Harbinger of Books

Cold Magic is a story told in first person by  Catherine Hassi Barahal aka ‘Cat” who is a university student interested in science and plodding a long in life. Then Andevai, a powerful cold mage comes to the Barahal home demanding to marry the eldest girl in the household. Cat’s aunt and uncle force her into the marriage to fulfill a contact made long ago. Along with their betrayal Cat is taken away from her home and is thrust into a new world of mystery; no longer sure of what is truth or a lie. I think part of what makes the world interesting is we are limited to Cat’s knowledge and her point of view. This can be tricky but the author pulls this off quite nicely.

The story is mix or steam-punk and science fiction in an alternate or parallel universe. This world is very interesting and some parts are easy to follow like Rome is still Rome but it is ancient Rome so it is like modern day Italy and probably the Balkans then there is Londun which I think is actually Londinium as opposed to London (not really sure) but it gets complicated because the story is at the end of an ice age so there is no Northern European countries like Scandinavia. At times I was rather disoriented as to what was where. It also gets messy because this is a world where the Romans have lost their hold on western Europe so this means there is no Christianity, Judaism or Islam instead we get dragons which I think are from China or somewhere in Asia, the fae with the wild hunt and some other mythology that I could not always identify. So while the world building was really interesting it moved far too fast with far to much detailed information and not enough overall information for me to fully get a good understanding of all the worlds.

While the beginning of the book feels more plot driven the second half is far more character driven and this worked much better for me. Cat is an interesting character at times she is intimidated and scared choosing to withdraw rather than fight and at other times she just looses it and has these very witty responses. I think she is a great character because while she is strong she is also vulnerable. Bee the cousin is a character who is missing most of the book so I am not sure how I actually feel about her but I liked the bond between cousins/best friends. I also like Andevai and Rory neither is completely what they seem

I did enjoy the book but I will be honest and say I was not really into it until about the half way point. The beginning had just too many words to describe basic thoughts and it was at times to much. Once you reach the half way point and the book feels much more character driven a lot of the excess words fall away and the story seems to really take off. At some point I want to finish this one and see how it all works out for Cat.