ALA Booklist (Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

Orphan Wyn currently lives with a kindly pastor and his family in a small English village, but she's acutely aware of not fitting in. Climate change has created a winter without end, which means that Wyn needs to hide the fact that she is never cold, as well as try to ignore her untested telekinetic powers and strange memories of things that should be impossible, like flying. When otherworldly creatures appear, sparking Wyn's hidden memories, she realizes her true identity and her responsibility to end winter and save the world. Peel blends current realities like climate change with a mystical natural world, in which nature's forces are strong enough to fight human destruction. Readers' initial confusion over the various magical creatures should settle fairly quickly, while Peel's richly detailed descriptions of the landscapes and the creatures that rise from them create a magic of their own. Though clearly British in origin, the concerns are global. It may not be subtle, but Peel's debut has the satisfyingly predictable appeal of a fairy tale.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Even after her adoptive sister is frozen by an ice spirit in the form of a polar bear during a winter without end, high schooler Wyn March is reluctant to believe that she is the only one who can save her best friend, as well as restore the Earth-s seasons. Although Wyn knows she is different from others in her British village of Pateley, she finds it difficult to fathom that she is the reincarnation of Mugasa, one of a pair of dragons charged with keeping the Earth in balance. With snowstorms blanketing the land even in the height of summer, Wyn unlocks her powers-communicating with trees, animals, and wind-through the help of Tawhir, a wind spirit, and Thwaite, a Green Man archetype both fierce and nurturing. Debut author Peel coats his story in a dense mythology that can be challenging to follow as Wyn faces off against ominous spirits wishing to take over the world in its chaotic state, but lush imagery and a topsy-turvy plot should keep readers invested. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)

School Library Journal (Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

Gr 6-8 A contemporary, nature-based fantasy. Teenage Wyn March lives with her foster family in the Yorkshire Dales of England. The world has suffered years of increasingly cold weather, culminating in a snow-covered summer. Mystical characters start appearing in the protagonist's town of Pateley Bridge, urging her to accept her true nature and to use her great powers to end the winter. At first, she resists her magical gifts, and her journey to acceptance forms the heart of the novel. The author's skills as a garden designer and beekeeper are evident in the lovingly created natural and supernatural settings, which are full of the plants and animals of northern England. The protagonist is a prickly and sometimes unsympathetic character, and it's left to appealing secondary characters like her kindly foster father and sister to provide some human warmth and emotion. Wyn's alter ego and some minor characters use the names of places or gods from various cultures, such as Mugasa of the Bambuti of the Congo Basin; Uluru, which is sacred to the indigenous Anangu of Australia; and Denali, which is central to the creation story of the Koyukon Athabascans of Alaska. These instances of cultural appropriation are problematic elements in an otherwise thoughtful fantasy. The book concludes with the timely allegorical message that climate upheaval comes from nature spirits' anger at humans' treatment of the earth. VERDICT Consider for collections where environmental fantasies are popular. Beth Wright Redford, Richmond Elementary School Library, VT

Voice of Youth Advocates

Abandoned as an infant, Wyn has always felt like an outsider, unable to connect with those around her except for her foster mom, Mrs. March. The only place she truly feels at home is with nature; bird songs and wildflowers and trees speak to her in a way that humans do not. So when her foster mom dies and climate change leads to a punishing, unending winter, Wyn is set adrift. Though taken in by a new, loving foster family, she is plagued by nightmares and flashes of memory that seem to belong to another person in another time. When strange beings with seemingly magical powers begin to appear in the forest searching for her, she is finally forced to acknowledge her differences from other people: her affinity for fire, her inability to feel cold, and her ability to see things that others cannot. Suddenly she is thrust into the center of a magical war for the future of the world, but only if she can access the ancient power within her will she be able to save the land and those she loves.Snow Summer is a thought-provoking thrill of a debut novel. A rich allegory, the book asks readers to consider humans' destructive power over the earth but also encourages them to think about their personal relationship with nature. It investigates questions of ownership and the ethics of care, and of personal responsibility and awareness. Packaged in a rich, fantastical narrative with extraordinary characters, this book is sure to please a wide range of readers.Courtney Huse Wika.