Cbr14bingo Cold
A Winter’s Promise is the first book in a YA quartet by French author Christelle Dabos. It’s 490 pages long, and I tore through it within a few days. Book #2 is already queued up and I’m hoping that the storytelling continues to keep me hooked in. Dabos has created a steampunk world that has been divided not just politically and culturally, but also physically due to a “rupture.” Long in the past, a formerly unified planet broke up into different planets or “arks,” and on those arks the populations possess very different and interesting skill sets/powers. The heroine of this series is Ophelia, a young woman (I’m guessing 19-ish) who is a librarian and museum curator on the ark known as Anima. All she wants is to be left alone to do her work, which she loves, but her family (which is pretty much everyone on Anima) has other plans for her, leading to a riveting adventure on the remote, icy tundra-like ark known as the Pole.
This novel is full of world building, intrigue and what looks to be a slow-burn romance. Let’s start with the world building. Each ark has its own ancestral spirit, an actual physical being that is immortal and is the progenitor of most of the people on its ark. The people of Anima are descendants of Artemis and their job is to preserve memory. Ophelia’s Aunt Rosaline has a special power for preserving paper; she can instantly repair any ripped or damaged paper and therefore has an important job in the archives. Ophelia is a “reader,” meaning that when her bare hands come in contact with an object, she can “read” its past; Ophelia can see who has touched this object and read what they were thinking/feeling at that time. Readers like Ophelia are rare, and Ophelia is rarest amongst readers in that she can read much farther back into the history of an object than others can. She can see all the way back to the birth of the object itself. Moreover, Ophelia is a “mirror visitor”; she can travel short distances through mirrors. As we learn from her uncle, Ophelia has this unique ability because she is able to “face up to herself,” to look at herself honestly. Unfortunately for Ophelia, her quiet life is about to be upended. The ruling group of Anima, the Doyennes, have decided that Ophelia will be married off to an unknown man from the Pole. Ophelia, who really does not wish to marry anyone ever, has no say in this matter and very little time to prepare. It is unclear why the Doyennes are so interested in making this match but it is clearly of great diplomatic importance. Very little information is available about the Pole, and what little is in the archives was collected long ago by some of Ophelia’s relatives.
Ophelia and her aunt/chaperone Rosaline travel with her fiancé Thorn to the Pole, and the intrigue begins. First, Thorn is a very very tall, thin, blond man with severe looks and scars. He clearly is unhappy about the marriage and unimpressed with Ophelia, barely bothering to speak with her or acknowledge her presence on the airship (strong Mr. Darcy vibes here!). The Pole is a dangerous and foreboding place. The weather is blisteringly cold, windy and snowy. The wild animals are of unnatural size and ferocity. The capital Citaceleste is an air-born “island” where court intrigue can take a deadly turn at any moment. The ancestral spirit Farouk, rather than being a remote and uninvolved presence as Artemis is on Anima, actively interferes in the lives of courtiers and is yet another danger to be avoided on the Pole. Thorn and his aunt Berenilde strive to keep Ophelia’s presence on the Pole a secret and Ophelia slowly learns why: Thorn is one of the most powerful and important men on the Pole. As Treasurer, he is Farouk’s right hand man, but he also is surrounded by enemies. Three rival clans dominate the ark, each obvious from the tattoos they wear. The Mirage clan can cast illusions, which is why, despite the arctic environment, there are places on the Pole that look like beautiful gardens. Illusions can be used for much more nefarious ends, as Ophelia will learn. Member of the Web clan have what I would call a “hive-like” communication ability; what one member sees and hears, all others can see and hear. When speaking to a member of the Web, you are never speaking in total confidence. Then there is the Dragon clan, which is Thorn’s clan. Dragons’ ability is referred to as the “claw,” and it is terrifying. Dragons can physically harm others using their minds. Dragons hunt the enormous wild beasts of the Pole and provide food for the population. Members of these clans are constantly scheming against one another for favor with Farouk, and the intrigue easily turns deadly. News has spread that Thorn is engaged, and the other clans worry what this outsider from Anima might be bringing to the Pole that could thwart their own ambitions. Interestingly, even members of Thorn’s own Dragon clan are a danger to Ophelia for reasons that become clear throughout the story.
The big mystery in book 1 is why was a betrothal between Thorn and a reader from Anima arranged? Who benefits and how? Keeping Ophelia’s presence on the Pole secret becomes harder as Farouk and Thorn’s aunt become involved in a romance, and the levels of deception employed are both creative and thrilling to read. Ophelia, who is generally very quiet and somewhat clumsy, finds herself getting more assertive and demanding of answers from Thorn, who in turn finds himself surprised by this small mousy girl. It looks like Thorn might be falling for Ophelia, but at the end of book 1, both the reader and Ophelia might have reason to believe something else is going on.
This novel is full of action and excitement, plus some really great side characters who might or might not be allies to Ophelia. I expect that in future novels, we will learn more about the people of other arks and their abilities, in addition to seeing how the possible romance between Ophelia and Thorn develops. This is a highly imaginative story and I am invested. I can’t wait to start the second book.