You cannot shy away from yourself. Look the world in the eye, and it can do nothing to hurt you.

Winterspell by Claire Legrand

My Review

So many stories yet to be told, so many secrets to be unearthed. It would happen soon; Clara would make sure of it, and if Nicholas tried to evade her, well, she still had her daggers.

It’s been quite a while since I last looked at a book retrospectively. But there are still a few books I’d like to look at retrospectively, and this time of year is absolutely perfect for talking about Winterspell by Claire Legrand.

I’ve loved this book ever since I read it years ago. I’m a total sucker for retellings, fairytale or otherwise, and this novel is a retelling of The Nutcracker 🎄🥜, which is something I also adore. So this book was a match made in heaven for me.

Winterspell primarily follows Clara Stole ✨ after her family is attacked by and she is forced to flee to Cane, a strange, wintery, and magical land. Clara starts off a little unsure and nervous – but fiercely protective of her family – and she has a lot of growth throughout the novel, and ends it as a strong young woman ready to face anything. She is Winterspell’s Clara/Marie.

Nicholas 🌰 is an interesting take on the Nutcracker (the character). He’s a little gray, compared to the more helpful and trustworthy and wholesome character in the original, but he still retains many of these same qualities. He’s just a little more complex. I actually enjoyed him for the most part, and I loved the twist of him being a secondary POV character.

Anise ❄️ was the villain, and the leader of the faeries. Though she irritated me a lot of the time, I still understood her motivations, and I thought she was a fine antagonist. She’s also my favorite interpretation of the Sugar Plum Fairy as a villain yet (and I think she was one of, if not the first version of this take – I’m probably wrong though, haha).

“You’re powerful, Clara. Or you could be, if you would let go of your fear long enough to realize it.”

Regarding the plot… of course I loved it. It’s basically The Nutcracker, but with enough unique changes to help it stand on its own (in my eyes). It’s kind of like a slightly edgier, YA version of the story, in a way. I liked all the changes Legrand made to the story, and I appreciated the stuff that she mostly kept close to the original. The world was also fantastic, and I enjoyed the conflicts between the three fractions of Cane: the humans, the mages and the faeries.

I enjoyed the writing, too. The dialogue felt pretty natural, the descriptions and such weren’t too overly detailed, and the POV choices were 🧑‍🍳💋. I loved how the book was primarily in third person following Clara, but was intermittently broken up by the first person perspective of Nicholas giving context to the events leading up to the main plot. It was wonderfully woven together.

I think the only thing I’ve ever really felt was noticeably weak (to me personally), was the romance. It just wasn’t something that I found I could really buy into, for some reason. I enjoyed Clara and Nicholas okay – they are the iconic pair of Clara/Marie and the Nutcracker, after all – and I’m happy for them. But to me, that little tryst in the middle of the book between Clara and Anise really felt like it came out of nowhere. And then the romance between them disperses just as quickly.

His eyes shone with an anguish Clara understood well. Loss, horrible loss. Pain and anger, and the world being pulled out from beneath one’s feet.

I wish there had been a bit more time to develop Clara and Anise’s relationship, as I felt it was quite interesting. Oh well. Also, the romances between these three characters (Clara and Nicholas, and Clara and Anise) also felt unequal for the first three fifths of the novel. But as Clara grows as a character… yeah, so eventually sets everyone straight, haha. I will say I was happy with the ending.

Looking back – and going through the book again for the nth time – I don’t think I’d change my rating at all. For me, Winterspell still holds up. When I first read it, I immediately went back and read my favorite scenes. Then, later that same year (like a month later around Christmas time), I basically reread the whole thing again. I’ve never gotten tired of this retelling. I find myself reading pieces of it every few years, at the very least.

This was a solid foray into the YA sphere by Legrand, and as I enjoyed this one so much I really should check out her other stuff. I will – eventually, lol. Though it did definitely have its weaker aspects (like the romance).

I definitely recommend Winterspell to YA fantasy fans, as well as fans of The Nutcracker and other Christmas set and Christmas themed stories. Not to mention, it’s absolutely perfect reading for this time of year.

She had forgotten how to care about the city that had taken so much from her. Forgetting was the only way she had found to keep moving every day.

As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

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