When the woodcutter's daughter is born into a large family, her mother is so disappointed at having yet another girl that she refuses to give the child a name. The girl is simply called "the pika" (which means "girl") or referred to as "the lass". When she is grown, a mysterious polar bear comes to their cottage and begs her to live in his ice palace for a year. Knowing that he must be under some kind of enchantment, the lass agrees to go with him. She is sure that she can break the curse he is under, and she investigates the mysteries of the ice palace. But every time she asks the servants questions, she is putting herself and them in danger.

I really loved all the imaginative fairy tale elements of the story! Some of it was familiar because I have read the fairy tale this is based on, but it was lovely to see that fairy tale reimagined and retold in this way. The plot is adventurous and I loved the mystery of the ice palace, but I felt that the ending was a little too abrupt. Everything is resolved fairly quickly at the end, which is common with fairy tales, so that might be why the story structure is so quick at the end. I liked the ending, but felt like it needed a little more denouement.

The character of the lass is wonderfully complex. She is brave and curious and intelligent, but she makes a lot of mistakes too. She feels things deeply, but that emotional sensitivity only makes her stronger. I love her determination to do what is right. She is tenacious and tough, but also tender-hearted.

I appreciated that the romance was clean and sweet. You get the sense that they truly care about each other on a deep level beyond superficial attraction. But most of the story is taken up with the lass's adventures, and not much time is spent on the romance.

I really thought that the lass not having a name would play into the plot more. I thought it would protect her from some sort of dark magic and be a big plot twist thing, but it wasn't even mentioned in that context. It's a little disappointing because it's just not at all what I expected. The story made such a big deal about it in the beginning, and then it wasn't even that important to the plot.

To see the small amount of minor violence and dark magic in this book, you can check it out on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/sun-and-moon-ice-and-snow-1416727