A Winter's Promise

Ophelia is a "reader" who can touch an object with her bare hands and get a sense of all the past owners it has had. She works at the archives on the ark of Anima, but her life is about to change. She's been betrothed to a man from the Pole ark, and when she first meets Thorn he seems about as cold as his habitation. Thrust into a world much darker than her own, Ophelia must keep all her wits about her if she's to survive to the wedding.

I didn't really know anything about this series before plunging into it, so I set out learning about the arks (separate places that can only be reached by airship) and the various motivations of the characters we meet along with Ophelia. It's written in third person, but sticks close to Ophelia's show more thoughts and experiences. And like much fantasy, it's deliberately paced and unfolds rather slowly as Ophelia starts without having much agency. The ending isn't so much a cliffhanger as it is left dangling in the midst of the story, so now I find myself debating how long to wait before looking for book #2. show less

Ophelia runs a small museum and possesses an unusually strong ability to “read” an object’s history with her hands. She’s never had any interest in marriage, but when the Doyennes, the matriarchal heads of her extended family, arrange a marriage for her with a powerful foreigner, she is forced to accept her fate. She is sent with him and a chaperone to his home, where political machinations and scandals are a way of life, and the backstabbing can be literal as well as figurative. Can Ophelia trust anyone in this place — including her enigmatic fiancé?

With a delightfully labyrinthine plot and intricate world building, the nearly 500 pages of this book flew by for me. I’m a sucker for a good Beauty and the Beast-type story, show more and those elements are present here, though whether there will ever be romance for Ophelia and Thorn is still in question (Ophelia reads as asexual, at least so far, and it will be interesting to see where the author goes with that element of her character). It’s the first book in a projected quartet, so there are plenty of questions left unanswered at the end — we can only hope that the next volume arrives soon! show less

Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Long ago, following a cataclysm called “The Rupture,” the world was shattered into many floating celestial islands. Known now as Arks, each has developed in distinct ways; each seems to possess its own unique relationship to time, such that nowadays vastly different worlds exist, together but apart. And over all of the Arks the spirit of an omnipotent ancestor abides.

Ophelia lives on Anima, an ark where objects have souls. Beneath her worn scarf and thick glasses, the young girl hides the ability to read and communicate with the souls of objects, and the power to travel through mirrors. Her peaceful existence on the Ark of Anima is disrupted when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, from the show more powerful Dragon clan. Ophelia must leave her family and follow her fiancée to the floating capital on the distant Ark of the Pole. Why has she been chosen? Why must she hide her true identity? Though she doesn’t know it yet, she has become a pawn in a deadly plot.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA AMAZON FIRST READS. THANK YOU.

My Review: Adolescent exceptionalism gets validated hard in this fun first-in-series fantasy. There are four in total, or so far at least.

I am deeply uninterested in how Unique and Special and Girl this character is. I enjoyed the animate-world parts, and found the worldbuilding deft. It was allowed to be part of the story not presented as A Revelation. As she moves through the steps of discovering *what* is happening, she also learns the whys of it.

Not at all a bad read...especially for someone who doesn't have decades and decades of possessing a "Y" chromosome. In fact, best for people who would say men are possessed by their "Y" chromosome. show less

I'm not sure what to make of this novel. A girl who can travel through mirrors and "read" the history of objects with the touch of her hands must travel to a hostile and unforgiving world to marry a complete stranger. The world she comes to live on is cutthroat and dangerous, with scandal and intrigue lurking around every corner.

The story was definitely engaging. The world-building was absolutely phenomenal. It started at the beginning and did not cease until the end of the book. There were so many layers to the universe of the book. The characters absolutely grated on my nerves. Yet, I found myself reading on, wondering what would happen next. It was impossible to guess. I'd think the story was going in one direction and the next day show more it would shift. This happened constantly.

This was a translation from French. The book does not read at all like a translation. Its translator deserves high marks. The thing that puzzles me is the title, "A Winter's Promise." Yes, the book exists in a world of winter, but I don't get where the "promise" part of it comes in. Maybe the original title loses something in translation.

Still, if you are looking for an amazing world-building experience. This is for you. show less

Wow! I'm shocked I hadn't heard of this or read it before today because it's right up my alley. I was pulled into all of this as soon as I read the "Fragment" prologue about god writing when he was happy and furious and then when he was really in a bad mood, he smashed everything to pieces. If I didn't have work throughout the week, I would've just kept reading this book.

I love the world-building created. The story takes place in an alternative or future timeline where the Earth has exploded and chunks of land are called "arks." These arks are cities, or countries, and are kept aloft by the guardian spirit. There is also a magic system where each family/clan/arc has a certain power. With Ophelia, she's an animist, someone who can show more "read" objects or materials and give an explanation of everyone who's touched the object and their intentions. Thorn and his family, the Dragons, are able to create pain through thought. All very steampunk Victorian, which I love!!

