After an event called The Rupture, the world was shattered into floating islands called Arks. These Arks float alone in the sky, only connected by a system of air transports. The Arks have developed as separate worlds where on each an all powerful spirit of unknown origins governs over their descendants, who are often blessed with powers similar to their ancestor spirit. One such of these Arks is Anima, where the family spirit Artemis has bestowed her descendants with the power to animate objects.

Ophelia is a shy girl from Anima with the gift of reading. From a simple touch of an object she can read its past and that of anyone who has held it. Ophelia has evaded marriage for years, but she is no longer able to escape it when she is promised to the brutal Thorn, a total stranger from an Ark she has never visited. Suddenly Ophelia becomes wrapped up in scandal and intrigue as she travels to the far off Ark of the Pole. Ophelia must fight to stay alive while uncovering just why she was chosen to marry her hulking, brooding fiance.

A Winter’s Promise creates a complex and wildly imaginative world. From the intricate Arks to the individual powers, all are original ideas that climb off the page. The Arks all contain people with different powers, including those who can create fantastic illusions and those who can harm others using their minds. Objects are given life on Ophelia’s home Ark of Anima, where houses can have bad tempers and scarves can become fond of their owners. The family spirits are so old and powerful that they no longer have room for all their memories and mortals feel pain when the weight of a spirit's focus rests on them.

Ophelia was a character that grew on me greatly as the book went on. At the story’s beginning, Ophelia is meek and has little interest in the outside world. She lives a quiet existence as the head of a little museum that holds artifacts from before the Rupture. However, Ophelia proves her courage time and time again as the story progresses and she must face wicked enemies and difficult challenges. Ophelia’s fiance Thorn predicts that she will not last the winter on his home Ark, but she proves him and many others wrong with her strength of will.

There are so many unexpected twists and turns throughout this book. Ophelia deals with so much as she is thrown around from difficulty to difficulty. I was constantly surprised at the events of this book. While A Winter’s Promise seemed boring at first and I had difficulty getting past the first chapter, I was quickly swept up in Ophelia’s adventure.

This book was unlike any other I have read. There are some stories I read where I am reminded of other narratives in the ideas and characters, but this was not one of them. While it took a while to grab me, the unique style of writing and ideas in this book truly set it apart. I would give it ten out of ten stars and recommend it to all fans of fantasy writing.

Check out A Winter's Promise from the Newport Beach Public Library!