BRIDGE OF SNOW by Marie Rutkoski...short, lovely, moving

BRIDGE OF SNOW
MARIE RUTKOSKI
Tor.com original
Free, online only

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Ignore the stirrings of war. Let the carriage to a royal ball wait. There is a story to be told: of a starless night, a mother and her sick son, and a mortal who falls in love with the snow god, and will do anything to have her...

Read “Bridge of Snow,” which is set in the world of Rutkoski's newest novel The Winner's Curse.

My Review: Some days, my friends, are made for storybooks and fairy tales and the quiet words of mothers to their children. This day was one of them.

I saw a mention of this story on BookLikes and, feeling mildly annoyed at life as well as sore of hands so unable to hold my usual sovereign rememdy a book, decided to read it in spite of the fact that fantasy and I are old and cold enemies. That was a good decision. The story is a slice of life, a moment in time that any one of us will, most likely anyway, relate to from one or both perspectives. We've all been children, and I hope against hope cherished by one, both, all three four or five of our parents; many of us have had the role of parent too. And the moment in time that this story reveals is a simple and profound one: What is my place in the Universe? Where do I belong, who do I belong to?

Both people in this story discover the answer to that nested set of questions is more profound and more flexible than we think it is, and more difficult to express openly and honestly. Paradoxically, it is more important than mere words can convey to say the truth and the whole of it. There is never a sure thing in life. Say what you need to say, now.


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