Name: The Winter Duke
Author: Claire Eliza Bartlett
Publisher: Titan Books
Date published: October 2020
Genre: Fiction, young adult, fantasy, romance, retellings
Pages: 383
Rating: 4/5
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.
- From Goodreads.
The Winter Duke reminded me of The Goblin Emperor in the way that it was about a character thrust into a powerful position when they had not been expecting it and certainly had not been prepared for it, but were determined to do their duty and learn to do the role they had suddenly acquired. The characters and worldbuilding were different of course, but I liked the similar elements.
Speaking of worldbuilding, this world was so fascinating and unique, with wonderful descriptions. I liked the concept of the kingdom Above and Below, and the magic and different people who lived in each place, it was intriguing to learn about it all as the story unfolded.
There were some moments in the story that felt like they could have explored the emotion more and gone into more depth. These moments did not connect as much as they could have. For example, the romance between Ekata and Inkar was good but did not quite connect with me. I quite enjoyed it but did not fall in love with it, not in a way that had me turning the pages desperate for more interactions between them.
My feelings over Ekata as a character were conflicted. I really did feel for her and wanted her to do well and sympathised with her struggle, I just think her growth and character development could have been written better to be more satisfying.
The ending of the story could also have been a little more satisfying for me. The political intrigue and mystery elements of the plot were very fascinating and I mostly enjoyed reading it and trying to work out who had done what, however some of the details and answers to the mystery could have been explained better and in the end I was still a little confused.
Overall I enjoyed the reading experience and was excited to get to the end to find out what happened, there were just a few places in the story where it did not live up to the potential or did not quite hit the mark so I could not fall in love with it completely.
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