The Winter Duke, by Claire Eliza Bartlett

[sophia_sol]

The last book review for books I read in 2020!

Hmmmm I did not love this book. It's not BAD but...it's not really for me. It's very YA is the thing. And like, nothing wrong with YA tropes but I am no longer exactly the audience for Young Teen Has Romance Problems And Saves The World (Or At Least Her Kingdom).

There are aspects of the book I did like. I loved how casually queer it was, that being queer is a normal and expected possibility.

And I loved the love interest, Inkar, I thought she was the most interesting character in the book and was happy whenever a scene involved her!

But so much of the book felt like it was going in a conventional narrative direction, that even though it switched gears at the end I still couldn't really enjoy it because the vast majority of the narrative had been spent hanging out in that more conventional narrative, where autocracy is good and also you can definitely develop a forever love at the age of 16.

From the beginning I'd been wishing that the main character (Ekata), instead of Taking Her Rightful Place As Heir Of The Country, had just left and gone to university to study biology like she'd always wanted to. And the end of the book DOES have her deciding to do that so I should be happy about it! But instead I'm just annoyed she didn't do that to begin with instead of going through her journey of Being The Grand Duke To Live Up To Her Family Role.

I didn't particularly care about Ekata either. She didn't seem (to me at least) to have a lot of personality beyond Being A YA Main Character.

I am kind of charmed by the romance arc, though, where Inkar and Ekata get married for political reasons, then realise they like each other, then don't stay married but do want to continue exploring what their relationship could develop into. It's pretty great!

Idk. It's a perfectly reasonable book doing perfectly reasonable things, and it has its strengths, but the way it was put together bugged me.

Comments

[the_rck]

I thought that the underlying weakness in Ekata's characterization was that she made no sense as part of her family. I could believe her not wanting power. I could believe her thinking that, if she tried to take off right then, she'd end up dead.

I couldn't believe that she wouldn't make sure that certain members of her family never woke up. It was like she'd somehow grown up with a clear idea that her family was terrible but without any of that affecting her personality. I could believe the ignorance of politics/trade/history, but I didn't believe the ignorance of interpersonal maneuvering because not dying and getting permission to leave for university had to have taken active effort.

I found the narrative compelling in other ways but can't put my finger on exactly what they were. I just know that I stayed up late to finish the book and that I was pleased that the protagonist had to admit that living in an autocracy sucked all around, even when one might become the autocrat. I'd have preferred if her epiphany had been based on something besides needing to keep her older brother from killing her, but that feels like a lot to expect from a teenager.

I think I also liked that the magical otherworld had some of the same reasons for ruthlessness as the human world did.

[sophia_sol]

Yeah, it felt to me like Ekata's characterisation at any moment was about what would make the plot work, rather than what would be coherent and believable for her given her background and who she is. I did also really like the magical underworld though, and also found it a compelling enough book to read the whole thing despite my frustrations!