A Winter’s Promise: Book One of The Mirror Visitor Quartet (The Mirror Visitor Quartet, 1)

Amazon.com Review\nAn Amazon Best Book of October 2018: Adult readers who gravitated toward the intricate world-building of Harry Potter or reveled in the dark trickeries of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass will find themselves ensnared by the enchantments of A Winter's Promise. The first in a quartet of books, this assured fantasy novel opens with young museum curator Ophelia becoming unexpectedly affianced to Thorn, a lord from the icy Pole. Arranged marriages aren't uncommon nor unexpected, but everything else about the situation is, from Thorn's apparent dislike of her to the realization that the rest of the Pole nobility definitely hates him…and would be quite happy to kill her. While marooned without allies in a magical court that has no use for her aside from her opaque role in a complex political game, Ophelia quietly develops a spine of steel that she must employ time and again to thwart enemies both obvious and veiled. A Winter's Promise is less a coming-of-age story than a coming-into-power story, as Ophelia puts her trust in her own instincts and wits to seize control of the situation as best she can. Gracefully written, yet potent and often dark, A Winter's Promise will mesmerize readers who have been searching for the next fantasy series to ignite their imaginations. —Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review\nAmazon Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book of 2018
One of Entertainment Weekly's 10 Best YA Books of 2018
One of Publishers Weekly's Best YA Book of the Year
A National Indie Bestseller
Longlisted for Irish YA prize Great Reads Award
Lose yourself in the fantastic world of the arks and in the company of unforgettable characters in this French runaway hit, Christelle Dabos’ The Mirror Visitor quartet.
Plain-spoken, headstrong Ophelia cares little about appearances. Her ability to read the past of objects is unmatched in all of Anima and, what’s more, she possesses the ability to travel through mirrors, a skill passed down to her from previous generations. Her idyllic life is disrupted, however, when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, a taciturn and influential member of a distant clan. Ophelia must leave all she knows behind and follow her fiancé to Citaceleste, the capital of a cold, icy ark known as the Pole, where danger lurks around every corner and nobody can be trusted. There, in the presence of her inscrutable future husband, Ophelia slowly realizes that she is a pawn in a political game that will have far-reaching ramifications not only for her but for her entire world.
The World of the Arks
Long ago, following a cataclysm called the Rupture, the world was shattered into many floating celestial islands, now known as arks. Over each, the spirit of an omnipotent and immortal ancestor abides. The inhabitants of these arks each possess a unique power. Ophelia, with her ability to read the pasts of objects, must navigate this fantastic, disjointed, perilous world using her trademark tenacity and quiet strength.
An unforgettable heroine, a rich and bountiful universe, intrigue and suspense: A Winter’s Promise is perfect for readers of Margaret Rogerson’s An Enchantment of Ravens, Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood, V.E. Schwab’s “Shades of Magic” series, Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone, Kenneth Oppel’s “Airborne” series, and N.K. Jemisin “Broken Earth” series.
Extract:
I think we could have all lived happily, in a way, God, me and the others, if it weren’t for that accursed book. It disgusted me. I knew what bound me to it in the most sickening of ways, but the horror of that particular knowledge came later, much later. I didn’t understand straight away, I was too ignorant.