Cold Hillside

by Nancy Baker

“With them , there are no happy endings.” In the remote city of Lushan, they know that the Fey are not fireside tales but a dangerous reality. Generations ago, the last remnants of a dying empire bargained with the Faerie Queen for a place of safety in the mountains and each year the ruler of Lushan must travel to the high plateau to pay the city’s tribute. When an unexpected misfortune means that the traditional price is not met, the Queen demands the services of Teresine, once a refugee slave and now advisor to the Sidiana. Teresine must navigate the treacherous politics of the Faerie Court, where the Queen’s will determines reality and mortals are merely pawns in an eternal struggle for power. Years later, another young woman faces an unexpected decision that forces her to discover the truth of what happened to Teresine in the Faerie Court, a truth that could threaten everything she loves. From the acclaimed author of The Night Inside and A Terrible Beauty comes a new novel about the price of safety and the cost of power.

Genres: Fantasy, Fae, Fairies, Canada, Paranormal, Fiction

468 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2014

About the author

Nancy Baker blames her life-long love of horror and fantasy fiction on the first horror story she can remember: The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter. She dabbled in rock and roll (writing lyrics and singing in basement bands during her university years) before switching to writing fiction. She made her first professional sale in 1988, to Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone magazine and has subsequently published 4 novels. She is at work (slowly, very slowly) on her fifth and avoids writing by gardening, making jam, and listening to podcasts on everything from architecture to history to the meaning of Dolly Parton.

She is happily married and has no children or cats.

NOTE: I only write fantasy and horror so any erotica, self-help, or diet books that show up here are not mine.

Reviews

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cold Hillside could have been written especially for me. It has so many things that just make me happy. There’s a dark, somewhat threatening atmosphere. The chapters alternate between two related women, telling their tales, and the reader gets to fit the pieces together. In the background are the Fay—and they’re not the cute, perky fairies of Disney. No, Baker goes back to European fairy tales and produces a Fairy Queen who is powerful, unpredictable, threatening, and unknowable. Most in the fairy realm don’t understand why she does things and we mere mortals must acknowledge that we are only guessing about her motivations. There is a definite hostility towards humanity.

I must confess that I had guessed one of the plot secrets quite early on, but that did not detract in any way from my enjoyment of the process of the reveal. It may actually have enhanced it, as Baker played with the characters, eventually letting them know all the details too. I think the reader is expected to see it and enjoy watching Lilit struggle to find the knowledge that she needs. And Teresine is a much stronger woman than I am—I would have knuckled under much quicker than she, both at the Fairy Court and on return to Lushan.

Baker’s writing was beautiful and skillful. The story was dark and melancholic. The ending left me with questions. I adore all of those things. I will definitely be seeking out more of Baker’s fiction.

[Denny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review I've compiled a list of fiction with the fairies I love.
1.the king of elflands daughter 1924
2.lud in the mist 1926
3.the last born of elvinwood 1978
4.little big 1981
5.lyonesse suldrens garden 1983
6.the green pearl 1985
7.madouc1990
8.thomas the rhymer 1990
9.photographing fairies 1992
10.jonathan strange
11.some kind of fairy tale2012
12.cuckoos song 2014
I've now added a new one to my list.
13.cold hillside Nancy baker.

[Althea Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while since I encountered a book that I consciously found myself trying to read more slowly, because I just didn't want to find my time in the author's world to be over... but 'Cold Hillside' did this.

In presentation, I was reminded a bit of both Pauline Gedge and Guy Gavriel Kay (two of my favorite authors). Like those writers, here Baker eases us into a lovely, culturally rich, but sometimes harsh world. The story encompasses both the higher echelons of court politics and those quotidian dramas and decisions that can mean the world to those they affect.

There are two narrators, Teresine and her great-niece, Lilit.

Lilit is a typical teenager - willful and rebellious. She can't understand why her mother is so opposed to her going to the annual Fair, the one time when the people of her country see and trade with those of Faerie. But now that she's become an apprentice jewelry-crafter, her mother's word is no longer law. Lilit's trying to find her place in the world as an adult - but a drunken encounter at a tavern with a handsome young man who coyly hints at having a trace of Fey blood may lead to Lilit having to make adult decisions sooner than she was expecting. Her society has very harsh rules and customs concerning the Fey, which give her choices greater weight.

