflächlich behandelt. Ihnen fehlt es an Tiefe und der Leser erfährt zu wenig über sie. Aus diesem Grund erscheinen einige Handlungen der Personen unschlüssig und unlogisch beim Lesen. Wieso verliebt sich Cassie so schnell in den Bären, der ihr zu Beginn so wenig sympathisch ist? Und wieso versucht Cassie...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Grace rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, contemporary, myths-fairy-tales-retold, romance

So this is supposed to be a retelling of the polar bear fairy-tale, which I'm sure everyone who's browsing this book is familiar with, so I'm not even going to go into it. I also read the East of the Moon, West of the Sun and the book East, so you might say I've now entered into the elite club that specializes in the polar fairy tale collection.

This book was not as bad as a lot of the reviews make it out to be. I thought it was a humorous and very contemporary take on the story, and I really don...more So this is supposed to be a retelling of the polar bear fairy-tale, which I'm sure everyone who's browsing this book is familiar with, so I'm not even going to go into it. I also read the East of the Moon, West of the Sun and the book East, so you might say I've now entered into the elite club that specializes in the polar fairy tale collection.

This book was not as bad as a lot of the reviews make it out to be. I thought it was a humorous and very contemporary take on the story, and I really don't think that the "birth control problem" that a lot of the other reviewers disliked was that big of a deal. (view spoiler)[ Basically, she was taking birth control and Bear "fixed" her problem without telling her. But he didn't know that she was purposefully taking it and had no idea that it was intentional, so he thought he was helping to fix her health. That's how I took it from what was written. And don't get me wrong, I am very against guys trying to force their children on women, rapists, etc. But I really don't think that was what happened here. Seriously. I think my bigger question is why on earth would she have been taking birth control? I mean, the girl is only 17 or 19 (I forget which) and she's been in the Artic her whole life, living with her father and his (much older) research assistants and other postdoctoral candidates. Why the heck would she have needed the birth control?? There was no talk of her getting on birth control at all, and how would she have gotten it? She wouldn't have been doing hanky-panky with the other research assistants as some were her dad's age, or the other guys -- that would have been gross. So, that is my problem with the script. Also, Bear said it pretty loud and clear that he expected children, so the author really should have put in somewhere something about her actively NOT wanting to have kids (understandable; she's a kid) and secretly getting on birth control to stop his impregnating scheme. So that was kind of out of the blue.

Other than that, I thought it was well done, especially the getting to the troll part -- very creative, and I like how that was done. And frankly, she had to be pregnant in order to give birth on troll land -- for the story and its ending to play out. So I can see why she had to be pregnant. And the going to Sedna and Father Forest and the North Wind, I liked all that. Some of the other reviewers were against all that and thought the beginning dragged out. I thought that was weird -- I mean, we were hardly into the first two chapters before the Bear shows up and by the fourth or fifth, they're already having a good time. So I don't know where the dragging out is. Unless they wanted MORE romance, but frankly the fairy isn't totally a "romance" fairy tale as it is a girl kicking butt in order to find her man -- not terribly heroic, but better than a girl waiting around for a man to come kicking butt to save her. And for once, this is a retelling that spends some time talking about trials she has to go through in order to reach him. Seriously, in the original fairy tale, that's where most of the action and narrative is.

So, if you're looking for pure romance, this is probably not the way to go. But the main character is pretty feisty and kick-butt, and the retelling is pretty creative and I for one enjoyed the description as she travelled from one climate to the next...and she travels through a lot. (hide spoiler)](less)

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Aug 01, 2012 Amelie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-bookshelf

Zur Aufmachung

Ich LIEBE beide Cover und auch beide Titel. Sie sind genial gewählt. Kann man absolut gar nicht meckern. Besonders schön am deutschen Cover finde ich, dass alles an Cassie mit einer Schicht aus Eis überzogen ist. Sieht sehr hübsch aus und passt perfekt zum Buch.

