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Winterveil
The Secret History meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in #1 bestselling author Ava Reid’s brand new, thrilling, dystopian YA novel.
There is no application process for Valeran Academy, but it boasts the brightest – and precociously criminal – students in the nation.
A disgraced politician from a powerful American dynasty.
A coldly brilliant strategist who will sacrifice anything to win.
A former pageant queen with a talent that could change the world.
A prodigious female soldier with an enigmatic past – and a dangerous secret.
With eerie war simulations, cutthroat competitions and foreboding new technology, Valeran trains its students to be elite assets in a Cold War that has dragged on for nearly a century. But as a sinister conspiracy takes shape and these four are drawn together for a mysterious mission, their loyalties are tested, their convictions shaken and they all begin to are they ushering in a new era of freedom, or tyranny?
There is no application process for Valeran Academy, but it boasts the brightest – and precociously criminal – students in the nation.
A disgraced politician from a powerful American dynasty.
A coldly brilliant strategist who will sacrifice anything to win.
A former pageant queen with a talent that could change the world.
A prodigious female soldier with an enigmatic past – and a dangerous secret.
With eerie war simulations, cutthroat competitions and foreboding new technology, Valeran trains its students to be elite assets in a Cold War that has dragged on for nearly a century. But as a sinister conspiracy takes shape and these four are drawn together for a mysterious mission, their loyalties are tested, their convictions shaken and they all begin to are they ushering in a new era of freedom, or tyranny?
448 pages, Hardcover
First published September 15, 2026
About the author
Ava Reid
18 books9,076 followersAva Reid is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of gothic fantasies, including A Study in Drowning, Juniper & Thorn, and Lady Macbeth. She lives in California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 548 reviews
May 26, 2026
Reid opens the author letter here with “Winterveil is the book that was never meant to see the light of day,” and that statement is perhaps the only part of this book I find reasonable.
This was an absolute train wreck from start to finish. Truly the most fantastical book I’ve read on so many levels.
As someone who majored in polisci, worked in foreign policy at a think tank for 5 years, and lives for a pretentious blonde prat with daddy issues who falls for a smart girl with curly hair, this should have been catnip for me. I could not have hated it more.
Valeran Academy here is built on a premise of political theory, but literally all of it falls apart in how it is applied. Students move up in class rank through simulations that start off giving real-life Risk and suddenly turn into Pokemon battles.
There’s this virtual reality / AI / mind-reading element that is in no way, shape or form explained, and makes absolutely zero sense in how it works. One of the characters at one point even thinks “it’s like magic” and yes, it is. Only it isn’t.
The 18 year old leads were giving tired elder millennials and had absolutely farcical backgrounds and experiences. And suddenly they are called upon for their unique set of skills to save the world from a turn in the Cold War? Sure.
The descriptions of Klaudia border on offensive. She’s described as having an unattractive face with big boobs, almost sexually assaulted at one point, and denigrated for being Russian. And Julian who is supposedly into her, also fantasizes about her being on her knees? Ridiculous.
The romances are so flat. There’s weird gratuitous oral sex in the middle of a simulation with a brand new character that makes no sense.
Teachers are giving predatory and there’s ridiculous psychological torture and extortion that these students are put through. They are shot at casually and yet the stakes never really feel high because all of it just makes zero sense.
Truly, all the plot points feel like they were written on scraps of paper in a fish bowl and Ava Reid pulled them out randomly and found a way to write them in. (Mind-reading nodes and tablets allowed at the futuristic boarding school but you can’t wear contacts? Sure.)
I could go on and on and honestly if the fun in this were in hate reading I suppose someone might enjoy it. It’s short, at least. I wasn’t outright offended personally at any point which is my theoretical floor for a 1 star book but this one is borderline.
1.5 ⭐️ rounded ⬇️ for being that bad and so you all take me seriously when I say AVOID.
Please save yourself the time.
This was an absolute train wreck from start to finish. Truly the most fantastical book I’ve read on so many levels.
As someone who majored in polisci, worked in foreign policy at a think tank for 5 years, and lives for a pretentious blonde prat with daddy issues who falls for a smart girl with curly hair, this should have been catnip for me. I could not have hated it more.
Valeran Academy here is built on a premise of political theory, but literally all of it falls apart in how it is applied. Students move up in class rank through simulations that start off giving real-life Risk and suddenly turn into Pokemon battles.
There’s this virtual reality / AI / mind-reading element that is in no way, shape or form explained, and makes absolutely zero sense in how it works. One of the characters at one point even thinks “it’s like magic” and yes, it is. Only it isn’t.
The 18 year old leads were giving tired elder millennials and had absolutely farcical backgrounds and experiences. And suddenly they are called upon for their unique set of skills to save the world from a turn in the Cold War? Sure.
The descriptions of Klaudia border on offensive. She’s described as having an unattractive face with big boobs, almost sexually assaulted at one point, and denigrated for being Russian. And Julian who is supposedly into her, also fantasizes about her being on her knees? Ridiculous.
The romances are so flat. There’s weird gratuitous oral sex in the middle of a simulation with a brand new character that makes no sense.
Teachers are giving predatory and there’s ridiculous psychological torture and extortion that these students are put through. They are shot at casually and yet the stakes never really feel high because all of it just makes zero sense.
Truly, all the plot points feel like they were written on scraps of paper in a fish bowl and Ava Reid pulled them out randomly and found a way to write them in. (Mind-reading nodes and tablets allowed at the futuristic boarding school but you can’t wear contacts? Sure.)
I could go on and on and honestly if the fun in this were in hate reading I suppose someone might enjoy it. It’s short, at least. I wasn’t outright offended personally at any point which is my theoretical floor for a 1 star book but this one is borderline.
1.5 ⭐️ rounded ⬇️ for being that bad and so you all take me seriously when I say AVOID.
Please save yourself the time.
March 20, 2026
ava reid making me have faith in dystopian books again bless!!
klaudia and julian having the most intense stare downs and academic rivalry meanwhile giselle and nadiya off in the corner like: omg did we dream of each other (but actually all four of them are equally traumatized)
thank you to edelweiss for providing me an advance review copy. full review to come!
Bookstagram | Blog
klaudia and julian having the most intense stare downs and academic rivalry meanwhile giselle and nadiya off in the corner like: omg did we dream of each other (but actually all four of them are equally traumatized)
thank you to edelweiss for providing me an advance review copy. full review to come!
Bookstagram | Blog
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
જ⁀➴ 2 stars
Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s/Epic Reads for both the NetGalley eARC and a physical ARC that I won in their Instagram fall sweepstakes in June! Winterveil is out now!
⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡
(Apparently I wrote this review under the wrong edition at first since I saved both the hardcover and the Kindle editions to my GR shelf, and then I submitted my review under the wrong publisher when I wrote it under the UK publisher instead of the US one...I think I fixed it now, so it's all good, I guess LOL.)
I don’t think I’ve said this before, but when I ARC read a book, I don’t look at the reviews that were already written, and I don’t look too much into the average ratings at first, either. It’s mainly just because I don’t want to be influenced by other people’s thoughts and have them inadvertently affect my own, and since ARC reading is based on giving an honest review of a book, I don’t even read other people’s Goodreads reviews until after I’m even done writing my own review.
With that said…I’m not gonna lie, the initial ratings of the book when I first got approved for it were…subpar, to put it nicely, but I went into this with an open mind. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the other book I read from Ava Reid (A Study in Drowning), but I figured that since this was a totally different genre in a new, slated duology, I’d take a chance on this and give it a shot.
Unfortunately, this was the most unorganized, hot mess of a book I’ve read all summer. There were so many things that never lined up, random scenes that were just totally unnecessary, and concepts in this near-future dystopian, alternate reality United States that made no sense to me and left me scratching my head. I know I have to give some leeway considering that this is only the first book in a duology and that there's more to come in the series, but it was THAT big of a disaster that somehow I couldn't look away from.
(There will be some minor spoilers ahead that WON'T reveal any major spoilers in the plot, but just know that I have quite a lot to say.)
⋆˙⟡ Julian: I'm sorry, but I knew from page ONE that I couldn't take this book seriously when it opened up with his POV. Like, you're going to expect me to believe that the city of Boston just....elected an EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD TO BE MAYOR? Let that sink in, because yes, this is exactly what happens. Then the city gets mad at said eighteen-year-old for not having a fully functional, developed frontal lobe and impeaches him for using taxpayer dollars to take a vacation to Turks and Caicos. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Like...be so for real, this kid can't even legally drink yet, and you elected him to be MAYOR? Have we really fallen THAT far down as a society in 2036 in this alternate timeline?
All of that aside, I do think that Julian was pretty book smart (considering he went to a top college), he just seems to have all the normal tendencies of an 18-19-year-old college student as well, which, I guess checks out...if you want to take the "horny, rich, daddy's money frat boy" vibe. There's just a VERY unnecessary scene (in my opinion) in the book from his POV with him and Klaudia, which made my jaw drop (in a bad way), which I'll mention at the end of my review in the spoilers section of my review.
⋆˙⟡ Klaudia: I honestly feel the worst for her out of the four MCs we get POVs from. Yes, she was extremely intelligent, something I actually really liked about her, and she never let people get in the way of what she wanted. However, it just felt like there were so many times when it felt like she was just there to be thrown around like a doll and sexualized, unfortunately. If I had a nickel for every time I've read a YA Ava Reid book and that's happened to a minor, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's almost...odd that it's happened twice in two totally different books. I remember reading somewhere that this just seems to be a common theme that she writes into a lot of her books, so take that as you will, but there were certain scenes in the book that didn't really sit well with me and felt entirely unnecessary to both her character development and the plotline overall. (I'll leave major spoilers at the end of my review regarding this.)
⋆˙⟡ Nadia: I felt like we needed MORE from her POV. I feel like all of the girls in this story were complete badasses and I feel like none of them were done justice. Yes, we did get to read from her POV, but I wanted to learn more about the technology she was working with and why this was all going to play a big part in the conflict/plot of the story. I'm sure we'll get more of this information (hopefully!) in the second book, but the technology wasn't fully explained very well. There's a bunch of nodes that people get hooked up to, some virtual reality simulators, simulators inside those simulators (at least it felt that way to me; as I said, it didn't seem fully fleshed out), and there was not a single explanation of any of this technology. It was like we just HAD to know how it all worked already going into the story, even though we didn't.
⋆˙⟡ Giselle: I honestly have mixed feelings about her. For one, she has such a cool ability that's helped out more than once, but I feel like that was all she was there for, and every other time she was there, it just felt like she was constantly like, "Woe is me, I'm not like everyone else" because she wasn't necessarily book smart or had some crazy fighting skills like everyone else. I feel like we spent more time seeing her cry and get nervous over failing than her actually doing anything for a GOOD chunk of the book, and she was very much just giving "sit still, look pretty" vibes when she finally met Nadia, Klaudia, and Julian and had to work with them. However, I think something else needs to be said about the weird student/teacher dynamic between her and her mentor (as well as Nadia and her "father"/mentor), and again, if I had a nickel for every time something like this showed up in a YA Ava Reid book, I'd have three nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's just CRAZY that it's happened three times.
There was also NO overly romantic vibe to this story, as the synopsis and the blurbs made it out to be. Like yes, there's romance, and it looks like it's going to shape out to be two prominent couples in the series, but there were literally points in time where I was just like...they might as well be in a quad relationship with how everyone seemed to be making googly eyes with each other at this rate.
Also, can we take a moment to talk about how class ranking at this school works? From my understanding, it kinda sounds like it's a three- or four-year program, yet everyone is ranked on the same ranking list? Like, I don't see how it's fair that Klaudia, who's been there for four years, is at the top of the school, but Julian's there for less than a month, and he's suddenly number two? Also, the rankings are based on how well the students do in their didactic classes, on top of a simulation game where they play out different scenarios of how the Cold War can progress based on their decisions in said simulation. It's a game of strategy, but then all of a sudden, some student who's a computer science/programming whiz develops a game that's oddly reminiscent of Pokémon, where you choose your little "avatars" and have them go off against each other based on their type, ability, moves they can do, etc., and THAT becomes the way class rank is determined? Like, imagine your class rank in high school being determined by whether or not your Charizard can beat a Mewtwo, and your ENTIRE reputation, college acceptances, and future job prospects depended on it.
(Bonus points for the random tidbit about how contact lenses aren't allowed to be worn at the academy, but having literally any and all other technology at the school was...fine? Like ????)
Overall, it was an interesting concept, just POORLY executed. There's a lot of potential for the characters to be great, so I guess we'll see what happens in the next book of this series, but there was just too much bad that outweighed the good about the book.
⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡
⋅˚₊‧ ୨ 𝒫𝓇𝑒-𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹 (5/26/26): ୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅ US NetGalley users, this is available as Read Now for the next 24 hours! I just got my copy and I’m hoping I love it (the initial ratings are lowkey scaring me I’m not gonna lie)
Thank you to Ava Reid, HarperCollins Children’s Publishing, and NetGalley for the eARC! Winterveil will be officially published on September 15th, 2026!
⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡
SPOILER SECTION (READ AT YOUR OWN RISK):
1. THAT scene with Julian and Klaudia: Julian walks into the library to see Klaudia get almost SA'ed by other guys at the academy. He fights them off for her, but then all he can think about is how big her breasts look and how she looks good on her knees. Like...RIGHT after he watches her ALMOST GET SA'ED. Like, first of all, why was the near-SA scene necessary, and why was that the FIRST THING HE THINKS OF?
2. THAT OTHER scene with Julian: There's literally a scene in the book where Julian gets a...BJ by some random new side character that comes out of nowhere. I can't make this up. It's not overly explicit, and it is fade to black, but you can tell it was happening.
Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s/Epic Reads for both the NetGalley eARC and a physical ARC that I won in their Instagram fall sweepstakes in June! Winterveil is out now!
⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡
(Apparently I wrote this review under the wrong edition at first since I saved both the hardcover and the Kindle editions to my GR shelf, and then I submitted my review under the wrong publisher when I wrote it under the UK publisher instead of the US one...I think I fixed it now, so it's all good, I guess LOL.)
I don’t think I’ve said this before, but when I ARC read a book, I don’t look at the reviews that were already written, and I don’t look too much into the average ratings at first, either. It’s mainly just because I don’t want to be influenced by other people’s thoughts and have them inadvertently affect my own, and since ARC reading is based on giving an honest review of a book, I don’t even read other people’s Goodreads reviews until after I’m even done writing my own review.
With that said…I’m not gonna lie, the initial ratings of the book when I first got approved for it were…subpar, to put it nicely, but I went into this with an open mind. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the other book I read from Ava Reid (A Study in Drowning), but I figured that since this was a totally different genre in a new, slated duology, I’d take a chance on this and give it a shot.
Unfortunately, this was the most unorganized, hot mess of a book I’ve read all summer. There were so many things that never lined up, random scenes that were just totally unnecessary, and concepts in this near-future dystopian, alternate reality United States that made no sense to me and left me scratching my head. I know I have to give some leeway considering that this is only the first book in a duology and that there's more to come in the series, but it was THAT big of a disaster that somehow I couldn't look away from.
(There will be some minor spoilers ahead that WON'T reveal any major spoilers in the plot, but just know that I have quite a lot to say.)
⋆˙⟡ Julian: I'm sorry, but I knew from page ONE that I couldn't take this book seriously when it opened up with his POV. Like, you're going to expect me to believe that the city of Boston just....elected an EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD TO BE MAYOR? Let that sink in, because yes, this is exactly what happens. Then the city gets mad at said eighteen-year-old for not having a fully functional, developed frontal lobe and impeaches him for using taxpayer dollars to take a vacation to Turks and Caicos. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Like...be so for real, this kid can't even legally drink yet, and you elected him to be MAYOR? Have we really fallen THAT far down as a society in 2036 in this alternate timeline?
All of that aside, I do think that Julian was pretty book smart (considering he went to a top college), he just seems to have all the normal tendencies of an 18-19-year-old college student as well, which, I guess checks out...if you want to take the "horny, rich, daddy's money frat boy" vibe. There's just a VERY unnecessary scene (in my opinion) in the book from his POV with him and Klaudia, which made my jaw drop (in a bad way), which I'll mention at the end of my review in the spoilers section of my review.
⋆˙⟡ Klaudia: I honestly feel the worst for her out of the four MCs we get POVs from. Yes, she was extremely intelligent, something I actually really liked about her, and she never let people get in the way of what she wanted. However, it just felt like there were so many times when it felt like she was just there to be thrown around like a doll and sexualized, unfortunately. If I had a nickel for every time I've read a YA Ava Reid book and that's happened to a minor, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's almost...odd that it's happened twice in two totally different books. I remember reading somewhere that this just seems to be a common theme that she writes into a lot of her books, so take that as you will, but there were certain scenes in the book that didn't really sit well with me and felt entirely unnecessary to both her character development and the plotline overall. (I'll leave major spoilers at the end of my review regarding this.)
⋆˙⟡ Nadia: I felt like we needed MORE from her POV. I feel like all of the girls in this story were complete badasses and I feel like none of them were done justice. Yes, we did get to read from her POV, but I wanted to learn more about the technology she was working with and why this was all going to play a big part in the conflict/plot of the story. I'm sure we'll get more of this information (hopefully!) in the second book, but the technology wasn't fully explained very well. There's a bunch of nodes that people get hooked up to, some virtual reality simulators, simulators inside those simulators (at least it felt that way to me; as I said, it didn't seem fully fleshed out), and there was not a single explanation of any of this technology. It was like we just HAD to know how it all worked already going into the story, even though we didn't.
⋆˙⟡ Giselle: I honestly have mixed feelings about her. For one, she has such a cool ability that's helped out more than once, but I feel like that was all she was there for, and every other time she was there, it just felt like she was constantly like, "Woe is me, I'm not like everyone else" because she wasn't necessarily book smart or had some crazy fighting skills like everyone else. I feel like we spent more time seeing her cry and get nervous over failing than her actually doing anything for a GOOD chunk of the book, and she was very much just giving "sit still, look pretty" vibes when she finally met Nadia, Klaudia, and Julian and had to work with them. However, I think something else needs to be said about the weird student/teacher dynamic between her and her mentor (as well as Nadia and her "father"/mentor), and again, if I had a nickel for every time something like this showed up in a YA Ava Reid book, I'd have three nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's just CRAZY that it's happened three times.
There was also NO overly romantic vibe to this story, as the synopsis and the blurbs made it out to be. Like yes, there's romance, and it looks like it's going to shape out to be two prominent couples in the series, but there were literally points in time where I was just like...they might as well be in a quad relationship with how everyone seemed to be making googly eyes with each other at this rate.
Also, can we take a moment to talk about how class ranking at this school works? From my understanding, it kinda sounds like it's a three- or four-year program, yet everyone is ranked on the same ranking list? Like, I don't see how it's fair that Klaudia, who's been there for four years, is at the top of the school, but Julian's there for less than a month, and he's suddenly number two? Also, the rankings are based on how well the students do in their didactic classes, on top of a simulation game where they play out different scenarios of how the Cold War can progress based on their decisions in said simulation. It's a game of strategy, but then all of a sudden, some student who's a computer science/programming whiz develops a game that's oddly reminiscent of Pokémon, where you choose your little "avatars" and have them go off against each other based on their type, ability, moves they can do, etc., and THAT becomes the way class rank is determined? Like, imagine your class rank in high school being determined by whether or not your Charizard can beat a Mewtwo, and your ENTIRE reputation, college acceptances, and future job prospects depended on it.
(Bonus points for the random tidbit about how contact lenses aren't allowed to be worn at the academy, but having literally any and all other technology at the school was...fine? Like ????)
