Snow City
By: G.A. Kathryns
Genres: Fantasy / Magical Realism / Literary Fiction
ISBN: 9781542858076 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Pages: ~258
Rating: 3/5
Sometimes one has to dream very hard to keep oneself sane. And that is what Echo Japonica did, hiding from a world disintegrating into chaos and brutality, groping despairingly through her shadowy fantasies until she came upon Snow City, where all was perfect and bright. And in that world she lived more and more, until one morning she awakened to discover that the real world had turned into a kind of faded delirium, and that she was now living, physically, in Snow City. But is Snow City as real as she thinks? And if it is, is it as perfect as she imagined? For as she attempts to pursue her quiet, musician’s life, she is suddenly beset with what appear to be strange incursions from her dysfunctional past. A girl, Charity, returned in body from beyond death, wanders alone and friendless through the nighttime streets until at last a bewildered Echo takes her in. A gangster appears, burdened with grief and secrets, and his quiet demeanor hides not only a propensity to violence but an affinity for Bach’s “Chaconne in D Minor” and a desire to assist Echo and her ghostly ward in any way he can. And his assistance proves indispensable when Charity is kidnapped by her parents, who intend to put her back in her grave…by whatever means necessary.
“But that’s the thing with people a lot of times. They look, and they only see the damage. They should just listen.”
Pros:
- This novel has a very strong family aspect to it. Echo takes in this young girl that is technically a ghost. Her family wants nothing to do with her anymore, but Echo accepts her. I enjoy reading about family relationships, because every single one is different. This one didn’t prove me wrong. Most of the strong relationships were between strangers, and it actually made me happy.
- I give the author props for creating a story I haven’t read yet. I think there are issues, more so with specific genres, where they all have the same story just with different characters. This book was unlike any that I have read.
- There really isn’t a character that I absolutely hated. There were obviously a few enemies in the novel who I hated, but other than that they were all very respectable.
Cons:
- Most of the characters and parts of the plot were just thrown at you with hardly any explanation. It’s not that it was difficult to understand I just wanted a little bit more from it.
- The characters were very weird and random. I don’t even know how to explain it. If you read the story you will understand what I mean.
- The writing style was not for me. It was far too extravagant for what the story was actually about in my opinion. I get the sense that the author focused more on the writing than the characters or plot.
- I didn’t feel connected to the characters, and this probably has to do with my last point. They all pretty much stayed the same throughout the whole story. Some of the characters changed a little bit, but if you weren’t paying attention then you would never know. I think if the characters were thought out a little more readers could relate to them a little better.
This book was sent to me for an honest review. Just because I was not a fan of the book does not mean you shouldn’t give it a try. You might actually really enjoy it. I know I didn’t go into depth with the review but there wasn’t really much to get into. It was all very up front, except for a few things which I have already explained. I would like to thank the author for signing my copy of the book and sending a little note along with it as well. It’s the little things that make me happy to be part of the book community.
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