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Spiritwalker
The History of the World Begins in Ice
Enter the Post-Roman Afro-Celtic icepunk regency fantasy world of the Spiritwalker Trilogy (Cold Magic, Cold Fire, Cold Steel).
Phoenician spies, well-dressed men, revolutionary women, and lawyer dinosaurs—eleven vivid stories are now gathered in one place by RT Reviewers' Choice winner and Nebula, World Fantasy, Norton, and Locus Awards finalist Kate Elliott.
When the emperor of Rome needs a rare book stolen from a well-guarded woman, he hires a rogue with his own dangerous secrets . . .
An elderly man retires at last, seeking peace to write his final masterwork on architecture . . . until that peace is disturbed by an outbreak of magic.
Everyone knows the story of Dido and Aeneas. But only Beatrice knows the correct version.
A shapeshifting sabertooth cat falls into the arms of two beautiful palace attendants . . . all too eager to pet him.
A powerful mage and his wife travel into enemy territory on an urgent mission . . . Surely the expedition will go exactly as planned . . . right?
These standalone stories and six others are accompanied by wonderful illustrations from fourteen featured artists. Eleven short essays that delve into the whys and wherefores of the setting and characters round out the volume.
Phoenician spies, well-dressed men, revolutionary women, and lawyer dinosaurs—eleven vivid stories are now gathered in one place by RT Reviewers' Choice winner and Nebula, World Fantasy, Norton, and Locus Awards finalist Kate Elliott.
When the emperor of Rome needs a rare book stolen from a well-guarded woman, he hires a rogue with his own dangerous secrets . . .
An elderly man retires at last, seeking peace to write his final masterwork on architecture . . . until that peace is disturbed by an outbreak of magic.
Everyone knows the story of Dido and Aeneas. But only Beatrice knows the correct version.
A shapeshifting sabertooth cat falls into the arms of two beautiful palace attendants . . . all too eager to pet him.
A powerful mage and his wife travel into enemy territory on an urgent mission . . . Surely the expedition will go exactly as planned . . . right?
These standalone stories and six others are accompanied by wonderful illustrations from fourteen featured artists. Eleven short essays that delve into the whys and wherefores of the setting and characters round out the volume.
- GenresFantasyAnthologies
350 pages, Paperback
First published October 22, 2024
11 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Kate Elliott
108 books2,889 followersAs a child in rural Oregon, Kate Elliott made up stories because she longed to escape to a world of lurid adventure fiction. She now writes fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction, often with a romantic edge. She currently lives in Hawaii, where she paddles outrigger canoes and spoils her schnauzer.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 8, 2024
Kate Elliott has always been one of fantasy's more interesting voices, shifting her tone and voice to explore different ideas. Her Spiritwalker Trilogy (Cold Magic, Cold Fire, Cold Steel) has always felt a little underrated, as it's probably the most light-hearted of her adult fantasies, a comedy of manners set in an icepunk alt-history Europe populated by feuding mages and dinosaur lawyers. This companion volumes encourages a welcome re-appraisal of the original trilogy.
The History of the World Begins in Ice collects together eleven short stories and eleven essays about the worldbuilding and character-crafting of the Spiritwalker Trilogy. Familiarity with the trilogy is an advantage, otherwise you might not catch all the references, although most of the stories (many published previously in unrelated anthologies) do stand alone to a degree, and some work as even a good sampler or intro to the main series.
The Spiritwalker books walk a tightrope between being funny, dramatic, romantic and tragic, and the stories in the collection reflect that. "The River-Born Child," about a young boy with a strange origin who does not believe that should impact his right to happiness or friendships, is maybe the most tragic of the stories but has a redemptive ending. "Bloom" and "A Compendium of Architecture" are entertaining tales serving as origin stories, to some extent, for characters in the main trilogy, but work well enough here as standalones. "To Be a Man" revisits one of the more entertaining side-characters from the trilogy in a particularly lusty and comic tale.
