Book Review: The Snow Spider
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that there is a schoolyard fight, and a
story is told in which a man mutilates horses with a sword.
Families can talk about the fantasy world created here. What are the rules? How does magic work? What happened to Gwyn's sister, and why do his parents seem to accept it so easily?
Common Sense Media Review
Fantasies can fly as far off the beaten track as their
authors can imagine, but they have to have some internal
consistency and rules that are discernible and make sense.
Fantasy may not be real, but it has to feel as if it could be.
Veteran author Jenny Nimmo knows how to write a story that will
keep you turning the pages, but by the end you're likely to
wonder what it was all about. Nothing here makes sense, or has
any obvious reason behind it, and the reader is left with only
questions.
What is magic about these objects? Why does the wind want them? How does the magic work? What happened to Gwyn's sister, why does she come back, why is she changed, why don't her parents seem to mind, why does she have to return again? What is the deal with the supposed evil power, and how does Gwyn know how to trap it? And on and on. This story is pleasant enough while you're reading it, but deeply unsatisfying by the end. Perhaps the sequels explain some of this, but it's all so nonsensical that it's hard to muster up the will to care. This reads like sloppy, tossed-off work from an author who should know better.
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