The Snow Spider

Snow Spider Trilogy #1

by Jenny Nimmo

Lonely and isolated since the disappearance of his sister Bethan five years ago, Gwynâ€s life takes a wonderfully magical turn on his ninth birthday when his grandmother gives him five intriguing gifts, one of which, a brooch, transforms into Arianwen, the snow spider. Age 8+

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Middle Grade, Magic, Juvenile

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 1986

About the author

Jenny Nimmo was born in Windsor, Berkshire, England and educated at boarding schools in Kent and Surrey from the age of six until the age of sixteen, when she ran away from school to become a drama student/assistant stage manager with Theater South East. She graduated and acted in repertory theater in various towns and cities: Eastbourne, Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Hastings, and Bexhill.

She left Britain to teach English to three Italian boys in Almafi, Italy. On her return, she joined the BBC, first as a picture researcher, then as an assistant floor manager, studio manager (news) then finally a director/adaptor with Jackanory (a BBC storytelling program for children). She left BBC to marry a Welsh artist David Wynn Millward and went to live in Wales in her husband's family home. They live in a very old converted watermill, and the river is constantly threatening to break in, as it has done several times in the past, most dramatically on her youngest child's first birthday. During the summer they run a residential school of art, and she has to move her office, put down tools (type-writer and pencil, and don an apron and cook! They have three grown-up children, Myfawny, Ianto, and Gwenwyfar.

Reviews

[Ronda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many, many years ago, I read Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising. The series enthralled me, and I found myself anxiously waiting for each book in the series to come back in to our school library (the series was popular). So how is this relevant to Jenny Nimmo's The Magician Trilogy? Reading The Snow Spider put me in the same frame of mind that Cooper's series put me into so very many years ago, so much so, that I (1) can't wait to read the 2nd book in Nimmo's series and (2) am itching to re-read Cooper's series. Set in Wales, Nimmo's new series (she is author of the Charlie Bone books), introduces us to Gwyn and his family on the day of Gwyn's ninth birthday. Gwyn's grandmother gives him five very puzzling gifts--a piece of seaweed, a scarf, a whistle, a twisted brooch and a broken toy horse--and tells hiim that now is the time to find out if he, Gwyn, is a magician. Gwyn and his mother and father, still grieving from the mysterious disappearance of his sister Bethan almost five years previous, pretty well think that Gwyn's gran is nuts. But is she? Full of the richness of Welsh names The Snow Spider is an intriguing tale of darkness, mystery, and the light of hope. I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

Reading level as listed on Amazon.com: Ages 9-12

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Child Rowland to the dark tower came.
His word was still "Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man."

-- King Lear, Act III Scene 4

Such a curious title: can spiders be active and survive in the outside temperatures that allow snow to fall? Of course, being cold-blooded creatures, this isn't the case, which makes the concept so appealing. Once, however, you can accept the premise that at least one can survive it makes it easier to suspend disbelief about the other things that happen in this story. This paradox will be the first of many.

On Gwyn's ninth birthday he is given five curious gifts by his Nain, his grandmother: a broach, a musical pipe, a piece of seaweed, a scarf and a model of a horse. Each will conjure up wondrous things: the snow spider, the ability to hear sounds from the Otherworld, a sailing ship, his missing sister's double, and a trickster from out of legend. And how is it he can achieve these conjurations? He is the descendent of the Welsh magician Gwydion and has inherited his powers.

Jenny Nimmo's novel, the first title in a trilogy, is an often underrated fantasy because there is much under the surface of the narrative. There are emotions in Gwyn's family arising from the disappearance of Gwyn's sister Bethan exactly four years previously -- loss, anger, confusion -- and Gwyn is made to feel responsible for Bethan never returning. Gwyn is hyper sensitive, feeling guilty that his sister had gone out looking for his favourite ewe, but he is also recognised as being odd and therefore bullied at school.

Then there is the setting on the Welsh uplands, where sheepfarming was ever a parlous activity. In these hills legend and history are ever slumbering in the landscape, ready to erupt into the present, especially at times that represent the threshold of a new season, as happened with Gwyn being born as the Celtic winter started, the day after Hallowe'en.

Now the legends that are specifically referenced come from the collection of Welsh native tales known as the Mabinogi or Mabinogion, with characters such as Gwydion, the trickster Efnisien, and Branwen the bride of the Irish king. But the theme that comes to my mind, and one that may be a pattern for this tale, is the story of Childe Roland, whose sister Burd Ellen was abducted by the King of Elfland after going widdershins round a church to fetch a lost ball.

