Reviews

The Silver Wind: Four Stories of Time Disrupted by Nina Allan

beefmaster's review against another edition

3.0

More like 3.5 stars. Reading this so soon after the incredible DOLLMAKER deflates the experience I think. This feels like a practice run and while individual stories range from good to great, the overall project isn’t as particularly impressive as her latest novel

zeefox's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

1.25

catcaird's review against another edition

3.0

I really liked the writing and some of the characters but I did struggle with this book. It's a collection of stories but I wish each story was deeper and more connected.

albsbooks_'s review against another edition

1.0

I wanted to like this book.

I just, couldn't. I'd give it 0 stars if I could
This book was incredibly slow with getting me invested. By the time I grew to care, we were off to the next short story. I didn't feel attatched to any of the characters because we're not given enough of them to draw links to simularities in the timelines etc... There were also just. So many characters. I didn't care.
Dora's only role is to die? Normally I don't care if a book is male dominated but when Dora was made out to be by the blurb, the fact her main role was to have sex with her brother and die was disappointing.
The world-building was confusing. I didn't read the extra bits, putting the book down at the end of Timelines. Owen's conversation was just a big infomation dump and didn't explain anything for me.

Also this book features incestous relationships and no characters appear the slightest bit disturbed by this fact. Nothing important came from the main relationship being incestous.

riaz's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

nikita05's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

booksaremythirdplace's review against another edition

1.0

DNF’d at page 153. It was the incest spice. Could not recover from that. Chapter one was 100 pages long, and it was very confusing. I was hoping for an exciting time travel thriller, and it was just a lot of ick for me. Would not recommend.

marina_dee's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

 "Was he mad at the end, do you think?"
"The man was a genius," Morton said. "There's a fine line between the two.

No.

This further proves that books should come with trigger warnings for all the themes and topics that you might not want to read about. In this instance, it was incest.
Also summaries lie. When the synopsis says "sometimes siblings, sometimes lovers", what it really means is "most of the times lovers, including when they're siblings", and that's just not cool to sprung that on people when they're already a good 100 pages into the book. And just when you think "oh, okay, maybe that was just this part, we seem to be past that", it comes back again and again, and if I were the kind of person who DNFed books willy-nilly, I would have done it.
That was my PSA, because I'm really confused how no one in the reviews talks about it!

But if that wasn't enough, the effect Allan was going for completely fails. The story is incredibly repetitive, with not enough variations in the stories to really stoke the interest. We conclude each story just as the characters seem to comprehend what each iteration of the watches can do. By the third story, I was growing pretty tired of reading, over and over, about Louis Breguet and his tourbillon. In the end, I think the premise of the book falls flat, and it's incredibly disappointing considering that some stories had appeal.

In conclusion:
First part: excellent.
Last part: pretty good, if not as emotionally engaging.
Everything in between: hard pass. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest

cymry09's review against another edition

4.0

This is a hard one to pin down. Rather than a conventional novel, The Silver Wind is more like a collection of stories (some with more obvious ties to each other than others) that play with the concept of time, relationships, and how different yet similar alternate realities could be. Some stories were lovely in their own right, while others seemed disjointed and jarringly out of place (making me wonder if I’m missing something or if that was intentional?).

I was a little disappointed in the actual time travel aspect - while it’s central to the concept throughout, I was really hoping for more about it. Overall, a good book, sometimes great, often confusing, but if you let yourself be swept along and don’t ask too many questions, quite enjoyable.

n8duke's review against another edition

1.0

A boring collection of loose short stories masquerading as a compelling narrative.