eARC Review: Winter's Maiden by Morgan L. Busse
Release date: 6 August 2024
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: Warrior. Survivor. Daughter of the North.
From the moment she is born, Brighid fights to survive in the wastelands of Nordica as a clanless one. But when a new power arrives offering a trial to join the Nordic warriors, Brighid enters, hoping to rise above her station. Soon she becomes one of their fiercest fighters and joins the war against the south.
Kaeden carries the blood of the ancient Eldaran race in his veins but turns away from his heritage after the death of his parents. Years later, he is called back to his homeland and invited to be a healer for the southern forces. With the help of an old mentor, the power inside of him starts to awaken. However, his life is turned upside down when a mighty warrior of the Nordic forces is captured.
As Kaeden interacts with the enemy, he discovers there is a darkness behind the Nordic Wars, one that is manipulating the people of the north. But who will believe him? And is there a power strong enough to break the hold of this hidden adversary? Or will the world burn in the flames of war?
Review
I cut my teeth on Busse with Secrets in the Mist and then the Mark of the Ravenwood Saga. Busse excels at character and world building, though the worlds in her books serve the characters. Regardless, all of her stories serve up sweeping, emotional experiences and the end of each book will leave you hankering for the next one with bated breath.
The Nordic Wars places the reader in a type of the ancient Norse world with clans and magic. The north lives in the past; the south resembles a more modern society. Both constantly conflict with one another. Brighid enters this world as her mother dies, and the midwife winds up taking her in and caring for her. The emotional connection here between these two characters at the start of the novel serves as the emotional setup for the rest of the book.
We meet Kaeden, our healer, a fair bit into the book. His role as a healer in the war thrusts him into the conflict, where he meets Brighid as a formidable warrior. By the time the two meet, they both have hardened shells around their hearts and walls around those shells miles high. The relationship builds at a snail’s pace and teeters on a thin wire. Tensions are high. Pages are turning.
Busse captures the basic human need for one another. She also skillfully provides a dichotomy of effects of this need. Brighid wants nothing more than to belong to a clan, have a family, and rest in the comfort of a loyal family group. Kaeden, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with anyone. Both children experience injustices but have completely opposite reactions to their circumstances. Hence, Busse shows the negative aspects of both extremes.
Winter’s Maiden is a shorter book with a longer story. When I finished, I felt like I had been in the world for much loner than I had. It was a wonderful respite to armchair travel to a place with much cooler temperatures, and I can’t wait to read more about Kaeden and Brighid.
My thanks to Morgan L. Busse and Enclave Publishing for the eARC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.
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