Now this is a widespread folktale type: the maiden captured by fairies for an unwitting transgression, whose brother (usually it's the youngest of three) goes off to rescue her from the 'Dark Tower' mentioned in passing in Shakespeare's King Lear. There is a hint of all this in The Snow Spider, I sense: Gwyn, thrice three years old, uses his magical resources to locate his long-lost sister Bethan, who went missing on the first day of the Celtic winter, her presumed sin being to leave the house in a snow storm to fi d and rescue Gwyn's black ewe. It's not an exact parallel, and it may all turn out differently, but I fancy the paradigm is behind Nimmo's novel nevertheless.

But I return to the spider of the title, which Gwyn conjures from the intricate broach and which he calls Arianwen, a compound of silver and white in Welsh. No passive creature this, for she weaves glittering webs in which Gwyn can spy, for example, a fairy castle filled with children. So often storytelling is described in terms of weaving a tale, in which strands of narrative are interwoven to produce patterns that show off motifs, characters and actions, perhaps even trapping us willing victims in its threads. There are echoes of the Greek Fates weaving their tapestry, and of Ariadne with her clew or thread to lead Theseus throufh the Cretan labyrinth.

So it seems that Gwyn tries to read the significance of what is presented to him; but adrift on a raft of emotions it proves hard for him to make the right choices, jeopardising those around him, family, friends and enemies alike.

But there is hope. The mysterious girl Eirlys may prove to be a clue -- her name, meaning snowdrop, indicates a flower that is a harbinger of spring, appearing early February around Candlemas, the pagan Irish festival of Imbolc. But she may also represent a danger to Gwyn if he isn't careful, a temptation such as Childe Roland was warned not to succumb to.

My enthusiasm for this novel's mix of human psychology and ancient mythology is more than evident, I'm certain, and part of it comes from a knowledge of and instinct for the deep resonances embedded in its text. Without those many have found this a slight, even confusing tale which leaves them cold. But the more I consider The Snow Spider the more I warm to it.

Oh, and it made me cry. For all the right reasons.

[Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyable adventure which has at its heart, is a story of how a folktale or myth embedded within its landscape can bring a rather beautiful sense of peace and acceptance to an unexplainable loss. To go further would be to spoil the story but Gwyn's story here, of how he inherits the magical powers of his ancestors and uses them to try and bring back his sister who went missing on the mountains year before is well done. Although I felt it rushed a little at the end, there is enough nodding here to the structure of fairy and folk tales which is to be admired. I found the relationship between Gwyn and his parents, who both grieve for the loss of their daughter in very different ways, powerful and ripe for discussion. I thought of the book as much like Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising books but for slightly younger readers. This would make for an excellent read aloud.

[Nick Swarbrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I’d read with my daughter and sort of enjoyed; a TV series that was held together by a major actor and whose SFX seemed creaky: revisiting The Snow Spider was a bit of an act of loyalty. I was wrong.
I’ll leave it to others with a better grasp of Welsh countryside, culture and mythology to pass judgment on all of that, central though they are, but I have to say I was drawn in. Unspoken tensions following the loss of a child on a Welsh hill farm concentrate on her surviving brother, whose magical inheritance seemed at once completely fantastic and also believable: think Susan Cooper’s Will and Bran as the subject of playground gossip and bullying; think of Garner’s own Gwyn, but younger.
Enchanting from first to last.

[Jim Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young Gwyn's world has been lonely since the disappearance of his sister Bethan. His parents, particularly his father, are still grieving and his father blames Gwyn for his sister's loss. On his ninth birthday, though, his life takes a strange turn as his nain (grandmother) gives him five gifts and tells him that now is the time to find out if he's a magician. One of the gifts, a brooch, is tossed into the wind and becomes Arianwen, the snow spider. And so begins a journey which could finally heal the wounds at the heart of Gwyn's family...

It's years since I've read any of the Magician Trilogy, and this first in particular was one of my favourite ever books as a youngster growing up in North Wales. After mentioning it in a post earlier today, I stumbled across it in my bedroom and took that as a sign to reread it to see if it was as good as I remembered - and while I was surprised by parts of it, I certainly wasn't disappointed.

