Monday, March 2, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis




Snowspelled is a short romantic fantasy novel (bordering on novella in length) by author Stephanie Burgis, and the first published work in her Harwood Spellbook series.  I kind of came to the series backwards - reading the last published novella first, before moving on to the the prequel novella Spellswept and finally onto this book, the first in the series.  I really enjoyed the other two novellas, both in the fantasy world they portrayed - a world where England (known here as "Angland") triumphed over the Romans and established a government by women, with men being given the role of mages as the more "emotional" sex - and the romances involved.  So I was interested to see how the longer works in the series would read. 

Snowspelled is very much like the two novellas I've read, except a bit more expansive in its ambitions, and is nearly as enjoyable as the novellas.  Like the novellas, the reader should figure out very quickly where certain plot elements are heading - the romance, the mystery villain - but Burgis mostly manages to execute those expected plot turns excellently, so it's always enjoyable to read.  More than that, she resolves things in a slightly different way than I expected, even with me having been spoiled by the other novellas, which was a nice touch.  The central antagonist's plot is the weakest part of the whole thing, but otherwise the book is very enjoyable and I will be moving on to the next in the series.

Note: I read this in audiobook, which comes along with the prequel novella Spellswept.  The reader is very good, so I would recommend the book in this format.


------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
4 Months ago, Cassandra Harwood was Angland's first ever female magician, the first ever woman to graduate from the Library (as top of her class!), and engaged to Wrexham, a brilliant partner magician.  And then a spell went wrong sealing her magic away inside her, unable to be used ever again.  In misery, she broke off her engagement to protect Wrexham for his own good, and hid herself away in her family estate under the care of her historian brother Jonathan and her brilliant politician sister-in-law Amy.

But when Amy convinces Cassandra to come along to a party deep in the mountains shared by the elves, she finds herself confronted with the things she's hidden from these past few months: her magical future, if any; and the look on her ex-fiance's face, a view she can't stop looking at.  And when a trip into the snow looking for stray guests runs awry of a scheming Elf Lord, Cassandra finds herself caught in a desperate trap: answer the Elf Lord's challenge or be taken away forever in a week's time.  Add in a blizzard preventing anyone from leaving, and a pair of young women with hopes and dreams inspired by Cassandra herself, it will take all of Cassandra's wits and what remains of her love, for there to be any future left for her at all.
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Snowspelled is interesting in that it takes place after the events of what you would normally expect of a story like this: of a woman breaking into a man's space* to become the first to do something - in this case, to learn to use magic - and showing her real worth.  Here that all happened prior to the story beginning, and Cassandra is narrating the epilogue of that: after a spell for some reason (explained during the story so I won't spoil) ended her career as an actual magician.  Instead it's about Cassandra's attempting to cope with the after effects of that tragedy and her way to go forward - both romantically and professionally.

*In another fun twist on this classic type of story, the gender roles here are reversed - the role Cassandra wants to break into, becoming a magician, is considered a LESSER role in society and thus only fit for men, the more "emotional" sex, while politics and leadership are left to women.  And yet Cassandra and her brother Jonathan chafe against the idea of any gender-specific roles, regardless of whether they're seen as lesser or greater.

And Snowspelled works really well in both of these areas.  The outcome of her relationship with Wrexham should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the genre, but it's done rather well, without it dragging on too long (which can be annoying when the outcome is so obvious).  Wrexham is a lovely fit for Cassandra, with baggage of his own - he doesn't have the lineage and class of Cassandra's family - which blinds him to the real reasons behind Cassandra's actions just as Cassandra is so blinded by her loss of magic to see the love he still has for her.  They're a great team and it's nice to see how easily they fit together, without any interference from other individuals.

Then there's Cassandra's professional future, which seems lost without her magic, until she encounters two young women inspired by her, Miss Banks and Miss Fennell (who are the couple in Moontangled), who wish to make use of the path she forged.  The two force Cassandra to confront her own naivete of the path she followed and the costs that were paid for it, and spin her onto a path for her future that goes in a different way than you would normally expect.  I don't want to say more or else I'll spoil it, but it's a really nice plot switch.

The weak part of this novel unfortunately is the plot of the main antagonist and the mystery/conflict it imposes.  It's seemingly meant to require wit for Cassandra to solve, as she tries to figure out the Elf Lord's game and who is responsible for the magic threatening everything, but it's so obvious from the start it seems bizarre that Cassandra doesn't notice it immediately.  And the resolution is similarly unsatisfying, with it just feeling way way too easy to bring down a foe that should be far more aware of the possibility of such an accusation by Cassandra.  It's the reason I liked the two novellas better than this book honestly, as their whole parts fit together much better.

Still, this is a lovely romantic fantasy and I will be reading the last book in the series shortly.  I'm excited to see where that one goes - although I am kind of spoiled.
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