In one of those universal fears we all experience at some stagem the novel begins with Anais awakening in a bed not her own, despite distinctly remembering going to bed in it. That in itself was only the start to the rising panic that accompanies working out the door to the unknown room has no handle to open it. Devoid of everything but the single bed she awoke in, the pitch blackness and her missing memories begin to give rise to an increasing claustrophobia. The contrast between the sheer happiness she had awoken with juxtaposes the crushing feeling halting her breathing and fight for supremacy.
As realisations set in fear turns to grief at the worry for her elderly housemate and landlady, Winnie; who must surely know there's no possible way she'd have abandoned her in the middle of the night. Having become orphaned in just the past year and hitting rock bottom around six-months later, there were times following drunken benders where she'd slept in places she did not recall going to, but nothing like that had occurred since she began living with Winnie six months ago. Anais serendipitously strolled through Winnie's bookshop doors at exactly the right time. A broke and homeless young woman of eighteen, who'd spent six months following her parents' deaths sliding down the slippery curve toward rock-bottom, met a lonely elderly woman needing company and an assistant. Fate, as it seemed at the time, saw both their lives reaching a new path.
Minutes turn to hours with nothing more than a quilt to cover her and her thoughts to torment her. Anais' sharp intelligent mind cycles over and over, her circumstance leaving desparity and despair in it's wake. Its apparent that someone or someones had managed to drug her whilst in her own home and transport her with no awareness of it occurring. The room she now occupies, absent of light, windows, door handle and sound, must have been prepared in advance for her and possibly even other's arrival. Going through the aspects of her life Anais can find no incentives for why she would be targeted. So when she finally meets her keeper it turns out to be the sbsolute opposite of anything she expected.
Firstly she is a she, not a he; she is startlingly beautiful in a radiantly ethereal way; and she is softly spoken, mannered and apologetic for her actions, spoken of as a perceived duty but not desire. Indeed the first words that are exchanged are 'oh' and 'sorry'. As the former hours of imprisonment turn to days and then weeks, Anais grows a strangely fast liking-to, dare say friendship with, her keeper Aethelu. But of all the things Anais is permitted to discuss there's one, the most important question of all, that is the topic that could not be discussed; why is she there? Just as the limit of her unusually lengthy patience ends, having been helped along by the stimulating time spent with her keeper, Anais makes the decision to use her limited freedom to her advantage.
When the opportunity finally arrives she tests the bounds of their burgeoning friendship to finally obtain limited answers to her burning question. Despite the remarkable admission and apparent honesty with which the information is delivered, its simply too outrageous to be accepted. For Anais the absurdity of the answer unfortunately gives rise to one of her newly identified keeper's act of proof, reducing her to hyperventilation and the relief of encroaching darkness, as Anais' feints. As Anais is granted a tour of her prison the story of the Custor Lux, the Guardians of Light, and the terrible act by her second keeper to prove their assertions, could never have amounted to the shock of finding her father in one of the house paintings.
As the story then unfolds there's much Anais did not know of in her life. Despite the circumstances of her predicament she grows an attachment to Aethelu that knows no bounds. The life her father left behind becomes a life that presents the greatest dangers Anais has and will face in her short time span. People she loves are not the people she thought they were, but in the truth lies possibly the beginnings of the greatest adventures she''ll ever know. But as with most gain their is the potential for equal or greater loss. If she's lucky and well prepared she might get to achieve things her wildest dreams could never have considered. If she's not prepared though she may not make it to the other side intact or with the things she has come to love most.
With a science fiction-fantasy backbone that is more science than fantasy Endless Winter aptly names the passing of time throughout the plot and the early perceptions of that time. There is a strong coming of age and young adult element with the joys, and hitherto unforeseeable, prospects of falling in love. An unknown past links a possible future, where the latter has a potential for a dystopian element depending on how the series progresses. This book I imagine was written to establish in detail the platform from which possible future directions might swing. With exception to the token bad guy, or evil element, the characters are lovable, even those with more quirks than normalcy.
The story thus far has a significant drama component but it does present several directions for possible pathways and is therefore necessary regardless of future developments. For a reader, such as myself, who is more use to a constant anxious suspense filled plot with supernatural wonders I would be more inclined to think of this book as a traditional 'nice' read. Certainly not something I am all that accustomed to reading, but not to suggest it wasn't pleasurable. The fluent and economical writing style should appeal to most readers and the PG13 rating gives it a wide berth. The Custor Lux definitely has room and context to take the series into many different genres.