Snow

by Meera Trehan

In this beautiful and haunting fantasy, an imprisoned princess needs the help of a girl from the modern world to undo a wish gone wrong and save her snowy kingdom.

Every day, a lonely princess digs through the snow in search of a way to undo the terrible wish she made—one that has left her with an empty kingdom and a heart full of guilt. But one day, a mysterious girl named Ela tumbles through the kingdom’s protective mist barrier. The princess is determined to bring Ela to her father, the harsh king, as proof that her wish can be undone, even if it means keeping Ela against her will. Meanwhile, Ela, who has grown up a regular kid in what she thought was a regular Indian American family, is shocked to discover she’s stumbled upon the very snow princess whose picture graces the cover of the locked book that Ela’s mom won’t let her read. In this elegant fantasy, author Meera Trehan conjures a story of loneliness, family secrets, science, and remarkable snow as two girls from different worlds come together to set things right—and maybe even become friends.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Friendship

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 14, 2025

About the author

Meera Trehan is a former practicing attorney who has worked on a range of civil rights issues, including disability rights. Indian-American like her character Asha, she lives outside of Washington, DC, with her family. This is her first novel, based in part on the experiences of one of her children, who is autistic.

Reviews

[Alwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantasy with a dash of SF. Princess Karina’s one of the last remaining inhabitants of the once-glorious Kingdom of Mistir. Now Mistir’s blanketed by unceasing falls of snow but this is no ordinary snow, it has strange, magical qualities. Outside Mistir are the plentiful Beyond Lands, seemingly unreachable because of forbidding Boundary Mists. But one day a stranger breaks through into Mistir, another young girl Ela. Ela’s fascinated to meet Karina who so closely resembles the princess from a storybook. One that Ela’s mother used to read to her. Like Karina, Ela’s lonely so she’s excited to encounter a possible new friend. But Ela quickly realises this is not just a place of mystery but also one of creeping menace – not least the threat posed by a pack of ferocious, mechanical hounds who police it. The answer to Mistir’s current plight can be found in both Karina and Ela’s past, tale revealed gradually in a series of flashbacks charting Mistir’s tragic downfall. Meera Trehan’s compelling novel brings in issues around science and climate change alongside a more personal examination of family bonds, guilt and redemption. The worldbuilding is a little shaky in places but Trehan’s portrayal of Mistir and the central characters was gripping enough to hold my attention throughout.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Walker Books for an ARC

Rating: 3.5

[Florence Migga · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a little bit to get into this, but I was truly feeling that magic by the end. The setting is so unique and so picturesque — it’s so easy to see the landscape of Snow in your mind’s eye. I truly felt whisked away to the land of Mistmere, and it was perfect for this hot, hot summer.

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snow hits with new meaning as two worlds collide, bringing beauty, fantasy, and greed.

For years, a young princess digs and digs in the snow. From morning to night, she searches for the one object that could give her and her father hope and relieve her never-ending guilt. Just when she finally catches a glimpse at what she's been searching for, a girl stumbles through the mist barrier, which separates their lonely kingdom from the world beyond. and hope disappears. Or maybe not. The girl comes from the land beyond, and while neither the Princess or her father have ever seen it, strangers had once brought many wonders from there. While the princess isn't sure about the girl, she soon realizes that this might be the salvation her and her father have yearned for. But miracles are some of the most difficult and slippery paths to tread, especially when their foundation isn't what it appears to be.

This reads as a fairy tale and has whispers, every now and then, reminding of The Snow Queen. But it isn't a retelling and takes a very unique direction surrounding themes such as the greed for power, guilt, friendship, and courage.

It begins with the magic of a snowy world and holds a sense of tragedy from the get go. The Princess is in a desperate place, and while it's not clear exactly what the problem is, the wrongness of the situation is obvious. The Princess' reaction to Ela, the girl entering through the mist, was a bit odd and confusing, but as the story goes on, it makes sense. But then, the entire plot is laid out so that various aspects remain unclear, at first. The adventure of the two girls unfolds as they journey to the castle and learn more about each other, while flashbacks reveal missing pieces bit by bit. Since I'm more on the hesitant side when it comes to flashbacks, this obviously wasn't my favorite story-telling style, but these flow well, aren't confusing, and add a sense of mystery and purpose as the story progresses.

The tale is told interchangeably from the two girls' perspectives, and through the flashbacks, the reader gains a better understanding of each one at the necessary moment. While the main story concentrates on the girls' forming relationship and journey, the backstory carries the meat of the plot. The kingdom has quite the complex history and richness, and this is what actually drives the tale. There's a story in itself surrounding each girl's parents and their political weavings...enough to probably create another 300+ page novel if fleshed out. The backstory hangs thickly woven around Ela's parents, and while not hitting the mother/daughter (and even father) relationship as much as I'd hope, it does a nice job in showing the tragedy behind the Princess' struggles and creates a lot of sympathy for her feelings of guilt. This makes the ending hit with that much more surprise and potency.

