I am a fan of Hunger Games and other dystopian books so I was very intrigued when I read the blurb for this novel. This book overall kept my attention, and i enjoyed it.

“In a world of constant winter, only the citizens of the climate-controlled city of Snowglobe can escape the bitter cold—but this perfect society is hiding dark and dangerous secrets within its frozen heart.”

Off the bat, I knew crazy stuff was going on in Snowglobe; you don’t only allow a select few in a climate-controlled dome and leave the rest to suffer if you weren’t doing shady things, but I digress. Snowglobe isn’t just a place for the elite or the rich; it’s a place where people’s lives are streamed 24/7 in a massive scale series of television shows. In Snowglobe you can either be an actor or a director and a director is exactly what Chobahm wants to be.

But she has one thing standing in the way. She looks exactly like SG’s biggest star, Goh Haeri, who has just died and Chobahm is chosen to take her place in SG so viewers will never know their favorite has passed away. She sees this as a way to get out of the harsh conditions outside and help her family, so she agrees. But all the glamor of living in the globe quickly dissipates when she discovers a conspiracy that rocks her world.

This book demonstrates the power and corruption of those in power, but with all the magical components, twists and turns, and ohs and ahs, Snowglobe is like a TV show in itself. To put it not so eloquently, this book was so damn good.

Snowglobe, by Soyoung Park, is a YA dystopian novel that shows the dark side of reality tv.

The premise of this book is uniquely terrifying, and we really get a sense of the desperation of the main character, and Chobahm's resilience makes her tale gripping.

The ending seems like there was more to tell, but this does work as a stand-alone as well.

Snowglobe is a wonderfully inventive dystopian read that will have you happy for warm weather. Follow along as you watch people go about their lives in a globe of warm weather. Is what the people are watching real or is all just a lie and the reality they are showing isn't real. A great read that will bring forth images of other wonderfully written dystopian reads.

Two hundred years ago climate change finally decimated earth, the remaining population living in a frozen wasteland, or at least most of it because at its heart is Snowglobe. A city that, thanks to geothermal vents was able to thrive after the Yibbon Corporation discovered a way to take advantage of those vents. In an attempt to give those living in the Outer World hope the Yibbon Corporation creates television shows out of the population of Snowglobe; everyone here is either an actor or a director and you're life is on display for the world to see. And on this stage Goh Haeri is the beautiful, talented sun that lights the world for those living in the Outer World, the perfect young woman beautiful and confident the type of girl you'd like to be. But what if you could be her? What if someone gave you the opportunity to step into her shoes, to be beloved by thousands? What is the price you'd be willing to pay to be the Sun?

I rarely regret not reading a book. Honestly, I think that putting LOTR off until I was in my early twenties and taking a year to start the Tide Child Series are the only two times I've regretted waiting to read something. Putting Snowglobe off for two months will mark my third time. Park takes the depravity of The Truman Show, mixes it with a brutal commentary of Idol Culture while blending it with a very serious message regarding climate change into one of the best thrillers I have read ever. Even when I was 100% sure I had figured out where this story was heading it didn't matter, I wanted to know, I wanted to see it from "Haeri's" eyes, hell I needed too. Haeri's story becomes so important that it became essential that I heard everything from her, anything less would be unacceptable given the truly deplorable situation she finds herself in. The fact that "she" recognizes her own responsibility in it makes it that much better.

Overall, this was absolutely excellent. It is one of the most unique stories I have ever read and an excellent beginning to a series that I've already decided is a favorite.

As always thanks to Random House Children's and NetGalley for the eArc!

The world has frozen over and only the actors and directors in the bio dome snow globe avoid a bleak life in the cold. Sixteen year old Jeon had always wanted to be a director but like most people she's stuck working at the power plant. One day a director shows up and wants her to replace Snow Globes sweetheart Goh Heari. Jeon agrees for a chance to escape her village but quickly finds out that it's not what it's seems .
This was a great story. I liked all the characters and the twists and turns. Jeon is a smart heroine who thinks quick on her feet.
I enjoyed the twists and turns and thought it would make a really interesting drama series.
I want to get a physical copy for my teen to read because she'd enjoy it too.
I got this Arc free from Netgalley. This is my honest review.

Snowglobe is like a mix of The Hunger Games and Snowpiercer. The main character is likeable yet flawed, and the world she inhabits is dystopian but not to the point of disbelief. The twists are well-written, even if predictable for those who read this genre often. The epilogue leaves the ending open, but this novel could potentially be read as a standalone, if one is okay with some plot threads not wrapped up.

