Thank you to Europa Editions and NetGalley for sending me a digital arc of this book to read and review.

I utterly adored this book and could not put it down. I am a big fan of Christelle Dabos’ books and this was a joy to reread A Winter’s Promise in this new edition.

A Winter’s Promise is a whimsical and unique book that is unlike anything else I’ve ever read. It was so fun to read!

This book was gripping and beautifully written. I also love the cover illustration design.

A fantastic read that immediately led me to purchase the entire series - swept me up in a fantasy world that remained lighthearted while given hidden depth.

This book is truly like a cozy blanket wrapped around an epic adventure. This book whisks you away to a world of floating islands and bizarrely intriguing magical abilities. Ophelia, our bookish heroine, is as relatable as they come, and her journey from being a quiet librarian to navigating political intrigue and mysterious powers is utterly captivating. The author weaves a web of secrets, twists, and turns that'll keep you guessing until the very last page, and the slow-burn romance is a delightful bonus. If you're in the mood for a unique, beautifully written fantasy with a dash of whimsy, this one's a winter wonderland you won't want to leave.

The planet has been fractured into many pieces, known as arks. They house a diverse range of people. Ophelia and her family dwell on Anima, an ark where virtues such as family and warmth of heart are highly valued. Ophelia is raised in a colourful and boisterous family with numerous siblings. Nonetheless, she needs to fit in with the family, preferring to withdraw with a book and her vibrant scarf or escape via mirrors and roam the museum hallways, where she can read the history of many artefacts simply by touching them.
One day, she is confronted with the fact that she must marry Thorn, the accountant of a completely another ark, who is known throughout for his cold, logical, and dismissive demeanour.
One day, she is confronted with the fact that she must marry Thorn, the accountant of a completely another ark, who is known throughout for his cold, logical, and dismissive demeanor. Ophelia is forced to flee her sole home and travel to Citaceleste. A chilly ark where snow is always present, and the northern lights dance in the sky during the perpetual night. Thorn, on the other hand, quickly makes it apparent that Ophelia's presence is not welcome. Thorn's clan is well-known for its abilities. Members can inflict agony on others with their claws without even touching them. Soon, Ophelia finds herself in the thick of intrigue and surrounded by people of varying abilities, and she must decide who is a friend and who is a foe.
In this work, the romantic interest is highly intricate, as is his connection with Ophelia. The first novel contains little romance.

The beginning of the book was excellent, and the ending was promising, but the middle was a chore. It didn't bother me because it accomplished its goal, but it could have been more entertaining to read. Maybe it's on purpose for the main character to feel this way because she's clearly not having a good time.

3.75
My feelings haven’t really changed since I first read it in french. I was really scared that the translation was going to be awful because as someone who’ve studied translation both in french and english, I knew that some things could have been awkward to translate into a foreign language. Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised. Don’t get me wrong I would still change some things. I think it’s not a book for people who don’t like flowery writing because the writing does play an important role in the storytelling itself.

I try not to be influenced by tiktok but sometimes I make exemptions haha. I was not disappointed with this book even though it was a big one. And I usually stay away from long books but here I am. I really liked the world where I get to experience such beautiful things. I know it's not saying much but I'm really lost for words as how to describe how much I enjoyed this book.

Free copy received in exchange for an honest review.

The world has been broken down and what is left are its floating pieces. One of these is home to a family whose powers are related to objects. Ophelia has been chosen on account of her strong ability to read an object's past to be a bride to an unknown man living on the distant Ark of the Pole. She soon discovers that it's not just the weather on the Pole that's cold. Thrown into a never-ending battle for power between various families, she needs to find out who she can trust.

The most appealing part about this book was the world-building. The broken world setting is original and there are some hints about its mysterious origin. The magic isn't necessarily unique, but the system is. Each arc has its own type, which manifests in different ways in each individual/family.

There are not many likable characters. We mostly get to know characters from the Pole, where people grow up in a place where you either play the game or die. The author still made me at least sympathize with them, if not like them. Ophelia, as the main character, was very likable. She starts off being a bit weak-willed and naïve, but grows quite a bit through the book. Also, she is the first clumsy girl that I encountered in a book with a valid reason to be that way.

The romantic interest in this book was quite complex, as was his relationship with Ophelia. Don't expect much of a romance from the first book.

I enjoyed the beginning of the book a lot, and the ending was promising, but the middle was a big slog. I didn't hate it because it served its purpose, but it wasn't fun to read. Maybe it's on purpose to feel like the main character does because she was definitely not having a fun time.

