A Winter's Promise
Book One of The Mirror Visitor Quartet
فرمت کتاب
ebook
تاریخ انتشار
2018
Lexile Score
830
Reading Level
4-5
نویسنده
Hildegarde Serleناشر
Europa Editionsشابک
9781609454845
کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
Starred review from July 9, 2018
Ophelia’s entire family inhabits Anima, one of 207 planetary shards (or “arks”) that orbit Earth’s remains. Her clan traditionally intermarries, so it’s shocking when Anima’s ruling matriarchs order the awkward young woman, a museum curator who can read objects’ histories via touch, to wed Thorn, the chief treasurer of a distant ark dubbed the Pole. Banishment is the punishment for refusal, so Ophelia moves in with Thorn’s Aunt Berenilde and hopes to become acquainted with her fiancé. The hostile Thorn rarely visits, however, and Berenilde forbids Ophelia from leaving the estate, allegedly to protect her from assassination. Ophelia can’t fathom what either ark stands to gain from the betrothal, but she intends to find out—provided she can survive the Pole’s cutthroat politics and Thorn’s poisonous family tree. Author Dabos’s darkly enchanting debut, a French bestseller, employs vibrant characters, inventive worldbuilding, and a sophisticated plot that will dazzle readers despite its methodical pace. Ophelia’s galvanizing journey toward self-determination culminates in a dramatic cliffhanger that teases book two. Ages 15–up.
Starred review from September 1, 2018
Gr 9 Up-This series opener introduces the floating celestial islands known as arks, the result of a cataclysmic event called the Rupture. The residents of each of these arks possess unique and magical powers, and over each ark an omnipotent and immortal ancestor abides, helping to direct the fate of the inhabitants. Ophelia lives on Anima and runs the Museum of Primitive History. Her skill, greater than those of other residents of Anima, allows her to read an object's history by touching it. Despite her talent, she is also awkward, unkempt, stubborn, headstrong, and often in trouble because of her tendency to speak her mind. Now unhappily engaged to a stranger from the Pole who also has no enthusiasm for the union, she and her aunt travel to her fiancé Thorne's ark in secret. As Thorne is the illegitimate son of one of the leaders of a major faction fighting for control of the ark and to keep her safe, her true identity must be hidden. Left in the care of Thorne's aunt and told not to trust anyone besides her, Ophelia must learn to curtail her faults-but even more challenging, try to determine whom she can trust, and why she was chosen as Thorne's fiancée. Translated from French, this international best-seller is world-building at its best. The unusual settings, original characters, dark intrigue, originality, and fast-moving plot result in a book that leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next volume. It has great adult crossover as the characters and situations cross age levels. VERDICT A worthwhile purchase for all fantasy collections.-Janet Hilbun, University of North Texas, Denton
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 15, 2018
A reserved young woman's betrothal throws her into a world of intrigue and treachery in the first volume of Dabos' (La mémoire de Babel, 2017, etc.) fantasy quartet.When the world shattered, floating splinters of land called arks came under the control of powerful immortals--the family spirits for each ark. Small, quiet Ophelia wants nothing more than to look after the family museum on the Anima ark, where her power to "read" the pasts of objects and to travel through mirrors is unsurpassed. Ophelia's life is flipped suddenly upside down when she is thrust into a diplomatic arranged marriage, and the unassuming but willful Animist must travel to the snow-covered Pole ark with an equally frigid and foreboding fianceé, Thorn. No sooner does she arrive than Ophelia finds herself in the middle of a treacherous game of politics and power in which the stakes are the very highest--her life. Dabos has managed the rarely seen triad of complex worldbuilding, nuanced character development, and enthralling plot, even making it look easy. Not a seam shows in this intricate narrative weave that centers on and empowers an endearingly bookish and clumsy antiheroine without insisting she change. Racial diversity is absent; Ophelia more than once comments that she has never had romantic or sexual feelings for a man.Not a drop of mastery is lost in translation. (Fantasy. 14-adult)
COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
August 1, 2018
Grades 9-12 Promised in marriage to Thorn, Ophelia and her maiden aunt Rosaline travel to Citaceleste, capital city of the Pole Ark, one of the postcataclysmic, self-governing floating worlds (arks) where this story is set. There she encounters threats, intrigue, and abuse at the hands of her puzzling fianc�, his violent family, and a society seemingly based on illusions and deceit. Families residing on arks are under the control of a godlike ancestor and have shared skills; for instance, the Dragons are capable of inflicting bodily harm with their minds, Mirages can create and sustain illusions so strong you can live in them, and Readers, like Ophelia, can glean the history of certain things by touching them. Ophelia's story is initially compelling, but her quiet acceptance of her mistreatment may wear on some readers. She is, nevertheless, a clever heroine who begins emerging from her shell toward the novel's hopeful end. This French best-seller, the first in Dabos' immersive Mirror Visitor quartet, holds as much appeal for adult fantasy readers as for teens.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)
دیدگاه کاربران