She also uses figures from Irish mythology such as the Phouka/Puck, a changeling sprite, and Mór, a relation to the Morrígan, a goddess of battle, strife and fertility. With Winterling she incorporates folklore like the Green Man, an ancient symbol for several cultures that has many meanings, most of which have to do with the bringing of life and rebirth related to the Spring season. Prineas, who recently taught honors seminars on fantasy and science fiction literature at the University of Iowa and is also the author of the Magic Theif trilogy, clearly knows the genre and its familiar themes. Winterling has the traditional orphaned child who learns that she is the heir to something great (magical power, a throne, maybe both) and must gather her courage to ultimately vanquish the evil that has robbed her of her parents, power, throne or all three. In fact, children especially seem to enjoy the same things over and over endlessly (this is based on my experiences making hundreds of boxes of macaroni and cheese over the last eighteen years as well as reading the same picture books so often to a pre-reader that they had to be hidden so that mommy did not go nutty.) I think that Sarah Prineas' newest book, Winterling, with fantastic cover art by Jason Chan, the go-to guy for fantasy book with strong girl characters, jumps these hurdles with a rich combination of both familiar and new.

Of course, not everyone wants something different and new. I think that it must be very hard for an author to create a fantasy story that has something different and new to recommend it.

Winterling book series