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The Ice Queen | 
 enlarge | Author: Alice Hoffman
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £1.48
You Save: £6.51 (81%)
New (21) Used (14) from £1.28
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 137704
Media: Paperback
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.6
ISBN: 0099488833
EAN: 9780099488835
ASIN: 0099488833
Publication Date: August 3, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: new good unread,some shelf wear ,24 hr uk dispatch
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 MAGIC AND MYSTICISM July 8, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Remember childhood superstitions? "Step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back." So, as youngsters we did all we could do to avoid those sidewalk cracks. How about wishing upon a star? Many of us once believed that if you wished upon the first star you saw at night and wished hard enough that wish just might come true.
Fortunately, most of us do not have the ability of Alice Hoffman's narrator who begins her story by saying, "Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact. Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things, they burn your tongue the moment they're spoken and you can never take them back. They bruise and bake and come back to haunt you. I've made far too many wishes in my lifetime, the first when I was eight years old."
Her wish was that she would never see her mother again, and that proved to be true. A fatal automobile accident on an icy road takes her mother's life and forever changes our heroine who grows up to become a librarian, an ice queen if you will, remaining apart, aloof and trying to convince herself that she does not care.
Ned, her older brother by four years, takes a different route. He becomes a meteorologist, studying adverse weather conditions. In adulthood he invites her to join him in Florida. Once there, she is struck by lightning which serves to melt her long nurtured reserve.
There are many other survivors of lightning strikes, one in particular - Lazarus Jones, who was supposedly dead for forty minutes after being struck. Once she begins to thaw the ice queen realizes all that she has been missing and seeks out Lazarus.
The love affair that develops between them is pure Hoffman - a bit of magic as fire meets ice. Written in impeccable prose, The Ice Queen is superbly crafted, the work of a master wordsmith. This all too brief story is an affirmation of life and all that it offers; it is one we will not soon forget.
Enjoy!
- Gail Cooke
Fabulous, realistic, compelling June 22, 2007
This story starts with an unlikely premise : a woman whose heart has been turned into ice. She can't feel anything ; empathy is a closed book.She's been like this since the night in her childhood when her mother died ; she functions, in a manner of speaking, holds down a job, is an acceptable citizen. Yet something is missing. Along comes unlikely premise number two : this woman gets struck by lightning and becomes humanized, starts to feel again, even to the extent of falling in love with, who else ? another survivor of a lightning-strike.
In hands less skilled and magical than Hoffman's, all this could soon become preposterous. But with Hoffman, it doesn't. Fairy tale intertwines with realism ; terror and anguish get all mixed up with beauty. I really cared about these people, couldn't put the book down.
I've yet to read a disappointing Alice Hoffman. May I recommend some of her novels ostensibly for "younger readers", namely "Aquamarine," "Indigo" and "Green Angel" ? I'm off now to order some more Hoffman titles, to make my summer a special thing.
What a find... March 27, 2007
I LOVED this book. It grabbed my attention so fully that I got stuck reading it in the bath for 2 hours! Seriously I just had to find out what happened at the end, and was sobbing mess by the time I'd finished. It made me cry both with saddness, empathy and joy..... Sigh!
This was my first dip in to Alice Hoffmans world, and I instantly became hooked, what an author! Her ability to create characters that you genuinely care about is rare, and the magical atmosphere she creates that builds as you read on grips you more and more! If you enjoy bieng totally immersed in a book then I wholly recommend this.
Adult fairy Tale February 26, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
An electrifying novel about a woman struck by lightning, who meets a man who died and was resurrected. The butterfly effect - or the chaos theory - forms the basis of this electrifying novel. This is a gothic modern day fairy tale told in a bewitching style that is poetic and compelling. As in all great fairy tales we learn that what we wish for isn't necessarily what we really want. This is a dark tale of love, secrets, second chances, loss and obsession, with a heart-wrenching ending. An outstanding piece of writing by Hoffman, which I could not put down.
Lightning strike from Hoffman December 10, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I saw a recommendation for this in a book group magazine. It is my first Alice Hoffman book and i will definitely be looking up more titles.
It is a quick read it took me 2 days to read, but i didn't want to put it down,i really cared about the character and wanted to know what happens.
I won't spoil it for anyone but it is not many books that make me cry but this did as from her descriptions i felt i was physically there witnessing the scene with her brother.
I would recommend this as a starting point if,like me you haven't read any of her books, i've a feeling i'll be reading many more.
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