Reviews - The Raven and the Reindeer

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

729 reviews for:

The Raven and the Reindeer

T. Kingfisher

4.17 AVERAGE

mom4gj's review

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

jelly_jayne's review against another edition

4.0

fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

annetjeberg's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

bucketsjen's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

A reimagining of the Snow Queen fairytale, in T.Kingfisher's delightfully dark but humorous style. I love that you can tell how familiar the author is with fairytales and their tropes... and specifically, with the older versions of tales that don't veer away from blood and darkness.

It started off a little flat, but then very quickly developed some depth and really snagged my interest. The dreams of the plant life early on was great, and when the story took a sapphic turn is when I really leaned forward and it kept getting better from there.

wardenred's review

5.0

dark hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

No one wants true stories. They want stories with truth dusted over them, like sugar on a bun.

Such a wonderful winter fairytale with just the right balance of darkness and hope. It’s a Snow Queen retelling that starts off really close to the source material, though it does dig deeper into certain plot points and implications behind them, as well as generally fleshes out the characters. Then, gradually, more and more light twists are added to the narrative, turning it into its own fairytale-inspired story. Still a retelling, of course, but with its own unique flavor.

I really liked the interpretation of Gerta here, with her combination of naiveté and determination and the quiet strength she hones throughout her journey. Her relationship with Janna, the robber girl, was engrossing enough, though I think I expected just a bit more sharpness and bite from Janna. The titular animals were my absolute favorites, Mousebones the raven especially, and this version of Kai is someone I really, vindictively liked hating.

There’s a lot of northern folklore here lovingly woven around the fairy tale tropes, Finnish/Sámi for the most part, and it made the story especially enjoyable to me. I also, as usual, had great fun with Kingfisher’s dialogue and her charming wit. Every book of hers I read reminds me why she’s among my favorite authors.

Content Warnings