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A review by enchantedfiction
The Winter Riddle by Sam Hooker
2.0
The Winter Riddle is about a time in the North Pole when Borealis isn't just a strip of colored lights in the sky, it's a kingdom with mad rulers and strange customs. Volgha, the Winter Witch, must make alliances with other kingdoms, such as Santa's village and Asgard to solve the impending rise of Ragnarok and the destruction of them all by the frost giants. The race is on to save the kingdoms and let Volgha get back to her peaceful life in the forest.
I was pretty intrigued by the synopsis of the book, having received it as a gift a few years ago. It seemed like a somewhat appropriate Christmas-time read, since Santa is on the cover and one of the main characters. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. The language in the book threw me off, since much of it is written like a middle grade book, but there were words thrown in there that I wasn't even sure the exact meaning of, or had never heard before. This made it feel a little clunky, and made it easy to put down and do something else. There was also the overall story of the book, which felt not completely fleshed out and thought through. I was really interested in the Loki riddle that he made for himself, but we never even knew what that was and it seemed to be something that went by the wayside until it was needed. To me, there just felt like a bunch of ideas that could have been more main focuses in the story instead of all being included, which just made it feel not completely thought through and organized. The only things that kind of saved the story for me was the ending and a few little bits here and there. It just didn't seem to be a completely cohesive story, which to me was lost potential. I also think this is why it took me so long to get through, I wasn't excited to pick it up and read it, it felt like more of an obligation to finish than something I really wanted to do.
Overall, it might be a fun thing to read aloud to younger children, as long as you might have a dictionary handy for the sprinkle of adult language in it. The adventure part of it is fun, and kids would definitely like the banter between Volgha, Redcrow, and Osgrey. But for me personally, it was kind of one note and not really exciting.
I was pretty intrigued by the synopsis of the book, having received it as a gift a few years ago. It seemed like a somewhat appropriate Christmas-time read, since Santa is on the cover and one of the main characters. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. The language in the book threw me off, since much of it is written like a middle grade book, but there were words thrown in there that I wasn't even sure the exact meaning of, or had never heard before. This made it feel a little clunky, and made it easy to put down and do something else. There was also the overall story of the book, which felt not completely fleshed out and thought through. I was really interested in the Loki riddle that he made for himself, but we never even knew what that was and it seemed to be something that went by the wayside until it was needed. To me, there just felt like a bunch of ideas that could have been more main focuses in the story instead of all being included, which just made it feel not completely thought through and organized. The only things that kind of saved the story for me was the ending and a few little bits here and there. It just didn't seem to be a completely cohesive story, which to me was lost potential. I also think this is why it took me so long to get through, I wasn't excited to pick it up and read it, it felt like more of an obligation to finish than something I really wanted to do.
Overall, it might be a fun thing to read aloud to younger children, as long as you might have a dictionary handy for the sprinkle of adult language in it. The adventure part of it is fun, and kids would definitely like the banter between Volgha, Redcrow, and Osgrey. But for me personally, it was kind of one note and not really exciting.