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Hello everybody, my name is Cara, and today I am here with my spoiler-free review for
A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos, translated by Hildegarde Serle.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review, so thank you so much, Europa
Editions.
[Release Date: September 25th] And this is the first book in the Mirror Visitor series.
And as I said this whole review is going to be spoiler-free so you can decide if it sounds
like something that you would like to pick up.
So in this world there was a cataclysmic event that basically caused the landmasses that
we know today to kind of break up and actually turn into these things called Arks, which
are kind of floating cities in the sky.
And each of these Arks has kind of a different power or skill associated with it, and our
main character is Ophelia and she is from an Ark called Anima, which makes her an Animist,
and her ability is the ability to "read", so she can actually touch objects and kind
of see the past of its previous owners or occupants or whatever it is.
She's very happy in her little museum, she's kind of a curator, and she's very quiet, she's
very shy, she doesn't really like interacting with people: she is very content to just stay
in her quiet little corner and kind of take care of her museum.
Then one day she finds out that she has actually been promised in marriage to an important
person on another Ark called the Pole and she is going to be shipped off to marry him
and for all these like political reasons that nobody actually tells her about, she is going
to have to live there for the rest of her life.
So this book follows her journey there and then once she gets to the Pole, kind of how
Ophelia is trying to understand this really confusing world of court politics and intrigue
and where she fits into all these different people and what they want and what they want
from her.
I will also be sure to include the full official synopsis in the description bar [plus any
content warnings.]
Now we're gonna move into my thoughts on the book and for that I'm going to put it down
so that I can use my hands freely *laughs* So the first thing I want to talk about is
the writing of this book.
I really enjoyed the writing style; I thought it was descriptive without being overdone
and I think that for the most part I really understood and could picture all of these
different settings and places and people and especially the ones that you know are not
really at all similar to our world: I didn't really have a problem picturing them because
of how well the description was done.
And at the same time, like I said, I don't think it overtook the story; I think there
was a nice balance of that with the plot and with the characters.
And all of this is of course a credit both to the author Christelle Dabos and to her
translator Hildegarde Serle.
I think that sometimes when people go into translated books there can be that fear that
it's gonna feel really clunky or that basically that it's going to be obvious that it was
translated from one language to another and that we're not reading it in its original
language, and I didn't have that problem with this one at all.
I have read a few translated books at this point and I definitely think this is a really
good translation.
Of course I don't speak French so I can't confirm like "ah yes, they did a great job
of you know translating the French text into English."
But from the perspective of somebody who reads in English, I don't think I even would have
guessed that this had been translated because the writing was so seamless.
I also want to talk about the worldbuilding because I think that's definitely a big component
of this book.
As I kind of mentioned when I was discussing the writing, for the most part I had a very
clear picture of what this world looked like.
We are kind of thrown into it at the beginning like there's not a big long section of like
infodumping or you know exposition or anything, but I actually didn't have a problem with
that.
I think that we were able to pick up on details as we needed to know them.
There were a couple of aspects of the world that I was a little confused on but then as
soon as we actually moved into the part of the plot where Ophelia actually goes to the
Pole and she sees a different Ark, I think that contrast finally like solidified what
this world looked like in my head, so I would say that the worldbuilding was really well
done.
Another thing that's great about it is how unique it was.
I don't remember reading many stories that kind of took this approach you know, that
had this kind of set-up and this kind of environment, and I really enjoyed that.
As far as the plot went, I really enjoyed it and I found it pretty unpredictable, for
the most part.
And you guys know I've talked about before on this channel how I've always just been
pretty good at kind of guessing plot developments or just like the general direction a story's
gonna go, and this one I couldn't really!
Like there were some expectations or conclusions that I had drawn, and they were actually--the
book ended up kind of subverting those and going in some really creative directions.
I also loved the amount of intrigue and court politics.
You know sometimes you read a book that's like "oh it's all about political manipulations
and there's all this like drama and stuff!" and you read the book and there's like...every
once in a while there's a minor character who's in some form of danger, but for the
most part things are pretty much...okay?
This book is not like that.
By the way, I can still definitely enjoy books that are like that, that are kind of light
on the court politics, I don't mind that at all.
But I think A Winter's Promise really took the like court politics and the intrigue and
the backstabbing and all of that to its utmost extent, and I really enjoyed that, like this
is definitely a heavy book, like there are some really dark moments.
And I was genuinely afraid for our characters *laughs* I was really invested in their plight
and I also felt like you know anything could happen to them!
Like something drastic could go wrong.
Like I don't think the author was necessarily going to pull back on some of it so that was
also a really interesting reading experience, so I think if--I think for people who are
kind of tired of books that they feel don't go far enough with that, I think this one
might be one for you.
The only part of the plot that I thought wasn't quite as well integrated or fleshed out was
like some of the elements about the Prologue and Epilogue, like these little snippets we
get about I think a journal or something.
I was not quite as clear on what those meant and why those were important, but I do think
from other things that happen in the book, I think we're going to have that more explained
in the subsequent books.
And then the only other thing that I was a little confused on sometimes were the actual
families themselves, like these warring factions.
There were a couple of spots like mostly near the beginning, where I kind of lost track
of who was on what side and like who was allied with whom.
BUT I don't think that was a huge--like I don't think that was necessarily a bad thing?
Because like we're following Ophelia and Ophelia herself is actually kind of confused about
you know *laughs* who's on what team as we start the book.
