Name: Kristen Fosburgh's review of The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett
Item: The Winter Duke
Rating: 4
Author: Kristen Fosburgh

Claire Eliza Bartlett

An enchanted tale of intrigue where a duke's daughter is the only survivor of a magical curse. When Ekata's brother is finally named heir, there will be nothing to keep her at home in Kylma Above with her murderous family. Not her books or science experiments, not her family's icy castle atop a frozen lake, not even the tantalizingly close Kylma Below, a mesmerizing underwater kingdom that provides her family with magic. But just as escape is within reach, her parents and twelve siblings fall under a strange sleeping sickness. In the space of a single night, Ekata inherits the title of duke, her brother's warrior bride, and ever-encroaching challengers from without--and within--her own ministry. Nothing has prepared Ekata for diplomacy, for war, for love...or for a crown she has never wanted. If Kylma Above is to survive, Ekata must seize her family's power. And if Ekata is to survive, she must quickly decide how she will wield it. Part Sleeping Beauty, part Anastasia, with a thrilling political mystery, The Winter Duke is a spellbinding story about choosing what's right in the face of danger.

The Winter Duke

caroline wilson

Kristen Fosburgh

I honestly devoured this book. I don't think I've read something so fast in the last ten years. Overall, I found it entertaining and suspenseful and thrilling. 

Pros:
1) LGBTQ+ characters! When I read the inscription, I was so nervous that it was true - I've been stung by queerbait before, but yes - there are confirmed characters. There are several nonbinary characters who use "they/them" pronouns; the main character is lesbian (she mentions at one point her chosen bride being the "right gender" compared to a male suitor;) her brother's selection of brides includes men and women. I really appreciated the care that went into creating a fantasy world where there seems to be no effect of discrimination against gender or sexuality. For example, titles that are normally gendered here (ie. "duke" or "prince" or "bride") do not change depending on gender. Ekata was just called Duke, not "duchess." They were gender inclusive terms and I just thought that was neat.

2) I genuinely liked the MC. There were parts where I felt frustrated in the way she reacted, but her actions were justified. And honestly, you really feel how exhausting and stressful the situation is. She grew up in a traumatic and abusive family, and you see her begin to unlearn the damaging lessons they taught her. The whole time, I was cheering for her to succeed as everything was quickly falling apart around her. And when she finally did, it was such a satisfying result. 

3) The remaining characters are not just black and white. They have their reasons for things, that make them interesting and effect the plot. I appreciated how much you couldn't trust about each character -including if you really despised them or not.

4) The setting and magic system is very interesting. 

5) Inkar! A whole cinnamon bun.

Cons:
1) The last 50 or so pages felt a little rushed to me. I mean, it might have been that I was plowing through the book to find out the ending. But, most of the tension builds over the course of the story and the ending felt rushed compared to the rest. 

2) Not enough Inkar! I appreciated that their relationship wasn't the main focus because Ekata is only sixteen and dealing with, well to put it lightly, quite a bit around her. But I still would've loved to have seen a bit more of her love interest. Inkar comes off as interesting and cool and really, the thing holding Ekata's wits together. There are hints of a deeper story there, and I just would love to see it on the page. 

Overall: magical, good character growth, suspenseful and thrilling, a fun read.

emily

spent 20 mins trying to think of what to say about this book… i think that says enough / 3.5 stars

Sarahi

Loved the court intrigue, compelling main character, despite taking place over less than a week, it did not feel rushed at all. There were some genuinely surprising twists, although a slightly anticlimactic ending, but everything seemed to have been tied off nicely.

Rachel ✨

Leelynn Brady

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club, Netgalley, and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

Okay this book? Wow. It was right about making me intrigued with that plot. There was so much in this book that I really liked, from our MC to the plot to the some of the little nuiances that you could see from the author.

Wow, I don’t think I’ve seen a book like this before, but it was absolutely great. I’m so curious to see how the audiobook is because I like being able to go back to ARCs I read after they are published and either reading them again or listening to them for the first time. It’s really just a whole different experience to me honestly.