Zum Buch

Ich war wirklich überrascht von Ice. Es ist überhaupt gar nicht so wie ich es mir vorgestellt hatte. Ich dachte, Bät würde Cassie geradezu entführen und sie würde in seinem Schloss herumwüten und sich weigern mit ihm...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Brandy Painter rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fairy-tale-retellings, fantasy, young-adult

"East of the Sun, West of the Moon" is, like Beauty and the Beast, a fairy tale that finds its origins in the myth of Eros and Psyche. This is one of the many reasons I like it so much. This retelling does some interesting things with the original tale. I found all of those things to be 100% creepy and really had a hard time enjoying the story as a result. Yes, the original tale with its girl marrying bear and troll castle would set off the creepy meter of some no matter what. It isn't the origi...more

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Mar 24, 2012 Mayra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of the best books I've ever read. It was really beautiful in its romance and fairy tale description, and I loved Cassie's persistence in order to rescue Bear.
I like how gradually throughout the book she cares more and more about the baby she's carrying. I really loved how her journey was mapped out, and the magical beings she kept running into. The dangerous situations she continued to put herself in made the book interesting and full of action, and the description of her adventure...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Bitten By Books rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My Review:
This story is about a girl named Cassandra Clare or Cassie for short. When Cassie was a little girl her grandmother told her a fairy-tale about her mother, who made a deal with the Polar King and was swept away to the ends of the earth. Now grown up and almost close to her eighteen birthday, Cassie now knows that the story was just a nice way of saying that her mom died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station. Determined to become a scientist she has no time for mak...more My Review:
This story is about a girl named Cassandra Clare or Cassie for short. When Cassie was a little girl her grandmother told her a fairy-tale about her mother, who made a deal with the Polar King and was swept away to the ends of the earth. Now grown up and almost close to her eighteen birthday, Cassie now knows that the story was just a nice way of saying that her mom died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station. Determined to become a scientist she has no time for make-believe. On her eighteen birthday, Cassie comes face to face with a a polar bear named Bear, who talks to her. He tells Cassie that her mother is alive, and is imprisoned at the end of the earth. And he can bring her back- if Cassie will agree to become his bride. After a few days to think it over, she finally agrees to go with him and become his bride. As days go by with Bear, Cassie slowly learns to trust him, and be happy with him. She also discovers about munaqsus and magic. But then Bear is kidnapped and taken to the same place as her mother. That is the beginning of Cassie’s own fairy-tale. One that will take her on a unbelievable journey across the brutal Arctic, though the Canadian boreal forest, and on the back of the North Wind to the land east of the sun and west of the moon. Before it’s over, the world she knows will be swept away, and everything she holds dear will be taken from her. Until she discovers the true meaning of love and family. In this magical realm of Ice.

My Thoughts:

- This book was amazing. I really enjoyed the magical world the author created and also the amazing adventure Cassie went on. Because it felt so real and unbelievable, like you could see what Cassie was seeing.

-The story-line was unique and different, with just a tip of magic... All the characters were so unique. I really enjoyed Cassie's character, she was so strong and brave and stood up for what she believed in. Also Cassie' s relationship with Bear, was so sweet and unique. Looking forward to reading more by Sarah Beth Durst in the future...

- And I give this book 5/5 stars...

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Feb 13, 2012 Jessi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bücher-2012