One of the surprising things about it was just how short it was - at under 150 pages, I read through it incredibly quickly - while another was that, in the end, it's not really about the magic. It's a deep tale of grief, of longing to say goodbye, and eventually of healing. It's very different from Nimmo's later Charlie Bone series, which most YA's today will be far more familiar with, being shorter and with slightly less developed characters, but it's just as enchanting in its own way. It also has one of the sweetest endings I can ever remember reading.

I'll try and review the sequels at some point, although I'll need to find them to reread them first - but trust me when I say it's well worth getting the trilogy, which is available from Amazon for just £4.49 at the moment. From what I remember the TV series, starring Sian Phillips as Nain, was also well worth getting but is sadly unavailable on DVD today.

Very high recommendation to fans of JK Rowling, CS Lewis and Susan Cooper.

[deborah o'carroll · Rating 2 out of 5]

For my review of the overall series, see my series review on The Page Dreamer: https://thepagedreamer.wordpress.com/...

Brief thoughts on this individual one:

I remember starting this out, accidentally, late one night, and then staying up to finish it. I was thinking, near the end, of possibly giving it 4 stars, since it was rather intriguing and some of the writing was pretty, and I tend to be fairly generous in my star-ratings. Then the ending was a little flat for me, so I settled on 3 stars. It’s not a bad book, it was just… okay for me. I wished a few things had turned out slightly different, and some of it wasn’t well explained. But I did enjoy it okay and it kept me interested, and the Welsh setting/legends were fantastic. (It’s also quite appropriate how Gwyn’s birthday/when people disappear and all, is on Samhain.)

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars is generous. I failed to read this book years ago after seeing the TV series and if it hadn't been so short I might have failed again. I don't care about the characters, there's insufficient development of the plot elements and - most importantly - I don't believe it. Perhaps the protagonist is simply too young to take on such a role or perhaps the author hurls the reader into the midst of things without providing sufficient context. I recall thinking when I made my first attempt on this that Jenny Nimmo was a poor man's version of Susan Cooper and nothing about The Snow Spider has changed my mind. 3 stars for the idea of the thing.

[Cory · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Charlie Bone, so I was disappointed by this slim volume. Something about the narrative style made it very difficult to connect to the characters. Maybe it was that everything happened freakishly easily, but without any explanation. You need to tell me why the main character shouted Welsh words into the wind, and why that made things happen. Also? The things that happened that were "magic"? Not so much with the impressive/fun/magic/interesting.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not every book needs to be 500 pages, but the storyline in this book could have used just a bit more TLC. The other thing that made me crazy were all of the names that I had no idea how to pronounce. Not very many people are fluent in the Welsh language (including people from Wales!), and I, for one, would have really appreciated having a pronunciation guide included in the book.

[Pixie 🍜 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

Always happy to read a book set in my homeland that hasn’t also butchered the language because it’s written by an actual Welsh person.

I’m literally sick to my eyeballs of it. Looking at you Ava Reid and Sarah j maas with you saying Calan mai incorrectly. Americans can’t seem to respect our languages 🙃

Anyway, this book kind of gave me the spooks. Ironically I was reading it the day the book it set to begin and the pivotal time period (November 1st).

It follows a young welsh boy on his 11th birthday. He finds out he is a magician (if it sounds familiar this book came out in 1986 so don’t get any ideas. If anything it was likely the other way around). There’s even a using magic to punish bully in a playground scene…and a best friend who is one of seven and all wear hand me downs. IM JUST SAYING. I see this and this book came out first.

Gwyn’s grandmother gives him some weird items that will help him discover if he is a magician and one of them becomes a magic snow spider. She can weave webs that show him other places.

For the last four years his family has suffered from the loss of his sister Bethan. She vanished in the snow on his birthday four years ago. He’s determined to use his new magic to bring his sister back.

The plot is very Welsh and not particularly straightforward or action packed. I enjoyed it but a few things:

The cat dies
The girl who shows up to help him is creepy imo and I kept waiting for her to turn out to be bad and maybe she kinda did?
It was a bit weird at first when the dad got all obsessed with the strange girl but there’s a plot reason!

[Caitie Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book to review it before I let my children read it. I so badly wanted to enjoy this book, but found it quite dark with a weak plot. A modern day fairy tale that explores grief, loss, magic and family. There are creepy elements, reminiscent of original Grimm fairy tales. It certainly isn't the light childhood book I expected!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in elementary school. I remember very few books that I read at those ages, but the feel of the Snow Spider Trilogy stuck with me. I like the dreamy, intuitive feel of the magic.

