Reading ‘A Winter’s Promise’ was akin to watching an India tv show, not the likes of ones you watch on netflix but the ones on TV channels…..yes I know that it’s a very weird comparison but it’s TRUE. Now you must know that I am not a fan of these shows mainly because they seem to go on forever and also the main character keeps on getting dealt a bad hand, so it does get tedious after a while. Despite this you can’t help but watch these shows in the (stupid) hope that they will either improve or end. This book evoked similar feelings(albeit my feeling lean more on the curious side).
Also this series is four books long plus a novella.
I happened upon this book purely because of my luck( aka infinite scrolling ). First things first the COVER is especially elegant and solely my reason for picking up this book. The other thing was the world building and the entire concept of the arks.
There as two timelines – Before the Rupture and After. Our story takes place After the Rupture. The Rupture was the cataclysm that blew the earth into pieces(arks) both big and small. Each of these arks is headed by a family spirit (a very tall and immortal being who is the equivalent of god for those living on that particular ark). These family spirits are all brothers and sisters. Ohh and most of the humans on every ark have some kind of magical ability that they receive from the spirit of that ark.
The two arks that are our premises are Anima (family spirit – Artemis) our protagonist Ophelia’s homeark and The Pole (family spirit – Farouk) our second protagonist Mr. Thorn’s homeark. The Doyennes (Anima’s Prominant Family ) and Thorn’s aunt Berenilde agree to a marriage between the two. The real story line begins when Ophelia and her aunt Rosaline (widow, godmother and chaperone) accompany Thorn to his ark.
The Pole has a court system with Farouk acting as the king everyone wants to please and therefore there is a lot of politics that comes into play!
Ophelia is one of the few rare protagonists who get my pity. I can’t tell what all happens because that would just give away the whole plot but like GURL (and I cannot stress enough on this)you need to escape and go sleep in a comfy bed or something(and treat your cold while you’re at it, I swear she has cold throughout the book).
Ophelia is a ‘Reader'(those who can see the past of objects by touching them) and a ‘Mirror visitor'(those who can travel for short distances through mirrors) and she is very good at both of them(honestly I am a little jealous of her, just imagine being able to read the past of objects). To add to all that she isn’t a very expressive person( I think that just helps her later on though). She also has an animated scarf( I absolutely adore it!!!!!!).
‘She’d never had a talent, whether speaking or writing, for expressing what affected her closely, for defining precisely what she felt.’ – Ophelia
Before I talk about Thorn I would like to talk about Ophelia’s great-uncle. He can mend absolutely everything with his bare hands and I like this character (for no know reason whatsoever). But alas he has very few lines and all I can do is hope I get more of him in the next few books.
“I can well imagine why you’re eyeballing me like that,” he said, “except that this time the answer’s no. Those sloping shoulders of yours, those gloomy glasses and those sighs of total despair, you can just pack them all away.” – Great-uncle
According to me Thorn’s character in the book was so sparse( like I don’t even have an iconic dialogue ) that there was no opportunity for development and the few interactions that happened with Ophelia felt incomplete and unsatisfactory. The constant referral to his height just irked me(don’t get me wrong I like tall as much as the next girl but if you keep adding it to every other sentence you deserve an eye-roll).
I also like Hector (Ophelia’s younger brother) and this one too has very few lines (if you hear any forlorn sighs, they’re probably coming from me).
Rosaline’s ( the aunt ) was the character whose development was very well seen and I am very happy to have known her. Thorn’s aunt (Berenilde) on the other hand is a nut-case( I clearly have no lost love for her ). There were so many problems because of her that they just outweighed her usefulness. And gods a child wouldn’t act as childishly as her at times!!!!
My final verdict is that this book has piqued my curiosity and I will continue with the series and would recommend it to people who like dramatics and flares and also a little court intrigue!
Thank you!
Want to know about another book with an alluring cover, here’s my review on ‘ A tempest of tea‘
Do follow me on goodreads – link
Leave a Reply