Books for Christian Girls: "Frozen Hearts" by Cara E. Ruegg

About this book:

  “Dark magic is at work.
    A strange sickness plagues the land.
   Aksel must learn to control his powers before they control him.
   Twelve-year-old Aksel doesn’t want to be different, he doesn’t want fingers that glow with ice, doesn’t want powers that freeze whatever he touches. He’s terrified of being found out, or worse—hurting someone with powers he can’t control.
   But when a strange illness overtakes his town and claims those he loves, Aksel has to face more than just coming to terms with his strange abilities. With the help of his younger sister, Cathrine, and some unexpected friends, he must journey to the tip of the mountain and go find The Snow Queen who is believed to be responsible for the curse.”

Series: Book #1 in “European Fairytales Retold” series.

Spiritual Content- Prayers (including a prayer by a child thinking she might die and asking forgiveness so that if she “appears before you today, may [she] appear worthy enough to enter through the gates” and another prayer said to“prepare his soul for the death he felt was coming”); Talks about God, trusting Him, forgiveness, & confessing to Him; Most 'H's are capital when referring to God; A Christmas-like event is celebrated (Juleaften); Aksel believes in God and Heaven, but still finds death to be scary; A woman says that she couldn’t wait for God to avenge her, so she took matters into her own hands; Aksel’s grandmother tells him that she believes that even a murderer could be forgiven by God as long as the person is truly sorry; Mentions of God, Jesus, & trusting in Him; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, a monastery, & monks; Mentions of the Christ child, nativity sets, and Christmas trees; Mentions of sins; A few mentions of crucifixes/crosses in a church; A mention of Providence guiding Aksel and Cathrine on the journey;
             *Note: Aksel has “powers”/”abilities” where he can shoot ice from his hand (used for safety and/or self-protection, up to semi-detailed); Aksel wonders if his powers are superpowers or a curse and feels like a monster at times (also thinking that he could be experiment on or even used as a weapon); Dark magic is used for a magic mirror (The Snow Queen, Zabina, uses dark magic once for this and while she knows it is forbidden, the dark does not scare her, or at least, she won’t admit it; Dark magic is looked as wrong and always having consequences); Zabina comments on evil queens have a magic mirror to not only admire herself but also to be “like an all-seeing god”; There are hobgolins (called little demons), faes, julenisse (gnomes), nisse (elves), & mentions of them throughout this book (some are helpful and others like the hobgolins are masters of black magic); *Major Spoilers* Due to the dark magic mirror breaking, the magic leaked out and caused the illness where people’s hearts are freezing; Aksel tells the Snow Queen this and it’s up to her to confess her sins to God for the illness to be lifted; She offers him to use the mirror, but Aksel wants nothing to do with black magic; She is told that only the Light Itself can eliminate the black magic and if she does confess to Him, she’ll lose her powers; She doesn’t think God will forgive her, but Aksel tells her to ask God to help her be sorry for her actions; She goes to confess and “made [her] peace with God” *End of Spoilers*); Aksel has always feel like the mountains are calling to him (but knows it’s forbidden to go there); Aksel’s friend teases him about being the descendant of a god because of Aksel never being cold (they laugh at this, but Aksel says “There’s only one God, Mikkel, and we are both his sons”); Many mentions of spells, curses, powers, feeling like a monster because of them (including Aksel), & using the powers for good; Mentions of someone being accused as a witch & being run out of town (the Snow Queen); Mentions of some grandparents believing that fairytale stories and creatures are real; A few mentions of evil, someone looking evil, & it being said that the Snow Queen is evil and has little demons (hobgoblins) at her lair; A mention of some saying that elves are devilish; A mention of a color being the color of someone’s spirit; A mention of luck; A mention of an alien.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘stupid’, and a ‘wimp’; Fighting, a fire, close-calls with frozen ponds cracking, being attacked by wolves, being tied-up and threatened with being eaten, seeing someone choked & being scared (up to semi-detailed); Pain, Injuries, & Blood/Bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Nightmares (about loved ones dying, up to semi-detailed); Aksel doesn’t want to tell his parents about the close-call with a frozen pond because he used his powers and doesn’t want to worry them; Aksel is concerned about death & his loved ones dying; Aksel wants to see his friend in the hospital and plans to sneak in to see him (his father helps sneak in since he doesn’t think they’ll break any rules); Hobgoblins threaten to eat our main characters and their friends (going as far as putting them into a fire); A flashback to witnessing murders & causing/committing murders (Zabina’s point of view, up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* Zabina nearly kills an elf who attacked her, but ends up not killing him since she has learned that vengeance is God’s *End of Spoiler*; There is an illness that is freezing people’s hearts and they fall into a deep sleep for days (mentions of them needing IVs to survive and trying to find the cure); Mentions of murders, murderers, & revenge (*Spoiler* Zabina pushed a group of people off of a ledge after witnessing them murder her husband; She says she did it on purpose, but feels relieved when it turns out that someone else pushed them as well, so it wasn’t just her actions; We see this as a flashback and mentioned *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of deaths & possible deaths (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of an illness with people’s hearts freezing, those with the illness being in a deep sleep and not waking up, hypothermia, injuries, blood/bleeding, (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of jail, crimes, & a possible death sentence; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of a family member disappearing suddenly; A few mentions of nightmares; A few mentions of lies & lying (done mostly by hobgoblins); A couple mentions of wars; A couple mentions of hatred; A couple mentions of bars & drinking; A couple mentions of decaying animals & the smell (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of a thief; A mention of wine (a sip by Aksel’s father); A mention of cheating at a game;
             *Note: Aksel starts to wonder if he came from another family because he’s always felt different from them with his family doesn’t understand him or have the same powers/abilities he has (*Major Spoilers but Important Note about Biological Families and Comments* Aksel is the son of the Snow Queen and wonders if he is dangerous like she is; He calls her his “real” mother a couple of times; Cathrine wonders if Aksel is “even her brother”; At the end, Aksel tells his adoptive parents that he knows he’s not their son and they both say that he is because “blood doesn’t change that” and that he belongs in this family *End of Spoilers*); In a flashback, Zabina thinks about unleashing her powers on those who call her names so that they will fear her like she fears herself; There are mentions of a murder that happened because the man was different than everyone else (an elf surrounded by humans); Aksel calls his mother “uptight” once because of company coming (he and his grandmother joke about it); Askel feels guilt over his father having an injury because of his disobedience; A few mentions of those with powers/abilities being called ‘freak’, ‘monster’, and ‘witch’ by others.

Sexual Content- N/A.

-Aksel, age 12
-Cathrine, age 9
                                P.O.V. switches between them & a few others
                                                        181 pages

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

This was a really interesting fairytale retelling! It had Danish influences and no romance at all, so it was different from my normal retellings, but I liked it because of those aspects.

My only two little things I didn’t care for were more minor. I thought it was a little bit of a quick jump for our main character to think that the snow queen was his mother and then quickly accepting it. Also, the illness aspect of the plot did feel a little too reminiscent of a certain event we all went through within the last few years, so I wasn’t the biggest fan of those parts, but it did compel our sibling duo to action.

My favorite part of the story was the sibling content and how much our main characters cared for each other. The ending felt a little bit rushed especially with that short epilogue, but I bet that’s because we’ll see these characters again and other books in the series. At least that’s what I’m hoping!

There are a couple notes/comments that could be triggering for those who were adopted or do not live with their biological families, just as a heads up.

Overall, this was a really creative and imaginative retelling. I think I would’ve liked a few things to be fleshed out just a little bit more, but I overall enjoyed it.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!