The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett

Check out my review of The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett @ https://amzn.to/3Wf3SkB <– my affiliate link or @ https://www.amazon.com/review/R36KZWAGOX304O

4.0 out of 5 stars 

\”I made a mental note—declare it treasonous to roll your eyes at the grand duke.\”

Ekata doesn\’t want to inherit her Father\’s title, but the siblings who do can\’t understand where she is coming from, and have spent years making her life a living hell as they\’ve fought to be the one who comes out on top… or maybe they think the heir is the last sibling standing.

Inkar was an unexpected delight, in numerous ways, and, for me, took this book up to the next level. There are some subtle things going on at the end that Inkar has gradually built up to throughout the book… if a reader is paying attention to some of the lesser characters.

The Winter Duke is simultaneously a story about court intrigue / politics and a whodunit, with the two intertwining and informing each other. As Ekata notes throughout, she has a puzzle to solve, and once she has all of the pieces she can not only solve the whodunit, she can also make some bold moves as a leader… moves that reflect her own thoughts and choices, not what others have tried to manipulate her in to doing, or what she has done because she feels it is what the role calls for, or what her father would have done.

Ekata learns to be her true and authentic self, even when it is hard. She learns to look beyond what she wants to see, to take of Jer Rose tinted glasses, to reality, even when it is unpleasant. Faced with hard decisions, Ekata has an interesting moment where she faces the dilemma of if she is doing what is truly right, or what will make her own life easier, so it must be the right decision for everyone.

I was swept up in the world building, for me there was genuine magic in these pages as I was taken to a place of fantastic wonders, combined with the hazards of medieval nobility and royalty.

@bartlebett @littlebrownyoungreaders Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2024