Book: Winterveil by Ava Reid
Reviewed by Anonymous
Rating: 5/5
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the ARC.
Ava Reid is a genius. Winterveil is her most ambitious novel yet, and she pulled it off.
Winterveil is split into three parts, who are we and what are we doing, who are you and what are you doing, and finally, how do we stop this. Set in a world where the Cold War never ended, four teenage criminals are sent to a secret school, trained in weapons or strategy. When the CIA visits, the four of them, some of the school's top students, are sent off on a mission. But can they trust each other? Can they trust their handler? Can they trust?
The situation they find themselves in gets more and more real as the book progresses. The technology in this world is advanced, and not fully understood by the protagonists or most people it seems. The world runs on secrecy. But despite everything, these four find a way to trust each other and cling to their morals. Even the good guys can be bad.
I desperately need the sequel. Winterveil ends on a cliffhanger, the missi0n never completed nor failed, the protagonists neither safe nor dead. The world has not been saved or damned. I think that's a good metaphor for current politics as well - we are far gone, but not off the cliff yet. The world, both ours and theirs, is full of secrets and uncertainty and dictators parading tyranny as freedom. I greatly admire all of the protagonists and how they try to do what's right even when it goes against their orders, even when it goes against who they've been taught is the good guy. I look forward to seeing how the duology ends.
I gave Winterveil 5 stars. Some people might wish for it to go into the evils of capitalism more or think the protagonists are too young, but it is a YA book. It fits the YA age range. There are plenty of adult dystopians with adult protagonists and nonfiction about the evils of capitialism.
Trigger Warnings; Sexual Assault, Consensual sex off page/implied, Consensual sex brief description, death, guns, blood, past trauma, death of parents, abandonment, discussion of assassination, mentions of attempted suicide, infidelity, nonsexual coercion