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| Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald |
Daughter of Redwinter (The Redwinter Chronicles 1) is exactly the kind of fantasy I like best these days. It concentrates on one character with no unnecessary side-plots that drag the story in the hopes to make it ‘epic’. The story follows the MC as they face events that aren’t in their control, yet have to solve anyway. As they do so, they become more than they were in the beginning.
Raine is a young woman who has thrown her lot with a small band of mercenaries. As she is trying to find a way out of siege, she comes across a young woman fleeing and helps her—an epic mistake. The woman tries to awaken a terrible being and the warrior pursuing her only just manages to subdue it and only with Raine’s help.
Ulovar takes her with him to Redwinter, a fortress town of the Draoihn, warriors who protect the realm with their special abilities. Raine hopes to be trained with them too, but their Grand Master decides otherwise. Raine has to settle into an existence of not quite a servant and definitely not a warrior. But she doesn’t quite feel like she belongs, because she has a secret that will get her executed. She can see the dead.
But she can’t leave, because Ulovar is accused of treason for what took place during the siege. It’s up to Raine to prove his innocence. In the end, she has to decide if death is a small price to pay for the truth after all.
This was an excellent book. The description makes it sound like an epic fantasy, but it’s rather small in scope, part a mystery, part a build-up to something larger. The pace is fast and the chapters are short. The mystery took its time to unravel, and although I called the twist, I did it only a little before it was revealed.
The world is well-crafted with an interesting history and mythology, a pre-industrial society that doesn’t automatically follow the rules of real-world equivalent. The Draoihn with their trances and gates were an interesting invention, though not entirely unique as such.
Raine is an excellent main character. She’s lost, frightened and unable to trust anyone because of her ability. She blames herself for what happened to the mercenaries and goes through much of the book not caring about anything. She seeks to belong with desperation that leads her to make mistakes that are both predictable and natural. She relies to the strengths she had from the start and while she does pull off some epic moves in the final battle, they aren’t beyond reason or her character’s development.
Side characters were interesting, but remain a bit vague because of the first person narrative. There are a couple of potential love interests for Raine, who doesn’t limit her love to opposite gender, but nothing comes of them yet. She makes friends, some briefly and the characters all but disappear, some with great length like Ovitus, Ulovar’s nephew and heir. None of the main relationships are easily defined as black and white, friend or enemy.
While this was a start of a series, the first book reads as a stand-alone with a satisfying ending and no cliffhangers. There is, however, an opening for Raine’s story to continue. I’m looking forward to reading more.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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