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A review by colossal
The Winter Road by Adrian Selby
4.0
Teyr Amondsen is a former mercenary, a user of the potent fightbrews that all serious soldiers use to stand against other fighters who've "paid the colour", so-called because of the discoloration of the skin that is only one of the many side-effects of the drugs. In parallel stories we follow Teyr after she survives a near-fatal and total defeat, and the year leading up to that defeat. Her path to redemption leads to confronting just how much (and who) she has lost in seeking her ambitions, and finally her legacy.
This is a smart character study of someone who sets out to do great things in a grimdark fantasy setting. It's got non-linear storytelling, with distinctly different modes in each of the three parts of the book. There's also an interesting magic system that's well thought out and integrated into the sociopolitics of the world.
At no point does it condescend to giving the reader much background for this world. It's all there, but it's deeply embedded in the narrative and you're supposed to pick it up through context. It does an extremely good job of this. It's also difficult, particularly in the first part with Teyr so completely shattered and the cruel warlord Khiese and his brutal conquest of the Circle that Teyr is trying to advance.
This is a smart character study of someone who sets out to do great things in a grimdark fantasy setting. It's got non-linear storytelling, with distinctly different modes in each of the three parts of the book. There's also an interesting magic system that's well thought out and integrated into the sociopolitics of the world.
At no point does it condescend to giving the reader much background for this world. It's all there, but it's deeply embedded in the narrative and you're supposed to pick it up through context. It does an extremely good job of this. It's also difficult, particularly in the first part with Teyr so completely shattered and the cruel warlord Khiese and his brutal conquest of the Circle that Teyr is trying to advance.