Overall, it was an interesting concept, just POORLY executed. There's a lot of potential for the characters to be great, so I guess we'll see what happens in the next book of this series, but there was just too much bad that outweighed the good about the book.
⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡
⋅˚₊‧ ୨ 𝒫𝓇𝑒-𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹 (5/26/26): ୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅ US NetGalley users, this is available as Read Now for the next 24 hours! I just got my copy and I’m hoping I love it (the initial ratings are lowkey scaring me I’m not gonna lie)
Thank you to Ava Reid, HarperCollins Children’s Publishing, and NetGalley for the eARC! Winterveil will be officially published on September 15th, 2026!
⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡ ⋆ ⋆˙⟡ ⋆.˚ ⊹₊⟡
SPOILER SECTION (READ AT YOUR OWN RISK):
1. THAT scene with Julian and Klaudia: Julian walks into the library to see Klaudia get almost SA'ed by other guys at the academy. He fights them off for her, but then all he can think about is how big her breasts look and how she looks good on her knees. Like...RIGHT after he watches her ALMOST GET SA'ED. Like, first of all, why was the near-SA scene necessary, and why was that the FIRST THING HE THINKS OF?
2. THAT OTHER scene with Julian: There's literally a scene in the book where Julian gets a...BJ by some random new side character that comes out of nowhere. I can't make this up. It's not overly explicit, and it is fade to black, but you can tell it was happening.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I really have no idea what was going on with this one. Winterveil is underbaked in almost every regard to an extent that I found fascinating, but then this is combined with an equally incredible number of truly baffling, bizarre creative choices. The result stands out amongst the other books of Ava Reid’s I’ve read because it not only feels like the most egregiously underbaked/bizarre combo but also because it lacks the usual appealing Vibes. Whatever else is going on, I’m apt to enjoy the aesthetic trappings of a mysterious forest or a mansion crumbling by the sea or a witch sneaking to the ballet. Because Winterveil is set in a near-future American dystopia, it lacks that charm and the weirdness stands out all the more.
Before reading, it was impossible for me to avoid comparing the book’s premise to the premise of Fallout. And I don’t really know if it’s fair to *directly* compare the world-building of a standalone novel to an RPG series that’s been gathering lore (some good, some bad) for over 25 years now, but I don’t think you need to, honestly, because almost nothing has been done here. The big things we learn are that Gorbachev was assassinated, there is apparently a “third Red Scare on the way” and there is pervasive bias toward Russian characters.
Per the premise, the students at Valerian are the nation’s best and brightest genius delinquents whose particular talents are being honed at the same time that their minds are being warped to view the world ruthlessly in terms of us-American-capitalist-good vs. them-Russian-communist-bad. I think you can probably see this done most effectively in a couple of scenes where they’re playing these strategy simulation competitions. But those moments are scattered between scenes that are so unintentionally funny given this premise, like when our main characters have someone explain what a dead drop is to them and when “all the class start[s] taking notes” when a teacher writes the word anarchy and its definition on the board.
Most of the portion set at the academy lays the groundwork for our two central romances, and I will stand ten toes down when I say that I think it’s a trend for Reid’s high concept premises to get derailed by these romances that just don’t gel. The main four characters here *could* work for me as individual characters, couples and a team if they were developed more, but in this version of the book they’re stretched so thin. Each character has a deeply traumatic backstory - And I’m like whoa okay, that’s a lot to chew on, but we spend so little time doing or saying anything with any of it and then we’re immediately jumping from these flashback scenes to them playing competitive Not-Pokemon in a stadium or having to seduce Not-Elon Musk for some reason……it kind of becomes bathos and that is the exact opposite of what I want it to be and what it wants to be!
There’s so much strangeness in the present day, too. To all of this I say HUH?
What really frustrates me about criticism I’ve seen of Ava Reid’s books online is that there is this pearl-clutching about the mere presence of rape or incest or cannibalism or whatever…..like, that’s not the problem lol!!! The thing actually worth talking about imo is that these books don’t actually do anything very interesting with these topics and that unique combo of underdevelopment and inexplicable craft choices keeps popping up.
Winterveil is this awesomely strange whirlwind that has no idea how absurd it is and seems to think instead that it’s saying big important things about how War Never Changes and political realism. Even if the academy portion felt silly, I would still be inclined to give it slightly more credit in that regard if the teens underwent some kind of unlearning over the course of the book…but when they’re given the order to
This review is based on a NetGalley ARC and after this I only have one more late ARC review to go... for now...
Before reading, it was impossible for me to avoid comparing the book’s premise to the premise of Fallout. And I don’t really know if it’s fair to *directly* compare the world-building of a standalone novel to an RPG series that’s been gathering lore (some good, some bad) for over 25 years now, but I don’t think you need to, honestly, because almost nothing has been done here. The big things we learn are that Gorbachev was assassinated, there is apparently a “third Red Scare on the way” and there is pervasive bias toward Russian characters.
Per the premise, the students at Valerian are the nation’s best and brightest genius delinquents whose particular talents are being honed at the same time that their minds are being warped to view the world ruthlessly in terms of us-American-capitalist-good vs. them-Russian-communist-bad. I think you can probably see this done most effectively in a couple of scenes where they’re playing these strategy simulation competitions. But those moments are scattered between scenes that are so unintentionally funny given this premise, like when our main characters have someone explain what a dead drop is to them and when “all the class start[s] taking notes” when a teacher writes the word anarchy and its definition on the board.
Most of the portion set at the academy lays the groundwork for our two central romances, and I will stand ten toes down when I say that I think it’s a trend for Reid’s high concept premises to get derailed by these romances that just don’t gel. The main four characters here *could* work for me as individual characters, couples and a team if they were developed more, but in this version of the book they’re stretched so thin. Each character has a deeply traumatic backstory - And I’m like whoa okay, that’s a lot to chew on, but we spend so little time doing or saying anything with any of it and then we’re immediately jumping from these flashback scenes to them playing competitive Not-Pokemon in a stadium or having to seduce Not-Elon Musk for some reason……it kind of becomes bathos and that is the exact opposite of what I want it to be and what it wants to be!
There’s so much strangeness in the present day, too. To all of this I say HUH?
What really frustrates me about criticism I’ve seen of Ava Reid’s books online is that there is this pearl-clutching about the mere presence of rape or incest or cannibalism or whatever…..like, that’s not the problem lol!!! The thing actually worth talking about imo is that these books don’t actually do anything very interesting with these topics and that unique combo of underdevelopment and inexplicable craft choices keeps popping up.
Winterveil is this awesomely strange whirlwind that has no idea how absurd it is and seems to think instead that it’s saying big important things about how War Never Changes and political realism. Even if the academy portion felt silly, I would still be inclined to give it slightly more credit in that regard if the teens underwent some kind of unlearning over the course of the book…but when they’re given the order to
This review is based on a NetGalley ARC and after this I only have one more late ARC review to go... for now...
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
You know that feeling when one of your auto-buy authors announces a new book and you’re already emotionally invested, spiritually committed, and mentally preparing to scream about it for days?
Yes. That was me with this one.
Because let’s be real—Ava Reid has owned my heart with her previous works. The atmosphere, the haunting prose, the deeply layered characters that crawl under your skin and refuse to leave? I’ve adored it all. So obviously I went into this expecting to be completely swept away.
And while I liked it… I wasn’t levitating like I usually do.
The premise? Delicious. A dystopian world where the Cold War never ended, morally questionable teens thrown into a secret military academy, secrets, betrayal, political tension, a sprinkle of romance—honestly, on paper, this should have been my personality for a week.
And there are definitely things this book does well. The tone is dark, unsettling, and ambitious. The characters are messy, flawed, sometimes frustrating (okay, very frustrating at times), but undeniably interesting. I appreciated the attempt to explore power, control, and the cost of survival in a broken system. There’s also that signature Ava Reid atmosphere—brooding, tense, a little eerie—that keeps you turning the pages even when you’re slightly confused and emotionally side-eyeing everyone.
But here’s the thing… I never fully landed in the story.
The multiple POVs, while promising in theory, made it harder for me to connect deeply with any one character. Just as I started getting invested, we’d shift again, and I felt like I was constantly trying to catch up instead of sinking in. The world-building also felt a bit distant—I wanted more texture, more grounding, more reasons to feel the weight of this alternate reality.
And pacing… oh, the pacing and I had a complicated relationship. It’s one of those books where things are happening, but somehow it still feels like you’re waiting for the real story to begin. I kept thinking, “Okay THIS is where I get obsessed,” and then… not quite.
Emotionally, it didn’t hit me the way her previous books did. Usually her stories grab me by the soul and refuse to let go. This one kept me at arm’s length. I was interested, I was curious, but I wasn’t consumed—and that’s what I missed the most.
That said, I still think there’s an audience who will absolutely devour this. If you love morally gray characters, political intrigue, secret academies, and a darker dystopian vibe, this might totally work for you.
For me, it’s a solid 3 stars—I liked it, I respected what it tried to do, but I didn’t fall head over heels the way I usually do with this author. And honestly? That won’t stop me from immediately picking up her next book, because I know what she’s capable of.
A very huge thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books | HarperCollins for sharing this dystopian romance/gothic fantasy from one of my auto-approved favorite authors in exchange for my honest thoughts—I truly appreciate the opportunity.
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Yes. That was me with this one.
Because let’s be real—Ava Reid has owned my heart with her previous works. The atmosphere, the haunting prose, the deeply layered characters that crawl under your skin and refuse to leave? I’ve adored it all. So obviously I went into this expecting to be completely swept away.
And while I liked it… I wasn’t levitating like I usually do.
The premise? Delicious. A dystopian world where the Cold War never ended, morally questionable teens thrown into a secret military academy, secrets, betrayal, political tension, a sprinkle of romance—honestly, on paper, this should have been my personality for a week.
