Quick run down. In the land of Forever Nicholas and his wife Vivianna (better known as Santa and Mrs. Claus) rule the realm of Immortals. Here Nicholas and his wife are young and hearty folk, ruling a country where people who do great deeds in their mortal life come to receive immortality and continue their good works. One day Nicholas is reading through his letters to Santa from the children of the world when a
special one catches his eye. In this note a young boy asks what Santa wants for Christmas. This simple wish of an unknown child grants Nicholas and Vivianna a child, a little girl they name Holly. Holly is the first child ever born within the realm of Forever and she is loved and cherished by all...except of course by the evil warlock Herrikhan who to escape his hellish imprisonment must find a way to possess the purest heart in existence. Herrikhan encases Holly's pure baby heart in ice and then seals the gates of Forever until the curse is broken. No new immortals may enter and only Nicholas can leave on Christmas Eve. Holly must now live in a cold environment to keep her heart from melting which leads to a very lonely existence. Her only true companions are the wolf Tundra, the fox Alexia, the owl Euphemia, and the penguin Empire. One day while reading through her fathers book of legends which contains the stories of the deeds and tasks of every being in Forever, Holly realizes that her page is blank, containing only her name. She becomes determined to do something to become worthy of living in Forever. Holly finds a way to come to
New York City in the late 1800's and there she proceeds to make the lives of the children of the city magical. She eventually finds work in a little toy shop and uses her magical skill at creating dolls to give the perfect gifts to all of the children. Along the way Herrikhan disguised as a wealthy city man tries to seduce Holly into giving up her heart to no avail. She is also troubled/intrigued by the toy shops mysterious owner. Eventually Holly discovers that the shop owner is the same child that asked Santa to make a wish for himself which led to the existence of Holly. The two begin to get to know each other when Herrikhan comes out in the open and threatens all of those Holly loves to get her to give up her heart. Holly decides to not only give up her heart, but to truly love the evil warlock as well. This of course breaks the curse leading to a happy ending a story being added to Holly's page in the great book.
That was a very bare bones description of a very rich and detailed book. I have heard a lot of complaints that the plot is meandering and overly long...which I guess I can see, but I actually like the pacing, I feel it gives you time to really watch Holly grow instead of her being a baby one moment and then a fierce heroine the next. The book gives the character a lot of time to develop and gives her many reasons to leave the beauty, safety and love of her
home. I also like that Holly is not a "kick-ass" heroine. A lot of what she does is not only out of kindness, but out of sheer naivete of the class system. I enjoyed how the author tried to get a lot of different legends from many different cultures gathered in Forever, it gave it a flavor of everybody is connected somehow. Her animal companions are actually very well done, which is surprising 'cause I am usually not an animal companion fan, I especially like Alexia the bossy, fashonista fox. My favorite part of the book is probably the illustrations. I have this as both a hardcover book and an Ebook and the drawings are just stunning, nice enough to just flip through on there own, they add the perfect touch of magic to this book. I have to confess, Victorian era Christmas is always the standard Christmas for me, I love how it is celebrated with all of the extravagant traditions, parties and decorations it just screams holidays for me. The fact that the "real" world part of this is set in New York during the Victorian era really makes this book pop in a Christmas way for me (that makes sense right?). There are a couple parts that could have been done better, some of the logic of what makes a person or creature immortal was a bit shaky and of course my biggest pet peeve is how quickly the ending seemed to wrap up, but there are very few books that I am satisfied with the ending so that is nothing new. Some of the characters needed more development, especially Christopher (the toy shop owner) and everything that brought him to the point Holly found him, it just seemed tossed in there with no coherent explanation. Overall I find this book to be the perfect mix of fantasy, legends, real world compassion, and Christmas spirit I look for in a good holiday story and I will continue to read it every year unless something even more spectacular comes along!
What book gets you in the holiday mood? What era do you think celebrates Christmas the best? Are you all surprised how much I love this middle grade, sweet, typical story? How much do you love amazing pictures in your books?!? Is it amazing how many times I can use the word existence in a single post?
No comments:
Post a Comment