Wow mal wieder ein Einzelband. So was gibt es überhaupt noch? War meine erste Reaktion und dann fing ich auch schon an zu lesen. Man ist wirklich schnell mitten in der Geschichte drin. Cassie wird ruck zuck mit dem Eisbären vertraut gemacht und schwupps sind die beiden auch schon "verheiratet". Und das alles nur weil der Eisbär ihr verspricht ihre Mutter zu befreien, die Cassie noch nie im Leben gesehen hat. Da wurde ich das erste Mal stutzig, las aber weiter, weil mich die Geschichte und die Hi...more Wow mal wieder ein Einzelband. So was gibt es überhaupt noch? War meine erste Reaktion und dann fing ich auch schon an zu lesen. Man ist wirklich schnell mitten in der Geschichte drin. Cassie wird ruck zuck mit dem Eisbären vertraut gemacht und schwupps sind die beiden auch schon "verheiratet". Und das alles nur weil der Eisbär ihr verspricht ihre Mutter zu befreien, die Cassie noch nie im Leben gesehen hat. Da wurde ich das erste Mal stutzig, las aber weiter, weil mich die Geschichte und die Hintergründe interessierten. Dann geht es auch relativ schnell und Cassie ist dann schon einige Wochen bei dem Eisbären. den sie einfach nur "Bär" nennt. Naja nicht wirklich einfallsreich, aber was solls, ist halt so. Sie erfährt was genau der Eisbär ist, das er sich in einen Menschen verwandeln kann und das sie niemals sein Gesicht sehen darf. Und dann wird ihr auch recht schnell langweilig bei dem Bären und er entlässt sie wieder in ihre Welt. Dort aber wieder angekommen merkt Cassie, dass sie den Bären vermisst und das sie ihm helfen kann und geht wieder zurück. Beide werden ein scheinbar perfektes Paar, verlieben sich mehr und mehr in einander und alles könnte wunderschön sein. Doch dann .............. und jetzt erzähle ich nicht mehr weiter ;) Ich weiß ich bin sooooo fies. Aber den Rest müsst ihr selbst lesen. Es passiert nämlich noch reichlich viel und das ist dann auch wirklich interessant.

Für mich haben die Charaktere nicht wirklich was Besonderes an sich aber sie passen perfekt in die Geschichte. Haben Humor und durchaus Persönlichkeit aber leider nichts wirklich extrem hervorstechendes. Cassie findet sich recht schnell mit ihrer Situation ab und beginnt sich im Schloss des Bärens wirklich wohl zu fühlen. Doch sie vermisst es auch zu forschen und merkt ab und zu was sie doch zurück gelassen hat. An ihr hat mir gefallen, dass sie ein Ziel hat. Sie will forschen, liebt das Eis und hat keine Angst alleine im Eis zu leben. Das ist eine Stärke die ich ihr hoch anrechne.
Den Bären fand ich einfach nur süß. Er nennt Cassie direkt "Liebste" verschweigt ihr nichts, kommt direkt auf den Punkt und lässt sogar mit sich handeln. Doch auch er hat ein Ziel und seine Arbeit und diese nimmt viel Platz in seinem Leben ein, dass er nach anfänglichen Schwierigkeiten auch mit Cassie teilt und merkt wie wundervoll dies sein kann. Ich konnte oft herauslesen, dass er sehr einsam gewesen sein muss und es jetzt in vollen Zügen genießt Cassie bei sich zu haben und für sie zu sorgen, was er auch wirklich sehr gut macht. Was genau der Eisbär ist, möchte ich nicht verraten aber die Idee dahinter fand ich wirklich klasse und sehr schön. Eine tolle Idee die gut umgesetzt wurde und durchaus Schwung mitbringt.

Wie schon erwähnt hat mich das Grundgerüst der Geschichte an ein altes Märchen erinnert, dass ich auch sehr oft wiedergefunden habe. Aber nach und nach rückte dieses Märchen in den Hintergrund und die Geschichte des Buches wurde für mich vordergründig. Zum Glück ;) Denn die Geschichte hat durchaus ihren Charme und konnte mich an einigen Stellen wirklich fesseln. Nach einem wirklich rasanten Einstieg wurde die Geschichte etwas ruhiger und bestach durch Einfallsreichtum und durch interessante fantastische Elemente, die mit modernen Elementen durchzogen wurden. Der Mix aus Moderne/Realität und Fantasy/Märchen hat mich durchaus überrascht und konnte mich dann bis zum Schluss mitreißen.

Der Sprachstil der Autorin ist sehr direkt und sehr modern. Sie verfällt nicht in literarische Höhen sondern bleibt auf einen sehr normalen und einfachen Ebene, die gut ist für Zwischendurch und nicht zu viel Aufmerksamkeit braucht. Das Buch lässt sich dadurch ziemlich schnell weglesen und ist für mich in dieser Hinsicht, einfach nur perfekt.

Fazit: Wer nicht gerade hochtrabende Texte und Dialoge braucht und ab und zu mal in eine zauberhafte und vorallem märchenhafte Eiswelt abtauchen möchte, ist hier genau richtig. Das Buch besticht durch Einfachheit und durch normale Charaktere. Der rasante Einstieg hätte für mich etwas ausgedehnter sein können. Ich hätte mir eine längere Kennenlernphase von Bär und Cassie gewüscht aber der Mittelteil und das schöne Ende haben das durchaus aufwiegen können.

