Reviews with content warning for Sexism - A Winter's Promise

Representation: N/A?
Score: Seven points out of ten.

Well, first, what's wrong with BookTok? I briefly saw this novel on the BookTok shelf at one of the two libraries I go to but I put it off for a while until I finally picked it up and read it. When I finished it, I felt nothing but dissatisfaction as the story looked so promising, unique and original but when I read it, it was too tedious. It starts with a prologue explaining how the world was nothing out of the ordinary until 'The Rupture,' splitting the world into numerous floating islands called 'Arks.' Then it cuts to the main character Ophelia (whose last name I forgot) living on an ark called Anima but here's the catch: she can travel through mirrors (unfortunately I didn't see much of that, shame.) Here is where the flaws surface, well for a supposedly civilised society it's backward since one of the characters forced Ophelia to marry a predetermined partner (Come on. Really? She should have a choice. But she doesn't. Why?) Did I also mention that I wasn't a fan of how the author wrote the female characters to make them look bad? It sounds discriminatory. The issues don't end there, since the plot is slow (normally that wouldn't be a problem since that would let me explore the characters more, but since the author didn't write them well, it didn't help.) I had to push myself to finish the book, otherwise I would've given it a DNF, but it fizzled out anyway, and I won't finish the series. Shame.

Content Warnings

jenny_librarian's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark informative 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? Yes

3.0

Je ne sais pas trop quoi penser de ce livre. Le côté politique est intéressant, mais comme absolument aucun personnage n’est attachant, ça m’a empêché de ressentir quelque empathie que ce soit pour eux.

J’ai l’impression qu’Ophélie est demi-romantique, et Thorn présente plusieurs traits autiste. Est-ce voulu? Je n’en sais rien, mais c’est ce qui m’a semblé le plus captivant dans ma lecture.
Malheureusement, tous les personnages sont froids et la plupart sont dénués de caractérisation outre des défauts très superficiels qui deviennent leur entière personnalité.

Je ne sais pas non plus si le sous-entendu est intentionnel, mais les “provinciaux” semblent avoir un accent québécois et ça me rend mal à l’aise. Tout comme les références à la religion animiste, qui est fondamentalement liés à l’histoire coloniale et aux peuples africains et autochtones — pour la plupart décimés par les colonies françaises… M’enfin, c’est peut-être seulement mon interprétation de la chose.

Je ne sais pas encore si je vais lire la suite. Ce sont de gros livres avec peu d’action qui demandent beaucoup de travail cérébral pour peu de résultats.

Content Warnings

ransomoney's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

There are several production/editing issues with the audio book. Narrator repeating lines, messing up words, and awkward pauses and mouth noises.

This book wasn’t really for me. almost dnf about half way through. The characters are all very cruel to each other, which makes sense within the setting but I didn’t enjoy reading.

Also overuse of the word “lugubrious”

Content Warnings

midnightgarden's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I wish I could say I liked this book more. It's labeled as a romance but it is decidedly not. There's exactly 0% romance going on in this story. There's a lot of marital intrigue though!

Content Warnings

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Content Warnings

allisonmspiers's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

More...