I am certainly looking forward to the sequels. The first book mostly just established the environment and the goals of the characters, so I am hoping the second book will be more fast-paced.

Hmmm... I enjoyed this, but it wasn't all that easy to get into. The world building was interesting and it was written well, the intricacy at times was delicate and there was attention to detail, but it wasn't gripping.

Once we were in the swing, around 250 pages in it did me a solid 180 and I began to enjoy the story for what it was, I liked the steam-punk-esque the book delivers, but feel that perhaps it was the historical setting that I didn't enjoy as much, though I can see now how relative that is to the book.

I'm intrigued to see where it goes at some point.

I had heard many good things about this book, but I didn't expect to be this deeply disappointed.

The world building itself had much potential, yet somehow it was presented in an incredibly boring way, particularly through the repetitive writing style.
The descriptions kept repeating themselves unnecessarily, always commenting on Ophelia's tiny size and ugly dresses, Thorn's height and how thin he is, Ophelia's aunt's ugly teeth, and more.
Further, the society was supposed to be matriarchal, but then it was rather the opposite in reality.
Ophelia's powers were so interesting, yet she barely used them for anything even slightly exciting.

Ophelia was an unbearable main character. She kept being passive, letting others speak for her and barely doing anything really. Additionally, she's written as incredibly clumsy, breaking objects here and there. It was so annoying to read. Plus, she keeps calling herself plain and not pretty. So why would someone ever want to marry her? She was so immature, but really lacked that self-awareness. She wasn't even clever which could have redeemed her a little. Ophelia had no good qualities; she was just flawed.
Thorn can't show any form of politeness which was, again, annoying. I also couldn't find myself being interested in any interaction Ophelia had with him. His behaviour was so unnecessarily rude and their interactions were mostly bland.
All the characters also felt more like caricatures and not deep. Ophelia was presented as this quiet girl in comparison to her loud relatives, like her aunt who chaperones Ophelia on the Pole. Especially the women are presented as shallow and nothing more. The characters behaved pretty hostile towards other women as well.

Also, the incest weirded me out which I hadn't really seen mentioned in most reviews I'd seen beforehand.

For the plot, I'd expected compelling political intrigues, but found a lack thereof. The plot moved so slowly that it felt like nothing really impactful had happened when Ophelia stayed at the Pole.

Overall, this book was just a massive disappointment, although it had so much potential.

I'm conflicted with this one.

Absolutely loved the concept and the world. The idea that there was "a rupture" and the world was shattered into many floating celestial islands, each completely different, following the rule of an ancestor´s spirit, is incredibly imaginative. Oh, and the magic system, love that too. I feel like this world is filled with possibility and is so well fleshed out that it can be explored endlessly.

However, then there's the little issue of the plot and the pacing. For the most part, I felt like this book just dragged and was going nowhere. Yes, Ophelia was sent to the Pole but nothing much happens there, there's only talk of what will happen but none of it does happen. I am intrigued by the whole Book situation and Ophelia's relationship with Thorn but I'm not sure if I want to get through the rest of the series, though maybe it does pick up, who knows.

Let me start by admitting that I went into this book with inaccurate expectations. This book was not for me, plain and simple. From the synopsis, I expected a higher fantasy book overflowing with a unique and interesting magic system. Indeed, the magic system and world-building is interesting, however it is very much not the initial focus of the story.

This book is slow. The narrative creeps along at half-speed or less at times, ignoring the interesting aspects in favour of spending time on the main character’s personality or lack thereof. Ophelia is supposedly extremely powerful, however she is dull and reactive rather than an active participant in her own story, despite the supposed matriarchal society. Another sticking point for me was this intended fair and progressive matriarchal society, which in fact seems to be the opposite, and full of unsavoury stereotypes. Ophelia is ‘not like other girls’ but lacks the conviction typical of those types of characters.

The writing is fine, in and of itself, but sometimes is rather lacking in description, which is what I personally look for in fantastical stories. Some will enjoy this book, as long as they’re willing to endure its length, but personally it wasn’t my style. I will not be continuing on with the series.
2.5 stars

4.5 stars - The intricacies of court life with great world-building

Christelle Dabos' "A Winter's Promise" has been on my radar for a good while now and when the opportunity arose to receive an e-ARC I pounced on it!

This is the translation from the French original and I love how fresh and different this one read. It really does show its French cultural background.

