#6 The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

My Rating: 5 out of 10 stars

This book wasn't really my cup of tea. It was too abstract and didn't have enough action for my liking. However, I don't think that's a reflection on the book itself, it's simply not the genre I usually like to read from.

The author writes well; her words flow together nicely, and she's able to easily take something ordinary, such as a lightning storm or an orange orchard, or even a dead mole or a pile of flies, and turn it into something extraordinarily beautiful, or sad and repulsive. It was this vivid use of imagery in her words that kept me reading—that and the fact it's a fairly short book at only 211 pages—when I might otherwise have put it aside and went on to something else.

Why did I decide to read this book in the first place then you might wonder. Well, because I've heard this author's name quite a bit and wanted to try out one of her books for myself. I almost hate to give it a numeric rating here though since my rating will be mostly subjective based on how I personally liked the story in relation to the other books I've read. If I look at it objectively though, I'd have to give it kudos for the quality of writing, the wonderful use of imagery, and the fact that underneath it all, there was a poignant and touching story there.

See the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more reviews and information.