Day’s YA: A FATE SO COLD

A FATE SO COLD by Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman
9781250873156
11/4/2025
Tor Teen
Ages 13-18

E-galley available on Edelweiss and NetGalley

Alderland is a place where Winter is a thing to be feared. Much of the year is spent in Summer, but for six weeks each year, Winter blows in with a fury, and it is only getting more destructive over time. After a brutal Winter season, one that claimed many lives and towns, a powerful Living Wand called Valmordion awakens again. Doing so signals impending doom for Alderland, and Valmordion will select one magician to wield it and help stop the storms. 

Dom, whose reputation as a player and a slacker precedes him, has seen the consequences of power, and has sworn to never seek it out himself. But when Valmoridion chooses him, he no longer has a choice but to accept his fate. Ellery, on the other hand, is a star student, always at the top and striving to meet the expectations of others. She’s ready to be chosen by a wand—but she does not want Valmordian to be the wand that chooses her. So when it doesn’t, she’s temporarily relieved—until she accidentally creates the first ever Winter wand, something that no other magician has ever done, and becomes the second chosen one to be tasked with thwarting the cataclysmic event. As Dom and Ellery both navigate the unwanted power and expectations set upon them, and as they face everything from icy natural disasters to their own forbidden romance, they find out something darker—something that will force them to choose between their love, and the fate of the rest of the world.

From the first page of A FATE SO COLD, I was hooked. You get thrown straight into Alderland, yet Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman still manage to introduce the world and its magic system slowly enough to be easily digestible to readers. It’s immersive, and could almost be an entry-level fantasy novel, with elements that often reminded me of the Harry Potter books (the wands, the magical school, and the chosen one trope!) but with new interpretations. I don’t often get to read stories with the chosen one trope, so it made my reading experience all the more unique. The writing is beautiful and perfectly paced, the constant twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat, and I was often left laughing in one moment, and heartbroken in the next.

As a fan of books with multiple POVs, I especially loved that the dual POV allowed me to get to know both Dom and Ellery in their own lives and learn their backstories, while also getting to see them interact with and get to know each other. I quickly felt invested in each of their stories and fell in love with both of them, and I was desperate to know more about their lives and what led them to the positions they were in now. And from the first few scenes of them interacting, I must say—I was immediately kicking my feet with joy. Their banter is absolutely impeccable, and they were truly a perfect pairing as the Chosen Two, despite all of their differences and the tension between them. As they came to terms with their fates, ones that they never even wanted, they experienced it all together, and I loved getting to watch it all unfold. This is the start to a duology, and I am already eagerly awaiting the second installment—I can’t wait to return to this world once more.

Happy reading!
<3 Margo

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