The plot of this promising start to a series revolves around Ophelia, who lives on one of the Arks, floating islands in a sort of void which are the only thing left after the world has been destroyed in an apocalyptic event. Each Ark has its own patron deity living on it that also apparently imbues its inhabitants with different skills. People on Anima, Ophelia's Ark, are animists capable of manipulating objects and Ophelia's particular talent is "reading": when she touches an object she can see into its past and tap into the memories and feelings of the people who have touched said object. She is happily working in a museum and also not particularly interested in marrying although that is clearly expected of her.
Then a marriage offer from another Ark comes in and her position in society and her family makes it impossible to decline. In a whirlwind of events Ophelia finds herself on Pole, with a (just as unwilling) fiancee she barely knows and is soon thrown into the snake pit that is the society around the court of the Pole.

She, who is mousey, awkward and softly spoken must fend for herself, for her husband to be has to leave her with his aunt for the time being. And only very, very slowly Ophelia pieces together how the different culture she is now a part of works, how treacherous it is and just what exactly is going on with that very unusual marriage proposal and the reasons for it. All of this she does while facing many dangers and never losing her sense of what is right or wrong. There will be new friends, friends who turn out to be double-edged swords and a veeeery slow-burn romance.

The world-building is just phenomenal! It is rich, complex and just very original. This book does make you work a bit though - just as Ophelia is unassuming and a bit prickly, the writing is dense and complex. But it does give back so much for the work you put in. I loved the different kinds of magic on the Arks and how Dabos makes fantastic use of them to build a rich world and advance the plot. And the characters are great. They are complex and different, many of them not terribly likeable but in a very plausible way. I also thought that Ophelia was a great heroine, truly not terribly attractive and devoid of charisma and charm, which does not stop her from doing what she believes is right. Whenever she can, she tries to have some agency in a situation where she is merely a pawn in a large game of power.

The only gripe I have is that there is a massive cultural inconsistency: Ophelia's society is being described as having women in power, yet it shows all signs of being a patriarchal society: there is such a focus on the social role of marriage and such a pressure on Ophelia to not decline all suitors, which really does not add up.

I have received an advance review copy via NetGalley from the publisher and voluntarily provide my honest opinion. Thank you very much!

The most sincere thanks to Netgalley and Europa Editions for giving me the chance to read A winter's promise in exchange for an honest review.

The first thing I need to say about this book is that the vibes I was getting were reminding me of Howl's moving castle (which is one of my favourite movies ever) and Ophelia was so cute, the most artfully written cute geek I've ever read. I really pitied her and wanted to give her a hug when she found herself at Clairedelune with no real allies, trying to get by in a foreign place almost practicaly alone.
Although I loved seeing Ophelia interact with Thorn, it gave me the feelng that there wasn't enough time for them to develop feelings for each other. It's a small flaw for me really -that feelings were kinda forced in their relationship- but I forgive that because it's the marriage of convinince trope that makes this happen.
I loved the writing style and how the chapters few by like a breeze and really enjoyed the court vibes and plots, even though it was a little too much for poor little Ophelia to handle. I did enjoy the plot twists and didn't expect most of them to happen, which was thrilling for me because I usually can guess things happening well before the revelation happens.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and I look forward to get my hands on the second one of The Mirror Visitor quartet.

Okay, this one was a weird one for me! First of all, I find the world this story is set in so interesting that I constantly found myself wanting to know more details about the differents arcs, types of magic and ways of life. I hope the world-building grows in the next books as it's one of the more interesting ones I've read in recent years.

The characters could also do with more building and growing throughout the story as so far, they seem quite one-dimentional and at times, very unrealistic. I found myself not caring about any of them, especially when it came to Thorn. He and Ambassador Archibald weren't even believable. Ophélie was just so plain and clueless (which we're reminded of all the time, btw) that I was getting bored of her POV towards the middle of the book. Not to mention how childish her decisions were and how at every corner she refused to do what her allies told her to. It made me want to scream at the book.

That said, I still enjoyed A Winter's Promise and I can't even explain why. It was an easy read in a very imaginative world and I guess that's enough for me. I think if the characters were thought out slightly better, I would've devoured this series in one go. Instead, it took me a lot longer tha usual to finsih a book and I'm still undecided on continuing the series.

I really thought I'd enjoy this one, what with the many positive mentions I've seen all over social media and it's intriguing premise... but unfortunately I just found it to be a little lackluster. Nothing really happened, none of the characters were particularly likeable and I was left just waiting for something exciting to happen.

There were aspects I liked, such as the idea behind the different arks and their clans, but felt both weren't explored enough nor explained very well. Orphelia's gifts were intriguing but again weren't utilised to make the story more exciting. There was so much potential, but for me it was all a little too dull and drawn out, with very little to keep me interested. I know there is more books in this series, so maybe there's more exciting things to come.