So I think some of that may have been intentional, and those moments didn't last very long either,
like I said, especially as we got to the actual part of the book that takes place on the Pole,
which is the majority of the book; I definitely was able to sort out like who was a good guy,
who was a bad guy, who you weren't sure about, things like that.
So that's not necessarily like a criticism of the book, that's just something to keep
in mind is like if you're reading and you're like "I don't really get--like I need some
*laughs* I need some like color-coding or something 'cause I don't really understand
like which of these people is on which side!"
I think that does get better as the book goes on.
And finally I want to talk about the characters of the book, which might have been my favorite
of this story.
I think all of them were so well developed, I definitely had some that I changed my mind
about.
Especially kind of the two central characters, well Ophelia is definitely the protagonist
but then Thorn [her fiance] is also a really important character in the book as well.
And Ophelia!
I was just so impressed and amazed by how much I grew to love her by the end of the
book.
Because when she's introduced, I didn't necessarily dislike her, but I didn't feel that much for
her one way or the other, and there was kind of this like undercurrent of like "she's being
better than other girls because she likes to be in the library or in the museum and
other girls like to wear dresses" and stuff like that.
But that pretty much went away as soon as she got to the Pole and she started interacting
with different kinds of people from her and from who she was used to.
So I think that was a really important moment in her character development.
And I also just really grew to admire her strength and her intelligence and you know
she definitely makes mistakes because this world is so different from what she's used
to, but I could really understand why she was doing what she did.
I really just was impressed by how well she handled herself and how resourceful she was
when she was thrown into this environment that again is like not something she's used
to.
And I think this was a great example of character development when it's not necessarily like
"oh she's really different than she was at the beginning", although I think there were
some things about her that DID change that much.
But I think a big part of it and a big part of why I really liked her is that she was
put into a situation where she could show characteristics that she always had, you know?
It wasn't just like oh suddenly she's a strong character, it was like she's always had this
core of strength, and now she's put in a position where she has to use it, where she--and where
she CAN use it, and I thought that was really beautifully done.
And now moving on to Thorn, who's her like fiance and kind of one of the other important
characters in the book.
I have so many conflicting feelings about him!
I really like--I--!--he--I think he's a great character, first off, and also, this book
does not have any romance in it, so if that's something [meaning the lack of romance] you've
been looking for, you might want to look at this one, but I really like him I think?
I don't know!
There's still some things where like I don't actually know what I want to happen with Thorn,
like I don't understand all of him.
Like do I trust him, do I like him, do I want to like him?
But he's definitely a great addition to the book.
And he's a character where, when he was introduced, I was like "I...do not like you.
*laughs* Like I don't want you in this book."
But as we went on, we got some more backstory about him and we saw him in different like
situations and I really grew to like and appreciate him a lot more.
And not that that excuses the way he behaved at the beginning, because--it doesn't, really,
and the characters themselves don't really excuse him either like Ophelia doesn't like
completely get over the way he behaved to her at first.
But I really do think that we see more of what made him the way he is, and I can kind
of understand that, even if it doesn't excuse 100% of his behavior, which I really liked.
Going back to the no romance thing, I think there--there are some hints or some like groundwork
laid for a potential relationship, maybe, in future books, although that would be really
complicated for a lot of reasons.
And that's another thing where I'm like not really sure what I want to happen with it.
I think that if that were to develop I think it could be done very well...the only thing--I'm
not 100% sure of their respective ages.
'Cause kind of how they interact it's sometimes difficult to tell like how old Thorn is compared
to Ophelia and like she's definitely treated as like--some other characters sort of treat
her as like this little girl, like a child bride almost, and that's really weird.
And like that is from characters who we aren't really supposed to agree with, but I think
that is something that would have to be like handled very carefully in subsequent books
to make sure it's not like really just an unhealthy power dynamic kind of thing, but
I am interested to see where their kind of relationship, like friendship or whatever,
like however they interact with each other, I really loved all of their scenes together
and I'm interested to see where that goes in further books.
Also like *laughs* as I was reading the book I was like Thorn--like the way he's described
as like, like really tall and like stern and like his features and everything, I was like
"he really reminds me of somebody" *laughs* and I couldn't think who!
And then I realized it was Richard Armitage from North and South.
That is like kind of how I'm picturing [him] which...you know, doesn't hurt.
But *laughs* I just thought that was kind of funny because even their names [Thorn vs.
Thornton] are similar, so...I don't know, if that helps you while you're reading the
book you know...And there were also a couple of side characters that were introduced later
who I really loved or who like we got to see more of and I ended up really liking them
and...like I just really...I had so many more like feelings and strong feelings about these
characters than I was expecting to, so that was really wonderful.
It's also stated and kind of emphasized that Ophelia has never felt...I think she says
like "desire" for anybody else, for another man or another person.
So I don't know if Ophelia is written to be an asexual character [see on-screen text]
but I think you definitely could read her that way, so that is something also to kind
of like keep in mind.
I don't know if that will be made more explicit or like addressed more in further books.
So altogether I really enjoyed A Winter's Promise and I ended up giving it 4 stars.
I would recommend this book, I think especially if you are looking for kind of a more high-stakes
kind of political intrigue situation, like I said there's a lot of intense things going
on, I think this would be for you.
If you're looking for a book that doesn't have a romance, that like doesn't feature
[a] romantic relationship at all really, then I think this would be a great book.
And also if you're just looking for a really like creative kind of fantasy, I think this
would also be a great book for you.
I really enjoyed it like I said and please let me know if you guys are planning to pick
this one up.
Thank you guys so much for watching, I will see you soon with another video, and I hope
you love the next book you read.
Bye!