But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
~ “Fire and Ice,” by Robert Frost
I was so impressed with newcomer Charlie N. Holmberg’s Magician series last year that I immediately snapped up this book on name recognition alone… only to find that the books are, for the most part, nothing alike. The heroines are both hard-headed and exasperating (Holmberg does that well), and the towns are both kind of an industrial-revolution era small town with industry and a single school, but magic is something scary that Other People do in towns far away, and marrying well seems to be the goal for a young girl, rather than having a career of one’s own – or maybe that’s only the way it seems because the main character only thinks in terms of what people think of her. Anyway, it was a transition to get into this book, with such a self-absorbed protagonist. Remember Nellie Olsen from the Little House TV series? This novel is a logical progression of a “what would happen if someone acted like that all the time” novel, because the comeuppance is hardcore. This is also a deeper look at emptying out oneself for someone else — even when you’ll get nothing back, and you know it, and it hurts — and a pretty heartfelt exploration of loving life enough to cling to it, and falling in love, too. Prepare to “Aww” at the smiley, happy ending.
Summary: Smitha: A girl so cold, she’ll give you freezer burn…
Smitha’s house is the second largest in the village, and the prettiest. Smitha’s friends are the smartest, and the best liked around. Smitha is the prettiest in her family. Smitha is … pretty central to Smitha. Which is to say that she’s kind of a self-centered, tiresome little git. When she’s avoiding the attentions of her father’s hired man, she does so in the most callous, cold, and cutting way possible — just because. I mean, shouldn’t he know better than to try for someone as perfect and awesome as she? Humility in the face of such perfection is obviously impossible — and comes back to kick her right in her padded derriere, because the guy her father hired, and whom she just so humiliatingly blew off is a wizard who had run away from the wizarding wars… and he has just enough nasty magic left to curse Smitha to be as cold as her heart.
This becomes rather literal – because Smitha’s heart is sub-zero – and it’s very clear that she’s the author of her own destruction. But, it’s still hideous – not only are her tears icicles, her spit frozen and her blood sluggish, perpetual winter follows her everywhere. People in her village sicken and die, and Smitha is cast out — forever. There follows a tale of horror and despair, of fury and resentment, of deception and slyness, personified by Death (who is called Sabriel), of a handsome Prince and his noble cohort, an exotic desert kingdom, a survivor who learns to give up everything — and an improbable and heart-warming happily ever after. It’s the perfect fairytale.