A whimsical fantasy world reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland and Mortal Engines. The world-building is really interesting and easy to follow.

Ophelia is very mousy and quiet, in stark contrast with the other obnoxious characters. Most of them are horrible and the women are worst of all, this echoes of misogyny. None of the characters felt particularly well-developed other than they're horrible and can't be trusted. The love interest, Thorn, I am undecided on, though he seems to be the best of a bad bunch. The constant reminders that Thorn is so large and Ophelia so small and childlike felt uncomfortable to read.

The story was a little slow to start but soon picks up pace when Ophelia in disguise is brought to court. Whilst not my favourite, I would be interested in picking up the next book to see what happens next.

I read the English translation of this book by Hildegarde Serle.
I love fantasy, I love magic and dragons and different worlds.
This was set in such a traditional misogynistic world. It was really disappointing. Our main character, Ophelia, is a small, clumsy woman who keeps being faced with worse and worse.
Her family marries her off to a brusk, rough man mr. Thorne.
After following him there, things just go downhill. Without spoilers, this is one of the bleakest books I have ever read. It's so gloomy. And it has all the horrible implication of a rigid, frigid world where women are nothing more than objects and or pawns.
I can't believe this was super popular and more books were written in this series.

Thank you so much for a copy of A Winter’s Promise. I really wanted to love this but I’m left feeling a little flat.

I have to say I really loved the magic system and lore of this world. The world building was beautiful and felt epic but easy to follow. it’s an interesting world and well thought out but it’s really under-utilised in my opinion, I felt like nothing really happened or at least if anything did happen it didn’t really have any impact on me or the way I felt about the characters, I didn’t feel anything for anyone other than annoyance and frustration.

Most of the female characters are scheming, dismissive or rude and it’s suggested that charm is a woman’s greatest weapon. I really dislike that looks and charms should come into play in a political story line and it felt very stereotyped and outdated.
Sadly the woman do not support one another.
The men are misogynistic and seem to have little respect for female characters, one suggests gaining Ophelia’s affections only as a trophy.
Ophidia herself seems to settle for the affections of a man that has to get used to her. Not something I would want young woman to think is acceptable.

I found it slow paced and very difficult to connect with. So sad it’s wasn’t for me but I’m grateful for the chance to finally read this book.

This book seems to be everywhere. Everyone knows it, everyone has seen the cover. I had obviously encountered it as well, but didn't actually have any idea what it was about. So I decided to finally read it.

Because it's so popular, I was quite worried that it was going to be a disappointment, but it surprised me. I really really enjoyed it and it was very different from what I would've thought.

The world building started out fantastic. I loved everything about it. Sadly, after the first part of the book, we spend most of the time inside, so we see less of the world itself. Yes, the politics and the scheming were great, the abilities of the people and the characters themselves were fascinating. But I wish we had seen more of the world itself.

Concerning the characters - I loved Ophelia. A quiet girl, easily underestimated, but sharp as a knife and stronger than she seems to be. I had the perfect love-hate-relationship with Berenilde and I immediately fell for broody, rude Thorn. Can't wait to see even more about all of them in the next book.
It was fantastic, trying to figure out whom to trust, work through all the scheming and the viciousness. Everything fit together. But my favourite character might just be the scarf, cos I love it.

The story itself was intriguing. It started out slowly, easing the reader into the world and letting them get to know the characters. Unfortunately, it did drag on for some time and even though I felt like this is the kind of book were you'll notice at the very end how important every single sentence was, I sometimes would've preferred it to be a bit faster paced.
But the speed picked up and in the end there was so much happening that it turned out to be very exciting.

A little bit of room for improvement in the next book, but I can't wait to read it.

Thank you NetGalley and Europa Editions for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an overall well done YA fantasy read, with decent world building at an appropriate level for new-ish fantasy readers. Like a lot of fantasy reads, it does have a fairly slow pacing at the start, especially for a slightly longer book. I wasn't as immediately engaged as I usually like to be with this genre, and while the characters are generally well written, I personally found it a little difficult to get invested in their stories until quite far into the book. Saying that, however, once you ARE engaged with the world, the characters and the story, that's it - you stay there.

The magic system is fun, and while reminiscent of other YA fantasy books, still feels fresh, and clan style familial ties will always work in this context.

While this hasn't been my favourite read of the year, it was still worth it and I'd recommend it for sure. I'll probably give it a re-read in a few years.