Teresine is treasured by Lilit, who loves her like a grandmother, but the past has always been something the older woman has refused to speak of. In her chapters, we learn what happened to her as a young woman. Sold by her parents into slavery, she escapes as a refugee and is brought north, 'adopted' as a confidante to the heiress to the throne. With difficulty, Teresine negotiates a new life, new customs, and the politics of a new land. And once, her position leads her to a dangerous obligation: a venture into the forbidden court of the Fey.

This is a rather slow-moving, deliberate book. Information is gradually revealed, carefully presented. The characters are finely drawn - I found myself fully involved in the lives of these two very different women, separated by generations and life experiences, but bound by bonds of love and blood. The depiction of Faerie is truly fey - magical and alien - and threads of Faerie entwine throughout the story, but the main focus remains the very human decisions that Teresine and Lilit must make.

Beautiful book. Highly recommended.

Many, many thanks to Netgalley and ChiZine for the opportunity to discover this author. As always, my opinions are unaffected by the source of the material.

[Elena Linville-Abdo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The original of this review is posted on my blog.

With Cold Hillside Nancy Baker managed to step away from the fae stereotype plaguing most of recent fantasy and paranormal books who depict a romanticized version of the fair folk: beautiful, mysterious, and a good romantic interest for the protagonist. Nancy Baker depicts a whole other version of the fae, which is much closer to the original legends and could be summarized by one sentence:

With them, there are no happy endings.

Yes, they are beautiful, but so is a coral snake or a poisonous flower, and both will kill you without pity or remorse. They are mysterious and alien and immortal, yes. They also consider us mortals as toys. Fascinating sometimes, but easily broken and discarded. I like this depiction of the fae better, maybe because that's how they were portrayed in the fairy tales I grew up with.

But the fae are not the only reason I gave this book five stars. A book would be nothing without engaging characters and an interesting story, and Cold Hillside has both in heaps. Because while the fae are present in the book and have an important influence on the events, this story is about the mortal people.

I loved the depiction of Lushan, this big city clinging to the cold side of a mountain and whose inhabitants still manage to thrive in these unforgiving conditions. You can see that a lot of work had gone into creating this cold and unforgiving world and the culture of the people who live in it. But it's masterfully inserted into the story itself, so that it never feels like an info dump. Lushan reminded me a little of Tibet, while Deshiniva where Teresine is from, would be more like India.

Speaking of Teresine and the other protagonist in this book, her great-grandniece Lilith, it's rare that we get truly strong women as protagonists, so this book was an absolute treat! Way too often, I have come across "strong" heroines that constantly needed rescued by their male love interests. Or who were totally rude and lacking basic social skills.

Both Teresine and Lilith are strong and self-sufficient women the way I like them: they don't rely on others to deal with their problems; they don't waste time on bemoaning the unfairness of their condition; they accept the consequences of the often dire situations they find themselves in and manage to adapt and survive, and even carve a little bit of happiness and inner peace in the process.

It was refreshing to see them struggle and sometimes fail, but always get back up and keep on fighting. And it was refreshing to see the fae depicted not as good or bad, but just totally different.

And I won't say another word about the story of Cold Hillside, because I want to avoid spoilers, and because the unraveling of the story is part of the delightful experience that is this book. But I would say that it's definitely worth picking up for your holiday reads.

P.S. This review is for the advanced copy of the book I received from NetGalley.

[Mauoijenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

*NetGalley book review*

I blame my head cold drug induced self because I can not for the life of me understand this book. It was out there. I might try reading it again here real soon, maybe. But what I remember it was interesting.

[Nichole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. What started off slow to me ended up being one of the best books that I have read in a long time. I just couldn't wait to read more about the life of Teresine and her mortal interactions with the Fae. I could picture the faery Queen's court and all the surrounding lands. This book is amazing!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cold Hillside
by Nancy Baker

