The Veil of Snows

A Kingdom Far and Clear: The Swan Lake Trilogy #3

by Mark Helprin, Chris Van Allsburg (Illustrator)

After many years of peace, a queen prepares for the birth of her first child, only to be forced to confront an impending danger, as the Usurper once again threatens her city, while her husband and his army are vanished into the wilderness, in the third volume of a trilogy that began with Swan Lake.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Retellings, Speculative Fiction, Picture Books

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Mark Helprin belongs to no literary school, movement, tendency, or trend. As many have observed and as Time Magazine has phrased it, “He lights his own way.” His three collections of short stories (A Dove of the East and Other Stories, Ellis Island and Other Stories, and The Pacific and Other Stories), six novels (Refiner's Fire, Winter's Tale, A Soldier of the Great War, Memoir From Antproof Case, Freddy and Fredericka and, In Sunlight and In Shadow), and three children's books (Swan Lake, A City in Winter, and The Veil of Snows, all illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg), speak eloquently for themselves and are remarkable throughout for the sustained beauty and power of their language.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

pros: lovely prose, A+ melancholy, sacrifice, honor, loyal soldier would die for his queen

cons: literally everything about mark helprin and his Extremely Bad Politics; unfortunately the fact that, in addition to being a National Review conservative, he is also a Man, means we get sentences like this: "'You,' she commanded, in a voice that was irresistibly powerful and yet lovely and feminine at the same time." god shut up mark

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It reminded me of Shannon Hale's books, except for super short, fast reading with great paintings. Was hoping it might be a book for Ely, but I don't think so, possibly too hard still. Enjoying short reads after the last few really long ones :)

[Rubi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted to give this 2 two star because.....it just disappointed me so badly 😅
I felt lied to based on the beginning of book 2, about the father and the peace the princess turned Queen supposedly achieved. But honestly all three of these books were tragic. Evil kept winning. I kinda knew that'd be the case for Odette but.....was hoping for better later on in the story. Alas, not he case and all the battles felt pointless 😮‍💨
But decided to give it 3 stars because out of the three this story was the best written and had a plot that made the most sense! One couldn't help but want to see what happens. Too bad I didn't end up liking it 🙈

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful ending to a delightful trilogy. The girl from the first book has become a queen and gotten rid of the evil usurper. He returns in this book and destroys her army and kills her. Her son is mysteriously saved and reappears at the end. Helprin's prose is amazingly poetic and full of all sorts of neologisms. The magnitude of the queen's city is stunning. Allburg's illustrations add to the story, giving the reader visualizations of the writing. This would be a wonderful story to share with young children to teach loyalty and love.

[Carfig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was longer than I expected but I wanted to know more about this book and the trilogy. I assumed they were independent stories and started with the third book, which, I just see from reading reviews, is the same story. Perfect woman/queen, horrible enemy, devout soldier. A little overblown but nice phrasing at times, uneven pictures (stolen from another reviewer!).

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully written and illustrated. Didn't realize this was a trilogy!

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last of the Helprin trilogy illustrated yet again with great style and skill by the wonderful Chris Van Allsburg.
Perfect again.

[Geo Hendrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had trouble following a times, Too many word I did not know.

[Gayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved Van Allsburg’s illustrations.

[Chrystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Final book in the Swan Lake trilogy. I really only read them to look at Chris Van Allsburg's superb illustrations.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, sad, hopeful

[Olivia]

Perplexingly under-baked but still relatively compelling trilogy. I wish Helprin had done more with it.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third in Helprin's "Swan Lake" trilogy is, as one should expect with Helprin, overflowing with purple prose, and focused on high and lofty virtues. Though he still finds places to interject humor, the overall tone is one of sadness and resignation, as the protagonist of A City in Winter, now Queen of her kingdom (er, queendom?), faces both internal and external threats. Her husband, on long patrol at the edges of the kingdom, has gone missing beyond the Veil of Snows, a mysterious barrier that exists along the border between time and eternity -- I think. (See also the Cloud Wall of Helprin's Winter's Tale. The Tookisheims (a family of powerful idiots loyal to the Usurper) still influence the populace toward sloth and foolishness through their newspapers, while outside there are rumors of the Usurper's return.

Though these three books: Swan Lake, A City in Winter, and The Veil of Snows were marketed as "children's books," due, perhaps, to the illustrations provided by Caldecott Award-winning illustrator Chris Van Allsburg, these are definitely not written at a child's reading level. Nor is the subject matter necessarily going to appeal children. Swan Lake is the best bet for kids, being essentially retelling of the ballet. A City in Winter, though far more comic, is still largely a political book and kids may or may not care. But The Veil of Snows, though beautifully written, is a book about war and battles and bloody endings. This is essentially a classic tragedy and at times a real downer. (Just a word of warning.)

[Yellowshapedbox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book in high school, because it was the sequel to the splendid, and magnificently-illustrated, A City In Winter. I did not care for it at the time. It was the conversation about Branco Tookisheim's color-boxes that probably dealt the mortal wound - that bit of author filibustering was not only ham-handed, but struck a vested interest of mine. And the ending... well, I was an atheist, so it was just sheer misery with wishful thinking for icing. Even Chris Van Allsburg seemed to be rebelling. (I still think he is; compare the illustrations here with the illustrations for A City In Winter, and you'll see he consciously added goofball elements where sober beauty would have served the picture better.)

The only saving grace, then, was the confrontation between the singer and the usurper. Now that I've come around to the rest of the book, I still find that to be my favorite part.

I have since become a Christian. I have come to recognize my interest in "boxes of color" for the sapping compulsion that it is. I understand the half of what this book is talking about, and have gained an appreciation for beauty as itself. And, in that light, it is majestic.

(Which is another way of saying, it is much more for childlike adults than it is for children. But that puts Helprin in the same ranks as George Macdonald. Not exactly a flaw!)

There is one thing that mars the piece: one of the queen's defining traits is her wisdom. But a decision she makes late in the story just can't be described as wise. There are ways to write it that might have done the trick, but as written, it was simply a bad decision for no good reason.

[Terri Kempton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read with illustrations of mixed quality. Helprin has some sweet phrasing and decent pacing, and I think his political/social commentary remains valid. At first I was excited to see that the book featured a woman in power, but was sorely disappointed to watch an outmoded, conservative opinion of women dominate the story. The queen is described in terms of a librarian fantasy (gorgeous, wears glasses, reserved - but wait until her hair comes down!), which is just uncomfortable and totally beside the point of the plot. Once she has a child, and *only* because she has a child, she is responsible for bringing death and destruction to her entire kingdom. The moment that dooms them all is when she has a passionate outburst - you know those women, they can never keep it together, right? Not sure who the intended audience is for this book; it's illustrated for children and is the length of a children's book but focuses on war, murder and deceit, using flowery fantasy language but housing misogynist undertones. A pass for me.

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final part of the triology about a queen's life in an imaginative fairytale kingdom. This book brings the series to a truelly delightful ending! The reason: it's bittersweet and gloomy and dark and hopeful and stayed with me a long time in my head! If you like the story of Jeanne of Arc you will love this series!
But be warned: don't buy this book for your kids if they aren't old enough to accept that not every story ends in a happy end! Life is cruel and that is also shown in this book very realistically.

Another aspect I liked is that this is the first portrayed Queen who is depicted wearing glasses! A nice touch.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, the two of them have divined such magic!

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full of battle and defeat. I did not understand the meaning of the last scene--long-awaited rescue or the afterlife?

[Mawgojzeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork and interesting story.