The Winter King by C. L. Wilson

The Winter King (Weathermages of Mystral, #1)

by C. L. Wilson

An epic new fantasy romance from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author C. L. Wilson

After three long years of war, starkly handsome Wynter Atrialan will have his vengeance on Summerlea's king by taking one of the man's beautiful, beloved daughters as his bride. But though peace is finally at hand, Wynter's battle with the Ice Heart, the dread power he embraced to avenge his brother's death, rages on.

Khamsin Coruscate, Princess of Summerlea and summoner of Storms, has spent her life exiled to the shadows of her father's palace. Reviled by her father, marriage to Wintercraig's icy king was supposed to be a terrible punishment, but instead offers Kham her first taste of freedom-and her first taste of overwhelming passion.

As fierce, indomitable Wynter weathers even Khamsin's wildest storms, surprising her with a tenderness she never expected, Kham wants more than Wynter's passion-she yearns for his love. But the power of the Ice Heart is growing, dangerous forces are gathering, and a devastating betrayal puts Khamsin and Wynter to the ultimate test.

Reviewed by nitzan_schwarz on

4 of 5 stars

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The Winter King is a good book that mixes together romance and high fantasy. It is actually a giant book (over 600 pages?? what??) but you really don't feel like it is. The pace and the scenes all feel necessary and fact is, I read this one in the middle of a reading slump, as I study 12 hours a day, in three days.

Like, that's crazy.

The high point of this book (for me) was 100% Kham. Here is a young, stubborn woman who is dealt really shitty hands in life, but chooses to make them her choice. To take control of them and seize them and instead of letting them get her down, she uses them to get up. I find that admirable and inspiring.

The man she falls in love with is Wynter, who is pretty much your typical hero in this kind of books--he's a king so, of course, he can be high handed and demanding, but he's actually quite gentle and kind and cares a lot about his people and his wife (Kham).

I thought the two of them were really cute together, even though I was a bit annoyed by the ending. It just hit on all the small things I as the kind of person I am don't like as much lol first of all, as the type of reader I am, I don't appreciate flowery declarations of love. I prefer being able to so strongly feel the love that it keeps you up at night like in The Foxhole Court rather than someone declaring that they love someone more than they love the moon or skating or whatever.

It's not that I didn't think Kham and Winter loved each other, it's just that at some point it becomes too much. ESPECIALLY when moments before they were basically having a convo in the middle of a war and they're basically surrounded by bodies on all sides lololol Like, I feel like there could be something more important to be doing than declaring how much you love her/him.

I also really didn't appreciate Wynter moving his brother's atrium and giving Kham her garden there. Why was it necessary to relegate his brother to some small back room? You can create new memories and keep the old. You can create this room somewhere else. Those type of things really bother me lol

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 1 November, 2018: Finished reading
  • 1 November, 2018: Reviewed