This book has everything going for it: a clear and engaging plot, a light prose style, an unobtrusive message, and a magical atmosphere. The work feels modern and avoids moralizing; it is not a parable (though it might seem like one at first). And the illustrations, oh, the illustrations! Black, white, and turquoise, skillful, dizzyingly beautiful, and perfectly in tune with the text!
At the heart of the story is the journey of Kelda, an ice-girl, in search of a living, warm heart. The plot is not new. Neither is the character archetype: one can sense traces of Thumbelina, The Little Mermaid, the Snow Maiden, and Ellie... What is new—at least for Russian-language children's literature—is the atmosphere.
So, we are in a northern land, perhaps something like Scandinavia; when the action takes place on land, a Nordic aesthetic is clearly perceptible. But the main events unfold in the ocean, and that’s where everything becomes fabulously fantastical, mysterious, and shimmering. A whale carries the girl and her accidental companion there from the mainland. It swims through the night sea with a glowing veranda on its back. Can you imagine a Swedish house with panoramic windows and fairy lights moving through the pitch-black darkness? That is how the whole book feels: against a dark background, as if caught in a spotlight, the girl and the boy move forward, striving to fulfill their deepest desires in a single night. There is little time, and events unfold quickly—the narrative is very dynamic. Kelda and Thomas will encounter beautiful mermaids and a huge, cunning serpent, visit a sunken city (could it be Vineta, which Nils Holgersson once tried to save?), meet its brilliant regent (with a long, colorful braid and a sparkling floor-length gown
), sign a terrifying contract, and escape in the bathyscaphe of an eccentric scientist.
), sign a terrifying contract, and escape in the bathyscaphe of an eccentric scientist.Each scene here is extraordinarily picturesque. Just imagine: the characters are sailing across the ocean expanses and see glowing lines and signs beneath them on the seabed—the sea dwellers have invented a navigation system made of lights. And here is Kelda examining underwater sculptures carved from stone by mermaids... Or the children, in search of mysterious wolf-grapes, wandering through an underwater market among stalls filled with fantastic fruits, magic potions, and curious figurines... And I wonder what you’ll say about the story where a lighthouse keeper shrank and crawled into a bottle after a merchant ship wrecked near his cliff?..
It’s a cinematic book—you can easily see these scenes brought to life on screen. Beautiful, grand, brisk, and full of suspense!
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