And there are definitely things this book does well. The tone is dark, unsettling, and ambitious. The characters are messy, flawed, sometimes frustrating (okay, very frustrating at times), but undeniably interesting. I appreciated the attempt to explore power, control, and the cost of survival in a broken system. There’s also that signature Ava Reid atmosphere—brooding, tense, a little eerie—that keeps you turning the pages even when you’re slightly confused and emotionally side-eyeing everyone.
But here’s the thing… I never fully landed in the story.
The multiple POVs, while promising in theory, made it harder for me to connect deeply with any one character. Just as I started getting invested, we’d shift again, and I felt like I was constantly trying to catch up instead of sinking in. The world-building also felt a bit distant—I wanted more texture, more grounding, more reasons to feel the weight of this alternate reality.
And pacing… oh, the pacing and I had a complicated relationship. It’s one of those books where things are happening, but somehow it still feels like you’re waiting for the real story to begin. I kept thinking, “Okay THIS is where I get obsessed,” and then… not quite.
Emotionally, it didn’t hit me the way her previous books did. Usually her stories grab me by the soul and refuse to let go. This one kept me at arm’s length. I was interested, I was curious, but I wasn’t consumed—and that’s what I missed the most.
That said, I still think there’s an audience who will absolutely devour this. If you love morally gray characters, political intrigue, secret academies, and a darker dystopian vibe, this might totally work for you.
For me, it’s a solid 3 stars—I liked it, I respected what it tried to do, but I didn’t fall head over heels the way I usually do with this author. And honestly? That won’t stop me from immediately picking up her next book, because I know what she’s capable of.
A very huge thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books | HarperCollins for sharing this dystopian romance/gothic fantasy from one of my auto-approved favorite authors in exchange for my honest thoughts—I truly appreciate the opportunity.
Follow me on medium.com to read my articles about books, movies, streaming series, astrology:
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October 5, 2026
I’ll read anything Ava writes so I was super excited to get something a little different from her with Winterveil.
While I enjoyed this overall, it started to lose me a bit going into the third part. I get the point of not divulging certain information to keep the reader guessing, but I think the further I got into it—around the 50% mark I would say—the vagueness started taking me out of it because I felt like I couldn’t digest or enjoy the story fully without the missing context. And even with some clarity given in the end, it still didn’t quite scratch that itch for me.
I really liked the setup, the premise, the mystery (to an extent), the characters and their dynamics. Julian’s prickly to say the least, but Klaudia, Nadiya and Giselle are all so sweet. They’re coerced into attending a government academy for troubled but gifted teens, and while class rivalries and grades seem like their biggest challenge, they’re suddenly recruited to complete a mission while being kept in the dark about the true nature of their roles and their handlers goals.
The pacing was engaging and the writing was captivating—not as detailed or emotive as I’ve come to expect from Ava, though. And thinking back I would have enjoyed a bit more world building. However, I can imagine the next book will likely cover all the holes in this book, hopefully.
Honestly, I think I was just craving a little more of everything. But it was still a fun read and the whole concept is very intriguing and I think has a lot of potential. I’m definitely curious to see what happens in the next book.
While I enjoyed this overall, it started to lose me a bit going into the third part. I get the point of not divulging certain information to keep the reader guessing, but I think the further I got into it—around the 50% mark I would say—the vagueness started taking me out of it because I felt like I couldn’t digest or enjoy the story fully without the missing context. And even with some clarity given in the end, it still didn’t quite scratch that itch for me.
I really liked the setup, the premise, the mystery (to an extent), the characters and their dynamics. Julian’s prickly to say the least, but Klaudia, Nadiya and Giselle are all so sweet. They’re coerced into attending a government academy for troubled but gifted teens, and while class rivalries and grades seem like their biggest challenge, they’re suddenly recruited to complete a mission while being kept in the dark about the true nature of their roles and their handlers goals.
The pacing was engaging and the writing was captivating—not as detailed or emotive as I’ve come to expect from Ava, though. And thinking back I would have enjoyed a bit more world building. However, I can imagine the next book will likely cover all the holes in this book, hopefully.
Honestly, I think I was just craving a little more of everything. But it was still a fun read and the whole concept is very intriguing and I think has a lot of potential. I’m definitely curious to see what happens in the next book.
September 10, 2026
I will admit one thing and one thing only. I went into this book thinking it was a standalone very much my fault. As I reached 80% marked I have realised that there was no way the book would wrapped up that quickly so I took my ass and googled to see if it was a standalone. It’s a duology, my bad. The cliffhanger wasn’t a cliffhanger that makes me want to pick up the next book. It was more of like we just end the story here type of way.
The beginning of the book was very slow. It didn’t hook me into the book like I was expecting and that ruined the experience of reading it. I feel like the whole school aspect dragged out for longer than necessary. As well as the four students that were picked for the mission didn’t really stand out to me. Do I understand why they were chosen? Kind of. Like I will admit I have no idea as to why Julian was chosen as he barely contributed to anything. Nadiya was a bit better but she didn’t really do anything either. The only two person that should’ve gone on that mission are Klaudia and Giselle. They’re the ones who actually did something.
It’s an intriguing concept but I don’t think it was done well. Half the time I was confusion as to why they were doing certain things because initially they didn’t do much for the story. I don’t think Ava Reid writing is for me. I just couldn’t connect with her writing style at all.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
————————————
𐙚⋆°. preread
This is my first book by this author and I’m curious to see how I’ll like it. It’s an interesting concept.
The beginning of the book was very slow. It didn’t hook me into the book like I was expecting and that ruined the experience of reading it. I feel like the whole school aspect dragged out for longer than necessary. As well as the four students that were picked for the mission didn’t really stand out to me. Do I understand why they were chosen? Kind of. Like I will admit I have no idea as to why Julian was chosen as he barely contributed to anything. Nadiya was a bit better but she didn’t really do anything either. The only two person that should’ve gone on that mission are Klaudia and Giselle. They’re the ones who actually did something.
It’s an intriguing concept but I don’t think it was done well. Half the time I was confusion as to why they were doing certain things because initially they didn’t do much for the story. I don’t think Ava Reid writing is for me. I just couldn’t connect with her writing style at all.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
————————————
𐙚⋆°. preread
This is my first book by this author and I’m curious to see how I’ll like it. It’s an interesting concept.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This might be a very British, Gen Z bookworm reference, but this felt like a slightly older Alex Rider book.
Set in 2037, it follows four unique intelligent, teenage criminals offered redemption at a secret military academy.
It is set in a dystopian world where these teens are tested and trained as elite assets in a Cold War. However, instead of politics, espionage, or even cool spy gadgets, this felt like a run-of-the-mill thriller where the four couple up.
Don’t get me wrong, it was super readable, but the characters were so flat and I actively disliked the hero even though we were supposed to be rooting for him and pitying him. He just makes a lot of bad decisions again and again which we’re supposed to forgive him for despite never truly addressing it.
Ava Reid is definitely at her best writing dark folktales.
2.75 stars.🌟
Physical arc gifted by Electric Monkey.
Bookstagram
Tiktok
Set in 2037, it follows four unique intelligent, teenage criminals offered redemption at a secret military academy.
It is set in a dystopian world where these teens are tested and trained as elite assets in a Cold War. However, instead of politics, espionage, or even cool spy gadgets, this felt like a run-of-the-mill thriller where the four couple up.
Don’t get me wrong, it was super readable, but the characters were so flat and I actively disliked the hero even though we were supposed to be rooting for him and pitying him. He just makes a lot of bad decisions again and again which we’re supposed to forgive him for despite never truly addressing it.
Ava Reid is definitely at her best writing dark folktales.
2.75 stars.🌟
Physical arc gifted by Electric Monkey.
Bookstagram
Tiktok
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I can’t mince words here: this was one of the worst books I’ve ever read. I felt genuinely furious and disgusted reading this careless, unfinished, nonsensical, offensive mess.
Quick premise because I cannot be bothered to write a full blurb: In an alternate universe where the Cold War never ended, four insufferable teenage criminals get enlisted at a military academy, where their unique abilities get them wrapped up in a top-secret CIA mission.
I had to check over and over again that this is supposed to be YA and not Adult. I mean there are two on-page sexual assault scenes (one of which is a main character being held down while her shirt is torn off and another main character gets hard while watching, and the other is a teacher forcibly kissing a student). There’s also an open-door sex scene, a mostly-closed-door oral sex scene, a graphic scene where a character finds a family member who has committed suicide, and a flashback of a character watching someone violently kill an animal. Did Reid get confused and think she was still writing Innamorata?
It’s not like I’m opposed to explicit content being included in YA either. When I was a teenager, I read the Throne of Glass series and even ACOTAR back when it was still shelved as YA and didn’t bat an eye. If anything, providing teenagers a safe outlet for their curiosity is a good thing. But this isn’t how you do it, and it made me so uncomfortable to think this is supposed to be for a young audience. The characters’ vapid obsession with their bodies and their friends’ bodies, the predatory teacher/student relationships, the literal sexual assault scenes. It’s this mess of bizarre sexualization and graphic content just included for shock value, and it’s all completely unnecessary. Given that Reid purposely does not include trigger warnings for her books, the fact this is supposed to be YA is even more appalling.
Even beyond the inappropriate content, the actual meat and potatoes of the story isn’t good either. If you need ANY level of consistency or feasibility in a story, you will not find it here. This reads like a moodboard of completely random ideas smashed together and none of it has any substance. The things that should actually be interesting about the story like the military espionage, the war simulations and student rankings, the Pokemon-ripoff video game tournament - all of it happens off page. We never actually see any of it happen, there are only brief descriptions saying who won and then the social maneuvering surrounding it, but not once are the events shown on page. Later, when the setting changes and the main characters are on their CIA mission, there’s still no action, they just solve Shakespeare-themed riddles as “ingenuity tests.” I wish I was joking. The book is all telling and no showing. The reader is just supposed to watch people talk about the thing without ever seeing the thing.
So what about the genre? Surely there’s something interesting there. Well, the dystopian elements are truly just set dressing. I won't claim to be particularly educated in poli sci, but even I know Reid is just stringing together word salad about political theory and whatnot, and none of it made any sense. So to me, someone relatively uneducated in political science, it sounds like gibberish, and I see people who are educated hating how inaccurate and nonsensical it is, so it just seems like a lose-lose all-around. The furthest any kind of commentary goes is “capitalism bad,” “rich people bad,” and “nationalism bad,” and it never attempts to do anything thought-provoking with those ideas. It’s the big 2026, you think your readers don’t already know this? Every day I log into social media, I see a new horrifying headline that shows me these same concepts; a quick scroll has more substance than anything this book has to offer.
Not to mention the inclusions that are so on-the-nose they’re just cringe-worthy. The “conservative conspiracy theorist webshow host” who’s named Jamie Fox and just goes by “Fox”? Or the character who is undoubtedly supposed to be Elon Musk, specifically mentioning he’s the CEO of a tech company that’s getting too involved with the government, that he’s South African, and that he has a bunch of children with different women to “further a superior bloodline.” And all he does is show up, flirt with one of the teenage protagonists, then disappear. Why? I have no idea! The plot makes no sense!!
And what really riled me is how this book so desperately tries to be progressive while still shoving every character into the most stereotyped box possible. I’ve already seen plenty of reviews talking about how bizarre it is that the book states dozens of times that Klaudia is NOT pretty but does have big boobs, and is constantly sexualized by other characters. What irked me was how another main character, Giselle, was treated. Of course the Appalachian character is a child pageant star whose family lives in a trailer and whose boyfriend gave her a promise ring he bought at Walmart. Of course all of her classmates refer to her as “redneck Barbie” and she is never defended by any other character. Of course the other main characters mentally judge her accent. And even Giselle herself perpetuates this, in a scene where she wants to write a letter home to her mom to tell about the academy and to let her know she’s all right, then decides not to because “Her mother waitressed at a biker bar on the interstate. None of these words were in her vocabulary.” Maybe it’s just me, but I found every attempt to be forward-thinking laughable when Reid is also making every character a caricature full of the worst assumptions you can have about a type of person.
I can’t deny that Reid is a skilled writer on a technical level, but I also can’t help but question her storytelling abilities and what she chooses to include in her books. While I am grateful A Study in Drowning helped me get back into reading, I think I’m officially done reading anything from Ava Reid. Genuinely, I felt so disgusted after finishing this that I put the books I owned by her up for sale. I just can’t reconcile the books I once adored with the author who wrote a book like this. Normally for ARCs I suggest who I think the book will work for, but I can’t in good conscience recommend this book. Maybe if you want a hate-read, this will work for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Quick premise because I cannot be bothered to write a full blurb: In an alternate universe where the Cold War never ended, four insufferable teenage criminals get enlisted at a military academy, where their unique abilities get them wrapped up in a top-secret CIA mission.
I had to check over and over again that this is supposed to be YA and not Adult. I mean there are two on-page sexual assault scenes (one of which is a main character being held down while her shirt is torn off and another main character gets hard while watching, and the other is a teacher forcibly kissing a student). There’s also an open-door sex scene, a mostly-closed-door oral sex scene, a graphic scene where a character finds a family member who has committed suicide, and a flashback of a character watching someone violently kill an animal. Did Reid get confused and think she was still writing Innamorata?
It’s not like I’m opposed to explicit content being included in YA either. When I was a teenager, I read the Throne of Glass series and even ACOTAR back when it was still shelved as YA and didn’t bat an eye. If anything, providing teenagers a safe outlet for their curiosity is a good thing. But this isn’t how you do it, and it made me so uncomfortable to think this is supposed to be for a young audience. The characters’ vapid obsession with their bodies and their friends’ bodies, the predatory teacher/student relationships, the literal sexual assault scenes. It’s this mess of bizarre sexualization and graphic content just included for shock value, and it’s all completely unnecessary. Given that Reid purposely does not include trigger warnings for her books, the fact this is supposed to be YA is even more appalling.
Even beyond the inappropriate content, the actual meat and potatoes of the story isn’t good either. If you need ANY level of consistency or feasibility in a story, you will not find it here. This reads like a moodboard of completely random ideas smashed together and none of it has any substance. The things that should actually be interesting about the story like the military espionage, the war simulations and student rankings, the Pokemon-ripoff video game tournament - all of it happens off page. We never actually see any of it happen, there are only brief descriptions saying who won and then the social maneuvering surrounding it, but not once are the events shown on page. Later, when the setting changes and the main characters are on their CIA mission, there’s still no action, they just solve Shakespeare-themed riddles as “ingenuity tests.” I wish I was joking. The book is all telling and no showing. The reader is just supposed to watch people talk about the thing without ever seeing the thing.
So what about the genre? Surely there’s something interesting there. Well, the dystopian elements are truly just set dressing. I won't claim to be particularly educated in poli sci, but even I know Reid is just stringing together word salad about political theory and whatnot, and none of it made any sense. So to me, someone relatively uneducated in political science, it sounds like gibberish, and I see people who are educated hating how inaccurate and nonsensical it is, so it just seems like a lose-lose all-around. The furthest any kind of commentary goes is “capitalism bad,” “rich people bad,” and “nationalism bad,” and it never attempts to do anything thought-provoking with those ideas. It’s the big 2026, you think your readers don’t already know this? Every day I log into social media, I see a new horrifying headline that shows me these same concepts; a quick scroll has more substance than anything this book has to offer.
Not to mention the inclusions that are so on-the-nose they’re just cringe-worthy. The “conservative conspiracy theorist webshow host” who’s named Jamie Fox and just goes by “Fox”? Or the character who is undoubtedly supposed to be Elon Musk, specifically mentioning he’s the CEO of a tech company that’s getting too involved with the government, that he’s South African, and that he has a bunch of children with different women to “further a superior bloodline.” And all he does is show up, flirt with one of the teenage protagonists, then disappear. Why? I have no idea! The plot makes no sense!!
And what really riled me is how this book so desperately tries to be progressive while still shoving every character into the most stereotyped box possible. I’ve already seen plenty of reviews talking about how bizarre it is that the book states dozens of times that Klaudia is NOT pretty but does have big boobs, and is constantly sexualized by other characters. What irked me was how another main character, Giselle, was treated. Of course the Appalachian character is a child pageant star whose family lives in a trailer and whose boyfriend gave her a promise ring he bought at Walmart. Of course all of her classmates refer to her as “redneck Barbie” and she is never defended by any other character. Of course the other main characters mentally judge her accent. And even Giselle herself perpetuates this, in a scene where she wants to write a letter home to her mom to tell about the academy and to let her know she’s all right, then decides not to because “Her mother waitressed at a biker bar on the interstate. None of these words were in her vocabulary.” Maybe it’s just me, but I found every attempt to be forward-thinking laughable when Reid is also making every character a caricature full of the worst assumptions you can have about a type of person.
I can’t deny that Reid is a skilled writer on a technical level, but I also can’t help but question her storytelling abilities and what she chooses to include in her books. While I am grateful A Study in Drowning helped me get back into reading, I think I’m officially done reading anything from Ava Reid. Genuinely, I felt so disgusted after finishing this that I put the books I owned by her up for sale. I just can’t reconcile the books I once adored with the author who wrote a book like this. Normally for ARCs I suggest who I think the book will work for, but I can’t in good conscience recommend this book. Maybe if you want a hate-read, this will work for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
1 ⭐️
Unfortunately Winterveil was a huge disappointment for me. While the premise was incredibly unique and had great potential it fell completely flat. The lack of world building and actual plot for the first 50% of this book left me with a lot to desire and then we are just dropped in a whole new setting with even less explanation.
Trigger warnings below.
Every character (except julian actually) had redeeming qualities which is the only thing that kept me going. Klaudia was especially my favorite but the way the author described her was just horrible. I am so over constantly harping on how ugly and unattractive a female character is but “despite that” she’s still a main love interest. So overdone and distasteful. Also it seemed she was just “unattractive” because she was Russian? So so odd to me…..
Julian was horrendous as a character and my absolute main gripe with this entire book was the fact that MULTIPLE times he is fantasizing about this girl “on her knees” right after she was assaulted. Both in a “I feel bad for her” and “I wanted to be the one to put her there (sexually and rivalry wise)” the entire concept of the SA was just unnecessary and for shock value which is disgusting in and of itself. There were also way too many instances of adult content in this YA book surrounding Julian. There was ZERO reason for him to have so many borderline explicit scenes with multiple people. Also another gripe was him giving away his precious watch at the end for no reason. This bothered me an insane amount and should be taken out.
There was also zero reason for the teacher/student dynamics being so incredibly creepy and predatory (Blanchard with Giselle AND Iver with Nadiya) Again just another example of trying to add shock value in the most distasteful way.
The relationships in the story genuinely felt so forced and made very little sense. These were children being forced to train/fight in the ongoing Cold War I’m not sure how they all had so much time to be falling in love with each other but with zero chemistry at all. The only actual relationship of any substance was between Mikhail and Jane and they weren’t even main characters….
The structure of this story was also a mess and left so much to be desired. I will take more time to formulate real thoughts on this but I’m just so stuck on all the other issues mentioned above.
Overall this book was honestly really hard to read. While I loved Klaudia and occasionally Nadiya, I just wanted so much more. The Thymos game could’ve been way better explained (this was actually cool), we could have eliminated so many disgusting plot lines, and instead spent more time explaining the story, war, academy as a whole, purpose of the mission, and so on. Instead we got 400+ pages of teachers assaulting students, students assaulting each other, and zero resolution to any of our problems. This was a huge disappointment for such a promising story.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately Winterveil was a huge disappointment for me. While the premise was incredibly unique and had great potential it fell completely flat. The lack of world building and actual plot for the first 50% of this book left me with a lot to desire and then we are just dropped in a whole new setting with even less explanation.
Trigger warnings below.
Every character (except julian actually) had redeeming qualities which is the only thing that kept me going. Klaudia was especially my favorite but the way the author described her was just horrible. I am so over constantly harping on how ugly and unattractive a female character is but “despite that” she’s still a main love interest. So overdone and distasteful. Also it seemed she was just “unattractive” because she was Russian? So so odd to me…..
Julian was horrendous as a character and my absolute main gripe with this entire book was the fact that MULTIPLE times he is fantasizing about this girl “on her knees” right after she was assaulted. Both in a “I feel bad for her” and “I wanted to be the one to put her there (sexually and rivalry wise)” the entire concept of the SA was just unnecessary and for shock value which is disgusting in and of itself. There were also way too many instances of adult content in this YA book surrounding Julian. There was ZERO reason for him to have so many borderline explicit scenes with multiple people. Also another gripe was him giving away his precious watch at the end for no reason. This bothered me an insane amount and should be taken out.
There was also zero reason for the teacher/student dynamics being so incredibly creepy and predatory (Blanchard with Giselle AND Iver with Nadiya) Again just another example of trying to add shock value in the most distasteful way.
The relationships in the story genuinely felt so forced and made very little sense. These were children being forced to train/fight in the ongoing Cold War I’m not sure how they all had so much time to be falling in love with each other but with zero chemistry at all. The only actual relationship of any substance was between Mikhail and Jane and they weren’t even main characters….
The structure of this story was also a mess and left so much to be desired. I will take more time to formulate real thoughts on this but I’m just so stuck on all the other issues mentioned above.
Overall this book was honestly really hard to read. While I loved Klaudia and occasionally Nadiya, I just wanted so much more. The Thymos game could’ve been way better explained (this was actually cool), we could have eliminated so many disgusting plot lines, and instead spent more time explaining the story, war, academy as a whole, purpose of the mission, and so on. Instead we got 400+ pages of teachers assaulting students, students assaulting each other, and zero resolution to any of our problems. This was a huge disappointment for such a promising story.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Winterveil started perfectly but it just fell apart as it went on, which is a shame.
We're in a world where the cold war was never over, the US and USSR are still in a conflict and our protagonists are caught up in the middle of it.
Julian is a teenager, and also a corrupt politician, Giselle is a pageant queen with an eidetic memory, Klaudia is a prodigy, and Nadiya lost her family and was raised to be a soldier. Pretty great cast of characters.
They all end up at a military academy of sorts, and that part is really good. My problem is with the ending, it felt cheap, it's the easiest copout. And don't get me started on what Julian does, I get he is a teenage boy holy shit he can't be this stupid.
The saving grace might be the sapphic couple, but they don't even get much attention in this book.
I enjoyed the writing, might try other books by the author and I think I'll read the sequel but I had higher expectations because the beginning was so good.
Thank you Netgalley and Harpercollins for the ARC.
We're in a world where the cold war was never over, the US and USSR are still in a conflict and our protagonists are caught up in the middle of it.
Julian is a teenager, and also a corrupt politician, Giselle is a pageant queen with an eidetic memory, Klaudia is a prodigy, and Nadiya lost her family and was raised to be a soldier. Pretty great cast of characters.
They all end up at a military academy of sorts, and that part is really good. My problem is with the ending, it felt cheap, it's the easiest copout. And don't get me started on what Julian does, I get he is a teenage boy holy shit he can't be this stupid.
The saving grace might be the sapphic couple, but they don't even get much attention in this book.
I enjoyed the writing, might try other books by the author and I think I'll read the sequel but I had higher expectations because the beginning was so good.
Thank you Netgalley and Harpercollins for the ARC.
Currently Reading
July 6, 2026LITERALLY CLAWING AT THE GATES
September 6, 2026
“No matter what they offer you, never defect. Trying to pit us against each other is only to their benefit. This is not a zero-sum game. Not anymore.”
rating: 4.25★
this started off strong, then there was a point around 40% in where i wasn't sure how i was going to end up liking this. fortunately, it quickly picked up again and i couldn't put it down until that cliffhanger ending.
definitely one of the less flowery of reid's prose, but also one of her more direct parallels of story to political commentary. it helped make this read faster, which i appreciated bc i REALLY wanted to see what would happen next!
i really like the mc's and while i don't love julian's inability to control his impulses, i can see why he is that way and why he's made the choices he has. i think reid has crafted four layered characters who are not perfect but are still lovable and i'm rooting hard for!
i don't want to spoil too much by bringing up some of the media influences i could infer on this, but i think it is one of my more recently enjoyed dark academia books bc it goes so beyond the corruption within educational systems and elaborates on governmental powers on the youth.
a lot of commentary on nationalism, weaponizing marginalized refugees for political gain with no guaranteed safety, the ethics of technology and war (esp AI), and you're definitely going to recognize one of the bad guys in the later acts 🤭
i feel like i need to percolate on this to better articulate a deeper analysis, but i'll end this with saying i didn't expect a pokemon tournament but you know what, i ain't mad!
‘everything is permitted under the veil of winter.’”
an honest arc review <3
rating: 4.25★
this started off strong, then there was a point around 40% in where i wasn't sure how i was going to end up liking this. fortunately, it quickly picked up again and i couldn't put it down until that cliffhanger ending.
definitely one of the less flowery of reid's prose, but also one of her more direct parallels of story to political commentary. it helped make this read faster, which i appreciated bc i REALLY wanted to see what would happen next!
i really like the mc's and while i don't love julian's inability to control his impulses, i can see why he is that way and why he's made the choices he has. i think reid has crafted four layered characters who are not perfect but are still lovable and i'm rooting hard for!
i don't want to spoil too much by bringing up some of the media influences i could infer on this, but i think it is one of my more recently enjoyed dark academia books bc it goes so beyond the corruption within educational systems and elaborates on governmental powers on the youth.
a lot of commentary on nationalism, weaponizing marginalized refugees for political gain with no guaranteed safety, the ethics of technology and war (esp AI), and you're definitely going to recognize one of the bad guys in the later acts 🤭
i feel like i need to percolate on this to better articulate a deeper analysis, but i'll end this with saying i didn't expect a pokemon tournament but you know what, i ain't mad!
‘everything is permitted under the veil of winter.’”
an honest arc review <3
Want to Read
March 16, 2026
pre-read notes:
I JUST LET OUT THE BIGGEST SCREAM!! 😭 Thank you HarperCollins and Ava Reid for the ARC of this book!! You guys have NO idea how insufferable I'm about to be 😮💨❤️
I'm so excited to read this!!
🗓️: Releasing on September 15, 2026
I JUST LET OUT THE BIGGEST SCREAM!! 😭 Thank you HarperCollins and Ava Reid for the ARC of this book!! You guys have NO idea how insufferable I'm about to be 😮💨❤️
I'm so excited to read this!!
🗓️: Releasing on September 15, 2026
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
4.5/5 stars
i think people were expecting the 4 core characters to have a found family dynamic, which is their biggest downfall because we were never promised that! this book is soooo fun, especially as someone who has such an interest in international relations and history. this is basically a canon divergence of a world where soviet union wasn't dissolved and the cold war, and somehow it works? crazy
the contrast between the two romances are so funny because you have klaudia and julian's intense academic showdown and heated stares while they can't decide if they want to fuck up the other or fuck each other. meanwhile, nadiya and giselle are meeting in their dreams and having sweet bonding moments. the one thing they all have in common are parental issues and a heap load of trauma
also what the FUCKKKKK was that ending i'm so serious that was so drab and it's a crime that i have to wait forever for the sequel. and to end this, FUCK the government and FUCK men
i think people were expecting the 4 core characters to have a found family dynamic, which is their biggest downfall because we were never promised that! this book is soooo fun, especially as someone who has such an interest in international relations and history. this is basically a canon divergence of a world where soviet union wasn't dissolved and the cold war, and somehow it works? crazy
the contrast between the two romances are so funny because you have klaudia and julian's intense academic showdown and heated stares while they can't decide if they want to fuck up the other or fuck each other. meanwhile, nadiya and giselle are meeting in their dreams and having sweet bonding moments. the one thing they all have in common are parental issues and a heap load of trauma
also what the FUCKKKKK was that ending i'm so serious that was so drab and it's a crime that i have to wait forever for the sequel. and to end this, FUCK the government and FUCK men
October 1, 2026
⭐️ 3 stars
Reid is an incredibly talented writer who creates fascinating worlds and interesting characters. I've read most of their work and loved it all (mostly), even less popular work of theirs such as Fable for the End of the World (which is perhaps the closest to this book when compared to her others.) But this book felt all over the place and underbaked.
It was fantastic on a line level. Reid's writing is beautiful, detailed without being purple, and it fits well with this dystopian academic setting but the pacing of this book in particular dragged for me and then went to 100 at the end. Also, I see what they were doing there by comparing this book to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. There's an attempt to have that same unlikable boy-wonder-esque character but I'm not sure it's done successfully and I say that as someone who really enjoyed Snow's portrayal in TBOSAS. I do believe I'm supposed to be torn about Julian, so I guess in that way he serves his purpose within the narrative, but I never rooted for him nor bought his unnatural success (like being elected to public office). There's a good bit of that within the story, though. Bits and pieces I found too fantastical even if I suspended my belief, especially as those unbelievable elements began to grow and compound. It's unfortunate because I also didn't care for the romances.
That being said, I wouldn't say this is a bad novel! It just has an issue with what exactly it wants to do or convey, the concepts are...cluttered? It's hard to describe but I'm sure there's a person out there who'd love this. I'm just not sure who.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Reid is an incredibly talented writer who creates fascinating worlds and interesting characters. I've read most of their work and loved it all (mostly), even less popular work of theirs such as Fable for the End of the World (which is perhaps the closest to this book when compared to her others.) But this book felt all over the place and underbaked.
