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A review by champ81
The North Wind by Alexandria Warwick
3.0
I liked the romance elements--who can resist a Beauty and the Beast or a gruff-and-taciturn/brash-and-spirited romance?--but the fantasy elements fell a bit short.
Although based on Beauty and the Beast and the Hades and Persephone myth, the story had some refreshing elements. Wren, for instance, is not the pure and sweet Beauty/Persephone of yore; she is an alcoholic who fights, hunts, and plots to protect her twin sister from becomes a sacrifice to the North Wind (aka The Frost King, aka Boreas). In sneakily swapping places with her sister, she believes she's going to her death--and she's going to fight the Frost King every step of the way. As it turns out, her fate may be worse than death: she is to be married to the North Wind, whose unrelenting winter destroyed her family and community.
Meanwhile, Boreas may not have ended up with the bride he thought he was getting, but he slowly but surely begins to thaw towards his spirited new wife. Will she be able to give up her hatred and fear of him in order to perhaps have a life together?
All of this is happening against the background of a somewhat confusing plot featuring The Shade (a wall between the worlds of the living and the dead), darkwalkers (souls whose inability to give up their lives upon death end up becoming corrupted spirits who consume the living), Zephyrus (brother of Boreas and god of the West Wind), and a tragedy in Boreas's past. The plot probably would have worked with a bit more care in setting up the fantasy elements. The ending also moved too quickly in resolving some of the conflicts, including the relationship between the brutal cold, the weakening Shade, and Boreas's slow conversion to darkwalker. If love is what it took to heal Boreas and potentially reverse the effects of Boreas's grieving and guilt over his dead wife and son, then why does he need to give up his power in order for everything to be set right? It's a sacrifice that works for the romance, but not the internal logic of the fantasy elements.
I did enjoy it, and while there were several areas of plot, setting, and characterization that seemed underdeveloped, the romance picked up steam as the book went on and more than made up for some vague or confusing parts.
I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley for an honest review.
Although based on Beauty and the Beast and the Hades and Persephone myth, the story had some refreshing elements. Wren, for instance, is not the pure and sweet Beauty/Persephone of yore; she is an alcoholic who fights, hunts, and plots to protect her twin sister from becomes a sacrifice to the North Wind (aka The Frost King, aka Boreas). In sneakily swapping places with her sister, she believes she's going to her death--and she's going to fight the Frost King every step of the way. As it turns out, her fate may be worse than death: she is to be married to the North Wind, whose unrelenting winter destroyed her family and community.
Meanwhile, Boreas may not have ended up with the bride he thought he was getting, but he slowly but surely begins to thaw towards his spirited new wife. Will she be able to give up her hatred and fear of him in order to perhaps have a life together?
All of this is happening against the background of a somewhat confusing plot featuring The Shade (a wall between the worlds of the living and the dead), darkwalkers (souls whose inability to give up their lives upon death end up becoming corrupted spirits who consume the living), Zephyrus (brother of Boreas and god of the West Wind), and a tragedy in Boreas's past. The plot probably would have worked with a bit more care in setting up the fantasy elements. The ending also moved too quickly in resolving some of the conflicts,
I did enjoy it, and while there were several areas of plot, setting, and characterization that seemed underdeveloped, the romance picked up steam as the book went on and more than made up for some vague or confusing parts.
I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley for an honest review.