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dylan_tomorrow's review against another edition
5.0
I love stories about societies. What makes them tick. What values did they gleam from horrific missteps of the past? How were they built? How lose were they to falling apart?
How do they mold people? In this world, men and women are trained deliberately for good traits and qualitites in various way, and the most eye-brow raising training of them all the one were they have widows make men out of boys by having sex with them. By seducing them into being better people.
This is a love story of two individualists. Two people who do not ever just accept what they are told at face values. Two people for whom a lot of people have all kinds of plans.
This is the story of a society, a culture, which values communication, cooperation and excellence. A story of how it, miraculously, was created by brave women and men against all odds. About how shaky its foundations still are.
This is a story about the cost of protecting this society, and about the cost of the web of lies spun to defend it. About how, after banishing darkness it can always regrow from the light, from ignorance and fear.
This is the best book I have read this year and one of the best character-driven books I have read in a long time. Recommended to anyone who can handle a few sex scenes written just as wonderfully as the rest of this tale.
I am so looking forward to read the sequel.
How do they mold people? In this world, men and women are trained deliberately for good traits and qualitites in various way, and the most eye-brow raising training of them all the one were they have widows make men out of boys by having sex with them. By seducing them into being better people.
This is a love story of two individualists. Two people who do not ever just accept what they are told at face values. Two people for whom a lot of people have all kinds of plans.
This is the story of a society, a culture, which values communication, cooperation and excellence. A story of how it, miraculously, was created by brave women and men against all odds. About how shaky its foundations still are.
This is a story about the cost of protecting this society, and about the cost of the web of lies spun to defend it. About how, after banishing darkness it can always regrow from the light, from ignorance and fear.
This is the best book I have read this year and one of the best character-driven books I have read in a long time. Recommended to anyone who can handle a few sex scenes written just as wonderfully as the rest of this tale.
Spoiler
The Guardians are responsible for a lot of the Mwertik raids. All of their machinations in this book are to fix their mistake, Mistral's mistake. All of this shows to me that they need to evolve into a bigger organisation with less single points of failure and more safeguards against such grave lapses in judgement.I am so looking forward to read the sequel.
abookandalattee's review against another edition
5.0
Sally Wiener Grotta is one of my favorite authors since I began blogging. I previously read Jo Joe which was by far amazingly written and the same goes for The Winter Boy. I enjoy the development of the characters throughout the story. The plot is well written with many insights that are offered throughout the story that are related to our world. I highly recommend The Winter Boy along with Sally’s prior work.
see_sadie_read's review against another edition
3.0
I'm just going to come out and confess up front that this is a hard book for me to review, because I firmly believe it is probably a good book. It's certainly well written (with the exception of a few too formal quirks I'll get to in a minute). The problem is that it is also a book I didn't particularly enjoy and thus its 508 pages felt all but endless.
At its most basic, my problem with the book is that it feels a little pompas, as if it's trying so hard to be important and meaningful that it just feel staged. As a result, it strikes me as one of those books that we're all expected to read and hop on the 'it's so deep and meaningful' bandwagon. Meh, I saw where it was trying to go and what it was trying to do (It was hard not to, it was so heavy-handed), but none of it impressed me too much.
Plus, and this is a biggy for me, the Feminist in me squirmed. I had hoped that taking a group of widows with the intent of training men to be better men would feel empowering. Instead, it felt just like one more story in which women set aside their own lives and importance for the betterment of a man.
And I don't just mean this in the sense that all books should be paragons of feminist mystique, but that from the blurb and numerous hints in the text itself I sensed that it was written with the intent to show women as equally strong, worthy contributors to the societal good. In this, it failed miserably.
Even more so since Ryl came from a society in which women blatantly don't have equal rights (a fact that effects his beliefs and behaviours in the beginning but is then mysteriously dropped), but it's quite clear that not all cultures in the book's universe are supposed to hold with such inequality. BUT you don't see those cultures. You're told they exist, but don't see them. Every single culture that is discussed (and there are a lot of them) held women in positions of secondary status.
Regardless, it's still treated as the norm. Rishana still submits to him in many ways, even as she's said to be doing it to teach a lesson or because challenging him will not further a lesson. Meh, I appreciate what the book was trying to accomplish in this area. I just don't think it was wholly successful.
If women are meant to have equal rights/powers/positions/respect in the country as a whole, even if not in all individual tribes, why do the Alleshi train ONLY MEN for leadership? It's kinda a big deal and completely undermines what I perceived to be the book's intent. Thus, it feels like one more text that touts female empowerment and delivers the "naturalness" of male leadership and women's, at best, position as an advisor.