Oh and did I mention that the whole trying to kill each other thing was freaking an amazing way for me to get hooked at the very beginning? Seriously, I know the synopsis mentioned Ekata’s murderous family but like… I wasn’t thinking that they were trying to kill each other?!

My favorite tutor said that other people’s siblings were noisy, argumentative telltales. My siblings tried to murder one another.

Laura Springall

This was good! A good solid read. It wasn't amazing or a new favourite or anything but I'm definitely glad I read it

So what’s going on here?
Ekata Avenko thinks she has her life planned out, or the next several years of it at least; in a few days she will travel south, away from her kingdom made of ice, attend the university there, and eventually study biology for the rest of her days. However everything changes in an instant when, in the middle of the night, she is suddenly crowned grand duke of Kylma Above. Being the middle child in a family of 13, she did not expect to ever have the throne, nor did she ever want it. But her entire family, save for her, has been put into a magic-induced sleep that no one knows how to cure. And so Ekata is thrust into a world of politics, back-stabbing, an annoying and cruel foreign king, and a sudden marriage to a woman who's name she doesn't even know, all before her morning coffee. Not to mention the apparent plot to overthrow her, and possibly also murder her. No big deal. But due to a magical deal made with Kylma Below hundreds of years ago, an Avenko must always be sitting on the thrown. And so Ekata must work tirelessly to find the cure to wake her family, before the entire kingdom melts to nothing around her.

What I loved
First and foremost, the writing in this is phenomenal. This is the first book I've read by this author but I'll definitely be reading more. Girl knows how to do a plot twist, DAMN I didn't see any of those coming! The Winter Duke was very well executed, and I found myself thoroughly entertained most of the time even though I don't usually care for political stories. I think the world of this novel made me more interested in the politics, especially Kylma Below. I like that we got to explore the underwater kingdom quite a bit, but I do wish Meire had a larger role. I liked all of the characters, I thought most of them were pretty well developed and distinct personalities. My absolute favourite thing about The Winter Duke though, is how Bartlett went about integrating LGBTQ+ characters into the story. If you know me at all then you know I love a world where queerness isn't even blinked at, it's just a regular everyday part of their society, and no one even thinks to think twice about it. I absolutely adore that (and wish I could live in any of those worlds, ugh) and Bartlett did an amazing job at capturing exactly what I love. I loved the casual use of they/them pronouns, the mix of genders for the brideshow, and Ekata and Inkar in general. The romance was so cute, although a very minor part of the book. Overall it was just a really well book

What I didn’t love
I had a bit of a hard time with Ekata, mainly because she's painted in the beginning as this really intelligent person, a scientist with a constant sense of wonder about the world. And we did get the wonder quite a bit, but I found that we didn't often get the intelligent lmfao. I get that she was entirely out of her element in the political world, but the way she went about everything made her seem kind of dumb? Like she couldn't figure out the most basic social cues, could remember every bone in the human body but couldn't remember a few names, and had so much trouble making even simple decisions or understanding basic policy. I think Bartlett was probably going for a more socially awkward vibe, and also trying to show that Ekata had no idea what she was doing (which is fair), but it came across as unintelligent to me. It was also a little frustrating as the reader because, since she was the narrator and didn't understand or listen to any of the political talk going on around her, I also had a hard time following along with the politics which made it difficult to really care about what was happening. I feel like if I had been able to understand what the people actually wanted, I would have understood the motivations behind the ones who did the thing that I won't spoil. But at the end of the book, while the plot twist was really good and very well done, I found myself thinking "wait, why did these people want all of this to happen? What do they gain from it, or what do they hope to change after it's all said and done?" So that was a little confusing and most of the reason that I gave this a lower rating than I otherwise might of. I also wish there was just a touch more romance to it. I really liked the scenes Ekata had with Inkar, you really got to see who she was as a person when they were together, but they weren't together enough for me to really get invested in their relationship (I still was though because f/f romance of any kind is an instant stan in my books, especially in fantasy since it's so rare).

