Baby, It's Cold Outside: Cold Magic

Cold Magic by Kate Elliott (NEW READ)

To start off, I wanted to address the fact that this book has been marketed as steampunk. After reading (and enjoying) it, I don't feel that's accurate. Maybe the marketing team jumped on "steampunk" since the genre is heating up, but other than a zeppelin that appears briefly there aren't any steampunk elements in the book- and that's just fine. In fact, I appreciated "Cold Magic" MORE for not being straight-up steampunk and instead introducing elements and cultures more original than goggles and gears.

Photo by smile4camera:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/captured-spirit_/125496510/

Catherine Hassi Barahal lives in a Europe where Britain never detached from the continent, where the Roman Empire is still going strong in 1837 and where a ghoul plague in Northern Africa has led to mass migration and the intermingling of the cultures of Mali and the Celts. Powerful mage families vie with up-and-coming industrialists to rule the continent. Cat's middle-class life with her aunt, uncle and cousin/ best friend Beatrice abruptly alters when a powerful young cold mage turns up at the door demanding the fulfillment of a contract owed to his family. Before she knows what's happening Cat finds herself married to Andevai (the mage) and on a strange trip across Britain.

If you're just starting this book it can seem a bit overwhelming. Since it's alternate-history, the reader is bombarded with alternate and (to us) archaic names for places and peoples that will send you scampering off to Wikipedia to find out where the Phoenicians lived and who they are today. There is also a bit of set up which meanders through a school day for Cat and Beatrice- a trip to the principal's office and a stolen sketchbook aren't up to the level of adventure seemingly promised by the blurb. Once the mage appears things speed up, but since Cat doesn't really know what's going on as a reader you feel like you are traveling with her at a breakneck pace, not sure of where you are going. The part of the book that really engrossed me was after a big spoilery plot reveal. Cat's travel's and interactions with Andevai change dramatically, and a new character that injects a great deal of humor into the story appears. It becomes a different kind of travel and intrigue book, one where I enjoyed the characters more than in the first half.

One element of "Cold Magic" I found particularly excellent was the relationship between Cat and her cousin Beatrice. One bookish, tall cousin + one short pretty girl- you think you know where this is going, but you'd be wrong. Cat and Bee are utterly devoted to each other, and their relationship is one of close sisters. When there is trouble each inevitably thinks of the other and plans how to save her. Although they spend most of the book apart, you know they are never far from each others thoughts. This is particularly impressive in the case of Bee, who is not a POV character.

I found the connection between the cousins much stronger and sweeter than the relationship between Cat and Andevai. Of course they are not supposed to like each other, and are gradually working past respect to something more but I had some real problems with how Andevai behaved for most of the book. Now that I think of it, it wasn't so much his behavior as Cat's reactions- even though she is mad at him most of the time she is constantly thinking of how good he looks, how hot his jawline is, stuff like that. Sure we are all human, but if someone had just tried to stab me in the throat I might not have a problem keeping myself from checking him out.

I haven't even gotten into the trolls, Roman politics and minute world-building going on in this book. My last experience with Kate Elliott was pretty dark. (Lots sexual abuse, torture, war, not necessarily a bad thing.  What killed me was a character thinking how hot the man who had sexually abused her friend was, even though she knew he was a bad guy. DNF ) I wasn't sure how I felt about reading her new series, but "Cold Magic" is definitely more my speed, and I can't wait for the next one! Even Andevai won me over with his very LAST line. Smoooooooth.

If you are looking for first-rate world-building and appealing characters, give "Cold Magic" a try!