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Winterspell

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
Darkly romantic and entirely enchanting, this reimagining of The Nutcracker from New York Times bestselling author Claire Legrand brims with magic, love, and intrigue—and "includes a Victorian mob princess/warrior heroine, an alternate New York City, steampunk faeries, and an epic multigenerational battle" (Kirkus Reviews).
After her mother is brutally murdered, seventeen-year-old Clara Stole is determined to find out what happened to her. Her father, a powerful man with little integrity, is a notorious New York City gang lord in the syndicate-turned-empire called Concordia. And he isn't much help.

But there is something even darker than Concordia's corruption brewing under the surface of the city, something full of vengeance and magic, like the stories Clara's godfather used to tell her when she was a little girl. Then her father is abducted and her little sister's life is threatened, and Clara accidentally frees Nicholas from a statue that has been his prison for years. Nicholas is the rightful prince of Cane, a wintry kingdom that exists beyond the city Clara has known her whole life.

When Nicholas and Clara journey together to Cane to retrieve her father, Clara encounters Anise, the queen of the faeries, who has ousted the royal family in favor of her own totalitarian, anti-human regime. Clara finds that this new world is not as foreign as she feared, but time is running out for her family, and there is only so much magic can do...

New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer (Cinder) says "this is not your grandmother's Nutcracker tale."
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 6, 2014
      The story of The Nutcracker receives a sinister steampunk twist in an engrossing retelling. Clara Stole is thrust into the magical, mechanized, war-torn dystopia of Cane with Prince Nicholas, a man cursed by faerie magic to spend his formative years as a metal statue; he's released just before Clara's own transformation into a powerful mage. Legrand's (The Year of Shadows) story is rich in fantastical realism and does not shy from themes of genocide, sexuality, and drug addiction, deftly woven together with crisp imagery and complex character development that are permeated with dualities. From the outset, Clara leads a conflicted double life, secretly training to fight and investigating her mother's murder with her Godfather Drosselmeyer, while attempting to carry on her duties as a proper lady of the house. The book's two empires, Cane and New York, are both threatened by power-hungry forces and on the brink of collapse. And at the story's core are the half-breed queen Anise and her foil Clara, magical creatures whose powers of fire and ice make for a striking contrast and complement. Ages 14âup. Agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary.

    • Kirkus

      August 1, 2014
      A Nutcracker retelling includes a Victorian mob princess/warrior heroine, an alternate New York City, steampunk faeries and an epic multigenerational battle. Seventeen-year-old Clara is the daughter of New York's mayor-which is to say her father is the poor dupe that organized crime has mounted as figurehead leader. Heartless Patricia Plum and depraved Dr. Victor are the real leaders, with the city at their mercy. When Dr. Victor isn't committing vile tortures on the bodies of imprisoned waifs, he's sexually harassing Clara, who's afraid to fight back. She could fight back, however, because Clara's Godfather has spent his life training her to become the kind of fighter one only sees in computer games, with a tear-away gown hiding her many knives. These skills will serve her well when she's thrust into the fairyland Cane, accompanied by sexy prince Nicholas, who until recently was a statue: a sinister, repulsively marked statue she'd always found fascinating and more recently erotic. In Cane, the humans (who once tortured faeries for fun) have been defeated by the equally sadistic and sexually threatening faeries, who force all humans to become drug addicts. Perhaps Clara can help, or maybe she'll succumb to the homoerotic advances of the evil queen. An overbusy mishmash. (Fantasy. 15-17)

      COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • School Library Journal

      September 1, 2014

      Gr 9 Up-Legrand's YA debut is set in two worlds in 1899: New York City and the magical world of Cane, a country of humans, mages, and faeries. Seventeen-year-old Clara Stole's mother, Hope, dies a gruesome death, leaving Clara and her family grief-stricken and at a loss. The teen is determined to uncover who was responsible for her mother's murder. Clara uncovers photos of her mother's body with markings on it matching those on the statue in her godfather's shop. Does he know who killed Hope? There was a curse placed on the statue that Godfather breaks, and the statue becomes human. Godfather and Clara fight the magical creatures that come for Nicholas, the former statue, but they take Clara's father instead. She and Nicholas enter a magical door into Cane and the quest to find him begins. In the process of finding her father, Clara gains courage and learns who she is and what she is capable of. Readers will appreciate the in-depth character development and the action-packed pace in this stand-alone novel. The connection between the two world isn't very cohesive, but teens won't mind. In this unique retelling of The Nutcracker, the author weaves the original story and characters together seamlessly with a rich setting and spins a romantic and dark new tale.-Jesten Ray, Seattle Public Library, WA

      Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:810
  • Text Difficulty:3-4

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