Book Review – The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo

Title: The Snow Spider

Author:  Jenny Nimmo

Format: Hardback

Written: 1986

Published: 2006

 

After reading the book I’ve been set with a quandary as to how to review this book.  I have read books by Jenny Nimmo particularly her Charlie Bone series. It was a book about a boy with special powers and there was an allusion in the series to the title character being a descendant of a magician.  Thus when I saw that Jenny Nimmo has a book series based on a magician I was all for the idea and eager to read it even if it is significantly shorter than the Charlie Bone series.

 

Yet, it seems that my habit of picking up books by authors I have read before has failed me a bit yet again.  One would think that I would learn my lesson on this but I’m a sucker for a good author and hoping that they won’t fail me.  In this case Jenny Nimmo didn’t entirely fail me as some authors have but this book was certainly not one of my favorites.  Of course it doesn’t entirely help that I thought the book came after the Charlie Bone series but it was written well before the book and in some ways it is very easy to tell as there is a lot of weakness to this book that are made up for in the Charlie Bone series.

 

In this book the plot was rushed the characters motives were forced and the personalities were flat.  I barely had time to get into one event when it would end and the next event would start. I guess I should have expected that with the book being so short but I was still disappointed and left wanting.  The story of Gywn and his discovering of being a magician and getting his heart’s desires was rather flat, the story and plot had potential but I really wish Jenny Nimmo would have expanded more like she wound up doing with the Charlie Bone series.

 

Over all I’d give the book a three page rating because there were some moments that I liked, the concept was solid just lacking in development.  Would I recommend this book? Not really.  Will I read the next book in the trilogy? Probably not.  The book tied up its plot and left nothing to question and is very much a standalone, and considering the characters did not capture me that well and the writing is not as refined as it is now, I have little desire to know more about Gywn the magician.