Beatrice, who in another universe was the main protagonist of the trilogy before narrowly missing out to her cousin Cat, gets both her own long narrative (annotated with literary criticism of wildly varying credibility by Cat) and a long-form poem. Cat and Andevai, the star-crossed lovers of the main trilogy, get another story to expand on their romance, "The Courtship," which is entertaining, despite the feeling that their romance got a lot of screen-time in the main trilogy. Andevai's sartorial choices, which I remember forming about a third of his characterisation in the main sequence, are fortunately downplayed here, but do make return appearances in later stories (few phrases in all of fantasy make my heart sink more than the words "dash jacket," but I try to bear it here with equanimity).
The highlight of the collection is "I am a Handsome Man," where it feels like the star of his own, equally worthy novel series, Apollo Crow, crashes headlong into the misadventures of the trilogy's main cast and they have to figure out who the real good and bad guys are. I'd read a lot more about this hero (?) and his adventures. "A Lesson to You Young Ones," is the shortest story in the collection, which is unfortunate because it's also the only one to really focus one of the signature concepts of the setting, the surviving humanoid dinosaurs. These are both a really cool concept (not totally original, obviously) and one that's not really made enough of in the trilogy or this story collection.
"Finding the Doctor" is the longest story in the collection and also the most like the main trilogy, featuring as it does cold mage Andevai and the redoubtable Cat joining forces to take on a hazardous mission, this time behind the lines of the Roman Empire as it resurgently tries to advance beyond the Alps, threatening Cat's plan to find a reliable midwife for her cousin. The mix of drama, geopolitics, romance and restrained comedy is the trilogy in miniature, and a good sampler if you're pondering taking on the main series.
The concluding story, "When I Grow Up", is one of the best as it tackles the next generation of characters, as the main cast of the trilogy gets older and their children seem poised to succeed them in a story that's both heartwarming and bittersweet.
The essays in the collection are also fascinating as Elliot ponders her ideas for the trilogy: a world that recalls the geography of Europe during the last Ice Age, with Britain and Europe joined by Doggerland, much larger islands in the Caribbean, and the endurance of the Roman Empire, with no Germanic tribes overrunning Europe, thus leaving Europe divided between the Romans, Celts and the Mande tribes of west Africa, displaced into Europe by various events. Further essays discuss how the Creole languages of this alt-Caribbean were created, and how each of the main characters was created. Elliott notes how by placing emphasis on trivial character tics (like Cat's appetite) she was able to make characters more rounded, at the expense of readers sometimes wondering if that was a hint at some greater mystery.
The History of the World Begins in Ice (****½) is a splendid volume by one of fantasy's more underrated but consistently excellent voices. Part short story collection, part behind-the-scenes glimpse at how you build a fantasy world and inhabit it with interesting people, it's a compelling read, and both a solid introduction to the Spiritwalker world and a welcome continuation of it. The book is available now.
The History of the World Begins in Ice collects together eleven short stories and eleven essays about the worldbuilding and character-crafting of the Spiritwalker Trilogy. Familiarity with the trilogy is an advantage, otherwise you might not catch all the references, although most of the stories (many published previously in unrelated anthologies) do stand alone to a degree, and some work as even a good sampler or intro to the main series.
The Spiritwalker books walk a tightrope between being funny, dramatic, romantic and tragic, and the stories in the collection reflect that. "The River-Born Child," about a young boy with a strange origin who does not believe that should impact his right to happiness or friendships, is maybe the most tragic of the stories but has a redemptive ending. "Bloom" and "A Compendium of Architecture" are entertaining tales serving as origin stories, to some extent, for characters in the main trilogy, but work well enough here as standalones. "To Be a Man" revisits one of the more entertaining side-characters from the trilogy in a particularly lusty and comic tale.
Beatrice, who in another universe was the main protagonist of the trilogy before narrowly missing out to her cousin Cat, gets both her own long narrative (annotated with literary criticism of wildly varying credibility by Cat) and a long-form poem. Cat and Andevai, the star-crossed lovers of the main trilogy, get another story to expand on their romance, "The Courtship," which is entertaining, despite the feeling that their romance got a lot of screen-time in the main trilogy. Andevai's sartorial choices, which I remember forming about a third of his characterisation in the main sequence, are fortunately downplayed here, but do make return appearances in later stories (few phrases in all of fantasy make my heart sink more than the words "dash jacket," but I try to bear it here with equanimity).
