This is the sequel to Snow, Inverarity’s retelling of Snow White, refashioned for a post-climate-change world.
There is no sun; this environment is permanently in winter. The sky had opened before but now clouds are a permanent feature. Everyone puts the opening of the sky to Snow’s innate power, but she doesn’t believe she’s special and wishes people would stop talking about it.
Snow and the hunter live together in a mountain chateau. Her companion animal, Little Bear, is never far away. The chateau welcomes people who struggle to survive outside. A boy with one eye, no name and an accompanying dog, Poke, join that community. Snow and the hunter name him, Dog-boy. With that one eye Dog-boy sees everything, including something crashing into snow drifts in the mountains. They find a hot air balloon piloted by Memma, a scientist from a distant land. She’s on a mission to visit the volcano which Snow’s community call fire-mountain. Dog-boy quickly grasps Memma’s scientific principles and wills the others to follow her on her mission. Thinking that quelling fire-mountain might restore the open sky, Snow and her friends make their own balloons.
But science on its own proves not to be the answer, and Memma’s allegiance is to her king, not Snow. Snow’s community is threatened by this marauding king. She must find her inner power and confront her past to ensure her – and the chateau community’s – future. Inverarity’s storytelling is magnificent. The original fairytale is not just forgotten but completely overtaken. Snow’s adventures will surely continue.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
Age Guide 12+97819230427979781923042797
Read a book review of Snow by Gina Inverarity
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gina Inverarity worked for many years as an editor for a range of publishers. Her first children’s book, The Brown Dog, was published in 2017. Gina owns a forest in New Zealand and hopes to live in it one day. For now she lives in Wellington with her partner and two daughters. Snow was her first young adult novel.
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