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elizabethwatson's review
4.0
I fell like "The Summer County" and this book, its sequel, could have been combined to make one better book. Some of the character development was better here, but the plot seemed uneven.
xterminal's review
3.0
James Hetley, The Winter Oak (Ace, 2004)
A few months ago, I was quite impressed with The Summer Country, James Hetley's first novel. Would that I could say the same about its sequel, The Winter Oak. It does not, however, hold up its end of the bargain.
The book takes place not long after the end of The Summer Country. Jo and Doug have gone back to the mundane world to try and convince everyone back there that everyone's still alive (they've all been gone two months). Fiona plots revenge. Brian and Maureen live happily ever after, right? Not even close. Maureen has inherited Dougal's keep, but it holds terrors for her. Brian has effectively gone AWOL from the Pendragons, and has to figure out how to let them know what's going on while still keeping his head attached to his shoulders. And Khe'Sha, the mate to the dragon Brian and Doug killed in The Summer Country, is lurking around, not very happy with the fact that his girlfriend is dead.
The biggest problem with The Winter Oak, somewhat surprisingly given The Summer Country, is its pacing. The first fifty pages of this book are interminable. The next hundred are glacial (which is an improvement over interminable, it should be noted). It picks up after that, but we're halfway through the book already and nothing of note has happened-- everything's been moving far too slowly for anything to have happened. The usual immediate immersion into the story that occurs when one is already familiar with a story's characters is notably absent here. It's as if Hetley were starting over again on an entirely new novel with entirely new characters. Except he didn't. I can't explain it, I just know it's there.
If you read the first one, you should read the second; once we get to the point where things start happening, it's a good book. It's just that getting to that point is pretty tough. ***
A few months ago, I was quite impressed with The Summer Country, James Hetley's first novel. Would that I could say the same about its sequel, The Winter Oak. It does not, however, hold up its end of the bargain.
The book takes place not long after the end of The Summer Country. Jo and Doug have gone back to the mundane world to try and convince everyone back there that everyone's still alive (they've all been gone two months). Fiona plots revenge. Brian and Maureen live happily ever after, right? Not even close. Maureen has inherited Dougal's keep, but it holds terrors for her. Brian has effectively gone AWOL from the Pendragons, and has to figure out how to let them know what's going on while still keeping his head attached to his shoulders. And Khe'Sha, the mate to the dragon Brian and Doug killed in The Summer Country, is lurking around, not very happy with the fact that his girlfriend is dead.
The biggest problem with The Winter Oak, somewhat surprisingly given The Summer Country, is its pacing. The first fifty pages of this book are interminable. The next hundred are glacial (which is an improvement over interminable, it should be noted). It picks up after that, but we're halfway through the book already and nothing of note has happened-- everything's been moving far too slowly for anything to have happened. The usual immediate immersion into the story that occurs when one is already familiar with a story's characters is notably absent here. It's as if Hetley were starting over again on an entirely new novel with entirely new characters. Except he didn't. I can't explain it, I just know it's there.
If you read the first one, you should read the second; once we get to the point where things start happening, it's a good book. It's just that getting to that point is pretty tough. ***
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