Winterveil pulls you into the shadowy depths of its world, introduces you to some complex characters and places them at the centre of a tangled web of secrets and lies that might just bring everything crashing down.
Ava Reid takes a fantastic idea and imagines it in unexpected ways. This is really a rollercoaster of a book with surprises around every corner. You’ll be pulled in by the intrigue and backstabbing but you will stay because of the layered and interesting characters at the heart of the story.
In this book, the characters really shone for me. Klaudia, Julian, Giselle, and Nadiya feel distinctive and three-dimensional and I enjoyed moving between each of their perspectives. They all bring their own abilities to the table, but also shoulder their own secrets and traumas. These are deeply damaged teenagers forced to become weapons for their country. Their intellect is deadly but the situation they end up in might just cause the world to implode. I did have a particular love for Giselle’s ability, which is an eidetic memory. This is something so fascinating and I loved how Reid explored its uses and potential exploitation. It is a blessing and a curse, combined with a sharp mind and the way everyone makes assumptions about Giselle. In fact the story loves to play with expectations and go beneath the surface of the carefully constructed facade you may see at first.
Of course, this is fitting for a story often preoccupied with deceit and games within games. Not everything as it seems here. The primary story is very compelling within the walls of the shadowy and all-powerful Valeran Academy. A secret base that pushes its students to their limits and often forces them to attend to save themselves. The stakes are high but Reid pushes them even higher as this dangerous conspiracy starts to unfold. This is an alternative world where the paranoia and tension of the Cold War never ended. That heightened state of claustrophobia is palpable as this conflict continues to rage on in the background.
This is a fantastic book that takes me right back to the heyday of YA dystopian and I think might just usher in a renaissance. It is so cleverly put together, it really feels like a puzzle box for you to solve. There are so many layers to the story with the characters, the central mystery and the political machinations moving beneath it all. It is a refreshing take on the idea of gifted kids and speaks to the intense burnout and pressure. This is a pressure cooker like no other with the constant competition a microcosm of the warfare going on under the surface of the world. Reid weaves this in with political parallels to our own world and the increasingly polarised nature of society. Here, the truth shall come to light but the cost of it will not be light. I liked how Reid wove in these political elements, making the entire story feel like ripples in the water. These actions will have consequences, but who knows how far they may reach and what knock-on effects they will have. You feel like you’ve scratched the surface of this intense world and leaves plenty of room for an excellent sequel. Reid certainly leans towards this with a devastating and explosive ending that leaves you demanding answers immediately.
Winterveil is the whisper in the darkness, walking on a knife edge with intrigue, political moves and world-shattering revelations.
Winterveil is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis
Bestselling author of A Study in Drowning and Fable for the End of the World Ava Reid is back with a thrilling new duology unlike anything you’ve read before.
It’s a game—until it’s war.
- A disgraced politician from a powerful American dynasty.
- A coldly brilliant strategist who will sacrifice anything to win.
- A former pageant queen with a talent that could change the world.
- An expert female soldier with an enigmatic past—and a dangerous secret.
In an alternate future where the Cold War still rages, four precocious teenage criminals with dark skills and darker secrets are offered a fresh start at a secret military academy. But instead of training to end the war, they find themselves on a mysterious mission that will test loyalties, forge romances, and maybe end the world as they know it.
