Review: Mistress of the Wind

Author: Michelle Diener
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Season Publishing (self published work)
Release: Dec 23rd 2013
Source: NetGalley
Pages: 350 (ebook)
( Amazon | Goodreads )

Bjorn needs to find a very special woman . . .

The fate of his people, and his own life, depends on it. But when he does find her, she is nothing like he imagined, and may just harbor more secrets than he does himself.

Astrid has never taken well to commands. No matter who issues them . . .

She's clashed her whole life with her father, and now her lover, the mysterious man who comes to her bedroom in darkness and disappears to guard his mountain by day as a bear, is finding it out the hard way. And when he's taken by his enemies, no one is prepared for Astrid's response.

It is never wise to anger the mistress of the wind . . .

This novel is a retelling of the fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you know I'm a huge fan of fairy tale retellings. I love the fresh voice and delightfulness that come with each new add-ons and spin-offs. So when I finally got my hands on Mistress of the Wind, I was nothing less than thrilled. Unfortunately, after a fairly promising start, Mistress of the Wind fell terribly short to all my expectations.

As has been mentioned in the synopsis, Mistress of the Wind is a retelling of the fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Though you may not be familiar with this Norwegian folk tale, its setting is somewhat similar to Beauty and the Beast with Bjorn being the enchanted Beast and Astrid being the fierce Beauty. In order to retain balance in his realm, Bjorn must defeat his vicious and powerful stepmother, a troll queen, by fulfilling her tricky bargain. One wrong move and he would lose both his kingdom and himself, perhaps his lover as well, though he is not in this game alone. The deal holds another critical piece, Astrid, the girl who is meant to be and the girl who would sacrifice everything to be with him. 

If I had not read up on the fairy tale beforehand, I might have a better experience with this book. (Yep, that's right.) Because rather than incorporating creative twists to the original story, Mistress of the Wind recounts the tale in almost the same exact way as before with no shiny frostings on top. There are indeed more flesh and details filled into the original story skeleton, but overall it still lacks imagination and creativity. The second half of the book in particular becomes extremely predictable and slightly repetitive when Astrid starts off her journey to the troll queen's palace. 

One thing that baffled me the most is the fact that I was so detached from this book. Rarely do I feel completely indifferent about a story, let alone my favorite fairy tale retellings, I have always been able to establish some sort of connections with the book, may it be the plot or the characters, total hatred or absolute admiration. For Mistress of the Wind however, there was not a single moment when I felt I really cared about the outcome or the ending of Bjorn and Astrid's tale. I was not drawn into their world and I did not invest much at all into the story.

I have pondered on the possible reasons behind this for quite some time and I think I have come to a conclusion - it's all because of poor characterizations. Throughout the story, Michelle Diener introduced a good deal of characters to us readers: Bjorn, Astrid, Astrid's family, Jorgen, Norga, etc., yet most of them are seriously underdeveloped and overwhelmingly archetypal. Putting all the secondary characters aside, neither of the two MCs had me falling for them head over heels. Astrid had some potentials in the beginning but gradually lost her confident and brave self later on and turned into someone who is dull and downright forgettable.

After reading this book, I cannot help but wonder whether or not Michelle Diener wrote this story with an intention to market it as a MG novel instead. Because no matter how I evaluate it, Mistress of the Wind lacks both complexity and depth to its characters and plots. It would probably be more suitable for a much younger audience.

My Rating: ★★☆ (2 and 1/2 stars)

(A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)