Bear as a romantic lead was killed for me, as this type of behavior is the epitome of abusive. While Cassie is initially angry, she comes around to things way too easily. And from there on out the story just kind of died for me. Essentially, Bear magically deactivates Cassie’s birth control and then informs her of this after she’s three months pregnant. But then…it’s the story takes a nosedive into “Breaking Dawn” territory with a forced pregnancy. And while this is frustrating, it’s a familiar pitfall. Their relationship, one based on distrust and a forced situation, develops far too quickly to friendship and love. And, while Bear does have somewhat of a personality, the story starts faltering right off that bat. But then…look, one of the main falling points for retellings of this story is giving the character of Bear a strong enough personality that he stands on his own and makes the slow-burn romance believable. Most of the portions of the book that I enjoyed most arrived in the first half of the book, and I was pretty fully on board. That said, this initial level of competence and independence on Cassie’s part only serves against the story later when she loses these exact traits in rather disturbing ways. I also enjoyed the more proactive role that Cassie originally takes in this tale> She makes a bargain of her own with Bear, insisting that she would only agree to marry him if she saved her mother. The author struck a nice balance between incorporating these portions while also tying the story neatly into Intuit culture and folklore. The mythology and characters that were introduced were interesting and cleverly tied together, working well within the original fairytale mold while not feeling too tied down by it. Enough to know that the polar bear tracks she’s seeing are much too large for the regular animals that roam the area.Īnother plus has to do with some of the fairytale aspects and their interpretation in this story. She conducts research herself and knows much about the Arctic environment and local wildlife. Cassie herself is introduced as a capable and intelligent protagonist. I enjoyed the unique approach of setting the story in the modern world with Cassie and her father living in a research station in the Arctic. I recently read and liked “Conjured” by Sarah Beth Durst, and after putting together our list of favorite holiday reads that included a re-telling of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” I discovered the perfect combination of the two with “Ice!” Or…what I thought would be the perfect combination.
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