While I was reading Gods of Winter I kept trying to remember just when I learned abou the Greek gods and goddesses. I distinctly remember the original Star Trek episode with Apollo and the cool Greek set design but as to when I learned about them in school, I'm drawing a total blank.
And then I thought - well, maybe I didn't.
We had a complete set of encyclopedias called The Book of Knowledge when I was growing up (I still have them) and they have tons of stories about Olympus and all that. And of course there is D'Aulaires which I'm sure I got from the library along the way because I totally recognize that cover and remember the stories inside. But I don't remember a unit or anything on the stories - I don't remember doing plays or anything about them like we did for the damn pilgrims (over and over and over). So maybe I never learned about them in school at all and who knows if kids are learning about them know - who knows what they are learning now - and all of this combined to make me appreciate Patricia Miles's book that much more.
The Gods in Winter is one of those peculiarly British books - it has a total British sensibility that makes it obvious the setting is England even if the characters didn't say so (I can't explain how, it just does). It follows the Bramble family who have just moved (again) and also just welcomed a new addition to the family. The narrator is Adam and most of the action involves him and his slightly younger sister Lottie. They welcome a new housekeeper, Mrs. Korngold, as a godsend for the family but over time become aware of a certain strangeness - oddness - that seems to circulate around her. She's an amazing cook and seems to create some meals out of nothing. Her friends who visit are odd and slightly menacing - in a powerful sort of way and sometimes the kids can see things in her presence that are so different - so wrong from what they should be. Oh, and their annoying cousin gets turned into a lizard.
Yeah, that's a giveaway for not your standard housekeeping activity.
I really enjoyed Gods, it's not overwhelming or terrifying - not a lot of flash and dash - but has the perfect level of menace and also the Brambles are such a fun bunch that you want to make sure everything works out okay for all of them. They certainly keep you interested in what will happen next.
The biggest payoff is if readers have enough curiosity about Demeter and Persephone and Hades to look for more information on the gods and goddesses when they are done with this book. Talk about an endless source of great stories! Gods in Winter holds up very well by itself as a good read, but I hope it leads readers further down this trail. There are so many good stories to be told, and learned, that I hope this one is just a springboard.
Longer review in my fantasy and sci fi column, later this fall.
Oh - and I forgot to mention that Tamora Pierce has added a nice afterword about her discovery of the book and how happy she was to see it published again by Frontstreet.
