Are you ready for a freezing cold adventure full of heart-pounding action? Imagine a world in perpetual cold, backbreaking work just to get enough food to barely quiet the rumble in your belly, suiting up in cold weather gear any time you even think about stepping foot outside your house…welcome to Snowglobe where a television show is the reason many people continue to live and serve those in higher power. 

While it may sound odd at first, this plot isn’t that hard to imagine when you really start to compare it to our daily lives. How many of us slog through the day to day only to come home and crash on the couch for some endless scrolling on our devices and some trashy reality TV only to do it again the next day and the next? Thankfully our situation isn’t quite as dire as those who live in the dystopian world of this book, but it does put things in perspective. 

Chobahm is your typical teenage girl in just a few ways: her obsession with reality TV and her life at home squabbling with her twin brother. The rest of her existence is filled with dreams of one day living inside Snowglobe and escaping the daily grind of working at the power plant that fuels the city that is protected from the endless tundra that is the rest of her world. Though it seems that she doesn’t have much hope of ever living a different life, one day her big break comes, though at the expense of the loss of one of her heroes. Suddenly, Chobahm is welcomed inside the glittering warmth of Snowglobe and literally living her dream.

We all know that often, in books and in life, things that seem to be too good to be true are, but maybe things will actually start to look up for Chobahm and even her family, or at least that is the hope she is holding onto. There is a dark side to Snowglobe and the reality stars that are broadcasted on TV 24/7 and unfortunately it isn’t long until things start to get dicey for her, leaving her wondering if life inside really is better than her old life outside.

Reading a book set in endless winter might not be the smartest pick if you’re snowed in with -30 degree windchill, but perhaps the bitter cold helped me commiserate with Chobahm and the other characters in this story a little bit. There were quite a few loose ends that I hope will be tied up in the anticipated sequel. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy from Random House Children’s Books

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 10 religious exclamations; 26 mild obscenities; 2 religious profanities; 3 derogatory names; 6 scatological words; 1 anatomical term.

Violence/Gore: A reference is made to a young woman being known for brutally murdering nine men; a TV show is mentioned to be banned in certain areas because of having violent and scandalous content; a mention is made of the state of the place characters live being dangerous simply because they have piles of waste that people often fall into, to their death; a girl is mentioned to appear to be injured and have blood on her face and scalp; a man is mentioned to have black skin and gangrene from frostbite; a girl recalls how her dad risked his life to save his pregnant wife and a busload of people when an accident occurred; a young woman is mentioned to have bruises and other visible injuries in a brief scene where she is rescued and taken to be attended to medically, it is later mentioned that she may have been run over by a limousine; a young public figure is reported to have died by suicide, which is mentioned multiple times throughout the book; a mention is made of the state of healthcare in certain places being lacking and cancer ravaging lives because of lack of pain medicine with a reference to someone killing themselves because they were in such agony; a reference is made to how some methods of dying are gentler than others; a brief scene occurs where two people get into a physical altercation, hitting each other; a man is mentioned to have attacked a person in a position of power and sentenced to death for attempted murder; a car accident is reported to occur resulting in one death; a house fire is mentioned to have broken out with no injuries or further detail given; a minor is threatened by someone holding a rifle to their head; a minor is mentioned to have been abused by their director in a television show with no explicit detail given; a brief scene occurs where someone is described to be stuck with a needle and collapse, another occurrence of this is briefly described not long after; a reference is made to someone being murdered with a kitchen knife; a mention is made of life being full of nasty surprises and a brief list of possible tragedies that can occur: choking, drowning, etc.; a brief scene occurs where a young woman picks up a pistol in an attempt to scare away someone who is threatening them; a struggle ensues in a brief scene where a young woman is mentioned to have a man who is attacking her in a choke hold but he overpowers her and grabs her wrists; an explosion occurs causing fear and several injuries with glass blowing out and some bloody clothing being mentioned; a young woman is mentioned to sustain an injury to her face that begins to hurt and bleed and causes her to be unable to see clearly while she is being attacked; a brief reference to abuse is made with no detail.

Sex/Nudity: Women are mentioned to be sedated and taken to a facility to be impregnated with clones without their consent; a woman is mentioned to be cheating on her husband.

Mature Subject Matter:

Loss of a loved one; suicide; death; abuse of power.

Alcohol/Drug Use:

A minor is offered champagne by an adult; a mention is made of an adult coming home drunk; a woman is mentioned to drink wine and other alcoholic drinks; a woman is referred to as a drunk; a person is mentioned to have been fired from their bus driving job for drunk driving.