Winterdim

by Chris Howard

Sex, Dryads, and Rock & Roll. Theodora Viran has a way with forests, blossoms, creeping vines, composting, paranoia, and sudden death. She sees deception in every shadow, a trap in every word, and the universe has always been someone else's manipulative game, but when she makes a promise to save a childhood friend, it becomes a promise she can't break without breaking her view of the world.

Winterdim shares some characters and takes place almost a hundred and seventy years after the events in the Seaborn Trilogy (Saltwater Witch, Seaborn, Sea Throne), but is a stand-alone story.

Winterdim is a fantasy set in the near future after most of humanity has "Vanished"-gone virtual, leaving behind crumbling cities, failing infrastructure, and the Wild Children, what remains of earth's human population. With a nearly empty world open to them, the oppressed, the dangerous, and the opportunists from the Rootworld have fled to earth to start over, form new alliances, and carve out empires.

Genres: Fantasy

426 pages, Paperback

First published November 11, 2011

About the author

Chris Howard is just a creative human with a pen and a paint brush, author of Seaborn (Juno Books, 2008), Salvage (Prime Books, 2013), Saltwater Witch (Lykeion, 2005), and a shelf-full of other books. My short stories and essays have appeared in various magazines and anthologies, including “Lost Dogs and Fireplace Archeology” in Fantasy Magazine and “How to Build Worlds Without Becoming the Minister for Tourism” in Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (Penguin, 2014). My story “The Mermaid Game” appeared in the Paula Guran edited anthology Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep (Prime, 2015), and “Hammers and Snails” was the Robert A. Heinlein Centennial Short Fiction Contest winner. I wrote and illustrated the comics Saltwater Witch and Salvage. My art has appeared on dozens of book covers, art cards, interior illustrations for publishers, authors, and Kickstarter projects. You can also find my art in Shimmer, BuzzyMag, various tabletop RPGs, and on the pages of books, blogs, and other interesting places.

Find out everything here: http://www.SaltwaterWitch.com

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Reviews

[Lore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say this book surprised me but in a good way. It had a bumpy start and then got better and better. At the beginning it got me a little confused, I had no idea what was Thea's deal, she acted sometimes too grown up and sometimes like a child. I had no idea what was she doing in the forest, what were those guys attacking this poor guy and killing his mom.

I was asking all the right questions but the answers were delayed for some action showing us what Thea and Reed could do. In a way this gets you more into what they are feeling, it is a rush, it is a huge puzzle and nothing fits anywhere.

Then, it all started to unravel, and Thea and Reed found out more about what trouble they had found themselves in and everything slowly started moving like clockwork and clicking into place. Then you start figuring things out slowly, seeing what they can do and realizing that none of them is your ordinary run-of-the-mill boy and girl. Plus, the world they live sure has some deeper quality and darker shades than our own.

Thea has some deep issues and scars in her forest and human heart. Her journey, starting when she takes care of Reed, opening up to Andreus and Braze, then forgives Fritz and accepts Carlos... It is just a wonderful road that unravels at a hard to keep-up pace and at the same time it is a story with a strong pull that keeps you hooked up wanting to discover what is behind the vines covering her tree bark.

Also, Helodes appearance was awesome, having met her in the Seaborn first book Saltwater Witch. She is a bad ass character, with an iron will. Kraneia's mom which at first you kind of hate turns out to be the best she could be in her circumstances, and Thea... Well, Thea is just amazing. I kind of hoped Reed would get a little more awesome though, more protective, more knight in shining armor but in the end he is just Reed and I found myself growing fond of him.

The best was Posey's appearance as the Ocean's ruler. She was as all-powerful and mighty as Kassandra from Seaborn and she had power to show all around. She didn't even had to flick a wave to show it.