Daughter of Winter and Twilight

Helen Corcoran’s fantasy novel Queen of Coin and Whispers was well reviewed in Books for Keeps and the sequel is highly recommended too. Book one focused on young queen Lia and her relationship with her spymaster Xia and in Daughter of Winter and Twilight, the action moves on. Lia and Xia are now married, ruling jointly as Queens Aurelia and Xania, and the story stars and is narrated by their adopted daughter Emri. Approaching eighteen, Emri is used to the protocols of the court and knows very well that finding friendship and love is not easy when you are heir to a throne; she has already had her heart broken by her friend Rialla. The arrival at court of her cousin Melisande ups the stakes. Is she simply a rival or a threat as well? The issue of who to trust, where to place your faith, becomes even more vital when the two girls are taken hostage by the cruel goddess Lady Winter – long regarded as a myth by the royal family – and Emri presented with a life-or-death challenge, the kind that calls for cleverness and resilience as well as courage.

Corcoran manages to portray the two cousins as recognisable teenagers even as she constructs the strange, often terrifying magical world that is their prison, and succeeds in bringing her different narratives together so that we know them as girls, princesses, and victims of others’ ambition and careless cruelty. At 500+ pages, the narrative could have been tighter, but the story more than holds our attention throughout, its world of courtly intrigue, vengeful gods and burgeoning friendships immersive. The courts’ relaxed attitudes to queer relationships will be another recommendation for readers. The final pages set the scene for further episodes in this distinctive, original fantasy series.