Daughter of Winter

"It's hard to care about people when you're always afraid you might lose them. But I think not caring is worse." I wasn't as impressed with this installment of the Fairy Queens series. It was more of a filler/bridge story used to set the scene for the final book. It follows the story of Elice, the daughter of Ilyeana and Roan. She happens across a shipwrecked (by her mother) sailor while swimming. She saves his life and nurses him back to health. Adar, after finding out that she is the daughter of the Winter Queen, and has never been outside the winter realm, encourages her to leave with him. Her mother becomes jealous, (view spoiler)[and nearly kills her daughter and her newly acquired friends (hide spoiler)] while she attempts to flee the realm. Chucked full with action and constant suspense, Elice is faced with not only the challenge of escaping the realm of Winter, but also the dominion of her pitiable mother. I was sad to see Ilyeana's character turn from the fearless heroine, to a heartless being. Granted, she is Winter embodied. She gave up her morality to become the fairy queen. But she seemed to be able to hold onto some of that morality with the aid of her family close-by. (view spoiler)[However, that capability dwindled after her husband, Rone was killed. (hide spoiler)] She truly is the Winter Queen because this book was cold in scenery, character, and tone. I was relived to find a lack of drinking, drug use, sexual abuse and trafficking, etc., following Summer Queen. As stated before, the action and severity of the prior books in this series doesn't dwindle in Daughter of Winter. 3 stars. This review can also be viewed at my blog: She's Going Book Crazy