On my recent reread, though, I realized that the grandmother is a terrible person. She's wanted to be magic her entire life but she didn't inherit it, so she positioned herself as close to the magical world as possible. When she realized her grandchild did inherit magic, she pushed him into it with very little explanation or guidance.

Then she got mad at him when he let a bad spirit loose, even though the whole thing could have been prevented if she had bothered to ease him in, maybe give him some books on mythology or just STRAIGHT UP TELL HIM the origin of the creepy horse toy.

I bet she also knew what happened to his sister but just didn't feel like mentioning it.

[Travis Copeland · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I appreciated the author's goal of using Welsh mythology in modern children's literature, the result was surprisingly lousy.

There's almost no plot to speak of, just a random assortment of references to Welsh mythology. The writing was pretty bad, too - disjointed and staccato, no forward momentum. Characterization was bizarre, with characters suddenly knowing all sorts of random details that hadn't been mentioned before. The author would randomly throw in new bits of information as necessary to suit whatever was going on at the time.

I really hate to trash a children's book, but there's nothing to recommend this one. If you're interested in modern use of cultural folklore, try the much better "Charlie Hernandez" series by Ryan Calejo - or, at least, the first book... (I have "thoughts" on the sequel, but will save those for the appropriate post.)

[Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a strange, magical book. I remember reading this as a child, though I only had vague memories of the story. It really is unusual, and I enjoyed reading it.

Gwyn is told by his grandmother that he is a magician. Magic runs in his family, but he can't speak with his parents about it. His older sister disappeared four years ago, and her disappearance has fractured their family. But can his magic bring her back?

Overall I enjoyed the pacing of the story, however I did find the end lacking. I'll probably read the rest of the series.

[Emma Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Time to find out if you are a magician, Gwydion Gwyn’.

There is something so magical about being able to share a story that you loved so much as a child, with a child of your own.

The Snow Spider is a story that I both watched and read as a child and it’s unique beauty is still as irresistible to me today.

Now in its 30th year since its release, The Snow Spider’ is the first book in a trilogy, written by Jenny Nimmo and taking inspiration from The Mabinogion - ancient welsh folktales of magicians and magic.

On his 9th Birthday, Gwyn Griffiths is given a selection of strange gifts by his equally strange Grandmother, who believes him to be a magician and the ancestor of the great magicians of the past. In turn, he gives each of the gifts to the wind in the hope of finding out his destiny and to try and win his true heart’s desire - the return of his sister Bethan, he went missing on the mountain four years ago.

Oh what a tangled web Gwyn weaves as he discovers not only that he does have powers, aided by the arrival of Arianwen, a snow spider who can create webs that connect him to another world and a strange yet familiar girl named Eirlys.

This book is truly spellbinding, set against the backdrop of the beautiful Welsh valleys, the gorgeous setting makes for a perfect story of a boy magician and his adventures with the unknown.

[Nick Weeks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice story about a Welsh boy who finds out he is a magician and uses his new tools in his adventure. He lives in a rural mountainside area and it is against this well described backdrop, that his adventure plays out. His sister has recently disappeared and the whole family has each struggled to deal with their loss in a different way. This is one of the main themes here: dealing with loss and managing to live without knowing the truth, self-blame, acceptance and division. All of these results of loss are dealt with, and the effect is a nice, warm-hearted novel based upon real Welsh mythology.

[Lauren Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

A definite solid 3 and a half stars, found it incredibly moving by the end. The Snow Spider was published in 1986, and definitely something I would have liked to have read as a child, or watched on television as part of Jackanory.

[Georgie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sped through this in a day. I had fond memories of this from when I was a kid. I enjoyed it just as much as an adult.
Looking forward to the next one in the trilogy.

[Janette Townend · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books brought back memories of my own childhood in a small town in Wales, which was maybe not as idyllic as the one in this book. I remember reading about the Mabinogyan in my teen years when the Disney film 'The Black Cauldron' came out and the author has done a very skilled job of intertwining these stories into the text, bringing them up to date, but I think I will still be rereading the originals again.

This is a good darker teen read, and as with most folk/fairy stories there is a much deeper meaning to be explored in all three books, such as grief, loss and relationships etc. Each book can be read individually but draws one on to the next. This is a well deserved prize winning classic read.

[Kenneth Zhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have chosen this book because it looks so exciting to me that I want to read it. I like to read a books about magic, magical stuff will surprise the readers of how they did, where they learnt etc. The static image of the book cover were OUTSTANDING to me because they used a magical stuff in it. I just attention to it and I just wanted to start reading it!

