It keeps you guessing. This Beauty and the Beast retelling involves a snowy landscape besieged by trolls. The main character, who has no official name, is granted the ability to speak with animals by a mythical white stag. She is then taken away to live with a great white bear who has heard of her ability and hopes she can help break his curse. The book is divided up into several sections, one before she is taken by the bear, one where she lives with the bear, one for after she has accidentally made everything worse, and one for the denouement. It is a great and creative way to tell the tale. The use of myths and language are well mixed and utilized as we all try to figure out how it will all end.

It's interesting, to say the least, since neither of the two main characters have names until the final section. Before then, the beast is simply called 'bear' but in the 'language of the north', and the beauty is called 'girl' (in the same language). Only in the last section do they get proper names and finally introduce themselves. However, the lack of names isn't much noticed and doesn't hurt the tale at all. I highly recommend for any fans of retellings.