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ian's review
5.0
Beltran the farmer wants nothing more than to farm and raise a family with his lovely wife, Amaranta. However, as we learn when the story opens, she died earlier that winter, frozen in the snow, right before a plague wiped out his entire village. Now he only mopes around, slowly drinking himself to death. When a mysterious traveler shows up with a strange liqueur, asking him if he regrets the past, Beltran doesn’t hesitate to drink.
He finds himself in the past, on the very day that Amaranta froze to death. Beltran works to make things right, but history seems to have a way of repeating itself. With some guidance from the traveler and her husband, Isaac, each spring before he goes back in time, Beltran slowly discovers things about himself and his dear wife.
I really enjoyed this novel. The writing is crisp and clean, and the plot is richly woven throughout. Since this is part 1 of 6, there are a lot of things merely hinted on that will be expanded on in the next books. After finishing the entire series, I went back and re-read this one to write this review, and found so many little nuggets that I missed the first time around.
In addition to the great writing, the author illustrated the novel with beautiful scenes reminiscent of woodcuts. The art is gorgeous, and really adds to the story.
Beltran is a very sympathetic character, and I found myself empathizing with his frustrations. Every character in this book oozes with personality, even the ones that play very minor roles, like the merchants wife.
Each of the books in this series focus on one of the major characters, going into detail about what they were doing during the winter of 1553 when their paths cross with Beltran’s.
He finds himself in the past, on the very day that Amaranta froze to death. Beltran works to make things right, but history seems to have a way of repeating itself. With some guidance from the traveler and her husband, Isaac, each spring before he goes back in time, Beltran slowly discovers things about himself and his dear wife.
I really enjoyed this novel. The writing is crisp and clean, and the plot is richly woven throughout. Since this is part 1 of 6, there are a lot of things merely hinted on that will be expanded on in the next books. After finishing the entire series, I went back and re-read this one to write this review, and found so many little nuggets that I missed the first time around.
In addition to the great writing, the author illustrated the novel with beautiful scenes reminiscent of woodcuts. The art is gorgeous, and really adds to the story.
Beltran is a very sympathetic character, and I found myself empathizing with his frustrations. Every character in this book oozes with personality, even the ones that play very minor roles, like the merchants wife.
Each of the books in this series focus on one of the major characters, going into detail about what they were doing during the winter of 1553 when their paths cross with Beltran’s.
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