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While it is well-known that The Snow Queen is the inspiration for a certain Disney movie, one must interpret the word inspiration loosely, for the two stories are really nothing alike. In fact, The Snow Queen is not really about the Snow Queen at all. She makes two brief appearances in the entire story with several more references to her from other characters to round out her part. The rest is the story of a little girl off to find her best friend who wanders off by himself and forgets show more everything he loves.

The Snow Queen is an odd story. Separated into seven parts, each section leaves the reader with a lesson to learn. Unfortunately, the seven parts feel unnecessary, halting the flow of the narrative and keeping a reader distant from the action. Also, given that the story is so short, one does not expect a large amount of character development, which is a good expectation because there is none. Kai and Gerda are mere puppets meant to show the reader that when they forget their loved ones, trouble ensues. Lastly, the lessons are extremely Christian in nature, with overt references to God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible. While one expects the morality lessons of fairy tales to be fairly obvious, one does not expect them to be quite so outspoken as they are in this.

Even though Ms. Whelan gives yet another pitch-perfect performance with her narration, it is not enough to make this a spectacular audio experience. The story just is not that good. It is decidedly anti-climatic, leaving readers wanting more of everything – more action, more adventure, more evil, more magic, and definitely more Snow Queen. After all, the title of a novel should have some bearing on the story. show less

I got this audiobook for free as part of Audible’s Christmas giveaway. I had never actually listened to the original tale of The Snow Queen and ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

When a nasty gremlin takes an evil mirror into the heavens it shatters into a million pieces. One of the pieces, small as a grain of sand, falls into the eye of a young boy. The young boy grows cruel and is eventually snared by the Snow Queen. Meanwhile his best friend Gerta goes on a magical quest to find and save show more the young boy.

This was a well done reading of this Hans Christian Anderson tale. The narrator does a wonderful job with voices and narration and it was a joy to listen to.

I have read a number of Snow Queen retellings, but have never read the original tale. It was interesting to finally read the source for all of those retellings. There is a lot of magic and adventure in this tale and I think it is something readers of all ages will enjoy.

Overall this was a short, yet very well done listen. I would recommend if you are interested in listening to the original tale of The Snow Queen. If you are interesting in reading a wonderful retelling of The Snow Queen I would recommend Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu or Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee. show less

Another incredible Russian artist. Like Gennady Spirin, Ibatoulline's illustrations are breathtakingly rendered.

A story of two close childhood friends, one Kai another Gerda. When Kai acts cruelly, Gerda knows something is very wrong. Undergoing a haunting journey to find her best friend, Gerda ends up at the palace o the evil snow queen. Gerda must break the spell that the snow queen has over Kai.

"The Snow Queen" is about two friends named Gerda and Kai. A splinter from an evil mirror goes through Kai's eye and heart, causing him to act cruelly to others. His bad behavior then drives him to treat Gerda badly and leave to be with the Snow Queen. Gerda sets out to find Kai and goes through many obstacles to find him to bring him home. Eventually, good conquers evil and Gerda is able to bring him home and bring out the good in him again. Overall, the style and writing in this picture show more book is very beautiful. The writing is straight to the point, but provides the reader enough information to keep them wondering about this story. The characters and settings are illustrated in a very realistic looking way with normal proportions while showcasing the emotions each character is feeling. For example, when Gerda is going through the snow and witnessing the Northern Lights, the scenery looks like a photograph. The realism is also seen in the characters' faces. An example of this is when Gerda is going through the blizzard and the reader has a full view of the look of despair and destress on her face. The illustrator captures the characters' emotions and the accuracy of the scenery beautifully. show less