Introduction
Nancy Baker ends her long break from writing with a novel in a different genre.
Genre / Intended audience
Fantasy / teen or adult
Narration
Shifting - Teresine (1st person relating her past); Lilit (3rd person past tense, current story)
Characters
Teresine - a foreign-born woman
Lilit - Teresine’s 17-year-old grandniece
Sarit - Sidiana (Queen/leader) of Lushan; a friend of Teresine’s
Raziel - Sarit’s younger sister and successor
Amaris - Teresine’s niece, Lilit’s mother
Veradis - the Faerie Queen
Daen - half-mortal Champion/lover to Veradis
Many others - listed in a helpful appendix
Setting
A fictional world
Theme
Love and family
Plot
The stories of Teresine and her grandniece Lilit are interwoven in the remote mountain city of Lushan. Each year the Sidiana (the city’s ruler) travels to the high plateau to host the annual fair and pay tribute to the Faerie Queen. Young Lilit wants to attend, but Teresine doesn’t want her anywhere near the Faerie. Euskalans (citizens of Lushan) see the Faerie as dangerous and untrustworthy, so much so that they subject their children to an iron test to prove their humanity. Teresine has her own treacherous history with the Faerie.
About the Author
Nancy Baker is the author of three vampire novels (recently re-released in e-book format).
Find out more on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... or the author’s website http://www.nancybaker.ca/.
My Opinion
I count this novel as a hidden gem, because it’s one of my 2015 top ten, yet it has few reviews on Amazon. Nancy Baker’s vampire series is one of my favorites, so I jumped on this book as soon as I heard she had written something new. Cold Hillside is a different sort of story in a different genre, but Ms. Baker brings her signature lyrical writing to the game.
If you are looking for an action-packed adventure or an epic fantasy, this is not that story.
Cold Hillside is, at its heart, simply the story of two women. Aging Teresine decides to record her life, and the resulting tale, intertwined with Lilit’s coming of age story, was nearly impossible to put down. I was sucked in from the first chapter.
Ms. Baker’s immense talent in character voice quickly makes the story an immersive experience. Chapters alternate between Teresine, an old woman nearing the end of her life and focused on the past, and Lilit, who is rooted in the present.
The author doesn’t waste time on exposition or world building explanations. It is all there — a rich culture and complex world — but it is shown through the character’s eyes and revealed through the story.
In addition to the detailed and well-grounded world of Lushan, Ms. Baker paints an exquisite portrait of the Faerie Court. The inhabitants are blindingly beautiful, but petty and cruel. Veradis, the Faerie Queen, is terrifying and cunning. Everything about the Faerie world is cold and foreboding. The result is a haunting and memorable story.
This novel made my top 10 list for 2015 and I give it a strong five star rating. I recommend it without reservation to all fantasy fans.

[Wise_owl · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been a long wait for another novel from one of my favourite authors, Nancy Baker, and it pleases me to no end to be able to say it was well worth it.

Cold Hillside is the tale of a people who live in a vaguely Bhutan-like nation. A people nestled in high mountains, refugee's from some former fallen empire. Their Matriarchal culture is combined with their ritual relationship with the Fey Court, which provides for part of their economy, but also shapes much of their culture(the wearing of Iron, the ringing of City Gates with Iron, elaborate rituals with regards children to guide against mixture with the fey and changelings, etc.) The book is broken down into two parallel stories, separated by two generations.

In the first, Lilit is a young woman just coming into herself. Finally able to escape the over-bearing power of her mother, a woman who has worked her way up towards the leadership of their clan, she goes to the Fey Fair after having been prevented by her mother in previous years. Here strange events unfold which lead her to examine her past and what it means for her present.

This is paralleled with a sort of confessional from Teresine, Lilit's Great-Aunt. A Dark-skinned woman from a some-what distant land. She ran away from the slavery into which her parents had sold her and found herself trained as a sort of nun and confident of the nobility of the city. She goes through explaining her life, including a set of catastrophes that led to her having to go to the fey court and fulfill an obligation.

Baker's strength as a writer has always been a combination of characterization that makes you care for her characters and an ability to describe the unworldly and alien in both frightening and believable ways. The Fey of this book have characteristics similar to other representations; elaborate court rituals, intense personalities, decadent sensuality. Yet they are horribly alien. "There are no happy endings with the Fey" is a warning given early on, one forgotten at your cost. You would count yourself fortunate to never encounter one of these fey, let alone their court.

Through all the fantasy trappings however, this is a story of coming to terms with your past. About the flaws and errors that effect us all because of our humanity, and how the past speaks to the present. I loved it and it would highly recommend it to just about anyone.

