And my binge listening to Melanie Cellier’s Beyond the Four Kingdoms series continues!
An unexpected gift from her godmother will give Celine enough fire to take on an entire kingdom of snow and ice. But first she needs to melt one frozen prince. Rumors have long swirled about the strange kingdom of Eldon. The only thing more frozen than its mountains are the inhabitants themselves. But Princess Celine has never backed away from a challenge, so she eagerly accepts an invitation to visit. Yet the situation in Eldon is even worse than Celine feared. And if the kingdom is to have any hope of freedom or a future, she’s going to have to call on new skills and new allies—including the crown prince, Oliver. But against an enemy stronger and colder than ice, all her fire may not be enough. In this reimagining of the classic fairy tale, The Snow Queen, one princess is ready to burn down everything in her path to save those she loves and their kingdom with them.
If you enjoy clean romance, adventure and intrigue, then try the books in the Beyond the Four Kingdoms series now! These interconnected fairy tale retellings each feature a different princess who has to fight for her happily ever after. Beyond the Four Kingdoms reading order: A Dance of Silver and Shadow: A Retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses A Tale of Beauty and Beast: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast A Crown of Snow and Ice: A Retelling of The Snow Queen And coming in 2018 and 2019 A Dream of Ebony and White: A Retelling of Snow White A Captive of Wing and Feather: A Retelling of The Swan Princess A Princess of Wind and Wave: A Retelling of The Little Mermaid
Initially, this one didn’t seem like it was going to be as interesting as the previous two books were, but it ended up paying off in the end. I loved the element of Celine’s new gift of fire from her fairy godmother, which gave this Snow Queen retelling an interesting twist. It perfectly served her, Oliver, and the rest in their quest to rid Eldon from the ice/snow enchantment holding it captive, and placed her in juxtaposition to the evil Snow Queen herself–both possess extraordinary abilities, though gained by different means, and one uses those abilities for good while the other uses then selfishly. As I said, the story seemed rather simple at first, but once the action started revving up about halfway through, it got much more exciting. While I’m more familiar with the “Frozen” version of this fairytale than the traditional one, I did recognize a lot of elements from it and even some from the famous Disney version, and I’ve gotta give Melanie kudos for coming up with such a clever reimagining that echoes the familiar versions and yet stands apart from them in a unique way.
Once again, the characters were likable (I really enjoyed Celine more in this book than in book one), the romance sweet and clean, and the story an exciting, whimsical escape from reality. I love how Melanie seamlessly transitions from one book to the next, leaving you with a little tease of what is to come. When I reached that unexpected little cliffhanger, I knew I immediately had to move on to book four!
If you’re a fairytale retelling fan, be sure to give this 5/5 Star read a try–especially on audio!
