I love the Fantasy genre. I love the escape from the daily doldrums (and my own mind) that fantasy provides and if you ask me there just isn’t enough magic in the world.
I recently read C.L. Wilson’s The Winter King, a fantasy romance, where we have warring kingdoms, magic, and objects of great power with relatable characters who leap off the page. I don’t usually read romance but I do feel sad if that element is missing as a secondary storyline in the books I read, so this book hit all my criteria!
One thing that this book does particularly well is the relationship between the main characters. Oftentimes, authors will add a healthy dose of red flags where maybe consent is an issue or the relationship is generally unhealthy or abusive in some ways. While that may reflect closer to reality, this book really does a nice job of avoiding those tropes.
Now I’m not saying I don’t like reading books with those or similar tropes because I totally do. People close to me will have heard me say more than once, that I am rather dark and twisty on the inside. Fiction allows us to experience things and explore concepts in a safe way, so bring on the morally grey, sometimes downright dark and twisty. But if that’s not your thing, or you’d like a change of pace, you should read this first book in the Weathermages of Mystral series!
C.L. Wilson’s worldbuilding is excellent as well. With a rich history and well-thought-out magic system, this book is incredibly well rounded so don’t let the romance side deter you from reading it. I would argue that others like myself, who read fantasy for the fantasy aspect, would still thoroughly enjoy The Winter King.
I will definitely be continuing the series. Why don’t you join me? 😉
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