Summed up, it's a rich tale, which brings across a lovely realm of fantasy with the touch of magic. It's not all sunshine and demonstrates how blurred the lines between duty, love, right and wrong can become. There are action moments, but it leans heavier toward emotional/relationship tug-a-wars (all middle grade appropriate) and 'intrigue from the past' (I'm just going to call it that, although it's not really plotted, evil intrigue...more misguided decisions and consequences). Several things were left unclear (the magic, for example), but the ending opens the door to a further adventure, which has the potential to hold quite a bit more on many fronts...and it could go in many directions.

[YSBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this wintery, portal fantasy, two cousins reunite across a magical barrier, but while one understands the stakes, the other has no idea of the dangers she’ll encounter. Princess Karina stands to inherit the kingdom of Mistmir, but all of its subjects have fled because of her impulsive thirteenth birthday wish. When the very earthbound Ela emerges from a snowdrift, the Princess knows the younger girl holds the key to changing the oppressive and strange Snow of Mistmir back into its former, benign state. Trehan uses Hans Christian Andersen’s story of the Snow Queen as the template for her novel, with Ela and the Princess undertaking a perilous journey to the frozen, abandoned castle ruled by Karina’s father, the cold-hearted King. The growing relationship between the two girls and mysterious origins of Mistmir’s troubles form the plot, but numerous flashbacks unfold to tell us all about the past, one tantalizing detail at a time. The setting is certainly intriguing, with the brutal cold, accounts of palace intrigue, and the King’s vicious mechanical “Hounds” providing a mounting sense of peril. Neither girl’s narration turns out to be completely reliable (the clearly labeled chapters switch back and forth), which makes for some nifty revelations along the way. The characters and the kingdom seem to be of Indian origin, signified by names and the occasional reference to the Hindi language. The book ends with Ela and Karina going back to the human world (just like Kai and Gerda in the original), but it’s easy to see how the author could make this a duology, with the two returning to Mistmir, Ela’s scientist parents in tow, to rectify past mistakes. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This delightful modern fairy tale [3.5 for me!] hooked me from the first page and kept me engaged all the way through. Because parts of it will remind readers of other, more familiar stories while also having its own original take on princesses and their kingdoms, reading it felt as though I were being plunged into some mysterious world where things had sadly gone awry. Learning exactly why that was the case and watching the Snow Princess learn from her mistakes, even while she desperately tries to earn her father's love and gain his attention made me understand her and even feel some compassion for her even while being worried for twelve-year-old Ela, when she steps into the Princess's world accidentally and changes everything. While forgetting the dangers involved in getting what they want and the twists and turns fate may have in store for them, many readers will relate to the behavior and emotions of both girls while also understanding the need for wishes to come true. The storytelling in this fantasy is elegant, and the descriptive passages made me shiver with cold as I felt surrounded by snow, snow, snow, unrelenting snow.

[Glenna Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karina has been digging in the Snow for a long time, trying to work herself back into the good graces of her father, the king, and her subjects, to undo the terrible act that caused the Snow. At the same time, Ela arrives through the mists that protect the kingdom. Karina immediately realizes that Ela doesn't know her relationship to the kingdom, and that Ela is the key to her forgiveness. Ela, upon her arrival, realizes that Karina is the subject of her mother's book, one that her mother has refused to read to her for a long time. As mystery upon mystery unfold in this fairy-tale like story, Karina learns that her history is not necessarily what she thought it to be and that her future can be changed by her choices. Will Karina choose to rule a barren, empty land, or will she break free of her past and become someone else, not bound by the wishes of her father, the king? Trehan does a wonderful job gradually unfolding and revealing information to satisfy the curiosity of the reader and helps the reader understand that one's fate is not written in a book until the subject of the book takes action, that fate is not predetermined, but can be changed by one's decisions and acts.

[Elizabeth Lyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meera Trehan’s Snow is an imaginative, wise, and funny story about Ela, a 12 year-old who meets a Snow Princess after snowshoeing through the Boundary Mists surrounding the Kingdom of Mistmir. From the start, it’s apparent that Ela and the Snow Princess share some deep and mysterious bonds, which lead to more and more questions. Why is the Snow Princess on the cover of a book that Ela has cherished as long as she can remember? Why has Ela’s mother started keeping this book under lock and key? Why is the Snow Princess so fixated with Ela’s toy butterfly? And why, by the way, does the Snow Princess insist on calling it a flutterbye??!

In some ways, the two young women could not be more different from each other. Ela feels like she is not special at anything and that her life is one fail after another; the Princess is not only special but royal -- and is determined to do whatever it takes to restore her kingdom to its former glory. The story unfolds in surprising ways, and Trehan’s seamless shifts between past and present and different narrative viewpoints allow her to develop characters who are rich and complex and relatable. Snow’s creativity and quirky wordplay and humor make it a fun read as well!

