Wintersteel

How it reads

Wintersteel is fantasy (progression fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in an invented world, in no single period, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are power and politics, identity and redemption. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.

It's a later book in a series — you'll usually want to start earlier. It ends on a cliffhanger, so have the next book ready. At 540 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.