[Costi Gurgu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cold Hillside was a very pleasant surprise. Much in the fashion of Stephen King, Nancy Baker takes a well-beaten literary path and turns it into something new and shiny. It is a rare talent for a writer to take an old subject and make it original again. A new world of possibilities opened where until yesterday we believed everything has already been said. The Fey at the hand of Nancy Baker proved to still be a fresh and exciting subject.
If you add to that a talent of creating convincing characters with which the reader can easily empathize, you have a writer of a big caliber, for whom I envision big accomplishments.

[KellyAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I eventually got round to reading this, despite having only a couple of days left before it expired on my adobe digital editions I sat up rather late and finished it just in time. It started a little slow but once I was more acquainted with the two main female characters and world I was engrossed. This is not one of those action-packed fast-paced fantasy novels but slower, more detailed and character based with a slightly historical fairy-tale feel to it. I also appreciated the more 'realistic' otherworldly and less romanticised portrayal of the Fae. The only minor issue I had was the anti-climatic open ending to the younger character Lilit's story, other than her finding out about her great aunt's past her story didn't really go anywhere and I would have liked something bigger to have happened, or at least more of a confrontation with the Fae or her mother.

I'd love to read more books by Nancy Baker, set in this world or not, and part of the reason I originally requested this on NetGalley was I remembered reading and liking her (quite dark and not particularly romantic) vampire novel 'The Dark Inside' when I was about 14.

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

[Dominick Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really, if I could give this 3 1/2 stars I would. There were good things about Cold Hillside, and others, I simply could not ignore.

The world Baker creates is easy to become immersed in, but due to the fact that this was a completely made up world, things were repeated, again and again ad nauseam.

None of the major plot points were very shocking (and it felt like they were meant to be) because they were all fairly predictable. As such, the ending was rather anti-climactic.

I enjoyed the characters and felt they were very well developed.

Overall, the book had many great ideas, the execution of them was just not as smooth as it should have been.

If you like fantasy, Cold Hillside is worth checking out, though my hopes for this title, based on the synopsis, were much higher, and it didn't always deliver on them.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have any affinity for fantasy, read this story. Told by Teresine and Lilit, the story revolves around the intersection between fey and human. I begrudged every minute spent away from Teresine and Lilit. This is one of the best fantasy stories I’ve read in quite a while. Both storytellers become vivid and breathing characters but the secondary characters are just as vivid, to the point they’re people and not characters. The ending is sad and hopeful but the worst part is that the story is over. Received free copy for review. Thank you NetGalley.

[Carrie Slager · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Full disclosure: I received a free paperback copy from the publisher at Book Expo America 2015 with no expectation of a review.]

It was not immediately apparent to me that Cold Hillside was going to be a great book. Why? Because the first few chapters are quite disorienting as you get used to the incredible world Nancy Baker brings to life. It’s so similar to our own that it could be an alternate Earth and yet there are so many cultural differences that it’s very jarring. While you may be confused by all of the proper nouns thrown at you in the beginning like I was, if you stick with the novel it is absolutely worth it.

Basically, Cold Hillside follows Lilit and Teresine, Lilit’s great-aunt. In the beginning we focus on Lilit and her desperate attempt to go to the mysterious fair where the other apprentices go to sell the wares of their houses (which are essentially guilds). She manages to wheedle her way into going despite her mother Amaris’ firm objections because while she belongs to the house of Kerias, she is apprenticed to House Auster, a jewelry-making house. When she gets to the fair, she realizes that maybe it’s not all that it was cracked up to be. In between Lilit’s chapters in the beginning we slowly start to learn of her great-aunt Teresine’s journey from Jayasita to her current home in Lushan. As the novel progresses, Teresine’s story takes over the narrative (as it should and this transition happens quite naturally) as we learn some of the amazing and horrific events in her past. We learn of how she came into the service of the Sidiana of Lushan (the Queen) and how she ended up at the Faerie Court for a full year because of one tiny mistake.

Teresine’s story really is the main story of the novel and it is absolutely fascinating. It shows the fey in a way that Lilit doesn’t get to see because Teresine was so intimately involved with them. Nancy Baker does such a great job of balancing the beauty of the Faerie Court and the fey with their viciousness and cunning. They’re very capricious, just like in the older myths. And while Teresine finds love of a sort, as the book’s tagline suggests there are no happy endings when it comes to the fey. Since Teresine really captures your heart as a three dimensional character who goes through so much, you’ll be hooked from the start until the finish. She really has an incredible life and her life leaves a very notable mark on the life of her grand-niece Lilit, who has to struggle with some important decisions of her own at the end of the novel. I can’t really say much more without giving things away, but let’s just say that the man Teresine meets at the court, Daen, is not at all what he seems. And it’s Daen that really lends the book its mysterious title, Cold Hillside.

