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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
This is my first and favorite Patricia A. Mckillip book. Rois and Laurel are sisters in love with Corbet, who is actually under an enchantment. The author writes with such rich prose (ha ha, I said "prose") that it is just a beautiful world. If you like this, you would like her other books, most of which I own.
"I found a perfect ring of mushrooms one afternoon, beside the hidden well. Of course I stepped into it; what else can you do?"
It was pure Faerie tale. I loved it
It was pure Faerie tale. I loved it
Not my favorite McKillip, to say the least. Stories of obsessive love are hard for me even to begin to understand, and this one is as bleak as any I've read. Too bad, as the plot contains the kernel of the Tam Lin tale, and I always like seeing how modern authors treat that story.
This book was amazing. The writing makes you look at the world in a new way. I felt a part of the wild, away from everything. I loved it.
When Corbet Lynn comes to reclaim the dilapidated Lynn Hall, the wild Rois--given to foraging barefoot in the woods--becomes obsessed with the secrets and curses of his past. Winter Rose is a Tam Lin retelling at its best: it harvests some aspects (from Tam Lin and other tales) and discards others while maintaining the emotional and symbolic essence of the source material; it then weaves an entire tale around that skeleton, creating a vivid setting and cast without losing the story's magic. Indeed, McKillip's prose is alive with it--her voice is jewel-toned and embroidered, rich with imagery and distinctly magical; it's reminiscent of McKinley but, while occasionally too dreamlike, is not prone to McKinley's frothy atmosphere. The story that grows from it is a tapestry of symbols, a complete internal mythology fueled by resonant emotion and character agency. In a word, it's beautiful. At times it threatens to run off with itself, and the characters and rural setting lean towards banality, but Winter Rose is nonetheless the best of what symbolism can be: entwined images of captivating beauty, startlingly precise and meaningful. This was my introduction to McKillip, and I couldn't ask for better. I recommended it to the interested: if you're here for imagery, McKillip satisfies; if not, the style may wear thin.
This beautifully written book kept using the word “gold” over and over and I had no idea what was happening. The writing was pretty, though.
Weaving several stories that involve roses this is an interesting read. It seems to take it's primary inspiration from Snow White and Rose Red but there are aspects of Beauty and the Beast as well there. McKillip manages to evoke a very fairy tale aspect to the story. It does lag occasionally but the tension is kept up throughout the story, and even though it is a fairy tale you're never sure what the exact outcome is going to be.
I did enjoy it but it's not my favourite of the type.
I did enjoy it but it's not my favourite of the type.
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Winter Rose is a tale of two sisters. When Corbet Lynn returns to claim his ancestral home, rumors of a curse on his family start circulating. Conventional Laurel falls madly in love with Corbet, forsaking her fiancee, while "wild girl" Rois becomes obsessed with finding the truth about the curse. Trouble is, everyone seems to have heard something different - and no one was actually there when it supposedly happened.
The book is a romance where not a lot does happen, and if it hadn't been written so beautifully I might not have finished. Rois treads water through much of the book with her investigations that go nowhere, and then there is a series of confusing hallucinatory sequences (they are real, but feel dreamlike.) By the end, I didn't feel like I'd read much of a story. Patricia McKillip is one of our best fantasy authors, but this isn't one of her best books. (I recommend [b:The Changeling Sea|59|The Changeling Sea|Patricia A. McKillip|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1313430180s/59.jpg|2085180] or [b:The Book of Atrix Wolfe|77353|The Book of Atrix Wolfe|Patricia A. McKillip|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170900098s/77353.jpg|1105994].)
The book is a romance where not a lot does happen, and if it hadn't been written so beautifully I might not have finished. Rois treads water through much of the book with her investigations that go nowhere, and then there is a series of confusing hallucinatory sequences (they are real, but feel dreamlike.) By the end, I didn't feel like I'd read much of a story. Patricia McKillip is one of our best fantasy authors, but this isn't one of her best books. (I recommend [b:The Changeling Sea|59|The Changeling Sea|Patricia A. McKillip|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1313430180s/59.jpg|2085180] or [b:The Book of Atrix Wolfe|77353|The Book of Atrix Wolfe|Patricia A. McKillip|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170900098s/77353.jpg|1105994].)
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes