Review: Cold Magic

Cold Magic by Kate Elliott

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Cold Magic is an alternate history fantasy, but unlike any I’ve read before. It takes place in England in the 1800s - I think, since there isn’t really an England or a Victoria as far I can tell. Some aspects of both Regency and Victorian society are there, including an alternate Industrial Revolution. All of Europe is still frozen in an extended ice age. There are mage houses and princes in conflict with serving classes and technology, and there is just a tiny bit of steampunkishness to it - there’s an airship, but that’s about it so far.

There are still Romans running around and Latin is still a spoken language, although their empire was defeated about 800 years earlier. There are also Carthaginians who have become a clan of spies, and a Napolean-like liberator who is imprisoned on an island. A version of America is hinted at - oh, and there are trolls! Trolls are apparently sentient descendants of another species that didn’t die out, just as there are still wooly rhinos in this world. It is fascinating, and also cold. You can really feel the cold.

Honestly, the world-building was one of the worst info dumps I’ve read in a long while even though the world is an imaginative one. I had to concentrate so hard for the first half to try to absorb all of the altered names and altered countries, wars, history, etc. It was almost harder having slightly familiar events than a completely new world would have been because my mind was trying to translate everything and register all the changes. And it was mostly conveyed through conversations. It was rough, but there was just enough atmosphere and interest in the main character to keep me ploughing through it, and I was glad I stuck with it in the end.

Once things started really happening, I kept being surprised by the turns events took. My expectations were constantly challenged as the story went off in new directions and unexpected adventures. I also started to put together how the world - and magic - worked in real situations and what parts of the history were important for understanding the immediate story.

I don’t know how, but once the plot started moving, this world got under my skin and I found myself wanting to get back to it while I was at work, and wanting to pick up the sequel without taking a break. Strange. It's not easy to get into and is not without its faults once you do, but I do recommend it if you enjoy a bit of a challenge, as well as alternate history / steampunk sort of fantasies.

If only the world-building had been less like being buried under a mountain of foreign terms! This is why I'm struggling with a rating, because I think I would give the story itself 4 stars, but the massive info dump is dragging it down. It was way more work to get into than it needed to be. 3 stars it is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Initial Review 9/27/2014:

I'm going to have to think about this one for a while. I ended up liking it, but have no idea how to describe it or even rate it right now.



View all my reviews