The Raven and the Reindeer

4.5☆

This book started very slow (imo). The first few chapters caused me to want to dnf multiple times, but it was so worth it to keep reading. The constant obsessing over loving Kay was starting to get quite annoying. Some parts of it where very weird, but the good kind of weird.

Not a recommendation when you're in a slump (or just coming out of it), but a recommendation nonetheless.

Wish I could draw because I'm missing fanart of Janna.

T. Kingfisher's fantasy/fairytale stories have a dark, earthy, and folkloric overtone to them that I always seem to enjoy. While I usually favor lyrical writing, T. Kingfisher's writing leans more toward sparse and straightforward but still manages to imbue a sense of the mystical and magical. The Raven and the Reindeer is her re-telling of Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, but there is an old-world and darker edge to her telling which makes it feel more gritty and honestly more interesting. It is a short novel so there isn't a real deep dive into characters or massive world-building, but even in the sparse time she has, Kingfisher creates characters I enjoyed going on the journey with and glimpses of a fascinating supernatural world just beyond the realm of our own. I enjoy her female characters a lot in the books I've read. They aren't your typical hero type, and Gerta in this story is a great addition to the pantheon. She isn't the smartest, is plain, short, and plump, but her determination and her growth along the journey are admirable and I liked her from the get go. I also highly enjoy the odd side characters in Kingfisher's books, like the bone dog in Nettle & Bone or the Raven called Mousebones in this one. They are often odd, quirky and fun. Despite it being a darker telling, there is surprisingly a lot of humor, thanks a lot to Mousebones' commentary. While I think Nettle & Bone and Thornhedge are still my favorite Kingfisher novels that I've read so far, The Raven and the Reindeer was still a really good read and I enjoyed it a lot. It's a great short read and perfect for a dark, cold winter evening.

I hesitated to read this book, having been scarred by the dark, cynical sci-fi [b:The Snow Queen 139986 The Snow Queen (The Snow Queen Cycle, #1) Joan D. Vinge https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388298425l/139986.SX50.jpg 522872] as a teenager, but I should have trusted the amazing Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher. Her version of the fairy tale is funny, horrifying, romantic and ultimately much more hopeful than either the original Hans Christian Anderson or the Joan D. Vinge version. First of all, the relationship between Gerta and Kay is so perfectly re-characterized as that awful teenage girl fantasy of “he treats me like shit but that's just because he's a wounded soul who needs me, and deep down he really loves me.” Ursula/T. could have been reading my high school diaries. Thank goodness Gerta realizes her true worth and finds someone who appreciates her just as she is. Then there's the animal characters, who are so perfectly anthropomorphized through speech and action. They feel like Disney sidekicks with an edge. The titular raven kicks the story into high gear with his arrival and as for the reindeer...I'm still crying.Best of all is watching Gerta use her decidedly unmagical self to fulfill her quest and in doing so, break through the boundaries of her fairy tale life, find her “herd,” and stop apologizing for herself. Hans Christian Anderson would roll over in his grave to see his fairy tale used for such a feminist empowerment, and I would pay to see it. A gem of a book.