The Icecutter's Daughter

This morning when I was looking at choices for books that I needed to read and review in the new year I never expected to be so captivated to read and finish a good size story in one day. Tracie Peterson has been a favorite Christian Historical Fiction author of mine since I first became so enthralled with the genre, but even in the past it is not common for me to get well beyond three hundred pages in a single day. It probably took me four or five sittings (in between battery charges for my Kindle Fire!) but I just had to come back and know what would happen next for Merrill Jean and Rurik.

Starting in, this story made me think of characters from Lauraine Snelling with their German and Swedish ancestry and I guess if I think about it, especially in her Alaskan novels Tracie has already had some of these elements, but being in Minnesota and Kansas this time for some reason it stuck out. There were bits and pieces of accent thrown in here and there, but gladly for me it was enough English that I was able to read it without confusion of translation that sometimes occurs when authors put it a little too much into character history.

Our story starts in Kansas and makes it's way to Minnesota to a cold cold area and thinking about the times changing and people changing with them is very interesting and I could see this novel being able to spark a lot of conversation about history in both occupations and traditions. Overall I loved this book, as I guess is apparent by the fact that I was hardly able to put it down. However, I couldn't go with a full star rating because the relationship with Rurick and his “best friend” Nils just bugged me too much. Rurick is such a strong and caring character to see him just kinda stare clueless while Nils used him was too much for me, as you might have seen in my status commentary while I was reading and updating on Goodreads as I went. Yet, I suppose I can relate in a friendship with someone I just wasn't willing to give up on even though “the signs” were there. However in the end there is always the “chance” of redemption and I think the whole of this story is put down pretty well. I am curious if in the later books in the series Nils and his “issues” will be addressed in more detail, because if not I feel a little lost. Otherwise it's an intriguing set up.

The characters throughout this story were great. The family loving, the friends caring, the antagonists agonizing as only Tracie Peterson seems to know how and the protagonists breathtaking and worth many grins. I'll say it, another worthy read from Tracie, but then it's a historical from Tracie, so that's practically a given. ;)

Thanks to Bethany House for loaning an eARC for review through NetGalley. I definitely hope to add a real copy to my shelves as it is released in March (read December 31st, 2012).


Update: 3/4/13 New link: http://creativemadnessmama.com/blog/2013/03/04/the-icecutters-daughter/
Update: 2/25/13 See above.
Review written, but not to be shared until closer to publication date. Scheduled review for posting to www.ChristianHistoricalFiction.com on February 25th, 2013: http://creativemadnessmama.com/blog/2013/02/25/the-icecutters-daughter