Words on Winterspell by Claire Legrand

A retelling of The Nutcracker
Feb 4, 2015
3 min read

It's 1899, and Clara Stole is constantly trying to dodge danger. Her father, the mayor of New York City, has gotten himself mixed up in a criminal organization called "Concordia", and he is starting to think twice. Clara must also endure the pervy, sick Dr. Victor, who spends his spare time cutting people open at his messed up "hospital", the Harold House for Wayward Girls.

Clara finds a small comfort in her godfather, the strange and slightly batty Drosselmeyer. Drosselmeyer has been teaching her to defend herself, and Clara is enchanted by his whimsical stories about faraway lands.

Even so, Clara is uneasy. Her mother's brutal murder has left her family in shambles. While her younger sister, the sweet Felicity Stole, drowns herself in parties and society, Clara's father instead turns to the bottle, unable to cope with his two daughters and Concordia watching his every move. clara also feels like Drosselmeyer knows more than he's saying. Is it possible that he could know something

Just as tensions seem to reach their peak, disaster strikes. Clara's home is invaded by Loks, huge, hostile ratlike beasts. Clara's father is taken, and Clara meets Nicholas, a strange boy who seems to know Drosselmeyer. Clara learns that Nicholas is a dethroned prince of the land of Cane, which is where her father was taken. Determined to help him, she follows.

Both Clara and Nicholas are shocked upon their arrival. This is not the Cane of Nicholas's memories, and it is a dark, miserable place. The half-fey, half-human queen Anise has seized the throne and now rules unchecked. The wars between the humans and fey are finally over, and know humans are treated no better than animals, starved and freezing while the fey live in insane luxury. Nicholas is desperate to get his kingdom back, but he and Clara have no idea how to dethrone a tyrant like Anise. Clara must also get her father back and safely bring him home before Concordia comes for him.

As a rule, I love a good YA retelling, but this was one I've never seen before. The Nutcraker Me gusta. And the cover? Absolutley beautiful. It's shiny, but not really flashy. It's a subtle shimmer.... kind of like Cassie Clare books, but not quite as shiny.

I loved Clara as a heroine. She's feirce and braver than she thinks, even if her fear ties her down a bit in the begining. She's very protective of her family - her younger sister in particular. Felicity is very innocent and sweet, and Clara wants it to stay that way. She'd rather her younger sis didn't know about the darker parts of the family's life.

Nicholas and Anise are both very interesting characters. Even when you know that Nicholas is the good guy and Anise is the nasty one, they still mess with your emotions. Nicholas doesn't seem to tell Clara everything sometimes, and that could make it hard to trust him. As for Anise, I can't help but feel sorry for her. Despite the fact that she's not so great, in the end she's just a lonely person. I got the feeling that she was once a good person, but other people have shaped her, turning her into a darker person. That actually helped make her one of my favorite characters.

Drosselmeyer was also awesome. He's a brilliant inventor, and even though he keeps things from Clara, he thinks that he's doing things that are for her own good and he's a good man at heart. much like Nicholas, he's trying to make ammends for his past mistakes.

Speaking of inventions, the whole book had a steampunk(ish) theme. Normaly, technology isn't allowed in Cane, but Anise changed that. We see our fair share of cyborgs and machines.

Overall, I loved the book. The idea of a Nutcracker retelling isn't something I've seen before, and the characters were great! The plot was fast-paced and the mood was good. If anything, it laged a bit towards the middle, but towards the very end in picked up the pace and wrapped up nicely. Sadly, I don't think it has a sequel, which would be a shame - I would be curious to see a follow-up! 4/5.