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I read the two available novels in Kate Elliott's Spiritwalker trilogy in four days, because I couldn't get my hands on the next fast enough. Some books I put down for days and don't think of them much, but there's some that I read every minute I've got free--but I don't need to go on, you all know the sensation.
My usual back cover gripe: the back cover enticement of Cold Magic was one of the most misleading things ever and told me nothing about anything; from the back cover you'd think it a steampunk novel about two cousins going to university. In the extras at the back, Elliott provides the best descriptor for this book I've seen: she calls it a mashup because it's an "Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency novel with airships, Phoenician spies, and the intelligent descendents of troodons".
As if I could resist.
Cold Magic begins with Catherine--known to her family as Cat--attending the Academy with her cousin Beatrice (Bee). So far, on track with the back cover; the world that Cat and Bee inhabit is said to be 1830's, but an 1830's where land exists where the English Channel does in ours, connecting Britain to the rest of Europe. An 1830's where Scandinavia is covered in a thick ice shelf. Nevertheless, Victorian attitudes continue to prevail, as Bee and Cat can only attend lectures on the balconies of the lecture hall, where they are learning about airships and aerostatic principles.
And then the cold mage Andevai arrives, and everything changes. In this cold Europa, cold mages are a force equal to the temporal power of princes and lords. They are organized into Houses, which are confederations of powerful mages, often from one bloodline. These mage Houses hold clientage--a vaguely feudal ownership, what I would call 'manorialism' (between unequal parties) not 'feudalism' (between equals). That is to say, they own land, wealth, and also the people who work for them, who pay tithes and other dues and are bound to the land. The cold mage invokes an agreement that Cat's aunt and uncle made years ago regarding the eldest daughter of their house, marries Cat on the spot, and takes her away.
( more about Cold Magic )
--
In Cold Fire, Cat ends up in the Americas, but it's an Americas that's vastly different from ours. Like Cold Magic emphasizes, much of the world is covered in ice; Canada is completely covered, and ice stretches into much of what is the United States. Instead of humans, the feathered troodons--what the humans call trolls--live there. Cat becomes entangled in the politics of Expedition, a city in the Caribbean. In Cold Magic, Cat finds out her paternity, and much of her actions in this book are dealing with it. ( Spoilery for Cold Magic, the rest of Cold Fire's review )
--
Final opinion: I love them, I must have the next nowwwww.
I made a reaction post which can be found here: http://silverflight8.livejournal.com/262479.html, which is much more interesting, in my opinion. I have to admit, I prefer those sorts of posts over reviews, where I feel constrained to not spoil the books (...not always very successfully) and have to write summaries, argh, plot/novel summaries are the bane of my life. The most interesting part of reviewing is the nitty gritty when you get to talk about specifics!
( ONE LAST NOTE on AO3 tagging and this series )
My usual back cover gripe: the back cover enticement of Cold Magic was one of the most misleading things ever and told me nothing about anything; from the back cover you'd think it a steampunk novel about two cousins going to university. In the extras at the back, Elliott provides the best descriptor for this book I've seen: she calls it a mashup because it's an "Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency novel with airships, Phoenician spies, and the intelligent descendents of troodons".
As if I could resist.
Cold Magic begins with Catherine--known to her family as Cat--attending the Academy with her cousin Beatrice (Bee). So far, on track with the back cover; the world that Cat and Bee inhabit is said to be 1830's, but an 1830's where land exists where the English Channel does in ours, connecting Britain to the rest of Europe. An 1830's where Scandinavia is covered in a thick ice shelf. Nevertheless, Victorian attitudes continue to prevail, as Bee and Cat can only attend lectures on the balconies of the lecture hall, where they are learning about airships and aerostatic principles.
And then the cold mage Andevai arrives, and everything changes. In this cold Europa, cold mages are a force equal to the temporal power of princes and lords. They are organized into Houses, which are confederations of powerful mages, often from one bloodline. These mage Houses hold clientage--a vaguely feudal ownership, what I would call 'manorialism' (between unequal parties) not 'feudalism' (between equals). That is to say, they own land, wealth, and also the people who work for them, who pay tithes and other dues and are bound to the land. The cold mage invokes an agreement that Cat's aunt and uncle made years ago regarding the eldest daughter of their house, marries Cat on the spot, and takes her away.
( more about Cold Magic )
--
In Cold Fire, Cat ends up in the Americas, but it's an Americas that's vastly different from ours. Like Cold Magic emphasizes, much of the world is covered in ice; Canada is completely covered, and ice stretches into much of what is the United States. Instead of humans, the feathered troodons--what the humans call trolls--live there. Cat becomes entangled in the politics of Expedition, a city in the Caribbean. In Cold Magic, Cat finds out her paternity, and much of her actions in this book are dealing with it. ( Spoilery for Cold Magic, the rest of Cold Fire's review )
--
Final opinion: I love them, I must have the next nowwwww.
I made a reaction post which can be found here: http://silverflight8.livejournal.com/262479.html, which is much more interesting, in my opinion. I have to admit, I prefer those sorts of posts over reviews, where I feel constrained to not spoil the books (...not always very successfully) and have to write summaries, argh, plot/novel summaries are the bane of my life. The most interesting part of reviewing is the nitty gritty when you get to talk about specifics!
( ONE LAST NOTE on AO3 tagging and this series )
