Winterglass

Winterglass

Winterglass is a sci-fantasy about one woman’s love for her homeland (Sirapirat) and her determination to defeat the Winter Queen who has overtaken the land. The city-state Sirapirat once knew only warmth and monsoon. When the Winter Queen conquered it, she remade the land in her image, turning Sirapirat into a country of snow and unending frost. But an empire is not her only goal. In secret, she seeks the fragments of a mirror whose power will grant her deepest desire. At her right hand is General Lussadh, who bears a mirror shard in her heart, as loyal to winter as she is plagued by her past as a traitor to her country. Tasked with locating other glass-bearers, she finds one in Nuawa, an insurgent who’s forged herself into a weapon that will strike down the queen. To earn her place in the queen’s army, Nuawa must enter a deadly tournament where the losers’ souls are given in service to winter. To free Sirapirat, she is prepared to make sacrifices: those she loves, herself, and the complicated bond slowly forming between her and Lussadh. If the splinter of glass in Nuawa's heart doesn't destroy her first.
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Reviews

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Sheila@duchess
4 stars
Feb 7, 2022

4 stars. This is such a great, unique novella!! Let's just gloss over the fact that I allowed it to languish in my TBR pile for 3 years and instead celebrate the fact that I read it and loved it! A cool science fantasy world where innovation is ghost-powered, guns can have fractal bullets and tattoos can have powers/utilities, this is ultimately a story about colonization. Gender is played delightfully fast and loose, and the society that's described is fascinating to me. I can understand that some people would have difficulty grappling with the first person POV in the chapters focused on Nuawa as her character is not charismatic. The thing about this story, however, is that there's clearly so much more beneath the surface! Reading this, I felt this story contained elements of Ninefox Gambit crossed with The Traitor Baru Cormorant which is a heady mix. I genuinely wish we could get a full-length novel out of this universe!

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dem@dem437
5 stars
Feb 1, 2022
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Abi Baker@wicdiv
3 stars
Sep 30, 2021