This book is an easy 5 stars. The audiobook was so well done, the narrator did a fantastic job of capturing the characters and setting. I could literally feel the emotion. This book was first published in Korean and is now for the first time being published in English. If I wasn’t told this was a translation I would have had no idea! I never once felt confused and there was no discontent at any point. The book flowed nicely from scene to scene. This book will take you on a ride so you better strap in. Once I started it, I could not put it down. The pacing was so well done. I absolutely loved the main character because she was honest in what she wanted no matter how that made her look to the reader. I loved that she was caring but she also had her flaws. The dystopian setting was perfect and the world was creative and new. Overall, I really loved this book because it had so many moving pieces that were done beautifully. I cannot wait to find out more about the mirrors in the next book. I highly recommend this one. It was well written, it has a creative plot, and characters that you will root for.

Book Review

Title: Snowglobe (The Snowglobe Duology) by Soyoung Park

Genre: Translated, Science Fiction, Dystopian

Rating: 4 Stars

I have read a lot of Japanese translated works before but recently I’ve seen a rise in Korean translated works becoming very popular, so when I saw a blog tour for Snowglobe I knew I had to sign up. The synopsis really intrigued me as it seems like a combination of several other books or movies I’ve loved like Snowpiercer and a little of the Hunger Games.

The opening to Snowglobe introduces us to a near future where the average temperature is -50 and the only place that is climate controlled is a place known as the Snowglobe but only the elite get to live there. Our protagonist, Chobahm dreams of getting into the Snowglobe but you need to be an actor or director in order to get in since everything inside the Snowglobe is filmed to entertain the masses outside. Her twin brother, Ongi and herself are caring for their grandmother with dementia and on their way to work one day they encounter Miryu, a former resident of the Snowglobe. Her “show” involved her killing several men and ultimately her show was cancelled and Miryu kicked out but she is now an outcast in this wasteland society. This definitely had an interesting premise and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

After work, Chobahm and Ongi come across Miryu in the freezing temperatures and Chobahm risks her life in order to get the woman somewhere safe despite her past. We also learn around this time that their father died before they were born when a bus broke down in the cold and someone had to get to the plant to summon help. Their father volunteered costing his life but saving their mother and them as well as many more. There she is approached by people from the Snowglobe offering her a chance to go there under the guise of being Haeri, an actress who recently committed suicide. Chobahm agrees because it will give her the opportunity to get into film school afterwards but from the beginning something isn’t right. Miryu warns her that it isn’t what it seems and when Director Cha kills her driver by opening the plane door and letting him be sucked out Chobahm realises that this might be more dangerous than she originally thought. With Chobahm now at the Snowglobe pretending to be Haeri, I think she is going to try and figure out why she committed suicide since she seemingly had the perfect life and it might get dark.

Her first night in the Snowglobe is a major challenge for Chobahm since she doesn’t really know the inner workings of Haeri’s life and she is being thrown in at the deep end. She has to attend tea with the most prestigious family in the Snowglobe and the a banquet but luckily most of the people there are new to the Snowglobe and don’t know much about her personally. However, we can see there is something strange going on especially when Chobahm Enoch tears her friend who doesn’t even recognise her despite her not having the same mannerisms as Haeri. During this party she is hit on by a man who she ends up attacking much to the surprise and delight of everyone but in running from him she finds something strange. It seems that the mirrors act as portals to the frozen wastelands but before she can investigate further she collapse from the flu. It might seem trivial but in this world flu and cold isn’t a thing in th eoutside world due to the temperature they only exist inside the Snowglobe.

After a little while, Chobahm is finding her feet as Haeri despite the grief and agony she sees from Haeri’s mother. Despite noticing that there are some strange things going on within the Snowglobe and there always seems to be an air of tension around everyone, she is coming to enjoy the lifestyle she has been given. At an annual athletic competition, Haeri gets asked on a date by the champion Jehon, and this is the moment that Chobahm realises that this life is everything she has ever wanted and doesn’t want to ever return to her life before. In a discussion with Director Cha, she asks about film school but Cha makes her a counteroffer of becoming Haeri for good because she has what it takes, an inner strength and ruthlessness that the real Haeri seemed to lack. However, in accepting this Chobahm would essentially disappear claiming to be made a director straight out of film school and only occasionally seeing her family and Chobahm is seriously considering it knowing her family will be taken care of.