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Jan 06, 2012 Shweta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-fantasy

Those of you who know my reading taste will know how much I love fairy tale re tellings. I might be all grown up but the love for Happily Ever Afters where a fair prince gets to save the damsel in distress ,have been my favorite kind of books. Ice by Sarah Beth Durst though a retelling of a fairy tale was not exactly that kind of a book. I mean , there was the old fairy tale charm but it was more modern ,adventurous and the damsel in question , most definitely wasn't in distress. Atleast she did...more Those of you who know my reading taste will know how much I love fairy tale re tellings. I might be all grown up but the love for Happily Ever Afters where a fair prince gets to save the damsel in distress ,have been my favorite kind of books. Ice by Sarah Beth Durst though a retelling of a fairy tale was not exactly that kind of a book. I mean , there was the old fairy tale charm but it was more modern ,adventurous and the damsel in question , most definitely wasn't in distress. Atleast she didn't keep waiting for her Prince Charming to do all the work ..My verdict - FASCINATING

Cassie grew up listening to a fairy tale. The one where in her mother is taken as a prisoner to the end of the earth and she has promised to give her daughter , that's Cassie, to the Polar Bear King as his bride to be. Living with people of science Cassie has long forgotten and rubbished this tale but on her 18th birthday she comes face to face with a unusaully large bear who talks to her! 'Now this must have a logical explanation' is what Cassie's mind tells her but her heart tells her that if the bear can talk then there are chances her mother too is alive.Just like in the fairy tale. So she decides to go along with the Polar Bear King and fulfill her mother's part of the bargian . Little does she knows that her destiny isn't as simple as that.

Reading about Cassie was refreshing. She sounded sane because even after the major jolt of realising that bears can talk, trolls exist and her mom whom she considered dead ,might still be alive she wasn't over whelmed. She was logical and smart .Her questioning and refusal to just take things at face value was a quality I liked about her. Though I have to confess that loving a polar bear isn't my idea of fairy tale but when Beauty could love Beast and we could all applaud and cry happy tears at that I believe Polar Bear King and Cassie's romance shouldn't be belittled. Polar Bear though a very important character was according to me over shadowed by Cassie. Story with a heroine who can act like a hero. Now this kind of fairy tales , I like.

Another great thing about the book was the mixture of science with fantasy. Cassie being a believer of science at heart uses her knowledge in helping the Polar Bear King in his fulfilling his duty.Let me tell you that part of the plot definitely didn't look out of place or forced.Goes to prove magic and science can co exist.If the author so wishes :)

Loved the Sarah Beth Durst's style of story telling. I have to say the book managed to keep me engaged to finish it in one reading.

One complaint though , somewhere after page 200 , all Cassie did was run. It looked as if the running was the only thing happening in the story. She was either running or devising plans on how to run. For that part of the book I too wanted to run ahead and skip to the point where she would stop and story would move ahead. Confused ? I guess unless you read it you won't understand what I am trying to tell you here. But this in no way made the story less enjoyable.

I would recommend this book to all YA fantasy lovers.
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Oct 28, 2011 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

Huh, so this book was a bit different from what I originally expected. I have to be honest, I only picked it up because of the cover, I love polar bears. And the cover has some very beautiful artwork including a polar bear. It was in the young adult section, and while I do read young adult quite often, I'm not sure what age range I would classify this within the YA genre. The print was large and geared towards the younger end of the spectrum while the content seemed towards the older end of YA....more Huh, so this book was a bit different from what I originally expected. I have to be honest, I only picked it up because of the cover, I love polar bears. And the cover has some very beautiful artwork including a polar bear. It was in the young adult section, and while I do read young adult quite often, I'm not sure what age range I would classify this within the YA genre. The print was large and geared towards the younger end of the spectrum while the content seemed towards the older end of YA. And the novel is based off of a fairy tale (one that I hope to read someday).

