SUCH a good start to this dystopian duology, I’m not usually an enjoyer of dystopian as I veer away from it, but I’ll read anything Ava Reid puts out as I love her writing. (I ended up purposely taking my time near the end as I read because I didn’t want it to be over)

First chapter was a banger, totally unique and off the bat had me interested. These characters are all insane hot messes and i loveee them. The whole concept of this book, “what if the cold war never ended”, was extremely interesting to me as I love history and am passionate about politics, so I wanted to see where Ava Reid was going to take the plot.

Valeran Academy is a military academy (idk why I found it so funny it was in Appalachia of all places) that takes in students with “gifts” that are caught up in trouble— think how in the snow Criminal Minds, Garcia was an expert hacker and got offered a job rather than jail. So these special level of fucked up kids get recruited here rather than serve time in jail where they’re tested constantly, essentially groomed for the war effort.

I liked how the atmosphere of this book, down to even the buildings of the academy seeming to be of brutalist architecture, screamed of post-war. It was cold and mysterious, an air of paranoia in how intensely the students are trained to be efficient soldiers against their enemies to “win the war” and for what happens outside the academy.

The two romance subplots taking place over this book were probably my favorite aspect, creating more layers and more risk/suspense to the plot. Immediately from the characters being on the same page I could feel the tension and possibilities— Giselle x Nadiya (FF) and Julian x Klaudia (MF). Loved the dynamics and how personalities clashed and or complimented the other. Like seriously, these are two of my new favorite pairings and I want them all to get happy endings!!

Another thing I liked about this book that I also like about other Ava Reid books I’ve read, is the way the characters feel real and fleshed out. I’d already mentioned liking them from their first introductions, but as the story went on it was hard not to root for them or get attached. All four were distinct and flawed, it was almost impossible for me to pick a favorite (Klaudia just edges out the others).

This is a political book, as reading and any literature delving into history would be inherently so. If hearing about different war terms, politicians and philosophers, socioeconomics, and other historical plots this may not be for you. There’s a lot of technical speak as well, guns and violence. I mean it’s so evident how much time and research went into this book for how realistic it felt, and that’s not even including how in depth the characters felt. (Note, There’s also an attempted SA scene (and you can argue lots of child endangerment/abuse because these poor eighteen/nineteen year olds)).

I also liked just how broad “the war” was… as if kept general and vague so it could fit multiple enemies and situations. It’s never necessarily clarified, always seeming like this big too dramatic thing, “if we don’t do this we’ll lose the war” etc, etc… Ava Reid did an amazing job with the atmosphere in this book. just how i remember learning about the red scare in multiple AP history courses; society constantly kept on its toes to be on the look out for traitors or enemies, being a “patriot” was the most important thing, and every single enemy had to seem as if it was THE biggest danger. I feel as if that time period was captured really well for this book especially being YA where I’m sure you can’t get crazy dark.

While this is labeled YA, this is a book that has longevity as it does not read as a YA book outside of the characters all being around 17-19 years old. You could make them older and the book would still work.

And in the words of Ethel Cain- “A long cold war with your kids at the front.” Very fitting for this book, where adolescents are being chosen and turned into perfect soldiers to push the United States’s anti-communist, anti-soviet and pro-capitalist agenda that ‘Winterveil’ dives into.

ARC courtesy of netgalley

US publishing date: September 15th, 2026

(ps. there’s a turn based computer combat program in the book inspired by the Pokémon combat system and LOVEEED it)

(pss. Ava Reid listed these as some of the inspirations for the book and i LOVE them so i was excited: Fallout and Danganronpa (there are others the author listed but i haven’t read or watched yet so uncertain how they’d fit: Neon Genesis Evangelion, TBOSBAS, Ender’s Game, X-Men, Severance))

x

x

x

spoilers ~

x

x

x

—based on one of the Interstitial’s in part 3, they referred to an “operation Evanfall” (i may have misspelled) but that’s my guess for book 2’s title!

multiple “mic drop” moments in this book for me / Ava Reid was really out to destroy us with this book moments…

—“veil of winter” meaning —> Winterveil

—Nadiya’s father’s letter saying he’s quitting the CIA so his daughter won’t grow up a soldier… only for her to end up a soldier :(

—the entirety of Crispin existing :(

—i mean just the fact that this feels SO REAL, like dystopian albeit fiction is still meant to commentate and keeps pieces of reality so that it feels realistic, like i could fully see USA government doing this (though idk if the technology in this book is possible, but lord knows what’s really out there)

—the way the president in this book is also a shitty “actor” and POS just like here currently that made me laugh

—by the end i was just shocked, the parallels Ava Reid was pulling to literally things right now in the USA… insane. the Interstitials in part 3 were so jarring, clearly showing how the government manipulates

—screw every adult here oh my god

—literally teared up over klaudia, how fucking cruel to make sure cut marks on her wrists would remain and that she’s seem crazy :(

the FMC was insufferable, i can’t stand her, even if i felt for her situation. there’s a very fine line with a character having to smother their feelings because of guilt and maybe struggling with their emotions, but christ, she was evil. straight nasty to the point i was constantly embarrassed/cringing reading this. fejo deserved MUCH better, i would have liked to see him with someone more shy/innocent/sweet. (and this is coming from me, a girl who can be a bit bitchy just like vanessa, but this was hard). i was planning to finish this because of fejo, but got distracted by other books and wasn’t returning to it so figured i’d DNF

i feel like it’s safe to assume vanessa has character development in this book? i would imagine so since this has a lot of great reviews.

damn can’t even escape cults of a space god that stalks you your whole life in a technologically advance future— for ‘Fervor’, think Midsomer but make it an isolated planet of only women who worship some kind of deity who protects them. Midonia ends up on this planet because of a job and things go haywire pretty quick.

this is another really well done sci-fi horror novella by this author, lots of tension and losing of one’s sanity (as i do love in horror).

TWs: attempted SA, murder, gore

i don’t think T. Kingfisher’s writing is for me, while I love the characters, of her book’s i’ve read, i’ve really disliked the plots and how boring it’s been