Review: The Snow Gypsy

By: Lindsay Jayne Ashford

Available on: Amazon, Audible, and Barnes and Noble.

Overview:

Blurb:

Tags and Trigger Warnings:

Abuse, Blood, Child Abuse, Death, Food, Gun Violence, Infidelity, Murder, Nazis, Non-Consensual Sex, Non-Consensual Touching, Off Screen Infidelity, Off Screen Sex, Physical Abuse, Police Brutality, Poor Coping Mechanisms, Pregnancy, Racism, Romance, Sexism, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault,, Systemic Racism, Theft, Time Period Accurate Racism, Toxic Masculinity, Transphobia, Transmisia, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, Underage Sex, Unsafe Lifestyle, Unsafe Sex, Violence, Violent Imagery, Vore, War, Women’s Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Zombies

Body Count: beyond calculation

Overall review:

• Thoughts:
  • What I liked:
  • What I didn’t like:
• Was it engaging?
  • Yes No At times Room for improvement Had to fight through it.
• Favorite Character:
• Least Favorite Character:

Rating out of five: out of 5

To Read or Not To Read (Again):

• Not To Read Again: Happily Donated for Someone Else to Read

The Technical Specs:

• Genre
  • Technical Genre: Historical World War II Fiction, World War II Historical Fiction, Cultural Heritage Fiction
  • Theo Genre
• Page count:
• POV: Limited 3rd
• Publication information:
  • Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-13: 9781542040044
  • ASIN: B07DNDY87J

Representation, Morality, and Sexism in Media Tests:

• Bechdel–Wallace Test:
  • In order to pass, two female characters must talk about something other than a male character.
• Deggan’s Rule Test:
  • In order to pass, there must me at least two non-white human characters in the main cast in a story not primarily focused on race.
• DuVernay Test:
  • In order to pass, there must be fully actualized characters of color.
• Ellen Willis Test:
  • In order to pass, two related characters would still need to work to carry the story if their genders happened to be reversed.
• Mako Mori Test:
  • In order to pass, there must be a female character that gets her own arc.
• Mary Sue/Gary Stu Test:
  • In order to pass, the main character must not be completely flawless and persecuted by other characters needlessly.
  • Take a Mary Sue test here!
• Sexy Lamp Test:
  • In order to pass, the plot must not fall apart if the female character was replaced by a sexy-looking lamp.
  • Post-It Note Caveat:
    • Would the character be able to be replaced by a Sexy Lamp with a sticky note on it for information conveyance?
• Tauriel Test:
  • In order to pass, there must be at least one woman in the story who is competent in her chosen occupation and not immediately shown up by a newcomer male character.
  • Also, if a female character has or develops a love interest during the story, either implied or explicitly stated, she must not suddenly abandon her job and/or chosen path to support or pursue said love interest.
• Vito Russo Test:
  • In order to pass, there must be a character on the LGBTQIAP+ spectrum spectrum who is a character beyond their orientation. Furthermore, they must actually affect the plot and be something something beyond a caricature or punchline.
    • What does LGBTQIAP+ stand for? It stands for: Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual/Bi-romantic/Bi-gender, Transgender, Queer/Genderqueer, Intersex, Asexual/Aromantic/Agender, Pansexual/Panromantic+.

You can read more about the various Media Tests I employ in my reviews at GeekFeminism.wikia.org or by clicking the header on the individual test. Why include all these? Because I can, because representation matters, and because I’m neurotic. That’s all! Happy reading!

Review format updated 5 January 2021.