The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: A Crown of Snow and Ice: A Retelling of the Snow Queen

Series: Beyond the Four Kingdoms #3

Author: Melanie Cellier

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, Clean Romance

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

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. – summary from Goodreads

A Crown of Snow and Ice was an intriguing story, that had an enjoyable adventure!

This book follows Celine, one of my absolute favorite characters in this entire world! I was so looking forward to this and I wasn’t disappointed! I will say that what I loved about Celine was how fiery and spunky she is, and that was very present throughout the book, though it looks different coming from her perspective.

I will start with the magic in this book. This book was definitely the most magical book of the series. Celine was gifted with the ability of heat/fire. The antagonist of the book didn’t necessarily have powers, but she had twisted magical items to her use. Again, a very strong showing of magic.

I liked Celine as a main character- she will always have a special place in my heart! She still maintained her fiery personality and spunkiness, but she went through a nice character growth of making wiser decisions. There was also a lot of Celine wanting to make a name for herself away from her siblings. I thought that was a nice guider of the story.

Our other main character was Prince Oliver. I liked Oliver and he was a perfect match for Celine. He also had this fieriness, though it came out in a different way. Honestly, they were super cute together! I think Oliver was a fun character to read, maybe reminiscent of Rafe, and somebody I hope to see again in the future.

I will say the romance in this book is one I totally support, and it made me happy, and it was super cute! However, it was probably one of the weaker romances in this series. The bones were definitely there, but I wish there was more development. Honestly, it felt more flirty and closer to insta-love. I think the big thing that I wanted was a little more development that played out on page. Again, I did enjoy the romance, it was sweet and fun.

The storyline itself was adventurous and fun. There was a lot of travel, which I enjoyed. The setting was super interesting and well done. There were these cool tunnel systems that were fascinating, and I wish we got more time in them! There was also a cool hidden village and remote ice palace! This was a perfect winter setting!

Again, I love what Cellier did with the mirror. These mirrors were mentioned offhandedly in the first book, and they have come into series play in the last book as well as this book. I love the forethought that went into this, and how it fits into the different stories!

The antagonist of this story was an interesting one, and the way she attacked/affected the kingdom was intriguing. I quite enjoyed that side of things, and it added a nice gravity to the story. However, I wish we got to understand the antagonist a little bit more. We really didn’t know what was going on for most of the book, and the antagonist was so sudden, I would have liked a little more on that front.

I really liked the side characters in this book and hope we get to see more of them in the future. Especially Giselle and Cassandra!

There was definitely a bittersweetness to this book, because this is the final story from the perspective of one of the characters from the main storyline. Now we are moving on to new characters, which is both exciting and sad.

I will say that while the ending is good, you need to read the bonus chapter that is available on Melanie Cellier’s website. This chapter had me a little teary eyed. It definitely felt more complete than the original ending, and it also kind of felt like a sendoff to a lot of the original characters. Many of Celine’s siblings with their spouses and kids. They were all together with the exception of Cassian and Celeste, though they were mentioned, and it was so cute and heartwarming. It was a goodbye to these characters, though.

A Crown of Snow and Ice was a wintery adventure, that follows Celine in the kingdom of Eldon as she works with Prince Oliver to determine what plagues the kingdom. With romance, magic, and fiery characters, this is a fun and adventurous Snow Queen retelling!