A review by stacyrenee
North Child by Edith Pattou

adventurous hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

MG 
Fantasy

Set in Bergen, Norway, with lots of traveling/adventuring over land and sea to La Rochelle, France, etc. 
Norse mythology + cartography 
Beaty and the Beast meets The Snow Queen even though this is a retelling of ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon’.  

Very enjoyable! 
This started out with a large family that cares very much about the superstition of the direction a baby is born in, that attempts to keep their youngest daughter’s ‘north-ness’ from her, at least until another daughter becomes deathly ill and a talking white bear appears to take the youngest, Rose, to save the elder sibling. Very ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
He even takes her to a magic castle in France!

Then curiosity gets the best of her and he is whisked away to an ice castle in the far north by a pale queen (very ‘The Snow Queen’!) and Rose must attempt to save him.

Even though these themes are overly familiar to me, I really enjoyed this. It’s full of adventure, a bit of magic, a really slow-build love story, and a happy ending! 

I’m looking forward to the sequel; West!