User Review: Wintercraft by Jenna Burtenshaw

Summary – Ten years ago Kate Winters’ parents were taken by the High Council’s wardens to help with the country’s war effort.

Now the wardens are back…and prisoners, including Kate’s uncle Artemis, are taken south on the terrifying Night Train. Kate and her friend Edgar are hunted by a far more dangerous enemy. Silas Dane – the High Council’s most feared man – recognizes Kate as one of the Skilled; a rare group of people able to see through the veil between the living and the dead. His spirit was damaged by the High Council’s experiments into the veil, and he’s convinced that Kate can undo the damage and allow him to find peace.

The knowledge Kate needs lies within Wintercraft – a book thought to be hidden deep beneath the graveyard city of Fume. But the Night of Souls, when the veil between life and death is at its thinnest, is just days away and the High Council have their own sinister plans for Kate and Wintercraft…

Review – Wow… Wow… Wow… This is an awesome book. I cannot believe this is a debut novel, so well written and so well constructed. I loved everything about it and couldn’t put it down. It is like nothing else out there, there are no witches, no vampires or werewolves. Yet it still has a supernatural theme to it.

I was unsure of Kate at first and wish she had a bit more back bone, not that she was a push over but she was powerful. She is young and unsure of herself, which makes her lovable.

Kate and Edgar, have a friendship that shows no boundaries. They will do anything to help save the other, even if it means losing their own lives.

The book was fast paced, but didn’t overload you with too many facts but still gave you enough to create the world around you. You feel like you are actually there, her use of imagery is outstanding for a debut novel.

Jenna managed to get her love for animals in there with a crow being a very important and heart-warming character. I loved Silas and his crow, please can they have their own book?

Everyone should read this book. No matter what genre you are into, this book has something that will appeal to you.

Jenna is such a sweet and lovely lady. Jenna Burtenshaw is twenty eight and has been writing regularly since she was nine years old. Starting with short stories and poems, she wrote for herself and the people around her and fell in love with the process of storytelling.

She began writing Wintercraft – her first novel – in 2006 and now writes full time. In her spare time she enjoys walking her three dogs, playing the flute and getting lost in a good book.