tweetybugshouse
Written on Mar 10, 2015
There is one rule above all others . . .
Never bargain with the fae . . .When a battle erupts in the heart of her village, Ilyenna looks into her enemy’s eyes and sees more than just cunning. There is also lust—lust for power and lust for her. She could escape. If she’s willing to take the fae’s impossible bargain.
Dark magic in exchange for her soul.
But she risks losing more than her soul. She would also lose Rone, the man she’s been in secretly in love with for years. But as things heat up between Rone and Ilyenna, so does her captor’s cruelty. Worse, the feud between clans is merely a distraction from something far worse.
Is Ilyenna willing to sell her soul to save her people and the man she loves?
Two immortal queens. A dying magic. A world to save . . .
- ISBN10 0985739428
- ISBN13 9780985739423
- Publish Date 19 June 2013
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Starling Books
- Edition Softcover ed.
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 256
- Language English
Reviews
inlibrisveritas
Written on Jun 5, 2013
Winter Queen focuses on the person journey of Ilyenna, a 17 year old Shyle woman with incredible responsibility and difficult choices. She’s the clan’s mistress and is seen as a leader despite her age. When hardships fall upon the clans thanks to the betrayal of another she finds herself shouldering the burden and gaining new unexpected allies.
In Winter Queen Argyle builds us a world of clans, subtle fantasy, and old-world richness. Ilyenna lives in a world where everyone must work together in order to live comfortably, each clan has it’s purpose and the friendship between them helps them to thrive. So when one clan turns against another things begin to fall apart and Ilyenna is put directly in the middle of it. I love the simple yet slightly complex way things are handled in this world. The fact that clan warfare can come with a price called Tiams, which are essentially indentured servants of sorts. They work for a period of time to assuage the wrong that was done. I also loved that while the fairies are vital to the story they take a background kind of role for most of the book. I don’t mind that such an important part of the book takes on very few scenes because Ilyenna is a human and her journey is a difficult one, more importantly while she has some help from ‘otherworldly’ allies she takes on the burden herself and deals with it the best that she can. The one thing I think that would bring more to this would be a world map, and not just because I’m a sucker for book maps. We do get to see multiple places in the book but it is clear that there are places we are not introduced to, and not to mention maps always help add depth to a story in terms of distance and terrain.
Ilyenna is a strong girl who is fierce, reliable, loving and a healer; and despite being so young she takes on the role of someone with immense responsibility and never backs down from it. Even when faced with beatings and the possibility of death she holds onto that strength, but I would say that her breaking point is always love. I also thought it was interesting that Ilennya is chosen as the Winter Queen who is meant to be her opposite, cold and destructive. It’s a nice parallel that really shows how a single person is capable of being so many things while still holding on to that essential essence of self. Darrien, the son of the Tyran clan-cheif, is a vile and disgusting man. He sees Ilyenna as someone to break and he has no issue with doing whatever he can in order to make that happen. To put it simply, he’s very good at being a terrible person. The battle of wills between these two is full of tension and there were times when I hoped Ilyenna would snap or that Darrien would somehow falls off a cliff.
I’m really glad that this is a series however because while we get to see Ilyenna’s full story there are other characters I definitely want to see more of like Leto, the Summer Queen. The few scenes that she is in show someone with great power and hint at someone who came from much less than that. I also want to see how Elise comes along and what role she’ll play in the future of their world. I’m also hoping we’ll get to see more of the cute little fairies and get some more details on their lives as well.
Overall I’m very pleased with the way the book turned out. It has some great imagery and a wonderful main character, not to mention all the promise for the future books.
Kim Deister
Written on Jan 8, 2013
Ilyenna is a fascinating character, truly more layered than the average woman of her time and social status. I love the fact that, as a person, Ilyenna seems real. She isn't portrayed as a strong, perfect heroine from the beginning, but one with uncertainty and fear and a lack of self-confidence. What was beautiful about her was watching her find her strength. Darrien, while clearly NOT a character a reader is going to feel for, is one that still draws the reader in. He is that character that we all just have to hate but one that is still more than just the bad guy. Rone was also a wonderful character, and one we the readers could root for, although I wish there had been more of him.
The author's worlds are amazing. They are layered with the kind of details that are not overpowering but that give the world a sense of realism. There are some Viking elements recognizable in the descriptions of the environment, as well. The creation of the culture was seamlessly done, making it feel is if we were just being reminded of things we already know instead of feeling like a lecture to learn a new culture for the new world. That made reading much more engaging. I also loved the use of the theme of Balance in the book, that the Universe must have balance in all aspects of life.
This is not an average "fairy tale," not as light as I expected based on the cover alone. There was darkness and brutality and angst along with all of the adventure, mystery, and intrigue. It was not overdone, but it is definitely a part of the story. Even though the story was much darker at times than I expected, there was no shortage of romance and hope and love, which I truly enjoyed.
Things to love about Winter Queen...
--Ilyenna. She was created to be real, despite all of the fantasy elements. She was flawed and often unsure and that made her character very three-dimensional.
--The world. The author creates amazing worlds, combining elements that we can recognize from reality with new world elements. Everything about this world is vivid and graphically imaginable.
Things I wanted more of...
--Darrien. Even though his character was not at all likeable, I think it would have explained a lot about him if we had known more about his relationship with his brother.
--Rone. I loved him and I wanted to know more of his story, apart from Ilyenna.
--The fairies. I thought they would play a more prominent role in the story. They were important, but they were able to play their roles from a more detached distance from the main story.
My recommendation: Even if fairy tales aren't your thing, I would recommend this book. There is brutality and violence, as well as some sexual content. The violence is mild in that it is not overly described and the sexual content is even less detailed but alluded to. An excellent read!