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Winter Dawn

Winter, Book 3

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Winter Dawn

By: Alex Callister
Narrated by: Lorelei King, Ell Potter
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About this listen

Meet Winter: she’s the audacious, hyper-intelligent GCHQ agent with more notches on her bedpost than James Bond and more hacking cred than Lisbeth Salander.

Winter Dawn is the third instalment in the Winter series, journeying back to the beginning of her story. This time, she’s grappling with Colosseum: a sinister online phenomenon that has gripped the world. It promises a massive cash prize to the successful hunter of its victims, unleashing an unstoppable tide of violence - and the world’s authorities are powerless to prevent it.

When a New York senator is targeted, Winter is called in to protect her. But with all the world watching, there’s nowhere to hide. No one has ever survived Colosseum. It’s the winter solstice and as they journey together into the dark heart of the longest night, they soon discover that nothing about Colosseum is what it seems.

There are rules and there is a purpose, if only they can solve the riddle in time. Colosseum is more than a hunt: it’s a challenge. Targets must face their darkest fear or die at dawn.

Winter Dawn is the third instalment in the Winter series - the first of which was Audible’s Thriller of the Year in 2019 - and journeys back to the beginning of her story.

©2020 Alex Callister (P)2020 Audible, Ltd Crime Fiction Suspense Thriller & Suspense Winter Fiction Exciting

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Like others have said, I hated the change in narrator and couldn't wait for the Ell Potter chapters. Lorelei's English accent was cringe-worthy and simply didn't sound like Winter, whereas Ell's southern accent when she voiced June was better than Lorelei's!
It was great to have some of Winter's back story filled in but I was also disappointed that this book didn't pick up where book two finished. As always, the story was gripping and I spent every moment I could listening to the tale but my overall takeout was that this book was worth listening to but not as good as the first two. I look forward to book four 😊

Not as great as the first two books in this series

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Ell potter is brilliant

The story feels a bit too far fetched for me but still a good listen.

Not as good as the first two

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I found the political process as outlined by Alex Callister disturbingly thought provoking and, while not an American myself, found it scarily relatable to politics at home. It's actually quite a frighteningly believable analysis that suggests that presentation dwarfs action to the point where the more power politician's acquire, the less they can afford to offend and, consequently, the less they can actually do - with the exception of Donald Trump of course!

If you allow for the supposition that armed assassins can wander a city and threaten its citizenry without military intervention then the plotline is will not be unfamiliar to anyone who's ever enjoyed a good 'lone warrior plus reluctant civilian plus-one (or two in this case) takes on the villains'. She even takes them on in little more than her bra and panties which makes her a little more stripped down than Bruce Willis in a vest but not too far off! I'm not sure why 'the senator' didn't get a name but that's not a huge problem as these things go, I suppose.

This is a back story pitched before book one and, like the other books, I really enjoyed it I'm not sure it's plot is quite as credible (if any book set in an alternative dystopian future can be regarded as credible) but I felt it's weaknesses were forgivable and the characters and storyline made up the deficit. There is violence but it is not gratuitous or described in sadistic detail (which I dislike intensely) and Winter has a mixture of genuinely believable warmth, strength (physical, emotional and intellectual) as well as personal vulnerability. She's no ice maiden but she's far from being an emotional shipwreck as well.

The sex scenes make it unsuitable for younger readers which is kind of a shame really. Winter is not an ideal role model perhaps but, she's not a bad one either and, while I have no objection to characters depicted as truly 'sexual human beings with healthy sexual appetites and (better still) sexual human beings with healthy sexual appetites enjoying healthy sexual relationships', I've rarely if ever read a graphic (or even semi graphic) description of sex that I felt truly erotic or truly necessary to the plot. In fact, I can't help but feel that they often get in the way. While you're all perfectly welcome to disagree with me, I can't help but feel that the adage 'less is more' really does apply here and less detail would open books like this out to many younger readers.

Personal tub thumping to one side, Ell Potter and Lorelei King are excellent readers. They're voices don't grate on the ears, they're easy to listen too and their intonation, intelligent and articulate performances add enough variation, tone and inflection to make listening a pleasure. This is a a very entertaining read and I'll be listening again for sure!

A ripping yarn for both girls and boys!

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Loved it except for Winter's accent by the American narrator. She sounded like Jennifer Coolidge doing a fake British voice and it was very off putting! Was relieved when the original came back.

Great action but terrible English accent

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Confusing at times on purpose but due to the origin story and winters confusion. If understood that this is more of a prequel to the other winter books then it all falls into place.

prequel story

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Struggled to finish this one, the choice to add a second narrator for the 3rd book in the series was jarring to say the least.
Add to that it was a prequel, it wasn't clear to me until about half way through that the "present" was before the previous books but also flashbacks were for both winter and new characters for this book whilst jumping between narrators left the narrative a little disjointed.

The story itself was pretty average, the first of the series was my favourite, the second book was very good but this one felt kind of pointless until the last 3rd of the book when it got going.

both narrators performed well but the whole thing didn't mash together well for me, i would definitely skip this one if I listened to the series again.

Why?

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A bit of hunger games and a bit of west world, spies and sad bits. I liked the others in this series but, honestly, this wasn’t even derivative in a good way and only one character was engaging. Winter herself was 2D.

This is a mash up

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The book was different to what I had expected. It’s a prequel to the other 2 books and starts with Lorelei narrating rather than Ell. It would have been better if Ell and read all of Winter’s words rather than Lorelei attempting to do Wnter’s voice in the first half.
The book’s second half is more like the Winter type novel I have come to expect after listening to the first 2 books.
This book is definitely worth a listen and is a quality book, I just feel a little disappointed as I was expecting a follow on novel, not a prequel.

Entertaining, definitely read it if you have read the other 2 books.

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I really loved this new angle on Winter. Took a while to get used to the second narrator but it all added to the essence of the book. Another great story.

Great book!

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I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and story of the 1st 2 book's. This book looks back at how Winter came to be the agent she did. The moving of the location to America is a good one. There is just something that comes up short in comparison to the other books. Also the decision to give Winter a stuffy British accent for the younger character is just strange. These are the reasons I cannot give this full mark's.

A step back.

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