Cassie has had an unusual life. Growing up on a research station in the arctic, her only companions were those that worked there and her father and grandmother. From a young age, her grandmother had told her a story of how her mom, having been promised as a wife to the polar bear king, instead ended up the prisoner of trolls. As Cassie grows, she concludes this was just her grandmother's way of softening the story of her mothers death. But on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie learns differently when the Polar Bear King comes to claim her as his bride instead. She makes a deal that if he will release her mother, she will become his life, and is whisked away to his icy castle (which she finds strangely beautiful). She likes the polar bear king, but just as they are growing closer, another bargain of his goes South and he becomes the prisoner of the trolls. Cassie knows she must find a way to rescue him.

Cassie was about the only character I could really like in this book. She was headstrong and courageous and wanted to follow her own dreams, although she was willing to compromise. I think that makes a decent sort of person. What I had a problem with were the rest of the characters. Her parents were weak and I was very unsympathetic to them. Other side characters only seemed to make problems.

But my biggest problem with the characters would have to be the Polar Bear King. Sure on the outside and superficially he seemed to be a pretty cool guy. Handsome, smart, interested in doing what was right for the world, what could be so wrong you say? Well, this is a young adult novel, and as such, most young adults tend to fall for the romantic and I can just picture young girls falling in love with this guy and thinking that the way he treats Cassie is perfect. When we look past his splendor though, what we get is a guy who wheedles her into doing things she doesn't want, leaves her along for long portions of time because of his devotion to his work (no matter how noble that's not healthy) and the biggest of all, sets about to "fix" her without any input or permission from her and claims it was because he loved her. Let's just say that what he did would be the equivalent to a guy hiding someone's birth control. I just have a lot of problems with him being the hero in the book because of that.

So now that I've ended my rant on the characters, I do have to say that I enjoyed the plot of the book. Although I haven't read the fairytale its based on I find this story concept enchanting and being set in the polar region its different from most fairy tales I've encountered. There are a few parts that get choppy and bounce around without making sense, but the majority of the book flows smoothly and has a great deal of unique fantasy aspects in it. There is some cussing in the book, but it was mainly mild, but I can see some of the themes being a bit too dark for someone who enjoys happy fairy tales.

An interesting book, despite my disgust with the one character I do sheepishly admit that I enjoyed reading it. I would only caution that if you're giving it to a teenage daughter to read, explain that the relationship is not a good one.

Ice
Copyright 2009
308 pages

Review by M. Reynard 2011

More of my reviews can be found at ifithaswords.blogspot.com(less)

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Jul 19, 2011 Miriam rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, mythology, fairy-tale

There was a point, about 70 pages in, where I almost gave up on this book. I said (not out loud), "Wait, they're not going to storm the troll castle and rescue her mother? They're just going to hang around the Ice Palace making small talk? What is this, a rip-off of McKinley's Beauty with less interesting characters and prose?" But no, Stuff does happen, and I guess that slow part may be necessary for the reader to understand why Cassie is bored and lonely. Although personally I need no elaborat...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Donna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: beauty-and-the-beast

I have to admit, I did not expect to enjoy this book very much. I had already read East, a book I thought would be very similar. Both are based on the story East of the Sun, West of the Moon. And true, they did have the same loose storyline. Very loose. But to my surprise, they were very different and I ended up loving Ice.
First off, I did not expect the book to take place in modern times. That was a nice twist. I loved the relationship between Bear and Cassie. I felt it was believable. It seeme...more

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Jun 16, 2011 Ceilidh rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I’ve changed a lot as a reviewer since I started blogging about YA almost a year ago. I’ve matured my writing style, I’ve learned more about the publishing business, I’ve started to ask more questions and I’ve even made a few friends. I don’t regret my snarky sparkly beginnings because I had a lot of fun and sometimes you have to make a few mistakes to learn from. Nowadays I think I’m a much stronger reviewer and pick my reading choices based upon a more varied selection of reasons beyond snark...more I’ve changed a lot as a reviewer since I started blogging about YA almost a year ago. I’ve matured my writing style, I’ve learned more about the publishing business, I’ve started to ask more questions and I’ve even made a few friends. I don’t regret my snarky sparkly beginnings because I had a lot of fun and sometimes you have to make a few mistakes to learn from. Nowadays I think I’m a much stronger reviewer and pick my reading choices based upon a more varied selection of reasons beyond snark material. This is why I am glad I didn’t know about “Ice” until I saw it recently. Had I read this last year, I would have blown a gasket and written a review to rival the abusive angels. Now, all I can hope to do is articulately explain why this book made my skin crawl. For this reason, there will be major spoilers.