Overall thoughts
This was great, I definitely recommend it despite the few things that I disliked. And I can't wait to read more from this author!

She survived the curse. Now she must survive the throne. All Ekata wants is to stay alive—and the chance to prove herself as a scholar. Once Ekata's brother is finally named heir to the dukedom of Kylma Above, there will be nothing to keep her at home with her murderous family. Not her books or her experiments, not her family's icy castle atop a frozen lake, not even the tantalizingly close Kylma Below, a mesmerizing underwater kingdom that provides her family with magic. But just as escape is within reach, her parents and twelve siblings fall under a strange sleeping sickness, and no one can find a cure. In the space of a single night, Ekata inherits the title of duke, her brother's captivating warrior bride, and ever-encroaching challengers from without—and within—her ministry. Nothing has prepared Ekata for diplomacy, for war, for love . . . or for a crown she has never wanted. If Kylma Above is to survive, Ekata must seize her family's magic and power. And if Ekata is to survive, she must quickly decide how she will wield them both. The Winter Duke is an enchanted tale of intrigue by Claire Eliza Bartlett, author of the acclaimed young adult fantasy novel We Rule the Night.

Manon van Heumen

Quite enjoyable, though too much political intrigue in my opinion.

Jessica 

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Tik Tok | You can find my review here.


  As always, a copy of this book was provided by the authors in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way. 


Claire Eliza Bartlett's words felt like the sharp chill of an icicle against my mind. The entire time that I devoted to reading The Winter Duke, I felt decidedly uneasy and yet simultaneous intrigued. Every inch of this book felt as though it were written for me and there's no good way to describe how it was quick to chill me to the bone. As far as YA fantasy goes, this proved my point from the end of last year: 2020 is set to be a stellar year in the genre.

The Winter Duke encompasses everything I love about fantasy. There's this familiarity to it that grips you from the start--the peculiar curse that befalls one family is the starting point for this one. While the story is set within a world of ice and violence, there's something subtly dangerous about it that can just as easily warm your finger tips as it can freeze your brain. (Ugh, did I just make a Heathers musical reference again? Sorry.)

There's this stunning quality to Claire Eliza Bartlett's writing that feels so captivating, I finished this book in one sitting. I literally could not tear my eyes away from its pages and I'm glad for it. You know a story is nothing short of icy brilliance when you never want to look away from. To say that The Winter Duke is hypnotic and magnetic would be an understatement. It is, undeniably, one of those books that has the IT factor.

Although the world building is intense and dreamy, one of the most striking qualities in The Winter Duke is the way in which everything unfolds through the eyes of our main character. Ekata is sympathetic--she is not unlike a chosen one who absolutely does not want to be any part of any destiny, ever. The story begins to turn in the moments after one of her twelve siblings is named heir; soon after, a sleeping sickness/curse hits her family full force, leaving her to reluctantly inherit the throne.

The Winter Duke was destined to be a solid release, but it wouldn't be as enthralling as it was without Ekata. She is the center of the story in a way that makes the story all the more breathless. And every story needs a center.

Her connections with her family are rarely explored beyond mention of how, er, murderous they are towards one another and how desperately she wants to get away from them and what they stand for. (And, admittedly, I'd like to have known a bit more on their line.) Still, the relationship she holds with Aino, a mother-like figure, and Inkar are the true shining stars of The Winter Duke in terms of relationships.

While the story is, at its core, an icy and dangerous adventure, these relationships are where the story gets its warmth from. Aino and Ekata have some complications in their relationships, but their bond is warm and easy to love. And the manner in which Ekata and Inkar fall in love is a sizzling delight from start to finish--I love the tropes used within their connection and am so excited to see a WLW relationship with a happy endgame.

Ultimately, The Winter Duke is impossible to put down and so engrossing you may have to call off school or work to complete it. This is one of the best YA fantasy novels of the year and, perhaps, the best LGBTQ+ based YA fantasy of 2020. Start the year off right with this thrilling tale of love, loss, intrigue and ice. The Winter Duke is pretty much perfection in my eyes.

caroline wilson &
The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett

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