A Winter's Promise feels like a book that pulled inspiration from several different places: The Golden Compass, Game of Thrones, Pride and Prejudice. It has the tone of an epic fantasy with intriguing magic systems underlain with a touch of darkness. The switch in how that magic is presented in the book, the whimsical, object-reading and mirror-walking found in the ark of Anima to the reality and mind-warping illusions and non-physical pain infliction of the Pole, provides a bit of whiplash that puts us in a similar position as Ophelia. I could have used a bit more time on Anima, where Ophelia has a clear purpose and actual things to do, as well as just having more interesting aspects to it, but I suppose the story had to get started at some point.

Though I like Ophelia as a character, it was hard to constantly see her being beaten down, even if it was following a standout moment of rebellion. This woman gets absolutely no reprieve in this story, being constantly kept in the dark, manipulated, degraded, hurt in some way, and basically just treated as a tool. It's most likely to serve as the basis for some character development, which we can definitely see in the final chapter, but really Ophelia could have used a break every now and then. I'm just glad there were ultimately people she could come to trust in the court, naturally them being the servants and outcasts. I'm really interested to see where she goes as a character from here, if she ultimately breaks from the expectations of her fiancee, her family, and the court and displays her autonomy, but I guess I'll just have to keep reading onward.

Thorn really is your typical broody, traumatized young adult love interest. He came across as a mix of Dragon from Uprooted and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, but if Darcy was completely hated by society and had no friends. You know, your standard emotionally distant and unavailable love interest. There is a slow burn aspect between him and Ophelia, those moments where the animosity and distrust slips a bit after a surprising show of emotion or hidden character, only for some ulterior motive to be revealed and we're back to square one. There's never really a moment of true romance or the feeling that these characters are growing closer, which I'm fine with. It makes their relationship more interesting and, given the personalities of the two leads, would be a little unbelievable if there wasn't always some kind of stress between the two. Again, looking forward to see how it develops in the series.

If you're a fan of constant subterfuge and court intrigue, then this is definitely a book you'll want to check out. There's always some kind of scheming or double dealing going on, no one you can really completely trust despite their actions. Even the children can be pint sized terrors and outclass the adults in brutality. Given the book's length, it certainly keeps the pace going and never makes the story feel too dull.

After a cliffhanger ending, it really makes me want to jump into the sequel as soon as possible. With new pawns being thrown into this whole debacle, Ophelia is probably left in her most compromised state in the end and who knows if she can gain any sort of advantage?