While I normally tend to read science fiction and fantasy, Snowglobe which is a dystopian ended up becoming a really unique read especially for a translation. I also liked the fact there were only the smallest hints at a romance so it didn’t steal the show from what was happening in the Snowglobe. In the second half of the book there were so many twists and turns that there is no way to predict the ending. It was an intense and suspenseful read filled with secrets and a lot of suspicious people coupled with plenty of twists that keep you at the edge of your seat. Chobahm was a great character and I loved her development in this book and look forward to the next one to get some much needed questions answered, especially about those strange mirrors since it is never touched upon in this book really.

Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me to read this book before its release date.

I cannot put into words how excited I was to get a copy of Snowglobe. I have been waiting for a great climate change dystopian novel, and this one didn't stop there. There was lying and deceit, hope and love, and a big reveal or two thrown in for good measure. Now comes the difficult part, waiting until the second installment of Chobahm and the rest of gang is released.

What an adventure this one was! I absolutely cannot wait for the next one. I was immediately hooked by the premise alone. Snowglobe is a domed territory that is the last warm place on Earth. Outside of the dome is a tundra, where the rest of remaining humanity resides and works in the power plants to generate the electricity the powers everything in Snowglobe. In exchange, everyone is Snowglobe is an actor or director whose lives are TV shows that those who do not reside in Snowglobe consume as entertainment to distract from their dull and monotonous lives. Chobahm is just like everyone else, until Snowglobe’s biggest star, Goh Haeri, takes her life. How does this affect Chobahm? Well, turns out she’s her doppelgänger. When a director from Snowglobe comes to her and asks her to take Haeri’s place, Chobahm agrees as it will provide for her family. Also, she always dreamed of becoming a director and eventually living in Snowglobe herself.
But all is not what it seems, and this frozen world has citizens who are just as cold in heart inside the Snowglobe. I was so shocked by all the twists, especially the BIG one, and it had me turning each page and not able to put the book down.
Also the book itself is just stunning.
One of my favorite reads so far this year!!

Thank you TBR and Beyond Tours for the copy!

My assigned review for this title is posted at BookBrowse, along with an accompanying article: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/pr304448

Top 5 Reasons to Read:

A chance to escape to another world, with an average average annual temperature of -50, where the only chance of reprieve is Snowglobe.
Inside Snowglobe, reality television is so wild that it puts Bravo to shame.
A once in a lifetime opportunity for Chobham to assume the identity of a reality star in a coveted spot in Snowglobe gives the reader a chance to follow her into the center of it all!
Life inside Snowglobe is far from the perfect reality it is portrayed as…
An absolutely wild and unbelievable ride that leaves you questioning where reality begins and ends.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4 stars
Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC of this book via TBR and Beyond Tours in exchange for an honest review!

Snowglobe is a story about Chobahm, who is recruited from outside the dome to replace Goh Haeri, Snowglobe’s biggest star who has died.

<blockquote> “The frozen world welcomes us by snatching the breath from our lungs.” </blockquote>

I learned about this book when getting the tour sign up mail and to be honest, the line “hunger games meets squid game” was enough for me to be like: yeah, I wanna read this book!

The opening of the book really paints a harsh world where another ice age has overtaken the world once again, with plummeting temperatures all around aside from inside the dome. We meet our main character, Chobahm and her twin Ongi and see how they live and work. I could very much understand the want to get into Snowglobe, when living in those circumstances.

I really liked the plot actually, the story itself was quite intriguing and felt rather unique. Somehow being a lookalike giving her the opportunity to get into Snowglobe and then, trying to uncover the mysteries inside. I liked the mysterious aspect of the book and how it kept me on my toes while reading.

I did wonder about how the world got into that new ice age and how it developed from there. Snowglobe was already established, as were the plants, but I hope we’ll learn more about its history in the sequel.

The story did read a bit slow to me, and certain chapters did feel dragged to me. I don’t know if that could be a bit due to the translation. The overall pace also didn’t feel as consistent throughout the book, but nonetheless I did enjoy it.

Chobahm is an interesting character, and I feel like while she did play Haeri, we only really ever saw her own personality shine through. She is ambitious and knows what she wants but won’t try to get it at the expense of others, which is admirable.

The ending felt rather rushed to me, as if multiple plot points which were still unsolved needed to be wrapped up. It threw me a bit off and left me a bit unsatisfied with how it played out. It did answer quite a few questions I had, but not all of them and one thing I did really like is how unexpected some of the twists prior to that were. The little bits of foreshadowing were very cleverly written.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Snowglobe and will be checking out the sequel, since I want to know what will happen next in this interesting world!

