Cold Magic, by Kate Elliott
Fantastic, original worldbuilding is the main draw of this fantasy novel set in a world in which the ice age didn’t completely go away, cold mages try to squelch steampunk technology, humans share America with intelligent feathered “trolls” who appear to have evolved from dinosaurs, and the main cultural influences on Europe are West African, Celtic, and Roman.
Cat and her cousin Bee are young women studying at an academy where the headmaster keeps a preserved, occasionally-prophesying severed head in his office. Then cold mages descend out of the blue, armed with a contract with Cat’s family that says that she has to marry the cold mage Andevai. Next thing she knows, she’s been hauled away from everything she knows and forced to travel with Andevai, who is attractive but a total jerk, and seems to be neck-deep in all sorts of nefarious, oppressive activities, like blowing up airships.
And then Cat gets a magic sword of cold steel! She meets solicitor trolls! She’s swept into the spirit world! She meets talking saber tooth tigers! She learns the secrets of her heritage! She must save her beloved cousin! Revolution! War! The workers go on strike! Etc!
Much of the action of the story consists of pell-mell rushing about, with people showing up, taking off, coming back, helping Cat, attacking Cat, and so forth. But judging by the way that the pieces of the story start fitting together at the end, book two will probably be more tightly plotted and less “one thing after another.”
As I mentioned, I absolutely loved the worldbuilding in this book. It’s detailed, interesting, different, and completely lived-in. I also liked many of the characters, especially Cat, Bee, the trolls, and a guy named Rory who shows up about halfway through and proceeds to steal every scene he appears in. Though Cat and Bee are separated for much of the book, their relationship is what drives the story, and it’s beautifully depicted.
My big caveat is that the novel sets up a “hate on first sight, love comes later” arranged marriage romance, and there is absolutely nothing likable about Andevai for most of the book. I kept waiting for him to have even one appealing quirk or touchingly human moment, but no. (No attempted rape - he’s just a cold fish.) This is especially frustrating because it’s so obvious that he and Cat are the designated romantic couple, and Cat keeps thinking about how sexy he is, but he does nothing to endear himself to either her or me. We eventually get his psychological reasons for being so unpleasant, but even when he starts being noble at the end, I still really disliked him. And while I can hand-wave that Cat is attracted to him because he’s so incredibly gorgeous, I can’t get invested in a romance where the hero and the heroine don’t have any chemistry other than what I’m told they feel, rather than what is shown in their interactions. So all the romance-y parts of the book fell flat.
That being said, I really enjoyed all the non-romance-y parts of the book. And the situation at the end promises lots more action and non-romance character interaction to come. I assume the reason for Andevai being so awful for most of this book was to set up lots and lots of character growth, so hopefully that will be happening in the next book. I’ll definitely pick up the sequel.
Props to Orbit for not whitewashing the biracial Cat on the cover. I wish that wasn’t so unusual that it deserves special commendation.
Cold Magic (The Spiritwalker Trilogy)
Crossposted to http://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/922698.html. Comment here or there.
Cat and her cousin Bee are young women studying at an academy where the headmaster keeps a preserved, occasionally-prophesying severed head in his office. Then cold mages descend out of the blue, armed with a contract with Cat’s family that says that she has to marry the cold mage Andevai. Next thing she knows, she’s been hauled away from everything she knows and forced to travel with Andevai, who is attractive but a total jerk, and seems to be neck-deep in all sorts of nefarious, oppressive activities, like blowing up airships.
And then Cat gets a magic sword of cold steel! She meets solicitor trolls! She’s swept into the spirit world! She meets talking saber tooth tigers! She learns the secrets of her heritage! She must save her beloved cousin! Revolution! War! The workers go on strike! Etc!
Much of the action of the story consists of pell-mell rushing about, with people showing up, taking off, coming back, helping Cat, attacking Cat, and so forth. But judging by the way that the pieces of the story start fitting together at the end, book two will probably be more tightly plotted and less “one thing after another.”
As I mentioned, I absolutely loved the worldbuilding in this book. It’s detailed, interesting, different, and completely lived-in. I also liked many of the characters, especially Cat, Bee, the trolls, and a guy named Rory who shows up about halfway through and proceeds to steal every scene he appears in. Though Cat and Bee are separated for much of the book, their relationship is what drives the story, and it’s beautifully depicted.
My big caveat is that the novel sets up a “hate on first sight, love comes later” arranged marriage romance, and there is absolutely nothing likable about Andevai for most of the book. I kept waiting for him to have even one appealing quirk or touchingly human moment, but no. (No attempted rape - he’s just a cold fish.) This is especially frustrating because it’s so obvious that he and Cat are the designated romantic couple, and Cat keeps thinking about how sexy he is, but he does nothing to endear himself to either her or me. We eventually get his psychological reasons for being so unpleasant, but even when he starts being noble at the end, I still really disliked him. And while I can hand-wave that Cat is attracted to him because he’s so incredibly gorgeous, I can’t get invested in a romance where the hero and the heroine don’t have any chemistry other than what I’m told they feel, rather than what is shown in their interactions. So all the romance-y parts of the book fell flat.
That being said, I really enjoyed all the non-romance-y parts of the book. And the situation at the end promises lots more action and non-romance character interaction to come. I assume the reason for Andevai being so awful for most of this book was to set up lots and lots of character growth, so hopefully that will be happening in the next book. I’ll definitely pick up the sequel.
Props to Orbit for not whitewashing the biracial Cat on the cover. I wish that wasn’t so unusual that it deserves special commendation.
Cold Magic (The Spiritwalker Trilogy)
Crossposted to http://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/922698.html. Comment here or there.