The characters all well written and fascinating, but they did disappear into the world-building at times. I completely related to Ophelia, and my teenage self would've connected to Ophelia so much! I was surprised by how much I loved Aunt Rosaline by the end of the book. She was so annoying and mean but by the end, she became this ornery aunt that you can't help but love. It's easy to realize that each characters has their own agendas except for Ophelia and Rosaline. Most everyone from Thorn's aunt, Berenilde, to Archibald to other nobility were two-faced, manipulative, and cruel. Berenilde could go from sweet and pleasant to cruel and mean at the drop of a hat. As for Ophelia's fiance, Thorn is difficult to pierce. He seems genuine at time while at others, he doesn't give a damn, so it's difficult to figure out what he's thinking or planning. I'm curious to see what will happen with his and Ophelia's relationship. Even with all the lying, backstabbing, and two-faced aspects, I love it all! But I'm totally into political dramas and intrigue!

I'm definitely interested in Ophelia's feelings and emotions surrounding marriage and children. As I've only read the first one, this could all change, but the fact that there is such strong feelings from Ophelia about not wanting love, marriage, children, it does read very much like aromantic and asexual, or at least demisexual. Knowing when this is published, it's probably unintentional on the part of the author, and more of the fact that this is a teenage girl who doesn't want to be married yet. Any of these views are valid and worthy of respect and love. It would be great representation if she was aromantic, asexual, or demisexual. We'll see with the next book(s).

I already have plans to buy the rest of the series as a birthday gift to myself! show less

{First of 4 in The Mirror Visitor quartet; fantasy, translated from French, Overdrive/ Hills}

Ophelia is a quiet girl who keeps to herself and runs the Museum on the ark Anima but, though she's often overlooked by her family, she's not timid. She is a reader, someone who can see the history of an object by touching it. Ophelia's talent is exceptionally strong as she can see all the way back to an object's creation. She can also travel short distances by stepping through mirrors.

The arks are islands floating in the atmosphere and were formed after a cataclysm shattered the Earth. On Anima - and presumably each of the other arks too - everyone is related. Ophelia has already turned down two offers of marriage to distant cousins and now the show more doyennes of Anima (who oversee such things) have decreed that she will marry a stranger from Pole, another ark.

Tall, angular Thorn, with his abrupt and taciturn manners, soon arrives from Pole. He disregards all the traditional festivities and decrees that he, Ophelia and a chaperone are to depart the next day to Pole where she will spend the year until their marriage - which he doesn't seem too keen on, either. When she and Aunt Rosaline arrive, they find that nothing is as they expected and Thorn is playing some kind of political game. He intends to keep the fact that his fiancée has arrived on Pole secret and they have to play along for their survival.

If only someone would tell them the rules.

I felt as much at a loss as Ophelia, thrown in at the deep end and not told anything about the way of life on this new ark which, true to its name, is always dark and freezing - frozen, even. I could explain a little bit more but I think that learning along with Ophelia is an important aspect to the book. Though she's kept in the dark, given little agency and told to trust no one, Ophelia finds ways to take care of herself as well as those close to her. Aunt Rosaline, the spinster aunt, is a strong character herself but Ophelia doesn't feel she should confide in her, so as to protect her; she knows that Rosaline would be outraged and wouldn't care who knew it, which would blow their cover. And, there, I've said too much already.

As a side note; Citaceleste, the capital of Pole, vaguely reminds me of Gormenghast or Lord Valentine's Castle - a vast citadel encrusted on a mountain; in this case, a floating mountain (though I haven't read the other two books in a couple of decades, so bear with me).

I like the story and I'm curious as to what happens next. I felt it conveyed Ophelia's position very well. However, I found the writing style a bit choppy. The book was originally written in French and translated into English so I don't know whether this was due to the original text or the translation. I suspect it was a bit of both. There were bits where there was a slight gap in the story (which I find happens with modern books lumped into the 'young adult' category) but there were phrases which were a bit awkward and it seemed that the translation wasn't quite as smooth as it could have been. There were parts where events dragged a bit but that was due to Ophelia being somewhat in limbo and I wasn't continually checking how long I had to go until the end as I have with other recent reads (except when I was worried that my battery wouldn't last or my e-library book would expire).

So: at the end of this book, we've found out a little bit more about Pole and its machinations ... and Ophelia's wedding is drawing nearer but there are more things to be uncovered. I'm looking forward to finding out what.

(June 2024)
3.5 stars show less

This has the least feel of a YA book of any with such billing that I've read lately. Well, except for the breakneck pacing, and the girl with something extra pulled from her safe surrounds and pummeled soundly into a different shape and well, there are so very many standard elements in this book which doesn't feel standard at all. Rather bracing actually.