The History of the World Begins in Ice by Kate Elliott

Kate Elliott has always been one of fantasy's more interesting voices, shifting her tone and voice to explore different ideas. Her Spiritwalker Trilogy (Cold Magic, Cold Fire, Cold Steel) has always felt a little underrated, as it's probably the most light-hearted of her adult fantasies, a comedy of manners set in an icepunk alt-history Europe populated by feuding mages and dinosaur lawyers. This companion volume encourages a welcome re-appraisal of the original trilogy.

The History of the World Begins in Ice collects together eleven short stories and eleven essays about the worldbuilding and character-crafting of the Spiritwalker Trilogy. Familiarity with the trilogy is an advantage, otherwise you might not catch all the references, although most of the stories (many published previously in unrelated anthologies) do stand alone to a degree, and some work as even a good sampler or intro to the main series.

The Spiritwalker books walk a tightrope between being funny, dramatic, romantic and tragic, and the stories in the collection reflect that. "The River-Born Child," about a young boy with a strange origin who does not believe that should impact his right to happiness or friendships, is maybe the most tragic of the stories but has a redemptive ending. "Bloom" and "A Compendium of Architecture" are entertaining tales serving as origin stories, to some extent, for characters in the main trilogy, but work well enough here as standalones. "To Be a Man" revisits one of the more entertaining side-characters from the trilogy in a particularly lusty and comic tale.

Beatrice, who in another universe was the main protagonist of the trilogy before narrowly missing out to her cousin Cat, gets both her own long narrative (annotated with literary criticism of wildly varying credibility by Cat) and a long-form poem. Cat and Andevai, the star-crossed lovers of the main trilogy, get another story to expand on their romance, "The Courtship," which is entertaining, despite the feeling that their romance got a lot of screen-time in the main trilogy. Andevai's sartorial choices, which I remember forming about a third of his characterisation in the main sequence, are fortunately downplayed here, but do make return appearances in later stories (few phrases in all of fantasy make my heart sink more than the words "dash jacket," but I try to bear it here with equanimity).

The highlight of the collection is "I am a Handsome Man," where it feels like the star of his own, equally worthy novel series, Apollo Crow, crashes headlong into the misadventures of the trilogy's main cast and they have to figure out who the real good and bad guys are. I'd read a lot more about this hero (?) and his adventures. "A Lesson to You Young Ones," is the shortest story in the collection, which is unfortunate because it's also the only one to really focus one of the signature concepts of the setting, the surviving humanoid dinosaurs. These are both a really cool concept (not totally original, obviously) and one that's not really made enough of in the trilogy or this story collection.

"Finding the Doctor" is the longest story in the collection and also the most like the main trilogy, featuring as it does cold mage Andevai and the redoubtable Cat joining forces to take on a hazardous mission, this time behind the lines of the Roman Empire as it resurgently tries to advance beyond the Alps, threatening Cat's plan to find a reliable midwife for her cousin. The mix of drama, geopolitics, romance and restrained comedy is the trilogy in miniature, and a good sampler if you're pondering taking on the main series.

The concluding story, "When I Grow Up", is one of the best as it tackles the next generation of characters, as the main cast of the trilogy gets older and their children seem poised to succeed them in a story that's both heartwarming and bittersweet.

The essays in the collection are also fascinating as Elliot ponders her ideas for the trilogy: a world that recalls the geography of Europe during the last Ice Age, with Britain and Europe joined by Doggerland, much larger islands in the Caribbean, and the endurance of the Roman Empire, with no Germanic tribes overrunning Europe, thus leaving Europe divided between the Romans, Celts and the Mande tribes of west Africa, displaced into Europe by various events. Further essays discuss how the Creole languages of this alt-Caribbean were created, and how each of the main characters was created. Elliott notes how by placing emphasis on trivial character tics (like Cat's appetite) she was able to make characters more rounded, at the expense of readers sometimes wondering if that was a hint at some greater mystery.

The History of the World Begins in Ice (****½) is a splendid volume by one of fantasy's more underrated but consistently excellent voices. Part short story collection, part behind-the-scenes glimpse at how you build a fantasy world and inhabit it with interesting people, it's a compelling read, and both a solid introduction to the Spiritwalker world and a welcome continuation of it. The book is available now.

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Cold Fire by Kate Elliott

Turmoil is brewing in Europa. The legendary general Camjiata has escaped from prison and is now building up an army-in-exile. Cat and her cousin Bee are still pawns in the plans of the rich and powerful, but Cat's otherworldly sire also has plans for her. For her part, Cat just wants to escape these machinations and forge her own path. Events bring her to the Antilles, the home of the Taino Kingdom and the Europan colony of Expedition. There she meets the powerful fire mages and becomes embroiled in yet more intrigue and magic, as her father prepares to use her to draw a powerful soul into his grasp.

Cold Fire is the middle volume of Kate Elliott's Spiritwalker Trilogy, which picks up shortly after the events of Cold Magic. Like its forebear, this is a well-characterised novel which eschews the normal conventions both of the epic fantasy and steampunk genres (whilst borrowing from both). There are elements in this book of the Victorian comedy-of-manners (and occasional, intriguing echoes of the likes of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell) and Celtic mythology, as well as the northern European legend of the Wild Hunt.

Elliott's masterstroke here is moving the story to the Caribbean where a whole swathe of other influences come into play, especially the culture and nature of the Taino people. This gives the book a very different atmosphere, especially the much warmer climate which moves us away from the Ice Age-afflicted Europa of the previous novel.

The clash of cultures, with Expedition and the Taino Kingdom presented as in some respects more egalitarian and liberal in matters of the power of women and sexual freedom but still ruled at the whim of an unelected elite, gives the novel a source of tension and debate. However, these tensions are not explored in depth, as the book devotes a lot of time to Cat and Andevai's relationship. Given that the first novel established the situation - them marrying against their will, initially disliking each other but eventually falling in love - this second book does feel like it retreads a lot of the same ground. For a novel almost six hundred pages in paperback, it also feels like not a lot of ground is covered: the opening chapters are interesting and the grand finale is excellent, but the middle third or so of the novel indulges itself in elements which feel a little too soap-operaish.

In some respects this is a typical middle book-of-a-trilogy syndrome, with the pace faltering as the story switches from an introductory to a concluding mode. But Elliott is a fine enough writer - one of the best in modern fantasy - that she overcomes these issues and delivers a cracking finale in which all of the carefully-set-up elements come into play and sets the scene for the final novel in the series, Cold Steel.

Cold Fire (***½) is an interesting and original epic fantasy novel which does things rather differently from the norm for the genre and is all the stronger for it. However, the pacing feels sluggish at times before returning to form in an excellent ending. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.