Book Forty of 2013: WINTERVEIL by Jenna Burtenshaw

Jenna Burtenshaw’s dark fantasy trilogy The Secrets of Wintercraft comes to a pulse-pounding conclusion with YA fantasy novel Winterveil.
Teen Kate Winters and her powers are unique. She alone can understandWintercraft, a book of ancient secrets.
In Winterveil, the veil between the living and the dead is crumbling, and only Kate can stop it. The pull of the veil is powerful, and part of Kate wants to let it fall, allowing the dead overrun the living. Her best friend Edgar Rill urges Kate to save the world of the living. But Silas Dane can influence Kate too. Silas, a merciless villain, has the potential to behave honorably—if he chooses.
A great pick for fans of Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Legend.

I received this First Reads Goodreads Giveaway book for an honest review.

There is only one word to describe this book in its trilogy: EPIC. Yes, that’s right, I believe this is the best out of the three books in the Wintercraft trilogy. Burtenshaw had introduced her characters in SHADOWCRY (or WINTERCRAFT outside of the US). She then introduced the main villain and most of the corruption in the second book, BLACKWATCH. However, it is WINTERVEIL that ties the three together and makes the story truly epic.

The book starts off days after BLACKWATCH where Kate has forgotten her past and Silas and Edgar are pushed to try and save her. However, it is not just Kate they have to protect, it is also the future of Albion.

It took me a while to actually read this book, but it had nothing to do with the lack of action or speed. I was busy writing in NaNoWriMo. Anyways, the book is a one or two days tops kind of book. There are twists, motivational speeches, and a strong female lead who doesn’t truly become strong until the last part of the book.

Burtenshaw had hinted at Kate’s strength in the first book, but it wasn’t until the third book that she truly makes it. What I love about Kate is that in the first book she was trying to bring together her family, in the second she was trying to understand what her place in life was, in the third she finally gets the answers about the Skilled, the Walkers, and the true history of Albion. On top of that, she realizes that she is not a pawn, but that she could do something.

The three books as a whole show a coming of age story with a political intrigue and fantasy twist. You can’t fully appreciate Burtenshaw’s work until you’ve read all three books. The first two had greatness in themselves, but it is the trilogy itself that made the world believable. Burtenshaw left enough information out in each book that you literally had to tie all three books together to see the true picture.

This series was deep, but not in a LOTR or GoT kind of way. It was deep in a more spiritual sense. Very good for a three day weekend. It was definitely worth the long wait to get it from the giveaway.