This book will fit in the category of fantasy book because it creating our imagination of how the snow spider glow their white snow light in the dark. This kind of fancy magic to me and unbelievable.

My favourite character is Gynn because he is so funny. His parents always asking him where have you been? Why you covered in the snow? All he is saying that he gone out to see his grandma, or fall into the snow etc. They told that he is a magician person. This become magician after saw the snow spider for the first time in years. He takes them inside the houses to his bedroom without letting his parents see what it is happening. When he put the spider in his room, the spider glow the snow light and it nearly brighten up his bedroom! This is so magical that he thinks he is a magician. He is very keen to found out what his grandmother do as she is a magician person. Sometimes, His dad was angry at him sometimes because he wants to rid of something he wants to get rid of stuff he got.

My favourite quote in the book is "just shrank, sort of faded away, and so did the bars of ice until there was nothing there except.." This quote makes me think that he got away with the idea he got. He just got it blocked when Gynn was talking to him about how to get the magic from his grandma, maybe secretly ask her what the magic is, I don't know!!! Also, this quotes described him as he is shy as a cow to talk and he missed all the ideas he got right here.

I learned from this book is to tell the truth to the people to make sure it believe him, later in the story, when he came home to go to his bedroom, his mum asked "Where have you been Gynn" He told her mother that he was at the Grandmother house but actually, the real thing he has gone is to the mountain to look for the snow spider as he is interested in magical stuff. This is also one of our MAGS school rules, be trustworthy to each other, he isn't trustworthy to his family. DO NOT LEARNT FROM HIM!!!

Overall, I think that book I thought in the book review is excellent because it talks about magical things and it makes people more entertained and sense of humour while reading the book. I would recommended this book to someone else who interested in this book.
At the end of the story, the girl called Eyera has disappeared from Gynn's house as she was being recovered from her injury two days ago after Gynn's Dad found her cover in a thick brown mud.

One of the thing you didn't know during my book review is about gifts for his birthday. The story was set in the past. Gynn has received 5 gifts for his birthday. They are to do with magical things. He got is black watch with moon in there (He needs this watch because he looks at the moon every night!! She thinks it would be funny)..... More information about the gifts if you read this book.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so this is a children's book, which normally I don't read a lot of; however, when I do I try to rate it based more on how I think a child of the audience it was aimed for would like it. Of course, we can probably all read Dr. Seuss books and love them ourselves, but when reading a children's book it's sometimes harder to like or love it due to its simplicity or underdeveloped characters who are not complex and perhaps a pretty simple plot or theme and so on. That being said, I thought this one was pretty good. The MC's sister is missing and as we adults know, oftentimes children will blame themselves for something like this or parents' divorce. Well, in this case, the poor little boy's father actually does blame him and he's a young boy. I don't want to say more about it and how they end up dealing with the situation at hand, but I thought it was done really well.

[Candy Boisvert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: The Snow Spider
Author: Jenny Nimmo
Copyright date: 1986
Publisher: Egmont
How many pages: 122 pgs
How long it took me to read: 2 days
Category: Fiction
I learned about this book from: going on a search looking for something to read after Harry Potter.

This book was purchased at: Chapter's
This book is: for anybody who has an imagination
Other books by this author: Emlyn's moon, The chestnut soldier, Midnight for Charlie Bone, The time Twister, The blue boa, The castle of mirrors, The renaldi ring, Milo's wolves, Griffin's castle, Ill will well nell, Hot dog cool cat, Tatty apple, Delilah and the dogspell, Deliliah and the dishwasher dogs, and Delilah alone
Favorite characters: Gwyn, Bethan, Nain
Least favorite Characters: Alun, Gwyn's Dad
When and Where the story takes place: Wales
Plot in a nutshell: When Gwyn's mother gives him 5 objects for his birthday - a brooch, a piece of seaweed, a yellow scarf, a tin whistle and a small broken horse, she tells him that these 5 objects would tell him if he was a magician or not and these 5 objects would give him his heart's desire if he was.
Main characters: Gwyn, Gwyn's parents, Nain, Alun
What I liked best: It captured my attention and kept it before I had time to second think my decision of reading it in the first place.
What I liked least: I think the author has issues beginning a story because everytime I start a book by her, I have to read the first two pages again because I feel like a I missed a chunk. She just rushes right into the story without stopping to realise that we aren't in her brain and can't see what she's thinking.

