Beltran is living in a small village ravaged by a disease simply called The Delirium, when, with a visit from a shadowy traveler, he enters a time loop. As he tries to change history and save the people closest to him, the world he remembers starts to unravel bit by bit.
“Soldiers, fighting all over Aragon. Their horses, red black, and pale-add a white one and you have the four horsemen of Revelation”
The Winter is the first book in the six-part Isaac the Fortunate series. It is followed by The Spring, and The Summer.
Why is this on our bookshelf?
Set in a pseudo-historic fantasy setting, these books deal with mythology, religion and quite possibly, some magic.
Note: Publisher Fuzzy Hedgehog Press was at Norwescon 37, and offered to let us read the series in exchange for an honest review.
Rating (4 stars)
In a lot of ways, this first book of the Isaac the Fortunate series reads like the first episode of a new TV show, where you have to get a baseline on the characters, how the world works, what the main problems are going to be, and who the bad guys are.
It’s interestingly time-loopy without being repetitive, and I’m starting to hypothesize ways the interactions between Beltran and the Mysterious Traveler are going to play out (at least in the short term).
On the other hand, I feel like there are bits of the mythology surrounding Beltran’s worldview that I’m missing, that there are gaps in my knowledge that a little more backstory might help flesh out (but perhaps with the way this book ended, that’s completely intentional!)
While I can’t say I’m horribly emotionally invested in the characters yet, the book itself is a quick read and engaging enough that I’m interested to forge ahead and read the second one, if only to see where the story goes next.
Read this book:
If the cold never bothered you anyway.
Don't Read this book:
if WINTER IS COMING.
Once you're done, do this:
Drink some blue Kool-Aid and consider yourself cured.
