I love a good fantasy novel. They fascinate me. The way authors are able to build worlds using words on paper is remarkable. The problem for me is I don’t always want to read a series, and from my experience, the best fantasy novels are always in a series. After months of collecting dust on my shelf, I finally read A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos and I am here to give you my review.
The World
This series takes place after “The Rupture”. This event left the world shattered, floating in air. Each floating island is called an Ark. These arks have developed to maintain life in their own unique ways. With this unique developments, each ark has their own relationship with time and it’s passing as well at their own strengths and weaknesses. These arks exist together, but due to the vastly different time frames and ways they’ve adapted, they exist apart from one another. One thing they all share in common is the spirit of the ancient ancestor which each ark abides by.
The Story
The first in The Mirror Visitor series, A Winter’s Promise begins on the ark known as Anima. On Anima, all objects have souls. Meaning pens hold history, a necklace has memories, and books tell more than just the stories written down in them. Our main character, Ophelia, is a skilled reader on Anima. Hiding behind a charismatic scarf and thick glasses, Ophelia is able to read and communicate with the souls of these various objects. Not only is she an experienced reader, she also possesses the ability to travel through mirrors.
Ophelia exists in the background, happy to be a wallflower in the busy life of her family. When promised to marriage to a man, Ophelia’s life changes drastically. Thorn, Ophelia’s future husband, lives on a very distant ark called the Pole. On this ark, Thorn is a member of a powerful Dragon clan. Without knowing why she was chosen, where she is going, or who she will meet, Ophelia must now hide her identity as she embarks on this new journey.
After a treacherous journey to her new home, Ophelia find the Pole to be both everything she expected and didn’t expect. The people are gruff and mean, the weather is colder than anything she’s experienced, and her fiance is more distant than the family she’s left behind. As the days progress, threats reveal themselves in the most unexpected places. But the biggest threat comes through Ophelia being the biggest pawn in a deadly plan.
Along the way, Ophelia makes some unexpected friends. She forms alliances behind her alias. She learns to conceal her gift despite the challenges it may create. Ophelia, being a quiet but opinionated girl, must learn to be an obedient servant to those most likely to harm her. In the end, you’ll be racing to see a resolution. Then again, it wouldn’t be a series if it gave you that, right?
The Good
I loved the world building in this. Dabos builds this world with small, intricate details. I’m sure if I read this a second time, I will notice things I paid no attention to this first time around. Not only is the world building incredible, but the overall story feels unique to me. It is not similar to any other stories I’ve read and I really appreciate that. I look forward to reading more in this series to see what things change and which characters Dabos introduces next.
The Bad
I didn’t find the reading to be a challenge because I enjoy fantasy. However, if this is your first time reading in this genre, it may be daunting. I can see where the descriptions can get overwhelming or tedious at times. There are some slow points in the storyline as well, but I find this common in fantasy as they are not only developing a story but a whole world. Some of the themes were unlikeable to say the least.
The book is fairly stereotypical. The women are mostly seen as weak and timid or they are mean and aggressive. There is very little middle on this. There are highly misogynistic themes in this. Men are seen as superior, women only there to provide and obey. The romance portion is a little clunky. It’s there but at the same time it’s not. I’m not sure if that is a dislike for me, as I do enjoy Ophelia’s independence. However, it was set up in such a way, the reader can almost be certain they will fall in love in the end.
In Conclusion
I think this book has a lot of potential to be a great series. It is very much a set up for the remaining books, yet it still carries a good story. I would not recommend it as a starter for the fantasy genre. If you like fantasy but are looking for one with a little less dragon and evil queens, you may enjoy this. With a little steampunk and a historical feel, this book is great for high school and up.
A great start, 7/10
As always, happy reading!