My Thoughts
First, some background: in the summer of 1996, I was doing an internship at Middlebury College. I didn’t know anyone, and I was feeling particularly antisocial that summer; it was not the best for networking during an internship, but conditions were perfect for consuming vast quantities of books. I spent quite a bit of time at the small bookshop in town, and every time I visited, my eyes were caught by a group of fat novels by Kate Elliott — the Jaran series. I’d pick them up, look at the covers, read the back copy, and then put them back without buying them, though somehow in the back of my mind I always felt that their eventual purchase was inevitable. And soon enough the day came that I could find no other more pressing books to buy, so purchase them I did.

I read them, and I enjoyed them quite a lot (though the later books not quite as much, as focus shifted to characters I cared for less), enough that Elliott was on my watch list as an author whose other books I would probably enjoy.

But for various reasons, though I’ve picked up others of her series, I’ve never actually read them through. Crown of Stars lost me with book 2’s horrific cover. And the giant Eagles of Spirit Gate — for some reason they just didn’t capture my imagination. So by the time the Spiritwalker trilogy’s first installment was released, I wasn’t sure how I would react. However, it passed the cover test, and I very much wanted to like it.

The story begins in the city of Adurnam on the southern coast of Britain. Geography is considerably different in this alternate Earth, but my best guess is that Adurnam is roughly near where Southampton is today. And that will be my last attempt to identify this world with our own, because though I am compelled to try and work out the differences, the differences here are not only vast, they involve a great deal of history with which I’m only marginally familiar. (I point again to the Strange Horizons review which goes further into the alternativeness of the timeline.) Some years ago, much of Europe was in flames as the result of a Napoleanic general, known as Camjiata. He was defeated and imprisoned and society has returned to a more even keel since, though there are hints of discontent stirring (once again?) among the lower classes. Adurnam in this world is a city which boasts a university and a growing industrial base, and is thus a place where the classes are often thrust into contact with one another. The Hassi Barahals, a branch of a larger clan, have a house here in a respectable neighborhood.

From here, the story takes quite a number of twists and turns which I, happily spoiler free, did not always anticipate or see coming. The first segment of the story involves Cat and her cousin Beatrice at the university, giving us an introduction to the way upper middle class society operates. But just when you start to think the plot might center around the school and a mystery surrounding people there, the story shifts: Andevai Diarisso Haranwy appears at the Barahal house, marries Catherine and then spirits her off in a carriage. We then follow them on their travels as they make their way back across the countryside to Four Moons House, where Andevai will report on the success of his mission(s). But just when you start to think the story might center around the journey (both literal and figurative) of two people whose pride prevents them from admitting they find each other attractive, the story shifts: we discover that Andevai has mucked up his assignment thanks to the cleverness of the elder Barahals and Cat’s world is overturned yet again.

There are several more shifts of this nature as the book progresses, and though I was able to predict a few things before they happened (a certain inevitable betrayal springs to mind) the plot remained for the most part delightfully unexpected. By the time we reach our climax and slope down to the point where this story ends, the reader can be both satisfied by the number of revelations made and tantalized by the questions left unanswered. Fortunately for everyone, the second book of the trilogy, Cold Fire, is due to be released in the fall, and Elliott has begun doing the spadework for the third, so at least in publishing time (if not so much in real time) there won’t be much of a wait.

In Short
After enjoying the Jaran books very much, I had been unable to recapture the same level of pleasure with Elliott’s subsequent series — until Cold Magic. This book, the first of a trilogy (… and dare we hope for additional visits to this world afterward? We are already promised a Rory-centric short story.) introduces an alternate Earth where history and climate has gone not quite as it did in our own. Catherine, the point of view character, is learning about the world much as we do while her previously sheltered life is exploded. She is likeable and, more importantly, intriguing, along with her entire supporting cast. I had borrowed this book from the library to read, which I thought a suitable caution after my inability to get into Crown of Stars or Crossroads, but I’ve already ordered a copy for myself and pre-ordered the second, which should say it all.