A Winter's Promise (The Mirror Visitor Quartet #1) (2013) by Christelle Dabos

A Winter's Promise (Mirror Visitor Quartet #1) (2013) by Christelle Dabos (tr. Hildegard Serle) is the winner of our April 20 poll!

From Europa Editions:
Plain-spoken, headstrong Ophelia cares little about appearances. Her ability to read the past of objects is unmatched in all of Anima, and, what’s more, she possesses the ability to travel through mirrors, a skill passed down to her from previous generations. Her idyllic life is disrupted, however, when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, a taciturn and influential member of a distant clan.

She must leave all she knows behind and follow her fiancé to Citaceleste, the capital of a cold, icy ark known as the Pole, where danger lurks around every corner and nobody can be trusted. There, in the presence of her inscrutable future husband, she slowly realizes that she is a pawn in a political game that will have far-reaching ramifications not only for her but for her entire world.

The World of the Arks

Long ago, following a cataclysm called the Rupture, the world was shattered into many floating celestial islands, now known as arks. Over each, the spirit of an omnipotent and immortal ancestor abides. The inhabitants of these arks each possess a unique power. Ophelia, with her ability to read the pasts of objects, must navigate this fantastic, disjointed, perilous world using her trademark tenacity and quiet strength.

“A best seller in France, Dabos’s debut novel evokes both the whimsy and the deep-seated sense of justice of the Harry Potter series.”―Jen Doll, The New York Times Book Review

"Imagine the poisonous politics of Versailles in a glittering, steampunk world of quill pens, airships, masks, illusions and murderous courtiers and you will have an idea of the conceit...will leave readers with plenty of appetite for the next installment." ―The Wall Street Journal