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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When I finished this book I needed to lay down. It was that good. It absolutely slew me.
Winter Rose incorporates elements of the classic fairytale Tam Lin but spins a story insanely unique and wonderful. The world is so alive and vivid I could smell and taste it. Rois is a wonderful heroine, full of longings and impulses that she cannot name, drawn to woods and rose-covered wells and Corbet Lynn, a man who steps out of a sunbeam to become flesh.
This book is so incredibly wonderful that words fail. Only the words within the text could recreate the sensation. Brilliant storytelling.
Winter Rose incorporates elements of the classic fairytale Tam Lin but spins a story insanely unique and wonderful. The world is so alive and vivid I could smell and taste it. Rois is a wonderful heroine, full of longings and impulses that she cannot name, drawn to woods and rose-covered wells and Corbet Lynn, a man who steps out of a sunbeam to become flesh.
This book is so incredibly wonderful that words fail. Only the words within the text could recreate the sensation. Brilliant storytelling.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I want all books to make me feel like this. This gave me big nostalgic vibes, because it felt like the books I grew up reading. Which tracks, because this is some mid-90s fantasy. I truly loved this book and the characters and all the wild, weird, confusing bits of the story. This story kind of meanders and I mean that in the best way. I can't wait to read more from Patricia McKillip.
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-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
As always, McKillip’s prose is magical without being dense or hard to read. Her books are like diving into a dream and leaving the self behind, coming out of it when the book is finished with ghosts and traces of the dream clinging to you for a while.
Winter Rose is a small and contained story, with only one POV and taken place in a very limited set of environments. Because it’s so introspective and explores otherworldly magic, however, it didn’t feel claustrophobic, at least not in the sense of me as the reader getting bored. It does portray the theme of being trapped and controlled, though. I could also feel the main character’s obsession, and shared it. I read it in two sittings because I was so wrapped up in the mystery and tragedy that I couldn’t put it down.
I was really concerned about how McKillip would resolvethe love triangle. I would not have been happy if Corbet had fallen in love with Rois just because she saved him. I think she handled it really well, though. I was fully satisfied, which is rare for me.
I loved the themes of family and loyalty and freedom. There were parts I didn’t enjoy reading, but overall I really loved it.
Winter Rose is a small and contained story, with only one POV and taken place in a very limited set of environments. Because it’s so introspective and explores otherworldly magic, however, it didn’t feel claustrophobic, at least not in the sense of me as the reader getting bored. It does portray the theme of being trapped and controlled, though. I could also feel the main character’s obsession, and shared it. I read it in two sittings because I was so wrapped up in the mystery and tragedy that I couldn’t put it down.
I was really concerned about how McKillip would resolve
I loved the themes of family and loyalty and freedom. There were parts I didn’t enjoy reading, but overall I really loved it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent
Minor: Confinement, Infidelity, Abandonment
As someone who typically can dig a dreamy, “What just happened” prose, this was.... wayyyyyy too vague at times and involved WAY too much of Roise asking about the supposed curse and having frustrating “we’re talking about something without actually talking about the thing” conversations that wore me out by halfway through
I've read Winter Rose several times. Each time, it seems, a different aspect of the story jumps out at me and haunts me for days after I read it. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever read.
And you know it's amazing, because I give it the full five stars in SPITE of the fact that it is, as my best plant-loving buddy puts it, "botanically distressing". The liberties taken with where things grow and when made me shake my head but I couldn't stop reading it. It's brilliant and breathtaking. And most people don't notice all the stuff about plants.
And you know it's amazing, because I give it the full five stars in SPITE of the fact that it is, as my best plant-loving buddy puts it, "botanically distressing". The liberties taken with where things grow and when made me shake my head but I couldn't stop reading it. It's brilliant and breathtaking. And most people don't notice all the stuff about plants.
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is a lyrically sumptuous book to get lost in. McKillip is a master of sketching her world out just enough that you fill it in with your own details and only later realize she never actually specified half of what you envision. A delightfully romantic, spooky, fae read.
Every time I read a McKillip book I’m reminded how goddamn weird she is. She is an absolutely beautiful writer. Every sentence is a song, or a poem. But I’m never quite clear what’s going on, or if there’s even a plot. It’s like some hauntingly beautiful fever dream.
This is a Tam Lin retelling which I didn’t know for forever because, again, plot is pretty much not even secondary here but tertiary. Rois is the wildchild, half fey. She is devoted to her good-girl, sweet older sister who’s engaged to the loving, solid Perrin. Enter prodigal son Corbett Lynn, the mysterious progeny of the Great House said to be cursed when Corbett’s father killed his awful grandfather.Turns out Corbett is part fey too and for some reason some Winter Queen fey wants to keep him in the fey world and is furious he wandered into the human one. Oh, and Corbett and Rois’ sister fall in love, which is painful for everybody – even the sister who, when Corbett disappears (trapped in the fairy world by Evil Snow Queen), starts wasting away from sorrow. The fiancé is also none-too-happy. Rois is in love with Corbett herself and I think in the end they got together but who knows – NOTHING IS CLEAR IN THIS BOOK.
It was kind of a trudge to get through – like trying to navigate the snow-blanketed woods without a path. The scenery is gorgeous, but it takes forever to get anywhere. I did really like the scene where Corbett and Rois are dancing (and Rois for once actually tried to dress up and make herself look pretty) and Rois notices that Corbett is always looking past her at…her sister. McKillip certainly has guts for making the romantic lead, such as he was, in love with the heroine’s sister instead of her. Poor Rois, too wild even for other part-fey.
This is a Tam Lin retelling which I didn’t know for forever because, again, plot is pretty much not even secondary here but tertiary. Rois is the wildchild, half fey
Spoiler
(turns out literally)It was kind of a trudge to get through – like trying to navigate the snow-blanketed woods without a path. The scenery is gorgeous, but it takes forever to get anywhere. I did really like the scene where Corbett and Rois are dancing (and Rois for once actually tried to dress up and make herself look pretty) and Rois notices that Corbett is always looking past her at…her sister. McKillip certainly has guts for making the romantic lead, such as he was, in love with the heroine’s sister instead of her. Poor Rois, too wild even for other part-fey.
Such beautiful writing, but the plot was a little too heavy on hallucinations and wandering in the woods.