Overall rating: It's a pretty cool fantasy book.

[Brittney Perry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't think they story itself was bad at all. It was interesting, and the magic was unique.

My problem was more the characters. Gwyn made one ridiculously stupid decision after another and half of this short book wouldn't have happened otherwise. Nain told him not to tell anyone, but what does he immediately do? There wasn't even a pause. Straight from her house to Alun's house to tell him. And he does this TWO SEPARATE TIMES. The little black horse, too. He was given very specific instructions, and he breaks them like a couple chapters later. Also, why didn't he just ask Nain about what to do with Arianwen? That whole thing would have been solved so much sooner and with so many problems not caused.

I obviously don't mind when books have conflict and hardship, but slapping some in that have no reason being there and are easily avoidable by the characters doing something very simple is irritating.

Most of it was narration, so it drug on a little for me, but someone who doesn't need constant action might not take issue with that.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was absolutely enchanted by this story of a young boy searching for his lost sister. Gwyn discovers that he is a magician, and he can use his magical abilities to call his sister, Bethan, back home. She has been missing for four years, and Gwyn's family is broken by her loss. Through a series of magical encounters, Gwyn searches for his sister and discovers his own powers.

The setting is in the Welsh countryside, which immediately gives a sense of legend and myth to the story. The magic system that Gwyn learns is very wild and mysterious. The magic seems to work more on instinct than by any rules or definite actions. If Gwyn wishes for something and focuses on what he wants, his magic will go out into the world and bring something back to him that will help him accomplish his goals. That is how Gwyn first releases the Snow Spider, and gains her help in his quest for his lost sister.

I loved Gwyn's character! He is so plucky and brave, but he also has a moral courage and an optimism in the face of darkness that really impressed me in so young a child. Seeing his relationship with his father was upsetting at first, but gratifying in the end. Their relationship is one of the main developments in the story, and it's beautifully written.

As always, Jenny Nimmo's writing is charming and delightful. It pulls you into the story with such original and imaginative details. I just love her books! I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy!

[Camilla Chester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm this is a toughie to review as I have to remember I’m not the target audience. There’s so much to enjoy.
The story is about a brother from Wales who has inherited his ancestors magic and on his 9th Birthday his grandma (the only believer) gives him magical gifts that he must ‘give to the wind’.
On his birthday 4 years before his sister went missing and he uses the magic to get her back.
Good story, right?
And it is and it’s beautifully described, especially the setting but somehow I didn’t quite believe it. Some of the language was very advanced and the style was quite old fashioned - also I had the feeling that the writer was kind of making it up as she went along.
I’d be interested to hear what kids think but my thoughts are, yes, I’d buy it for my 11 year old but I wouldn’t be surprised if she gave up because it was too slow.

[Genetic Cuckoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lovely Welsh story, filled with magic and legend. A few Welsh words sprinkled in. Captures the feeling of Welsh folktales.

[Mary MacKintosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read most of the Charlie Bone series by Nimmo, and enjoyed it. The friendships and relationships between the various child characters were believable. The adult characters, not so much, but I read through book after book, following the kids and the animals as they figured out how to use their powers together.

Not with this series—one, and done. First, the snow spider had no relationship to the main character. It was a tool, not a partner. Yeah, I don’t like spiders, but I learned that Charlotte the spider was lovable, so it can happen. Actually, there weren’t any characters that I warmed to, and the magic involved in the story didn’t always make sense.

[Emmkay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember having really enjoyed the 1980s British television series based on this book, but had never read the story itself. My daughter had it from the library recently and loved it, so I read it afterwards - lovely story, quite slim and simple but packs in lots of drama and atmosphere. As a bonus, we were happy to find and watch the old series on Youtube: I hadn't remembered the special effects were that hokey, but otherwise it stands up very well!

[AllBookedUp · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gwyneth...the boy who is the main character is a magician. He discovers that on his 9th birthday. His sister Bethanny just got up and went missing 4 yrs ago on his birthday. His father is bitter about it and somehow blames Gwyn. It DRAAAAAAGGGGGSSSSSS on and on and frankly, I got up to half way before I screamed...ENOUGH!!!

I quit.

Enough said.

[Pearlpelt · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a complete waste of my time. After I had read the first twenty pages, I considered just tossing it into the trashcan. Unfortunantly, I didn't. After I had finished it, I lamented about all the time I had taken to read it that I cannot get back.