My interest in “Ice” was peaked when I saw that it was a retelling of “East of the Sun and West of the Moon”, a lesser known fairytale, and was intrigued to see how a YA retelling of a potentially highly problematic tale would work in a contemporary context. Unfortunately, “Ice” seems to be stuck in the Stone Age on so many issues, something that’s made all the more bitter by the fact that the book gets off to such a strong start. Cassie, at first, is a strong minded, hard working and intelligent young woman with high ambitions and an inquisitive nature. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for her to slide into a state of uncharacteristic stupidity, occasionally relieved with moments of clarity. However, it wouldn’t be fair to blame Cassie’s decisions for all the book’s wrongdoings, especially since she’s so often left without any real options. She’s practically forced into marrying the Polar Bear King in exchange for her mother’s safe return. Later on, she’s treated even worse, even by the man/bear who supposedly loves her.

There are elements of “Beauty and the Beast” in this tale and it does feel as is “Ice” is trying to replicate the Disney film’s romantic feel (many of the things Cassie says about Bear feel inspired by Belle), but Durst completely skips over any romantic development. There’s a jump in time and all of a sudden, a few weeks later, they’re apparently in love. It further weakens a story that desperately needs a strong author’s hand to make it convincing. Bear may be many generations old with equally archaic ideals but this didn’t adequately justify his actions towards Cassie.

There are certain things a romantic hero should never do. Tampering with a woman’s birth control is one of them. Cassie, who has been on the pill, finds herself pregnant because Bear used his magical powers to fix the chemical imbalance in her that was preventing a pregnancy. He didn’t discuss this with her, there is no instance of a conversation taking place between the two that discusses such matters, and he doesn’t even tell her she’s pregnant until she’s 3 months gone. I do not care how gracious or kind Bear was to Cassie earlier on (her words, not mine), you DO NOT DO THAT! True relationships are built on trust and mutual understanding. He never even talks to her about this. What makes it even more blood curdling is that Cassie forgives him. She kicks up a completely justifiable fuss beforehand, but in the end, she’s completely willing to give up all her future ambitions of university, a career and a life with her family, including her mother who she hasn’t seen for most of her life, to be a teenage wife and mother with a talking polar bear.

Sadly, this isn’t the worst part. After Cassie has to go on a quest to retrieve Bear, who has to swear himself to the Troll Princess due to a rather convoluted loophole that I won’t explain here because it’s inconsequential, everyone she meets is obsessed with the safety of her unborn child. Not her, just her unborn child. Every other spirit, creature and guardian that she meets, of varying species and ages, cares not for her but for the fetus she just happens to be in charge of for the next few months. One character, who is thankfully painted as something of a villain, keeps her captive and indirectly harms her in an effort to stop her saving Bear because the life inside her is more important than her own. Cassie is also given the nickname “Little mother” by these creatures. Her entire worth is based on the fact that she has a functioning uterus and that’s a hell of a lot more important than her own mind and decisions. Cassie doesn’t like this attitude, it angers her, and rightly so. But why doesn’t she display this anger towards Bear, who admitted that he wanted a wife to bear his children, a task he decrees to be the most important purpose of the marriage? Cassie isn’t stupid, yet she is completely willing to let the designated love interest make these decisions for her, even if they involve lying, and in the end it’s okay? Bear says he loves Cassie but for me, all I could see was a liar who was willing to sabotage a young woman’s life in order to get what he wanted. Cassie was left to be nothing but a breeding specimen with one use.

