"Bjorn needs to find a very special woman . . .
The fate of his people, and his own life, depends on it. But when he does find her, she is nothing like he imagined, and may just harbor more secrets than he does himself.
Astrid has never taken well to commands. No matter who issues them . . .
She's clashed her whole life with her father, and now her lover, the mysterious man who comes to her bedroom in darkness and disappears to guard his mountain by day as a bear, is finding it out the hard way. And when he's taken by his enemies, no one is prepared for Astrid's response.
It is never wise to anger the mistress of the wind . . .
A captivating and magical adult retelling of the fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon."
I should tell you that I have a soft spot for retellings. East of the Sun, West of the Moon is one of my favorites. Cupid and Psyche is also my favorite. Beauty and the Beast, however, is not. They may all contain the same plots, but I favor only two out of three. Yes, they contain the same plots. Girl gets taken away from her family. Boy demands her company. They fall in love after mutual dislike. Then girl does something terrible that the boy cast the girl out. Girl finds her way back to boy. See? Just read Wikipedia, if you have further questions. And yes, this is pretty much the basics of the plot of Mistress of the Wind. However, there are a few changes, but none of them are worth mentioning.
Mistress of the Wind is similar to East by Edith Pattou and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George. It is such a shame there are few retellings of this fairy tale. Thanks to Disney, Beauty and the Beast is the most famous of all. Mistress of the Wind may claim to be the adult retelling of this fairy tale, but it is passable as a Young Adult book. It is a wonderful book, a wonder reinvention of the tale. Of course, I might be slightly biased because I do hold a soft spot for this tale. Right?
Astrid is the Mistress of the Wind. It is a long story of how she became the Mistress of the Wind (short story, actually, but spoilers). That isn't the point of all of this. I find it a bit annoying how the author made Astrid look like an angel while the rest of her family is mostly trash. I mean, gold diggers. Or weak. Her mother had a chance along with her little brother to speak up against Bjorn's request to take Astrid as his "companion."
Bjorn is an interesting character. He seems to be a coward, but ultimately he makes the right choices. Then again, he was just a young boy when he saw a bunch of people dying. So dark, isn't it? I totally agree, for one.
Favorite part: I really enjoyed the part when Astrid finally manages to outwit the Troll Princess. Oh, yes. There is an ugly Troll Princess. However, the moments when Astrid finally finds out about her powers is comparable. I would rate that second.
And yes, this is a Happily Ever After story.
Rating: Four out of Five
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