Despite my confusion in the beginning, Nancy Baker’s writing style sucks you into the world of Lushan and the Faerie Court. You feel the characters’ struggles along with them and want them to get the happy endings they deserve (even if you know that they’re probably not going to get those happy endings since the fey are involved). She does such a great job of portraying the dark and light sides of the fey and that’s echoed in the writing itself. Baker writes scenes of extreme beauty and extreme horror and I can’t tell you how well the cover captures the feeling of the novel. It may not make much sense when you first see it, but by the end you’ll appreciate just how accurately it captures the feeling of Cold Hillside.

If you love unique fantasy with amazing characters and more than a few plot twists, I can’t recommend this book enough. I almost passed over it at Book Expo America but something made me take it anyway and I’m very glad for that. Teresine and Lilit will capture your heart and Nancy Baker’s unique writing style will make you enjoy their personal journeys even more. If you love fantasy, you should really pick up Cold Hillside.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

[Christoffer Lernö · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Although I have great fondness for some of her other books, I wasn't sure I would like this book. On the surface I think it seems fairly mundane - a fantasy world (feels very much like the area around India), and a city which has a covenant with the Fey.

Turns out it is a tale of the life of two people, one story told in the present, the other told as a memoir. Initially the paths are quite divergent, but the stories end up converging in - what to me was - a very satisfactory manner.

The prose is neither easy nor hard. Baker has a style which I feel doesn't quite fall into either category, but is very readable nonetheless.

I don't know if this book is for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Harald Koch · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world-building in this novel was lovely, but I found that many ideas introduced were never explored fully, and many others were resolved too easily. Characters grow through conflict, and there was very little real conflict in this novel.

Just a warning for plot-oriented readers - the writing is lovely and picturesque and very little actually happens.

Unfortunately for us character-oriented readers, very little character development actually happens either...

Ah well. I enjoyed it anyway.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been overlong by half since a new book by Nancy Baker book has been published. Others have summarized the contents. I will content myself with noting that, although the plot, characters, setting, and voice are very different from all her precious works, Cold Hillside compels a slow read so that one can prolong the enjoyment. And, even better, Baker is not at all sentimental. Her characters live their lives as the rest of us do; in other words the "cruel" comes with the "kind".

Now all I want to know is when I can read the follow-up novel.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a month and a half to finish this book but don't let that mislead you: this was a great read. As well as being a compelling story, the prose is extremely well written to the point of being practically poetic. Someone who loved this book edited it, too; even the structure of the story was well thought out. The two timelines balanced each other almost perfectly. On top of that this story effortlessly overturns gender norms and a few medieval-fantasy tropes. The world-building was also extremely nuanced and detailed. I loved that this story started in a jungle and ended on top of a mountain. Sure beats the English countryside!

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cold Hillside is an urban fantasy with a Fae twist. I felt there was a lot going on and that the novel did not know what it wanted to be. It took a while for me to settle into the story without seeking a distraction. I liked that the Fae were completely untrustworthy - so many other series end up making Fae like immortal, perfect gods. Here there is no winning when the Fae are involved. They are cruel and unforgiving. The worldbuilding was excellent, but I felt the character development was lacking. Teresine and Lilith are the only characters truly fleshed out. Most of the rest of the cast of characters feels paper thin. 3.5 stars.

[Jenny Kendall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to set aside books, not finish them, unless I become completely enthralled. I finished Cold Hillside by Nancy Baker.

Here is a journey to the Court of the Fey that is so real, realistic even, with compelling characters. We are drawn into a lush world, but not through extravagant description, but rather through the lives of Teresine, Lilit, and the Sidiana. Of the fey, we learn all we need to, but want more. And that is as it is and ought to be.

[Marya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story by Baker was well thought out. Even with the dry start, it paved its way to intrigue and angst. After all, with pain, there is a fruitful future. Regardless if it's yours or not. Teresine sacrificed her entire being for a family she never got. For the respect she didn't think she deserved.

[Katja · Rating 4 out of 5]

more a 3.5, but I'll give it an edge upwards.