To be truthful, this is a well written book that is generally well paced and has an interesting mythology throughout the story. The action scenes are well done and when Cassie was an active heroine, I really appreciated. But I would be lying if I gave this book anything more than 1 star. I can’t get behind a romance built upon a much older man using an 18 year old girl in that way. Tampering with birth control and essentially trapping the wife you forced into marriage doesn’t not make you the romantic ideal, it makes you sick. Just because the original source material is old, that doesn’t mean one is obligated to keep the retelling stuck in the 1950s. Cassie was much more than a “little mother”, so to see her happily accept the fate she was forced into as the ideal life made me so sad. She was worth more than that. We all are.

1/5.
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May 30, 2011 Cherrylea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, I'm not sure if it deserved a 5. Maybe a 4.5, since I seriously got bored in the middle, when she went on the quest to rescue her love. Oh well - the rest was fantastic, let me tell you.
I did enjoy the fact that it was set in modern time, since Cassie's view of all the fairytale-like happenings were quite interesting. I also liked the general idea of the munaqsri, and how we learn more and more about them, until the very end. There were pretty much no loose threads here - any problem that...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Traci rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 07, 2011 Marissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Feb 05, 2011 cecilia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: blue-covers, unique-covers, faces-covers, favorite-covers

ICE is a well-crafted fairy tale retelling of East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon that blends together reality and fantasy in a way that left me breathless. I would easily re-read this again to catch the nuances and understand the fairy tale world that Sarah Beth Durst has built from what I assume to be Eskimo mythology. The Polar Bear King is actually a munaqsri, which can be described as a soul caretaker who retrieves souls from the dying and delivers it to the newborn. Every living thing has a...more

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Jan 12, 2011 Renee Thomas rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It started out with an interesting concept, a fairly likeable heroine, a unique and detailed environment and some classic fairytale elements to admire. Even if I never want to venture into the Artic and make my living on the ice fields, I could admire Cassie's resiliance and her determination to focus on what she loves, and work for it. The opening chapters really seemed to set the stage for a quite different adventure and journey to take place.
Then, along came the central relationship developm...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Karissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is another retelling of the classic tale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon". I got this through the Amazon Vine program which was ironic since last month I read Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, another beautiful retelling of this classic tale. Overall I really liked this book; Durst did an excellent job at updating this tale to the modern day world. I have never read the original tale so I don't know how true this version of the story stays to the original.

Cassie is a...more This book is another retelling of the classic tale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon". I got this through the Amazon Vine program which was ironic since last month I read Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, another beautiful retelling of this classic tale. Overall I really liked this book; Durst did an excellent job at updating this tale to the modern day world. I have never read the original tale so I don't know how true this version of the story stays to the original.

Cassie is an 18 year old researcher at an arctic polar bear research facility. Since she was little her grandmother has told Cassie the story about her mother, the daughter of the North Wind and how she made a deal with the Polar Bear King. As she gets older, Cassie realizes that this is just a nice way of saying that her mother died. That is until one day she tracks one unusual polar bear across the ice pack. She finds that her grandmother's story was not a story but truth. Her mother may still be alive, but will she be brave enough to face the promise that will get her mother back?

This was a great re-telling. Cassie is a tough character and I liked her a lot. The Polar Bear King is also a wonderful character. The plot moved quickly and made this book an easy read that was tough to put down.

I also loved the mythos created around the Polar Bear King and the other beast-like keepers of souls. I am not sure if this was in the original story. But it was very creative and very different from how Jessica Day George dealt with the story in "Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow". Durst did an excellent job modernizing this tale. She worked in the researchers efforts seamlessly with the Polar Bear King's soul taking/giving duties. I love that she included modern cold weather technology and even little things like birth control. It was very well done and very creative.

Overall I liked this book a lot. Parts of this story remind me of "The Beauty and the Beast" too.

I didn't give this book 5 stars because even though I liked it it was not something I would read again. There were also some inconsistencies. Especially with Cassies's stages of pregnancy; I failed to understand how Cassie had morning sickness in her second trimester of pregnancy and not in her first, that was a little off. Also the second part of the book where Cassie goes seeking the Polar Bear King had a very different tone from the first part. All of the wonderful modernization that made the first half of the book so great fell off in the second half as the book transformed to a more traditional fairy tale.

