I’m very intrigued by the lichenwold. The description is great -- not just its physical description, but Anler’s reaction to it, and the note that some rangers are attracted to it, while it repels him. It sounds like a desert, just one that is composed of growing things, which makes it even more creepy.

I was a little surprised that the lichen isn’t regarded as a possible major food source for the snowies. Is most of it the kind that contains cyanobacteria, and thus isn’t fit for eating? I’m guessing that past generations of rangers did already figure this out. I’m only surprised because it’s such a major food source for reindeer in our world, and while snowies aren’t exactly the same, I would have thought it might serve a similar function. (Then again, I’d wonder whether a snowy would have to eat more than their stomach could hold, to get the necessary nutrition out of the stuff.)