Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore
Jan. 27th, 2021 05:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sasha_featherA friend sent me Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore, which is a brand-new book in the "Graceling" series. The previous book, Bitterblue, is one of my favorites.
This book picks up 5 years later. Queen Bitterblue and some of her companions decide to visit Ledra, the capital city of a neighboring nation called Torla (no I mean Winterkeep). Winterkeep has a representative democracy, but it's run by wealthy elites. The people travel by airships and some of them have telepathic foxes. Out in the ocean are silbercows, seal-like animals that are friendly to humans and can also communicate telepathically with some people.
The narration alternates perspectives between Bitterblue, her friend Giddon, and two new characters: Lovisa, the 16-year-old daughter of 2 wealthy politicians; and a fox who is bonded to Lovisa's mother. The story involves some mystery and page-turning adventure.
Some things I especially liked:
--Although the main romances in these books have been m/f, Winterkeep has queer background characters, and Lovisa is bisexual. It seems to be taken for granted and un-remarked upon. Lovisa thinks and talks about sex in a no-nonsense manner. The characters drink a tea for contraception. It's refreshing.
--One of the themes of Cashore's work is, what do you do when your parent, or parents, turn out to be evil? The characters reckon with trauma and abuse. This felt very realistic to me, and important.
--The foxes and the silbercows are really cute!
This book picks up 5 years later. Queen Bitterblue and some of her companions decide to visit Ledra, the capital city of a neighboring nation called Torla (no I mean Winterkeep). Winterkeep has a representative democracy, but it's run by wealthy elites. The people travel by airships and some of them have telepathic foxes. Out in the ocean are silbercows, seal-like animals that are friendly to humans and can also communicate telepathically with some people.
The narration alternates perspectives between Bitterblue, her friend Giddon, and two new characters: Lovisa, the 16-year-old daughter of 2 wealthy politicians; and a fox who is bonded to Lovisa's mother. The story involves some mystery and page-turning adventure.
Some things I especially liked:
--Although the main romances in these books have been m/f, Winterkeep has queer background characters, and Lovisa is bisexual. It seems to be taken for granted and un-remarked upon. Lovisa thinks and talks about sex in a no-nonsense manner. The characters drink a tea for contraception. It's refreshing.
--One of the themes of Cashore's work is, what do you do when your parent, or parents, turn out to be evil? The characters reckon with trauma and abuse. This felt very realistic to me, and important.
--The foxes and the silbercows are really cute!
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Date: 2021-01-29 12:38 am (UTC)