Elizabeth Vail

"3.5 out of 5 stars, a darker version of the Snow White fairytale with unique twists! Set in a historical feyish world, this dynamic novel gets you hooked from the beginning with its intriguing plot and entertaining characters."

Read more of this review and THREE teasers here: rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2014/08/made-grade-duke-of-snow-and-ap...

… (mehr)

The Duke of Snow and Apples kept me reading throughout a long and tedious car journey, at least—which is damning with faint praise, but intentionally so. There's the kernel of a great idea here—an alt-Regency world in which aristocrats can wield a certain kind of magic, and a duke runs away from home and disguises himself as a footman because he fears the potentially disastrous consequences of using the particular quirks of his own magic. But it's rather clumsily written—I didn't much like the two leads, and the world-building was particularly incoherent. I accept that if you're going to write in an alt-Regency world in which messages are sent via sprites and rooms are heated by salamander, that things aren't going to be written entirely as they would have occurred in our world. However, the way Vail chose to include or discard certain elements here made me think that she has little understanding of why Regency England functioned as it did, or what the rationale was behind certain sensibilities. (A young woman of the gentry using 'bloody' as a swear word, being sent around alone with a young male footman for companionship, a dowager noblewoman grinning... so much rang false.) The female lead, Charlotte, read far too much like a 21st century American dropped into an imagined past. Still, I think with better editors, Vail might be capable of stronger work.… (mehr)