Review | Snowglobe

Summary: Snowglobe

This YA novel is set in a dystopian world where every part of the earth is living with frigid temperatures except for Snowglobe–akin to The Capitol in the Hunger Games. While residents of all the other settlements work hard to generate resources for Snowglobe, its inhabitants live life under the camera lens, their lives fodder for reality TV and controlled by prestigious directors. When the star of one of the most popular shows dies, another girl outside Snowglobe who resembles her eerily is recruited to take her place, opening a can of worms about the unethical misuse of power in Snowglobe.

The Good

I’m always a little nervous about dystopian fiction because The Hunger Games and Divergent series I inhaled as a teenager really set the bar sky high for me, and I haven’t enjoyed many other books in the genre as I did those two. This one, though, I can get behind. The premise is fresh, the worldbuilding is strong, and the character development is impressive — especially seeing as multiple characters are physically similar in this story and still manage to be distinct from each other.

I went into this story fairly blindly, not knowing what to expect, and I think that’s the best approach, so I won’t spoil it for you either. What I will say is that the audiobook is great and enriched my experience of this book. You should also know that this book was translated from Korean — and very well done because I didn’t notice any grammatical or contextual gaps. It’s also set in Korea, thousands of years after our time, on an earth with a much harsher climate than ours. This is also the first in a duology so it does end on a gentle cliffhanger.

Content Notes

Here are some specifics to know about the content.

Content Warnings

• Death: References to past deaths, including suicide, none on the page.
• Alcohol/substance abuse: None
• Sexual content: None
• Religious content: None
• Language: Rare use of s-word (two or three mentions)
• Violence: Some gun violence

Diversity

• Ethnic: All Korean cast
• Sexual orientation: None mentioned

Recommended for ages: 12+

Good for kids who like:

• Dystopian fiction
• K-dramas
• The Hunger Games series
• Fast-paced mystery-thrillers

Publisher Details

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