In the original folktale the journey is episodic and magical rather than tedious and really doesn't take that long. I realize the heroine's search for her missing prince is an integral part of the story, but I don't know why every author stretches it out to over half the book. The constant GPS headings serve no purpose, especially for those of us who can't tell where we are just by reading latitudes and longitudes. Her take on trolls was also unique and intriguing. Durst's retelling does the best job of developing the romance between heroine and bear/man, which is skimmed over in other retellings I've encountered. It was interesting to see Cassie grow from reluctantly pregnant young woman to devoted mother. The environmental message about dying species was very relevant to our time. Themes of growing love, trust, betrayal, family loyalty, disappointment in parents' shortcomings, and the shouldering of responsibility knit the book together. Her dry sarcasm lightens the tone on many occasions and sometimes even made me laugh out loud when I imagined myself reacting the same way in Cassie's predicament. Being a fan of traditional stories, I actually wasn't keen on a modern twist, but Sarah Beth Durst makes it work by giving heroine Cassie a modern sense of humour. The mix of Scandinavian and Inuit folklore is unique and gels surprisingly well. Sarah Beth Durst sets her book in present-day North America rather than Norway, and draws on Inuit folklore to make her Bear one of the spirit guardians of a given species (in his case, polar bears).

For those unfamiliar with the story, think Scandinavian Beauty and the Beast with the beast as a polar bear, the heroine first betraying a promise to her husband and then searching for her him the way Psyche searched for Eros, trolls and a rival bride in the mix. The Norwegian “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” is one of my favourite folktales, so I dove eagerly into yet another modern retelling, Ice by Sarah Beth Durst.