The highlight of the collection is "I am a Handsome Man," where it feels like the star of his own, equally worthy novel series, Apollo Crow, crashes headlong into the misadventures of the trilogy's main cast and they have to figure out who the real good and bad guys are. I'd read a lot more about this hero (?) and his adventures. "A Lesson to You Young Ones," is the shortest story in the collection, which is unfortunate because it's also the only one to really focus one of the signature concepts of the setting, the surviving humanoid dinosaurs. These are both a really cool concept (not totally original, obviously) and one that's not really made enough of in the trilogy or this story collection.
"Finding the Doctor" is the longest story in the collection and also the most like the main trilogy, featuring as it does cold mage Andevai and the redoubtable Cat joining forces to take on a hazardous mission, this time behind the lines of the Roman Empire as it resurgently tries to advance beyond the Alps, threatening Cat's plan to find a reliable midwife for her cousin. The mix of drama, geopolitics, romance and restrained comedy is the trilogy in miniature, and a good sampler if you're pondering taking on the main series.
The concluding story, "When I Grow Up", is one of the best as it tackles the next generation of characters, as the main cast of the trilogy gets older and their children seem poised to succeed them in a story that's both heartwarming and bittersweet.
The essays in the collection are also fascinating as Elliot ponders her ideas for the trilogy: a world that recalls the geography of Europe during the last Ice Age, with Britain and Europe joined by Doggerland, much larger islands in the Caribbean, and the endurance of the Roman Empire, with no Germanic tribes overrunning Europe, thus leaving Europe divided between the Romans, Celts and the Mande tribes of west Africa, displaced into Europe by various events. Further essays discuss how the Creole languages of this alt-Caribbean were created, and how each of the main characters was created. Elliott notes how by placing emphasis on trivial character tics (like Cat's appetite) she was able to make characters more rounded, at the expense of readers sometimes wondering if that was a hint at some greater mystery.
The History of the World Begins in Ice (****½) is a splendid volume by one of fantasy's more underrated but consistently excellent voices. Part short story collection, part behind-the-scenes glimpse at how you build a fantasy world and inhabit it with interesting people, it's a compelling read, and both a solid introduction to the Spiritwalker world and a welcome continuation of it. The book is available now.
January 8, 2025
One of my favourite series from one of my favourite authors. This gathers the short stories along with gorgeous illustrations. I loved it.
November 3, 2024
Reviewed for Dear Author.
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November 15, 2024
I loved the parts of the Spiritwalker world that this anthology both fills in and expands on.
This world is one of my most favourite fantasy realms and it is not lost on me that I found it at a time I needed to know these kinds underlying relationships and their challenges were out there to experience and overcome. With my own personal experience both positively and negatively affecting my own circumstance it was a big help and comfort to read these characters journey both as a distraction and to add to the narrative surrounding communication in intimate relationships of many types.
Something that really comes through in these books, I think, is the kindness and sensitivity Kate Elliott displays in her work when crafting stories filled with complex topics we all have a responsibility to articulate well. Her approach to this is exceptional.
This world is one of my most favourite fantasy realms and it is not lost on me that I found it at a time I needed to know these kinds underlying relationships and their challenges were out there to experience and overcome. With my own personal experience both positively and negatively affecting my own circumstance it was a big help and comfort to read these characters journey both as a distraction and to add to the narrative surrounding communication in intimate relationships of many types.
Something that really comes through in these books, I think, is the kindness and sensitivity Kate Elliott displays in her work when crafting stories filled with complex topics we all have a responsibility to articulate well. Her approach to this is exceptional.
September 26, 2025
The Spiritwalker trilogy is one of my all-time favorite book series, so finding out this special edition was under consideration (back when) was a delight.