A great story; I would recommend to those who like fairy tale retellings or fairy tales in general. I will be keeping an eye out from more of Durst's works in the future. (less)

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Dec 14, 2010 Bonnie at A Backwards Story rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fairy-tales, fabulous-books

Due to all of this week's record-breaking snow, I thought it was the perfect time to talk about a recent gem I just finished reading entitled "Ice." It was my first time reading a book by Sarah Beth Durst and upon completion, I snagged her other two novels, Into the Wild and Out of the Wild, from the library. I look forward to reading them because I really enjoyed the world of Ice that Durst wove together for us. I initially picked up Ice because it revolved around a fairytale, which is one of m...more Due to all of this week's record-breaking snow, I thought it was the perfect time to talk about a recent gem I just finished reading entitled "Ice." It was my first time reading a book by Sarah Beth Durst and upon completion, I snagged her other two novels, Into the Wild and Out of the Wild, from the library. I look forward to reading them because I really enjoyed the world of Ice that Durst wove together for us. I initially picked up Ice because it revolved around a fairytale, which is one of my all-time favorite genres to read. It had been on my reading list for a while, but it wasn't until I started hearing positive feedback from fellow readers that I decided to actively read it. I don't know why I waited so long!

First off, I just want to say that Cassie is a kick-ass heroine. We need more girls like her in (especially YA) literature. I love the whole "Girl Power" movement that authors like Tamora Pierce (co-founder of Sheroes) have spent time nurturing. I think the only other recent author with amazing heroines that I've read lately is Kristin Cashore (If you haven't read her novels, particularly Graceling, yet, then what are you waiting for? Run, don't walk!).

Cassie is intelligent and knows exactly what she wants in life. She has a huge heart and cares deeply for the polar bears she researches. Right before her birthday, she finds out that a terrible burden has been placed upon her shoulders. Her grandmother used to tell her a fairytale about a polar bear king and the bargain he had struck with a mortal woman, supposedly her mother, who is now trapped in the troll kingdom as penance for breaking her word. Cassie never believed the story to be true until she actually encounters the polar bear, which is where Ice truly begins. Watching Cassie and Bear's relationship bloom feels infinitely fragile and wonderous. Cassie goes from loathing and fearing Bear and her situation to developing genuine feelings for him. She even blossoms as a person and realizes just how much she can help her beloved polar bears while working with Bear and soon becomes happy with her lot in life. When tragedy befalls the couple (through a situation that reminds me strongly of the mythological tale of Cupid and Psyche), Cassie sets out on a journey to reach the ends of the earth to save her beloved. Not only is the journey long and dangerous, Cassie is also heavily pregnant by the time the story is approaching its climax. I don't want to reveal much more, but there is one part towards the end that simply took my breath away and connected a lot of the dots in the novel for me in a way I hadn't realized was possible. That moment is when I stumbled head over heels in love with Ice.

The story itself has a unique formatting. I like that every chapter starts off with Longitude, Latitude, and Altitude coordinates. Not only is this important in the context of the story, it also reveals a lot about Cassie as a person and her prior way of life before meeting Bear. I really appreciate how much thought Sarah Beth Durst put into her novel. I really felt like I was in the Arctic due to how life-life and precise all of her detailing was. For example, I wasn't sure of what, exactly, a whiteout was when I encountered the term in Ice, so I looked it up. The other day while watching news coverage of Wednesday's blizzard, the newscasters kept tossing the term "whiteout conditions" around and I knew what to expect due to my research on the term.

I really adored reading Ice and look forward to reading more books by Durst. So far, this has probably been one of my favorite books, teen or otherwise, in the past couple of seasons. (less)

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Jul 15, 2010 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The novel Ice is another fairytale retelling of Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow. What I really liked about Ice was that it the point of view character Cassie felt like an ordinary teenage girl. She felt distinctly modern, and not placed in some random unidentified historical period. Yet, despite the modern feeling of the characters and the setting the author still managed to make the story have that magical fairytale quality. I also really liked that Cassie was a very strong female character, and her...more

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Does anyone else love this book or is it just me?	8	23	Mar 12, 2013 10:50am
YA Reads for Teac...: Ice - Sarah Beth Durst	4	20	Jan 30, 2011 04:30pm

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