A review by piperhudsburn
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott

3.0

“I will either find a way, or make one.”

Cold Magic was an enjoyable read. As far as "historical fantasy" goes, it is a series debut sure to entice and interest readers long after it ends. The cast and world are diverse, and the story fast-paced. Our love interest is well written and our main character is no Mary-Sue. Now, I'm pretty sure you're wondering why the book is three stars after those kind words.

Well, ladies and gentleman of Goodreads, if there ever was an example how not to "world-build" it was this. Seriously, it was so much worse than Sarah J Maas's Court series. There are moments in Cold Magic that are excellent and fast paced and so, so interesting- yet they are eventually bogged down by useless detail and description of a fantasy world. And not just magic descriptions, but historical background, as well as random factoids on language and other aspects of culture that have NOTHING to do with the plot or scene at hand. It was so frustrating I had to knock two FULL stars off.

And I find myself quite sad about this because I actually loved the setting of the world and the magic that courses through it. But Elliot seemed to forget that her readers have imagination, an ability that allows them to "fill in the blanks." She never gives the reader a chance, and the work suffers for it.