5 out of 5

Man, several steps up from the Fall miniseries in every single way.

The end of series one gave us the one sentence indication of what ‘Winter’ would focus on: survival.  Surviving the season.  For our guard, after some extra supplies and rations were spent in the war against the traitor Midnight, that means sending out emissaries to neighboring towns to see what can be borrowed, plus spreading the word regarding a meeting to discuss the current status quo.  All of our principles are headed out in one direction – Saxon, Kenzie, Lieam, now joined by Sadie and Celanawe – and some new mice are introduced to us by name as being in other parties sent in other directions.  A cave in splits our lead party further, Lieam and Celanawe having to continue on the trek to return some medicines to Lockhaven while the remaining three have to find their way out / home through caves which once belong to weasels and are now seemingly abandoned.  Gwendolyn gets more pagetime here, having to fend off further followers of Midnight within the fortress walls.

The story isn’t as jumpy as volume 1, pacedly splitting its time between Lockhaven and the two halves of our leading characters’ party, but that’s partially a consequence of having a much narrower scope (which is a good thing) and also because Petersen’s just become a better storyteller.  The first books had some shots and dialogue which seemed to be feeling out the tone of the book, but here he’s settled on a light-hearted seriousness – mice will die and the threats are real, but discussions are kept focused and even Kenzie and Saxon’s (generally) playful barbs between each other leave room for the relationship to feel realistic without it being buddy cop cloying.  Celanawe also comes across as appropriately reverent and wise – something that’s hard to pull off when we’re only into the second volume and we hardly know the character – and Gwendolyn’s resilience underlines why she might be in charge.  Petersen also finds an effective thrill for each book without it having the somewhat encapsulated feeling of each issue of Fall 1152.

Artwise we also see maturity – the reversed paneling from one page to the next is a simple layout move but perfect for the rectangular binding, breaking up the pages but giving each panel the room it needs to shine.  …Because shine they should.  The hatching has been reigned in to select areas, David using a Quitely-esque dotting / sketchiness for a lot of the details or shading, which are given amazing grace by the concise and yet thick inks.  The computer coloring has been dialed back and smoothed out, allowing the color palette to feel infinitely more organic.

The best thing, though, is seeing this world grow.  One issue I had with Fall is that Lockhaven and the surrounding world was intended to seem huge, but it felt like small, enclosed sets.  Every piece here is expanded, though: Lockhaven now feels like a crowded, fully staffed home for the guard as well as being an expansive fortress; the outdoor settings are appropriately desolate.  And the underground tunnels that Kenzie and crew explore… they stumble across a huge setpiece with an amazing sense of space and some contextually haunting aspects, like a huge pile of mouse bones.  Petersen got a grasp on his world and it full comes across.

If you can take a small event and drum it into a thrilling tale, that’s something.  Yes, there’s some aerial battles for spice, but Petersen doesn’t rely on those to carry these issues – Winter 1152 succeeds because of how strong the characters and locations have become.  Combine that with the stunning art and some notable plot development, and you’ve got yourself a top tier series.