WIth this novella, Karin Lowachee cements her reputation as a master of painting a difficult, imperfect world and giving narrators from different, often polarized, sides of it a compelling voice to fill the world with. I keep mentally comparing this series to Warchild, and it's not the same - of course it is not - but something I have learnt to love and appreciate from it being masterfully pulled off again is just a pure pleasure to watch. It's bittersweet, it doesn't answer every question it raises, but boy does it leave an impression.

Oh this book! I had the time of my life reading it. A Covenant of Ice by Karin Lowachee is a masterpiece! I rated it 5 stars because I couldn't put it down for a second.

A Covenant of Ice is the third book in the Crowns of Ishia trilogy. This time, the POV is mostly from Lilley's point of view, except when it's from Raka's point of view. (The ghost currently possessing Lilley, not Dragon-Raka. Though that would have been interesting--and pretty much like a prose poem if the way they "talk" is any indication.) In this third installment Janan and his family are approached by the Mazemoor government to go to the north, so as to block off the attempts of the Kattakan to explore the region.

Absolutely no one wants to take this mission. They also want nothing to do with the Ba'Suon enastramyth, a boy named Gherijtana ele Railé the agent delivering the request brings with her. Yet somehow, they all end up going north. With the enastramyth in tow. This is in part because Raka (both dragon and ghost) are very insistent about going north, and part because Railé claims that his Greatmother had a vision that going north is necessary for some greater plan or purpose that Railé will not--or cannot--relate.

Things of course, do not go entirely to plan. (Or do go according to plan, considering we don't actually know the Greatmother's vision.) The northern dragons are not like the dragons of the Ba'Suon, or the dragons of the Mazoön. For one, they breathe ice, for another they are actually kind of terrifyingly territorial and have been holding off any and all potential settlers for a very long time. (Raka's family was the only Ba'Suon family they had a contract with.)

There is a lot of backstory into Lilley and to a lesser extent Raka's pasts, and their joint and separate traumas are explored--and has a great deal to do with the endgame of the plot. We also see the beginnings of Lilley and Janan's relationship, and how they met Raka. As a result we end up with a (slightly) more sympathetic view of Raka.

The falling action is something of a gut punch, as nature finally balances itself. (In so far as the situation with the Kattakan people colonizing Ba'Suon lands is concerned. There's still the mythicism towers that are draining the life out of Mazemoor...though I can certainly forsee a "balancing" on that end of the equation.) I enjoyed the book, and appreciated the potential of the open ending.

My over all feelings for the trilogy is that it's a great read with excellent worldbuilding. The characters are very fleshed out and distinct. I enjoyed their interactions and their developing relationships with each other. I liked the "western" feel of the setting, and the general message of "imperialism/colonialism is kind of terrible, actually." A great book with lots of action--in the sense of things actively happening, not so much in the way of fighting, mind--and emotional character arcs.

This review is based on a galley received from NetGalley.