It's a wonderful collection of Spiritwalker short stories, maps, other art, and author essays. (It even includes a reprint of a limited-run chap book - Bea's journal.) It's great to have them all together and to read them as curated here. Though I've followed this series (short stories, etc.) closely, there was plenty here that was new to me.
This book was an instant favorite of mine. I highly, highly recommend the series (which begins with Cold Magic) and this collection.
It's a wonderful collection of Spiritwalker short stories, maps, other art, and author essays. (It even includes a reprint of a limited-run chap book - Bea's journal.) It's great to have them all together and to read them as curated here. Though I've followed this series (short stories, etc.) closely, there was plenty here that was new to me.
This book was an instant favorite of mine. I highly, highly recommend the series (which begins with Cold Magic) and this collection.
February 19, 2025
Such a delight to revisit this world and these characters. An excellent companion book to the main series.
April 13, 2025
Really beautiful illustrations. Good introduction to the world of the spirit walker trilogy and includes some essays into how Elliot created the alternate reality. It gave me Dinotopia feels.
June 26, 2025
This is a 3 1/2 stars book to me. I love Kate Elliott books but found I couldn't engage with the characters as I have in previous books of hers. Good read though.
September 20, 2025
Satisfying to read the continuations and histories of some of my favourite characters.
Though I always find it a bittersweet frustration to read about the main characters through the perspective of their children, the rest of the short stories were delightful. My favourites were River-Born Child, The Courtship and Apollo Crow. The latter most I especially wish I could have read more of, as the new character really opened a lot of interesting lore questions
I also really enjoyed the essays, in particular Names in the World and the exploration of Creole - incidentally on my first read through I found the use of Creole very irritating to read, a sensation that lessened almost completely over rereads, but learning about Elliott's efforts to create a natural sounding Creole makes me appreciate the internal logic in the patois.
I also found a lot of joy reading about the decisions made about the main character Cat, revealed in the character study essay, namely Why Cat Sews
"In Book Two, Cold Fire, Cat is thrown out into the wide world... with the clothes on her back and her sword as her only possessions. It would've been easy for me, at this point, to focus on Cat's sword-craft... But I did not want to imply that the skills most important to her... were solely or chiefly the skills that have long been culturally indentified as "masculine", such a fencing (fighting)"
She's good at swords but she's good at sewing too. It's an idea that feels extremely simple when written obliquely, but as a fantasy reader it feels rare to find a character who is unabashedly allowed to be good at traditionally feminine activities and also be good at swords.
I really hope Kate Elliott will write more in the Spiritwalker world, even though I know it's unlikely we'll get another full novel, the mixing of magic systems and cultures and mythos in this series feels so unique and perfect to me.
Though I always find it a bittersweet frustration to read about the main characters through the perspective of their children, the rest of the short stories were delightful. My favourites were River-Born Child, The Courtship and Apollo Crow. The latter most I especially wish I could have read more of, as the new character really opened a lot of interesting lore questions
I also really enjoyed the essays, in particular Names in the World and the exploration of Creole - incidentally on my first read through I found the use of Creole very irritating to read, a sensation that lessened almost completely over rereads, but learning about Elliott's efforts to create a natural sounding Creole makes me appreciate the internal logic in the patois.
I also found a lot of joy reading about the decisions made about the main character Cat, revealed in the character study essay, namely Why Cat Sews
"In Book Two, Cold Fire, Cat is thrown out into the wide world... with the clothes on her back and her sword as her only possessions. It would've been easy for me, at this point, to focus on Cat's sword-craft... But I did not want to imply that the skills most important to her... were solely or chiefly the skills that have long been culturally indentified as "masculine", such a fencing (fighting)"
She's good at swords but she's good at sewing too. It's an idea that feels extremely simple when written obliquely, but as a fantasy reader it feels rare to find a character who is unabashedly allowed to be good at traditionally feminine activities and also be good at swords.
I really hope Kate Elliott will write more in the Spiritwalker world, even though I know it's unlikely we'll get another full novel, the mixing of magic systems and cultures and mythos in this series feels so unique and perfect to me.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews