#1. Cold Fire by Kate Elliot
Okay! I’m reviving the 95 books blog for 2012. I have no idea how many books I read in 2011, but now I’m done with grad school and I’ve got a job writing for a neurosurgeon. You can expect to see me review:
-fantasy books!
-poetry!
-books written by people i know!
-the occasional science book!
So to start: Cold Fire by Kate Elliot. This is the second book of a fairly enjoyable YA fantasy series set in an alternate history where Northern Europe is still covered in glaciers, the Caribbean was never conquered by Europeans, and where sentient dinosaurs evolved in North America. The story follows Cat, a Phonecian girl caught up in magical intrigue. There’s adventure, there’s fighting, there’s romance. Cold Fire starts off slow—the first chapter is basically a slightly reworded version of the final chapter of the previous book—but picks up the pace soon after that. It’s a quick read and fairly enjoyable. The plot is fairly conventional, and the world not as exceptional as I would have hoped from series descriptions, but it is great to see someone developing an alternative history fantasy series which isn’t medieval and populated by white Europeans. And Cat is a fairly solid heroine - smart and independent. She’s been trained as a spy, and with the exception of her magic sword, her powers are focused on stealth.
A solid read for people who enjoy the YA fantasy genre.
~Claire