[Jordan Irwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the dark atmosphere the author created, added to the overall effectiveness of the book.

[J B Keller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end

This was a great book up until the end. There was no resolution and left me hanging. I hate books that do that

[Francesco Lanza · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is far from a joyride, but not because it's bleak, it's especially dark and threathening and the reason is simple to explain. It's because it's deeply human. This is the kind of speculative fiction that's written to put into question the meaning of civilization, family, the bounduary between human and alien. This is no self-masturbatory power fantasy, however pleasurable and even *needed* self-masturbatory fantasy is.

It's a story about two women and their relationships, how it is for them to be young, how it is to grow old. There is no drama, there are tragedies, and they are dealt with matter-of-factly, like any family would. There are no heroes, there's people, choices, mistakes. There is no closure, nor resolution, just life and bungling it through. There is no requirement to LIKE those two women. They are not written to endear. They are written to be rather interesting, though.

And then there's the Fae, the aliens, the things outside and the sacrifices needed to keep them out of the door. This menace is "normalized" for most of the story, until the characters wake up to its true horror of there being no normality at all about faeries. The Fae here are glamorous but as cruel as Terry Pratchett's and much more powerful, like predators, like the bears in Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man, only they know, they understand, they are aware and they get abusive instead of just hungry.

The characters are few in number and they are done well. Some of them at some point or another just fall between the cracks of the story and are forgotten or they keep being interesting and don't get the spotlight you'd like. This is no major defect, but it can be a bit jarring. The protagonist speaks mostly through memories, the deuteragonist is a teenager that's not all that likeable precisely because she's a teenager, and because she is the daughter of a very distasteful woman that didn't really educate her well to emotional maturity. The deuteragonist is the only reliable point of view.

Both MC are strong people, and very very understandable in their choices: they are not chosen champions, they are not good nor evil, and they can be wrong about stuff. The world around them is complex and rich, and just out of view, and the main backdrop is an interesting society. The plot flows smoothly, and spares no punches. It's not an "action" plot. There's almost no fighting, no wars and little physical violence. I don't understand what "originality" is, so I won't comment on that: it delivers on its promises.

This book deserves more attention, and I'm happy to start 2017 with such a good story, written in a masterful way.

[Rachelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Euskalans are a matriarchal society that must pay tribute to the Fey every year at a faire. Teresine was a Deshiniva slave girl in Jayasita when she escapes by stowing away on the boat of the Euskalan’s ruler’s daughter, Sarit. She becomes extremely close to the ruling family. Teresine’s, and her family’s, story unfolds from there.

I can’t really say anything else about the story without giving too much away. What I can say is that this isn’t an action story or even a quest narrative. It’s simply the story of Teresine’s life and how her interactions with the Fey cause unforeseen consequences for her family. The only thing that even makes this a Fantasy story is the inclusion of the Fey, though it is a different world with many vaguely Asian elements. If anything, I found the combination interesting. However, the story itself was a bit predictable, the main issue was too easily resolved in a very uncontroversial way despite the issue’s extreme controversy in reality, and the pacing was slow. Also, I got the impression that the matriarchal society was “superior”. Even though the Euskalans did seem to have a better life, especially compared to the life that Teresine lived while she was in Jayasita, the only power that the men seem to have is that they are able to choose their partners. They don’t have any power within the government, and though the women’s choice of whether or not to have a family is an admirable aspect, I don’t agree that any form of society where the genders aren’t completely equal is superior. The Euskalan society is just a reversal of gender roles with the added benefit of a lack of double standards in regards to sex and relationships. It was believable, but not Feminist.

Because of this book’s emphasis on the women’s story, a female-centric part of a much larger world, and a plot that reads like a Lifetime movie, along with the fact that men don’t have much of a voice, I can only recommend it to those who prefer that type of story and/or brand of “Feminism”.

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Giving up 100 pages in. I've tried but cannot summon any care or emotion for the main characters. The language of the novel was my favorite feature, and the world building is/seems intriguing. However, the main story and the way it is being told are just failing to interest me. I would consider reading other books by the author in the future but I'm surrendering on this one.

[Josef Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good fantasy novel

For a full review, please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/cold-h... and follow me on Twitter @josenher

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exquisitely executed fantasy evokes the legendary Fae, as dangerous as they are beautiful, and the mortals who fear them.

[asia · Rating 2 out of 5]

had to read this for my job, not great