[LS Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even those who don't enjoy a princess story may enjoy the plot line of this one that is full of creative twists, some science, and some suspense. I think it is more about family-ties and friendship. I think the majority of the story is all at surface level with not much exploration of the characters, the setting or moving along the plot. But once it reaches near the climax, it is very exciting. I did not expect the ending, so that was a nice twist.

[Jessica Lerbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun fantasy with excitement and sorrow and lots of good lessons for the characters

[Bookworm4Life · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a magical read. The perfect book to read when your stuck inside on a rainy day.

[Kathy Sleeper · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enchanting read.

[Amelia Venjoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s like a wintery, kids version of my beloved Cartographers. A world where Snow is not like snow from the Beyond Lands. A princess and a Stranger’s lives collide just beyond the mists.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I read this at ten

[Dasha Cassity · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that works through finding a balance between two unreliable narrators. From an adults reader's point of view, a lot of that unreliability hinges on the special languages families develop and adopt as their children grow. Then those words take on new meanings and can hide the truth in plain view.

https://pussreboots.com/blog/2025/com...



Privileged Uhoria Maze 00CCCC

[Joe Bertelloni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, unique fantasy narrative about making mistakes and owning them

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Ela is on vacation with her parents, who are "quirky scientists"; hydrologists who don't want to go to the beach but would rather rent a cabin in a snowy woods so they can study mist and snow. Since Ela occasional gets "vertigsnow" and feels dizzy and nauseated when out in the snow, she's not keen on cross country skiing like her parents are. She's also irritated because her mother has locked up her favorite book, a story about a snow princess, as well as a toy butterfly that went along with it. Ela has had a difficult time recently with her best friend, Kavi, so she decides to go on a walk to get away and clear her head. Meanwhile, we have met Princess Karina, who is dealing with her own problems. Her kingdom has filled up with neverending snow because of something she did, and her father, the King, expects her to dig for hours to try to solve the problem. She has just found a "Flutterbye" is the snow, and thinks this is a good sign, but it was apparently brought that by Ela, who has past through a mist barrier and ended up in Karina's alternate universe kingdom. The Princess responds in the regal manner she has been taught, but is irrritated to lose the Flutterbye. She tries to get Ela to stop by her cottage, have tea, and go back to the palace, thinking that this will make her father happier. Ela is uncomfortable when the girls take refuge in the Yurts of Plenty from the Hounds that are chasing them, and wants to go back home. Because of the Hounds, mechanical dogs who belong to the king, the girls try to find a quicker way to get to the palace and find a sled... that they BOTH remember as belonging to their fathers! The Princess knows more than Ela does, but it is soon revealed that Ela's mother is the Princess' aunt, and the sister of the king, who fell in love with a scientist who made it through the Mists into the kingdom. The aunt would return every year and give Karina Flutterbyes for her birthday, but on her 13th birthday, she was irritated by something Lord Hesketh's obnoxious sons said, and said she wanted a different gift. This leads to the problem of neverending snow with the kingdom, and the fact that the King made time stand still until Karina solved it. Now that both girls know the secret, will they be able to return the kingdom to its former glory and be able to be friends?
Strengths: Portal fantasies are always interesting, and the idea of an eternal winter is fun to revisit from time to time. The thing I liked best about this was Karina's "princess training", and how she was always supposed to be smiling, gracious, and somewhat aloof... sort of the same way teachers should behave! The mystery of the girls' connection, as well as the problems with the kingdom, are slowly rolled out, and intricately woven. The fantasy elements and world building are strong, and the Yurts of Plenty are particularly intriguing. Adding friend drama in Ela's world as a reason why she is sort of running away is always a good addition to a middle grade story. This author also wrote The View from the Very Best House in Town.
Weaknesses: This seemed a bit on the young side, especially when the girls named their magical sled Cuddle-Lump. Yet, the book is rather long. I had hoped for a more complete resolution at the end.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like winter related fantasies like Constable's Wolf Princess, Rudnick's A Frozen Heart, Hasting's The Frost Fair, Houts' Winterfrost, Prineas' Winterling, or Wilson's The Lost Frost Girl.

[Marcie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not finished, but I don't want to lose this - Chapter 6 - "Vertigsnow - that's what her dad calls it when she gets dizzy in the snow -- for the first time in years, that's a fail -

Is there a reason this feels a lot like my first reading of Ella Enchanted. Perhaps it's the quality of the figurative language. Anyone else feel this is ripe for other formats?

Not sure why earlier I put this in ya. I wanted to like this better because of the science and information, but I'm on chapter 20 and still no male characters except adult negative ones. Description of sled/robot manufactured is interesting and well written.

[Tracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

After Princess Karina makes an ill-guided wish, a scientifically-modified snow strands the kingdom of Mistmir in an eternal winter, causing a mass exodus. Only Karina and her father remain until 12-year-old Indian American Ela accidentally slips through a portal connecting Mistmir to Earth. But why does Karina look so familiar? And what does Ela herself have to do with Mistmir's curse?

This dual-perspective story blurs the line between fantasy and science fiction, using close third-person narration flecked with knowing humor to weave a modern fairy tale.