DNF @20%

I really wanted to love this one since it sounds like it has some interesting themes and YA books in translation are so hard to find. While the concept is interesting, I'm finding that there's too much going on between the eternal winter and the concept of actors and directors who are protected from the harsh climate, which makes the story hard to follow. I think my biggest issue is actually with the writing style, however, as I feel like the writing doesn't flow. There are a lot of sentences that feel odd to me, and for some reason it feels choppy. While this one was a miss for me, I'm sure those looking for a fresh dystopian will enjoy it more than I did.

Interesting concept. People get chosen to move into the Snowglobe, where they then work in/on reality tv broadcast to everyone outside of Snowglobe. The concept is clearly a pretty significant stretch to start, especially given the harsh winter conditions outside of Snowglobe, -40 degree days are the norm!

Character development was a bit lacking. Soyoung was able to do a LOT during 10 minute black-outs, and the motivations for each character weren't always well drawn out. The story seemed to drag on since there was no real connection to the characters and very few twists to keep it interesting...

Overall: 3 stars (I liked it)

I'll tell my students about: language, suicide, violence/gore, LGBTQ+, drugs

**Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

Chobahm and her family live in a frozen wasteland where she’s rarely warm. She works at the local power plant walking in a hamster wheel to produce power needed by residents of the Snowglobe, a vast, temperature-controlled dome. It’s also the home of the twenty-four hour streaming television service providing the only source of entertainment. Most residents outside the globe would give anything to be an actor on a show and have the opportunity for a better life. Chobahm could be the doppelganger of her show’s favorite actress. When that actress dies, Chobahm receives an offer to enter the Snowglobe and take her place.

The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, something that Chobahm learns quickly. Sure, she’s warm (finally), well-fed, and famous, but mysterious things are happening off-camera, and life is nothing like she’d expected. Her character arc is fabulous. She enters the dome wearing rose-colored glasses but quickly loses them and finds herself in life-threatening situations. Let’s just say there’s an ample supply of greedy, power-hungry people in the dome.

The world-building is wildly creative, and the story takes a path I didn’t see coming after a surprising plot twist. This novel is translated from Korean to English. I thought parts of it read more like younger YA, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story.

Snowglobe is a duology, so a sequel is coming. I could easily see this as a movie. Recommended for fans of dystopia, reality television, and unexpected twists.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

SnowGlobe is an absolutely wild dystopian novel about a world with an insane climate. The only warm place left on the Earth is the SnowGlobe, where actors and directors live to provide 24/7 reality TV to citizens. Anyone outside the SnowGlobe is subject to horrible working conditions and bitter cold. Chobahm gets an opportunity to star in one of these shows, but with catch. This book is full of suspense and crazy twists. It's great for fans of the Hunger Games and Legend.

So impressed with this book! I saw a description of it as Hunger Games with a bit of Kdrama and I couldn't agree more! I can't wait to read more!!!

In a thrilling, tensely plotted story about the future, humanity has created a new way to survive the ice age - electricity powered by humans through hamsters wheels. Life in the settlements may be cold and strenuous work, but it's all worth it to know that humanity's toil is keeping Snowglobe (a giant geodesic dome that contains the last vestiges of inhabitable earth) alive and running. Watching the "actors" living their day-to-day lives is entertainment that keeps the rest of the population going, including Chobahm, the main character of this tale. But her world is turned upside down when she is offered the chance to be a replacement for a highly popular star.

I really enjoyed the lush world that Park has built within this story. The juxtaposition between the outside world and that of Snowglobe, from ice to normal, everyday Korea, is such a fascinating idea. Seeing the world through Chobahm's eyes, even as she witnesses the mask being pulled off of the world she has known and loved all her life, is thrilling. I loved that the mystery of this story emerged slowly, the tension building as the pages turned. I kept wondering how this would all resolve itself, and what a finish, too!

I think the strongest element of this book is the plot. It's a truly unique premise and I really enjoyed the sci-fi elements sprinkled throughout, included the human-powered electricity, the world of Snowglobe itself, and the mirror transportation. I think that fans of sci-fi will get a kick out of this thrilling story. Park knows how to build suspense while at the same time peeling back the layers to this world, which at once seems so glamorous and stable yet underneath hide such sinister implications. I also did not see the plot twist of clones coming, so that was a really fun element to this book.

I think the only thing lacking for me was the character development. Chobahm is the most rounded figure, but most of the other characters are either one-dimensional villains or just aren't in the story enough to really leave much of an impression of personality. I did enjoy all the different clones and their take on the situation, even if they only get the last 50 pages or so to exist in the story.

I will definitely read the sequel to this story when it becomes available. I liked the story and I enjoyed Park's imaginative take on the dystopian. I would love to see where it goes. I'd definitely recommend this story to those who enjoy sci-fi and dystopian tales, especially if they prefer zero to little romance.