It was fantastic on a line level. Reid's writing is beautiful, detailed without being purple, and it fits well with this dystopian academic setting but the pacing of this book in particular dragged for me and then went to 100 at the end. Also, I see what they were doing there by comparing this book to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. There's an attempt to have that same unlikable boy-wonder-esque character but I'm not sure it's done successfully and I say that as someone who really enjoyed Snow's portrayal in TBOSAS. I do believe I'm supposed to be torn about Julian, so I guess in that way he serves his purpose within the narrative, but I never rooted for him nor bought his unnatural success (like being elected to public office). There's a good bit of that within the story, though. Bits and pieces I found too fantastical even if I suspended my belief, especially as those unbelievable elements began to grow and compound. It's unfortunate because I also didn't care for the romances.
That being said, I wouldn't say this is a bad novel! It just has an issue with what exactly it wants to do or convey, the concepts are...cluttered? It's hard to describe but I'm sure there's a person out there who'd love this. I'm just not sure who.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
March 28, 2026
Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the gifted eARC!
I’ve read several books by Ava Reid and enjoyed them all, but I think this one may be my favorite to date. I thought the concept of a future United States in another Cold War was super interesting, and the political components were very well executed and grounded in both historic and current affairs. The element that kept giving me pause as I was reading, however, was that this is being marketed as YA and the content of the story didn’t really align with what I was expecting based on how it was presented. Don’t get me wrong - I really enjoyed this story and in many ways it exceeded my original expectations, but I’m also in my 30s, and I know I would not have got as much out of this as a teen (unless I was one of the “precocious” teens in this book). My question of “what is YA, exactly” continues to remain unanswered, but I’m looking forward to book 2 nonetheless!
I’ve read several books by Ava Reid and enjoyed them all, but I think this one may be my favorite to date. I thought the concept of a future United States in another Cold War was super interesting, and the political components were very well executed and grounded in both historic and current affairs. The element that kept giving me pause as I was reading, however, was that this is being marketed as YA and the content of the story didn’t really align with what I was expecting based on how it was presented. Don’t get me wrong - I really enjoyed this story and in many ways it exceeded my original expectations, but I’m also in my 30s, and I know I would not have got as much out of this as a teen (unless I was one of the “precocious” teens in this book). My question of “what is YA, exactly” continues to remain unanswered, but I’m looking forward to book 2 nonetheless!
October 2, 2026
i'm sorry but this book was such a mess and one of the biggest disappointments of this year. julian has to the worse character here.
August 20, 2026
if i were rating this purely off the plot, writing, atmosphere, and unputdownability, this genuinely could have been a 5 star read.
i just have such a major gripe with one character and “romance” in particular i had to dock an entire (maybe 2…tbd) star for it.
i’ll start with the positives real quick. as noted above, i thought the plot was fantastic. i’ve been reading so many books that have all felt forgettable and the same recently, but this felt so unique and refreshing. i loved the academia vibes. it was so immersive. i also loved THREE of the main characters. nadiya, klaudia, and giselle were absolutely lovely. they were such different but compelling characters. the camaraderie between the three and the romance between nadiya and giselle felt very realistic and believable (though a bit fast paced).
now, julian. what an awful scummy character. i love a flawed character, don’t get me wrong. all 3 of the other main characters are also flawed but likeable. julian was just a mess with absolutely 0 impulse control. i also can’t believe we’re supposed to be rooting for him and klaudia? she deserves SO much better. she’s so hardworking and tragic and finally finds someone who she has feeling for and it’s HIM?! not to get too spoilery but he’s physically intimate with multiple other characters while supposedly being enamoured with klaudia and it just felt so icky to read. he ruined the book for me, which is wild because he seemed cool for the first half of the book!!
welp. i will read book 2 for the plot and other characters, but won’t be sad if julian disappears lol
thank you harper collins canada for the arc!!!
i just have such a major gripe with one character and “romance” in particular i had to dock an entire (maybe 2…tbd) star for it.
i’ll start with the positives real quick. as noted above, i thought the plot was fantastic. i’ve been reading so many books that have all felt forgettable and the same recently, but this felt so unique and refreshing. i loved the academia vibes. it was so immersive. i also loved THREE of the main characters. nadiya, klaudia, and giselle were absolutely lovely. they were such different but compelling characters. the camaraderie between the three and the romance between nadiya and giselle felt very realistic and believable (though a bit fast paced).
now, julian. what an awful scummy character. i love a flawed character, don’t get me wrong. all 3 of the other main characters are also flawed but likeable. julian was just a mess with absolutely 0 impulse control. i also can’t believe we’re supposed to be rooting for him and klaudia? she deserves SO much better. she’s so hardworking and tragic and finally finds someone who she has feeling for and it’s HIM?! not to get too spoilery but he’s physically intimate with multiple other characters while supposedly being enamoured with klaudia and it just felt so icky to read. he ruined the book for me, which is wild because he seemed cool for the first half of the book!!
welp. i will read book 2 for the plot and other characters, but won’t be sad if julian disappears lol
thank you harper collins canada for the arc!!!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I'm still trying to disentangle how much of my trouble with this book is based in actual flaws in the writing and how much comes from the fact that I just wanted this book to be something very different than what it is.
The premise of an alternate history near-future dystopian world where the cold war never ended really interested me. I hoped to read a story engaged in the global consequences of continued US/USSR proxy wars that had something to say about CIA anticommunist intervention. But instead of being focused on the way this alternate history would change the world, this story primarily centers on the abuse of those being trained within the US intelligence machine. While it's clear from passing references that Ava Reid has personal opinions about US interventionism, this story isn't about that, it's about the treatment of soldiers. Thematically, this was just less interesting to me.
Winterveil has 4 main characters, none of whom I was particularly attached to. Giselle is a bit of a blank slate with little development. Klaudia and Nadiya are both compelling, but the follow-through on their development was still lacking for me. Julian was so annoying that he had me constantly ready to tear my hair out. The characters' internal conflicts often come out of nowhere in a way that feels artificial, and their personal histories/traumas are often clumsy attempts to build sympathy. The most interesting thing Ava did with these characters was not give Julian, the spoiled rich boy, an uncomplicated redemption arc. While everything he did pissed me off, I think I would have been less irritated if I hadn't mistakenly assumed that everything he did wrong would be brushed aside in the name of his redemption.
The two romantic plot lines didn't do much for me. Giselle and Nadiya's romance was fine, just not particularly well-developed or compelling. Julian and Klaudia's relationship was more grating. The emotional side of their romance is told directly to the reader rather than developed. This means that most of what we actually see is sexual attraction, particularly Julian's attraction to Klaudia.
Sex and sexual attraction are... not handled well in this book. Most of the sex/attraction we see on the page feels very dehumanizing. Julian clearly has an unhealthy relationship with sex and seems very dissociated in the instances we see him engage in sexual activities. But his attraction to Klaudia is particularly uncomfortable because we see him trying not to get turned on while witnessing her being sexually assaulted. He does stop the assault and clearly feels shame over his reaction, but this was still a deeply uncomfortable scene that didn't seem to contribute anything beyond that discomfort. We also see various predatory behavior by adults toward these teenagers that doesn't seem to go anywhere thematically.
The plot doesn't make much sense. The Valeran Academy's educational system seems to just be a bunch of strategy games. I saw another reviewer describe a prominent competition as pokemon battles, and there really isn't a better description of it. That's exactly what it is. The few sci-fi elements are never really explained and feel more like magic than sci-fi, which seems out of place in an alternate history dystopian setting. The strategy and spy elements, both in the school and outside of it, are nonsensical. The entire set-up of the dystopia is undermined by the fact that the main characters are continually surprised by the high stakes of the situation. Characters who have been in this CIA-feeder school for years, trained in combat and strategy, are somehow shocked that they're being asked to kill someone, or that agents shooting at them would be shooting to kill. Their surprise just doesn't make sense.
Given that the entire premise of this book is an alternate history where the cold war never ended, I was surprised that the most direct political commentary had nothing to do with that alternate history and instead was about Elon Musk exactly how he is in our world. The south african tech mogul deeply entrenched in the government and military industrial complex, who also happens to have a bunch of kids by various mothers with the intent to further "superior" genetics, and behaves like a child, was a very unsubtle analogue. The trouble with his inclusion, beyond it fitting oddly in this alternate world, is that it's impossible to take an Elon-analogue seriously, so the character also felt tonally out of place in the narrative.
I will say I actually didn't mind the book's ending. Within the context of a story that I did not enjoy, I think the conclusion worked well. I would have been very annoyed if the book had wrapped up cleanly, but the ending was unnerving and a bit eerie, and was very appropriate given the rest of the story.
Ultimately, I just felt like this book lacked a compelling perspective, which is odd for a book with a premise that lends itself so well to strong thematic development. The characters weren't particularly compelling and the plot didn't make sense. I like Ava Reid's prose writing, and I think she writes atmospheres very well, but this one just didn't go anywhere I enjoyed.
The premise of an alternate history near-future dystopian world where the cold war never ended really interested me. I hoped to read a story engaged in the global consequences of continued US/USSR proxy wars that had something to say about CIA anticommunist intervention. But instead of being focused on the way this alternate history would change the world, this story primarily centers on the abuse of those being trained within the US intelligence machine. While it's clear from passing references that Ava Reid has personal opinions about US interventionism, this story isn't about that, it's about the treatment of soldiers. Thematically, this was just less interesting to me.
Winterveil has 4 main characters, none of whom I was particularly attached to. Giselle is a bit of a blank slate with little development. Klaudia and Nadiya are both compelling, but the follow-through on their development was still lacking for me. Julian was so annoying that he had me constantly ready to tear my hair out. The characters' internal conflicts often come out of nowhere in a way that feels artificial, and their personal histories/traumas are often clumsy attempts to build sympathy. The most interesting thing Ava did with these characters was not give Julian, the spoiled rich boy, an uncomplicated redemption arc. While everything he did pissed me off, I think I would have been less irritated if I hadn't mistakenly assumed that everything he did wrong would be brushed aside in the name of his redemption.
