Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Daughter of Redwinter

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Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald

2 reviews

behindpaperbacks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thanks to Orion and Netgalley for the eARC for an honest review.

"The stories of this age begin and end with blood, and mine is no exception."

Daughter of Redwinter is a mysterious High Fantasy book, perfect for fans of The Witcher 3 and the works of Joe Abercrombie.

When 17-year-old Raine helps an injured woman in the snow, her life is plunged into chaos. The woman, Hazia, hails from the monastery-fortress Redwinter. Its occupants, magic-wielding warriors called Draoihn, are searching for her and an artifact she stole. Raine, meanwhile, has problems of her own. She fled home at a young age to travel with a cult and she can see ghosts. A secret that, if found out, could get her killed.

After a catastrophe and a perilious journey, Raine soon finds herself in Redwinter, looking to solve the mysteries around Hazia's theft. When warring clans grapple for control over magic, and someone seeks to harm Redwinter, Raine must use all the powers at her disposal to save her new friends.

The beginning of this book was explosive. You were immediately thrown into the action, and the descriptions were vivid and powerful. For the first quarter of the book, I was unable to put it down. The action scenes were formidable, albeit very brutal. In the middle parts, the plot slowed down in and focused more on Raine's character, as well as the connections she makes in Redwinter. Since I liked Raine as a protagonist, I didn't mind this. The mystery aspect of the book got a bit lost here, though. I would have preferred it to be prominent throughout the story. Moreover, I agree with other reviewers that the third quarter of the book should have been shorter. There was too much introspection and not enough action. Many scenes could have either been cut or drastically shortened. The last quarter, however, was exciting again. I genuinely did not see some of the twists and turns coming.

"'Honestly,' I said. 'I'm tired of old men telling me what I've done wrong.'"

I instantly took a liking to the protagonist, Raine. From the first scene where she -albeit reluctantly- saves Hazia, I knew she would be one of my favorite female protagonists. Her narration was very distinct, and her dry observations made the book for me. Moreover, her tenacious nature and will to determine her future made her a great protagonist. Raine fights, fails, and gets back up.

The book is quite character-focused. For a 17-year-old, Raine has seen a lot of horrors and you couldn't help but feel for her. We learn she had a very complicated past with her mother. At the start of the book, she was also in an abusive relationship with an older man. As a result, she has quite low self-esteem and is distant to others. Because of her experiences in the beginning of the book, she also struggles to feel empathy and doesn't know who she can trust. Seeing her come into her own and form meaningful, healthy relationships, was really great.

Raine undergoes great development in the book, mainly coming to terms with being mistreated in her life. There were also discussions about privilege here, which I approved of. More often than not, heroes in fantasy are from the higher classes or at least rise to them. Having Raine be decidedly lower-class was a great layer to her character.

Other authors would have written Raine to be Not Like Other Girls and had her look down on other women. Not Ed McDonald. Raine shows nothing but respect and admiration for the women around her. We see women in positions of great power here, be it in the actual plot or the lore of the world. Raine also forms very close attachments to two female apprentices of Redwinter. I loved that. We need more female friendships in fantasy. A sapphic romance also got teased, which I didn't expect but was delighted by!

As for the side characters, I enjoyed them a lot, especially the apprentices of Redwinter: Sanvaunt, Esher and Liara. Although I would have liked Esher and Liara to be in more scenes, I'm excited to see more of them in the sequel. There was also the fantasy version of a girls' night out in this book and damn, I loved it so much. Again, more female friendships in fantasy, please!

Another aspect I loved is how McDonald wrote a dude with a Nice Guy Complex. As in, he was not nice at all and quite annoying. Ovitus, the heir of Redwinter, is a self-entitled prick who sees the women around him as stand-ins for his romantic fantasies. Nevermind their actual wants or personalities. On top of that, he is self-pitying to no end. He was basically like Samwell Tarly from GoT. Except here he doesn't get the girl and THANK GOD for that. Every scene he was in I wanted to punch something. You wouldn't necessarily expect a male author to write a plot like that so props to Ed McDonald.

"Men will wax philosophical about whether good and evil truly exist [...] Evil was the complete absence of empathy, of care for any other living thing. The will to exploit, to own, to dominate, and to take whatever was desired, for whatever price needed to be paid."

The book also tackles a lot of heavy themes, like abusive relationships, domestic violence, grief, trauma, and depression. Despite that, the book was not as dark as you would think. The darker elements were well-balanced with humorous parts and Raine's witty narration.

"The Crown is our life; all else is dust."

The worldbuilding was expansive and imaginative. I will say a lot of the Scottish inspiration went over my head, apart from the clans. I'm sure the initiated will appreciate them. You could tell that McDonald put a lot of effort into crafting the history and lore of his world without it being overbearing. We learned just enough about it to keep the story interesting. For the forgetful, like me, there is a glossary at the back of the book. The magic system was well-crafted. Without spoiling, it reminded me a little of the magic system in Malazan. The setting also reminded me a lot of The Witcher 3 game, which is one of the highest compliments I can give.

All in all, Daughter of Redwinter was a terrific beginning to the series, and I gave it 4/5 stars. Fans of The Witcher or John Gwynne's Malice need to pick this up!

Content Warnings

grimdark_dad's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

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