"Cold Magic" How did the historical aspect of this book effect you as you read it?

[Qylie]

How did the historical aspect of this book effect you as you read it? Feel free to comment on anything about the history :-)


I think my history skills are weak for this time period; I'm pretty certain I missed a lot of the nuances.

[♥Xeni♥]

Ah my gad!! This is such a great question!

I was really trying to pin down the century / decade with all the clues given (of course, taking out all the odd magical bits) and I couldn't. So when I was given the date "1818" I was like "what? No way!!" because it really didn't feel 1800's to me.

I think a great deal of that is the ice and winter and all that additional terminology thrown in (really makes me start freezing, so I've been reading under my thick feather blanket!)

Otherwise, I think it is interesting how much of an influence the Roman's still have on Europe's cultures. I really don't get that impression when reading history, so it's a very interested take for Elliot to have!

[[deleted user]]

I've found the faux history to be a bit of a distraction, to be honest.

I keep reading and getting drawn in only to be pulled right back out by some mention of Rome this or Phoenician that.

[Avrelia]

I keep wondering what happened in this world to make it like that. Where did the German tribes go, what about Slavs, and so on. Which I should ask the author, of course. Overall, it wasn't too distracting, even if it nagged me all the time.

[Avrelia]

♥Xeni♥ wrote: "Ah my gad!! This is such a great question!

I was really trying to pin down the century / decade with all the clues given (of course, taking out all the odd magical bits) and I couldn't. So when I ..."

I remember that their year 0 is about Augustus, the Roman emperor. I just don't remember whether his birth - which should make the year of the story (1838) correspond to our 1775, or his raise as the head of Rome, which would make it the first half of our 19th century. Camjata kind of correlates to Napoleon, to me anyway.

[♥Xeni♥]

I am amused at all the subtle (and not so subtle) changes that the author made... America - Amerike, Camajita (sp?) - Napoleon, the trolls - natives of Amerike.

It doesn't throw me too much, it mainly just amuses me.

[Michelle]

I am 100% amused by the trolls, which are apparently also made-up-historic. one of the reviews of the book mentioned an interview where KE says they're evolutionary descendants of troodons:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troodon

[Jason]

Ala wrote: "I've found the faux history to be a bit of a distraction, to be honest.

I keep reading and getting drawn in only to be pulled right back out by some mention of Rome this or Phoenician that."

I would tend to agree. As a lover of history as well as a teacher of it, I would have liked to see more background...maybe in the next book? There were points made that were fun and interesting but not explored deeply enough for my alternate history taste. Fantasy with a sprinkling of alternate history.

[Kim]

♥Xeni♥ wrote: "So when I was given the date "1818" I was like "what? No way!!" because it really didn't feel 1800's to me."

I think that was due to their being no Industrial Revolution which started towards the end of the 1700's, which we're more used to seeing in historical fiction. This is almost anti-steampunk :P

I think the historical touches were nice but as a fan of historical writing, both fiction and non-fiction, I would have liked more.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

I agree with what seems to be the concensus - I would've liked more history, or, rather, I would've liked it to be a more important and more integral part of the story.

A lot of the history seemed to be given in info-dumps which felt more like a history lecture and less like actual important parts of the story.

I also agree with Ala that I found these parts to often be more distracting than actually adding anything to the story.

I also agree with Xeni in that I didn't really feel like it was in the 1800s. It felt too modern to me, for all the lack of technology.

When I read historical stories I like to feel immersed in the time and place, which includes language and mannerisms and a whole host of things which I felt were generally lacking from this book.