The two romantic plot lines didn't do much for me. Giselle and Nadiya's romance was fine, just not particularly well-developed or compelling. Julian and Klaudia's relationship was more grating. The emotional side of their romance is told directly to the reader rather than developed. This means that most of what we actually see is sexual attraction, particularly Julian's attraction to Klaudia.
Sex and sexual attraction are... not handled well in this book. Most of the sex/attraction we see on the page feels very dehumanizing. Julian clearly has an unhealthy relationship with sex and seems very dissociated in the instances we see him engage in sexual activities. But his attraction to Klaudia is particularly uncomfortable because we see him trying not to get turned on while witnessing her being sexually assaulted. He does stop the assault and clearly feels shame over his reaction, but this was still a deeply uncomfortable scene that didn't seem to contribute anything beyond that discomfort. We also see various predatory behavior by adults toward these teenagers that doesn't seem to go anywhere thematically.
The plot doesn't make much sense. The Valeran Academy's educational system seems to just be a bunch of strategy games. I saw another reviewer describe a prominent competition as pokemon battles, and there really isn't a better description of it. That's exactly what it is. The few sci-fi elements are never really explained and feel more like magic than sci-fi, which seems out of place in an alternate history dystopian setting. The strategy and spy elements, both in the school and outside of it, are nonsensical. The entire set-up of the dystopia is undermined by the fact that the main characters are continually surprised by the high stakes of the situation. Characters who have been in this CIA-feeder school for years, trained in combat and strategy, are somehow shocked that they're being asked to kill someone, or that agents shooting at them would be shooting to kill. Their surprise just doesn't make sense.
Given that the entire premise of this book is an alternate history where the cold war never ended, I was surprised that the most direct political commentary had nothing to do with that alternate history and instead was about Elon Musk exactly how he is in our world. The south african tech mogul deeply entrenched in the government and military industrial complex, who also happens to have a bunch of kids by various mothers with the intent to further "superior" genetics, and behaves like a child, was a very unsubtle analogue. The trouble with his inclusion, beyond it fitting oddly in this alternate world, is that it's impossible to take an Elon-analogue seriously, so the character also felt tonally out of place in the narrative.
I will say I actually didn't mind the book's ending. Within the context of a story that I did not enjoy, I think the conclusion worked well. I would have been very annoyed if the book had wrapped up cleanly, but the ending was unnerving and a bit eerie, and was very appropriate given the rest of the story.
Ultimately, I just felt like this book lacked a compelling perspective, which is odd for a book with a premise that lends itself so well to strong thematic development. The characters weren't particularly compelling and the plot didn't make sense. I like Ava Reid's prose writing, and I think she writes atmospheres very well, but this one just didn't go anywhere I enjoyed.
September 10, 2026
I think I’ve reached the point where I have to accept that Ava Reid just isn’t fully for me. Her writing is objectively great but the stories never quite captivate me the way I hope they will. Winterveil wasn’t a bad read by any means, just not a "wow" one.
The academia vibes absolutely helped my rating. I’m a sucker for anything that mixes school‑like structure with political tension. There’s something compelling about the blend of Cold War tension, espionage training, and messy young characters trying to figure out who they are in a world built on secrets
Some plotlines felt a little rushed, and it took me a while to settle into the story. And since this isn’t a standalone, the cliffhanger ending left me feeling more "okay, guess we’re stopping here" than "oh no, I need the next book immediately."
It might not have fully worked for me, but I can see it be a hit for many others!
↪ 3 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
The academia vibes absolutely helped my rating. I’m a sucker for anything that mixes school‑like structure with political tension. There’s something compelling about the blend of Cold War tension, espionage training, and messy young characters trying to figure out who they are in a world built on secrets
Some plotlines felt a little rushed, and it took me a while to settle into the story. And since this isn’t a standalone, the cliffhanger ending left me feeling more "okay, guess we’re stopping here" than "oh no, I need the next book immediately."
It might not have fully worked for me, but I can see it be a hit for many others!
↪ 3 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Thank you Harper Collin’s Canada for the paperback arc 🫶
3.5⭐️
This book will not be for everyone, but I honestly had a pretty good time reading it! I really never knew what would be coming next. I thought the whole concept was intriguing. Was there a kind of strange virtual tournament that felt a lot like a Pokémon battle? Yes.. Did a couple of scenes kind of come out of the blue (such as one random intimacy scene)? Yes..But, I still had to keep reading to see where it was all going. I liked the 4 main characters and thought their backgrounds and talents were interesting. There was some intriguing futuristic technology/ simulation situations that I’m not sure I fully understood but I kind of liked that sometimes I wasn’t sure what was real or what was a simulation. I think I’m probably intrigued enough to read the conclusion to see how the story ends!
3.5⭐️
This book will not be for everyone, but I honestly had a pretty good time reading it! I really never knew what would be coming next. I thought the whole concept was intriguing. Was there a kind of strange virtual tournament that felt a lot like a Pokémon battle? Yes.. Did a couple of scenes kind of come out of the blue (such as one random intimacy scene)? Yes..But, I still had to keep reading to see where it was all going. I liked the 4 main characters and thought their backgrounds and talents were interesting. There was some intriguing futuristic technology/ simulation situations that I’m not sure I fully understood but I kind of liked that sometimes I wasn’t sure what was real or what was a simulation. I think I’m probably intrigued enough to read the conclusion to see how the story ends!
Review of advance copy
ok, i had so much fun with this book BUT it book seemed a little boring to me at some points. the plot generally? amazing! the romance? meh.... 3 stars! ✨✨✨ BUT since i am a believer of "right book, wrong time" i'll re-read it at some point in the future! 😊
Did Not Finish
August 30, 2026okay so i think Ava Reid just isn't for me and time to stop trying lol
September 20, 2026
4.5
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. I was pleasantly surprised reading this and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The story was super compelling and the plot was super fun. I really enjoyed each pov even when the characters were annoying me. I also really loved the two romances and I am really excited to see how they advance. The ending of the book wasn’t my favorite but I see how it is setting up the next book. This is definitely a series I plan on continuing and I recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. I was pleasantly surprised reading this and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The story was super compelling and the plot was super fun. I really enjoyed each pov even when the characters were annoying me. I also really loved the two romances and I am really excited to see how they advance. The ending of the book wasn’t my favorite but I see how it is setting up the next book. This is definitely a series I plan on continuing and I recommend.
Want to Read
September 21, 2026thank you goodreads ads 🛐
September 21, 2026
I wanted so badly to be raving about this book after finishing it, but I just feel like something was missing. I think the plot and the setting and the characters were all so good and I will absolutely read book 2 to find out what happens, I just wish it slowed down a bit and explored all of the story elements that made the world and plot so unique more. It felt like things were moving too fast and some things were too easy and convenient, but if we had more time for different moments, it could have been sooooo good. Idk!! Bit torn.
Thank you to Harper Collin’s Canada for the arc!
Thank you to Harper Collin’s Canada for the arc!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
୨୧ 一 3.75 stars
→ thank you netgalley and HarperCollins for the arc
The beginning of the book sounded promising. A dystopian world where the Cold War is not over and the four students suddenly become weapons in this war. Well, only in theory. Not everything was bad, I just feel like the pacing is bad. We spend half of the book in the academy, which was not very interesting to me.
This is my first book by an author and I still plan to read more because I liked the writing. The characters were well created, layered, complex. They were not two-dimensional, each with it had its own flaws and problems. I liked Klaudia the most, I feel very attached to her because we share the same name. I really liked her relationship with Julian, I LOVE RIVALS TO LOVERS and they served it just right. The opposite was Giselle and Nadiya's relationship, which was pure and so cute, they were adorable together. The relationships were well developed, but I didn't feel the same when it came to their friendship, I expected a deep found family, but I didn't feel it completely 🤷♀️ overall I don't think this book is really bad, it just lacks details, I liked the last 100 pages.
Want to Read
February 26, 2026"An alternate future where the Cold War still rages" with four teenage criminals.
I'm sold.
I'm sold.
September 6, 2026
Well, I decided to reverse my dnf and actually finish this book. I felt like it had somehow unsettled something in me and I needed to finish it just to make peace with that feeling (I also hate dnfing arcs sooo here we are). Honestly, I’m not sure much changed bc I still didn’t like it, but at least I didn’t finish it with the same level of hatred I was feeling at 34% when I originally dnfed it.
Julian is genuinely one of the worst characters I’ve ever encountered. I wish nothing but the worst for him, and even that wouldn’t be enough. One of the things that made me come back was the girls, tho. I absolutely loved all three of them, but especially Klaudia! My girl deserved so much better than everything she went through.
I also think the idea behind the worldbuilding is really cool, but I felt like the author did a pretty bad job of actually developing it and explaining how everything works. Tbh, I finished this still not really understanding what was going on half the time. I did like the little Pokémon-esque vibe it had going on for a while, but unfortunately that kind of disappeared later on (honestly, I feel like nothing good in this book lasted very long 😭)
On top of everything else, I also really don’t think this should’ve been categorized as YA.
Julian is genuinely one of the worst characters I’ve ever encountered. I wish nothing but the worst for him, and even that wouldn’t be enough. One of the things that made me come back was the girls, tho. I absolutely loved all three of them, but especially Klaudia! My girl deserved so much better than everything she went through.
I also think the idea behind the worldbuilding is really cool, but I felt like the author did a pretty bad job of actually developing it and explaining how everything works. Tbh, I finished this still not really understanding what was going on half the time. I did like the little Pokémon-esque vibe it had going on for a while, but unfortunately that kind of disappeared later on (honestly, I feel like nothing good in this book lasted very long 😭)
On top of everything else, I also really don’t think this should’ve been categorized as YA.
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