In Relation To Ice

(Written by Sarah Beth Durst.) Cassie Dasent has no memory of her mother. The only thing she knows is a little fairy tale her grandmother used to tell her that ends with Cassie engaged to a Polar Bear King at birth and her mother trapped in a castle of the trolls. But she doesn't really know what happened to her mother, because it's just a fairy tale. Or is it?

Pros: This book really fires the imagination. Bear's castle is soooo beautiful!

Cons: Where to start? I had several issues with this book. The most obvious (but not the biggest, as it could be dismissed as just being "part of a fairy tale") is the reincarnation, followed closely by the idea that the "soul" of a wind, for example, could become the soul of a human in its next life, and vice versa. My second issue was with a much smaller part of the story, but it was even more irksome. Cassie gets furious with Bear when he alters her body so she can become pregnant despite the fact that she's on the pill. She's angry that he did so without telling her and against her wishes. But never once does it occur to her that she betrayed him as well. She invited him into her bed and, knowing full well that Bear's most cherished wish is to have children, she used artificial birth control without telling him or gaining his consent. What can be more selfish than that? Finally, there's the semi-obsession with polar bears. It's handled pretty well, but polar bears drive me crazy, since they're sort of the poster boys for global warming, a "problem" that has been grossly exaggerated.

Note: Loosely based on the fairy tale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon."

My Rating: T (artificial birth control, birth scene, confused theology)

Picture from sarahbethdurst.com.