The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett

The Winter Duke

by Claire Eliza Bartlett

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 feminist fantasy We Rule the Night.

Reviewed by Ashley on

3 of 5 stars

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Sadly I didn't love this the way I hoped I would. The whole thing felt a little shallow in that it barely skimmed the service of any of the plot points. Everything was just okay.

The romance was okay, but it had the potential to be EPIC. I adored the love interest's character (Inkar). Unfortunately the romance sat a little awkwardly somewhere between "romance isn't at all the focus of this story" and "this story is all about romance". It's like it couldn't decide where it wanted to be. But it had so much potential that this book could have really soared as an awesome romance if it wanted to. There were so many great developments that never completely developed. Inkar could have been essential to helping Ekata rule as a duke, but that was never the case. We'd see how politically savvy and charming Inkar is, which makes you think that's going to become really important to help Ekata win over the ministers... but it ended up being completely unimportant? Or we'd read all about how Inkar loves to fight, is great with a bow and arrow, etc. That makes you think maybe there will be some kind of battle that she's critical in... nope. It just felt a bit all for nothing.

Politics-wise... I just had a hard time figuring out where it was supposed to be going. I didn't know who I was supposed to be rooting for or what side the MC was even supposed to be on. That lack of direction on my part just had me struggling with the whole thing. Even if the MC doesn't know, I usually like to know where the MC SHOULD be going so I know what to root for. But here I was just kind of lost. And when there was a big reveal at the end, I was like, "uhhh okay?? I totally forget who this person is anyway." I once saw someone say that being predictable is good (to a degree). It means that there are clues behind to help you make sense of the twist and that's great planning. This book didn't have that. It was unpredictable, but in a bit of a bad way. The twist (or at least parts of it) came out of left field.

Even Ekata's love of anatomy and science didn't feel all that important in the end. It's like there were so many points that should have been important but just weren't.

Still an entertaining book, but didn't hit the mark for me.

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Reading updates

  • 16 March, 2020: Started reading
  • 18 March, 2020: Finished reading
  • 19 March, 2020: Reviewed