You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Lovely writing but I was bored. The story was so slow nothing really happens.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
This McKillip story was filled with love and longing, dreams vs reality, hope and death. It was fantastical but not like many other McKillip stories. It was sad most of the way through but its story line and thoughts held me throughout. It made me long for the things that the characters in the book didn't realize they longed for. Its sadness caused me to not like it as much as I might have and it wasn't as beautiful as some of her other works. Its darkness wasn't too dark - it was a kind of light darkness.
I find it hard to explain why I battled to read this book. The story had promise and the characters believable but it seemed like the author tried to cram the whole dictionary into each sentence.
Hmmm...not much else to say....
Hmmm...not much else to say....
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Full review posted here.
As far as retellings of Tam Lin go, this one does an excellent job maintaining the story and characters. The meeting at the well with roses, the heroine’s heedless love of running through the woods in unladylike manner, the hero’s cold manipulative indifference, the curse, the unfeeling Faerie Queen, the heroine holding the hero through transformations to break the curse, it is all here. This story adds the twist of the sister equally fascinated by the hero. Corbet wants Laurel because she embodies all that is human and held within time. Rose reminds him too much of the world he is trying to escape. She sees too clearly and that frightens him but at the same time he recognizes that quality is the only one that might save him. He leads both of them on abominably, although Rose at least understands what he is doing. Poor Laurel. I really felt sorry for her. One quibble I have with this version is that I could really see no reason why both girls fell so hard for Corbet. The only answer seemed to be that he was just so completely other that they couldn’t help themselves. This makes some sort of sense in the case of Rose who saw him clearly, but not for Laurel who already had a perfectly good fiancée. I don’t like romances that are based on the author telling me, “He’s good looking, charismatic and wonderful. Just go with it.” I actually want to see those qualities. I don’t know that the complication of the love triangle was worth the sacrifice of fleshing out Corbet’s character more. I also do not like when all the complications of such a triangle are done away with by a convenient forgetfulness of all the facts by two of the parties. So overall I was less than impressed by the way the romantic side of this one was handled.
This version is not really about the relationship of the heroine and hero though so much as it is a coming of age story of the heroine herself. It is about Rose discovering who she is and how she fits into the world, and into which world she truly belongs. The story did an excellent job portraying that. The story is told in first person from Rose’s point of view and it was quite easy to fall into her head and lose myself in her voice. Rose’s struggle to define who she is was my favorite part of this retelling.
As far as retellings of Tam Lin go, this one does an excellent job maintaining the story and characters. The meeting at the well with roses, the heroine’s heedless love of running through the woods in unladylike manner, the hero’s cold manipulative indifference, the curse, the unfeeling Faerie Queen, the heroine holding the hero through transformations to break the curse, it is all here. This story adds the twist of the sister equally fascinated by the hero. Corbet wants Laurel because she embodies all that is human and held within time. Rose reminds him too much of the world he is trying to escape. She sees too clearly and that frightens him but at the same time he recognizes that quality is the only one that might save him. He leads both of them on abominably, although Rose at least understands what he is doing. Poor Laurel. I really felt sorry for her. One quibble I have with this version is that I could really see no reason why both girls fell so hard for Corbet. The only answer seemed to be that he was just so completely other that they couldn’t help themselves. This makes some sort of sense in the case of Rose who saw him clearly, but not for Laurel who already had a perfectly good fiancée. I don’t like romances that are based on the author telling me, “He’s good looking, charismatic and wonderful. Just go with it.” I actually want to see those qualities. I don’t know that the complication of the love triangle was worth the sacrifice of fleshing out Corbet’s character more. I also do not like when all the complications of such a triangle are done away with by a convenient forgetfulness of all the facts by two of the parties. So overall I was less than impressed by the way the romantic side of this one was handled.
This version is not really about the relationship of the heroine and hero though so much as it is a coming of age story of the heroine herself. It is about Rose discovering who she is and how she fits into the world, and into which world she truly belongs. The story did an excellent job portraying that. The story is told in first person from Rose’s point of view and it was quite easy to fall into her head and lose myself in her voice. Rose’s struggle to define who she is was my favorite part of this retelling.
Pretty language and imagery. I enjoyed all the curses.
But in the end, there just wasn't enough story for me, nor enough depth to the characters. I didn't feel like they were real, and so had no reason to care what happened to them.
But in the end, there just wasn't enough story for me, nor enough depth to the characters. I didn't feel like they were real, and so had no reason to care what happened to them.
The Winter Rose started with a pretty interesting first half. I was invested in the characters and the people of the village felt alive. Corbet Lynn came to rebuild his family house, bringing a lot of gossip after his father killed his grandfather and disappeared. And then right at the middle, the novel seems to have halted. It feels like an intentional decision because it sort of mirrors the beats of the plot itself. Winter comes and all of a sudden the side character, Laurel, and sister to the main character Rios falls irrationally in love with the mystery man who came to town. And the man himself disappears and the rest of the novel becomes this long drawn out sequence of waiting for him to return while Laurel wasted away staring out the window, the same as their mother. The ending is.. weird. The main conflict doesn't feel resolved, it just feels like it fizzled out and things returned to normal.
This was read because one of my LJ friends had recommended it. It is a lyrical type of fantasy, with loads of descriptions that lead your imagination instead of explaining in detail what you are looking at. A very lovely read.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Exquisite writing; elegant, ethereal, transportive. Feels like the sweetest fever dream.