It reeks of the familiar myth that women can find true satisfaction and self-worth in taking a damaged or unrefined man and through her love and good heart changing him into a truly good man and live happily ever after. Which, if you take that one step farther, is the myth people used to teach young girls to make them passively accepting of being married to older or otherwise unappealing men.
It could have been something really special, if it hadn't so often compromised itself by falling back into old, well trodden gender tropes that completely countered what I took to be the book's intended message. Of course, my understanding of its intent, while valid (as I think any reader's understanding of a work is valid), may not be the same as the author's. I have no way of knowing. But this was a big deal for me.
There was unquestioningly a submissiveness to the lessons the Alleshi taught their boys, that is the woman appearing to submit to the boy. Yes, she's doing it purposefully to teach him, but that same submission and how to expect and accept it is part of the lesson, especially toward the end when he's supposed to have become an actual man.
There will be some who argue that given what is revealed toward the end, this isn't the case. But for me it was too little too late. After all they were still only training men to go out, meet new cultures, make decisions and rule each individual tribe.
I did like the use of sex as a predetermined lesson. I appreciated that the author was brave enough to strike out from the cultural narrative that sex is only proper and acceptable for procreation or as an angelic expression of romantic love. It too is a myth and I found exploring other expressions and uses for it satisfyingly adult. Not in any illicit or titilating way, but by provoking thought around a subject most of us are fed a cultural belief system that we're not supposed to question.
I also appreciate how obviously arrogant Ryl was in the beginning and how the author showed a lot of what most teenage boys probably feel. On the other end of the spectrum, if the arrogance of teenaged boys could be dispelled by good sex and pointed questions in a single winter all our lives would likely be better. It's not particularly believable.
As I said the writing is largely very good. I occasionally found the dialogue ever so slightly unnatural. I realize it is often meant to be formal and it feels it. But I found myself gritting my teeth at the frequency with characters said "please." I acknowledge that this is a strange comment, but used repeatedly between two people living together felt out of place. Similarly, characters, far too often used names and titles when speaking to one another.
Since I'm on the subject of names, the use of several names for the same characters seemed needlessly confusing. It is explained and I understand why it was done, but I found myself confused more than once. At one point, you have a single character referred to by three names in the space of a page. And there are several characters this is done with.
There is also a tendency to head-hop, which I found distracting, especially when numerous characters were involved. It was jarring.
Lastly, like Ryl, I got really tired of everything being a lesson. This is part of what I meant when I called it heavy-handed. There are so many 'teaching moments' that eventually I felt lectured to. In the end, I wasn't sure which the author saw as more important, the entertainment value of the story or the moral lessons she sought to teach the reader.
All in all, it's an interesting story. With some interesting cultures and precepts. There is a large and detailed (probably dystopian) world developed here. I have no doubt that it will appeal to some. I found it long, tedious and full of things that made me grit my teeth in annoyance.
At its most basic, my problem with the book is that it feels a little pompas, as if it's trying so hard to be important and meaningful that it just feel staged. As a result, it strikes me as one of those books that we're all expected to read and hop on the 'it's so deep and meaningful' bandwagon. Meh, I saw where it was trying to go and what it was trying to do (It was hard not to, it was so heavy-handed), but none of it impressed me too much.
Plus, and this is a biggy for me, the Feminist in me squirmed. I had hoped that taking a group of widows with the intent of training men to be better men would feel empowering. Instead, it felt just like one more story in which women set aside their own lives and importance for the betterment of a man.
And I don't just mean this in the sense that all books should be paragons of feminist mystique, but that from the blurb and numerous hints in the text itself I sensed that it was written with the intent to show women as equally strong, worthy contributors to the societal good. In this, it failed miserably.
Even more so since Ryl came from a society in which women blatantly don't have equal rights (a fact that effects his beliefs and behaviours in the beginning but is then mysteriously dropped), but it's quite clear that not all cultures in the book's universe are supposed to hold with such inequality. BUT you don't see those cultures. You're told they exist, but don't see them. Every single culture that is discussed (and there are a lot of them) held women in positions of secondary status.
Regardless, it's still treated as the norm. Rishana still submits to him in many ways, even as she's said to be doing it to teach a lesson or because challenging him will not further a lesson. Meh, I appreciate what the book was trying to accomplish in this area. I just don't think it was wholly successful.
If women are meant to have equal rights/powers/positions/respect in the country as a whole, even if not in all individual tribes, why do the Alleshi train ONLY MEN for leadership? It's kinda a big deal and completely undermines what I perceived to be the book's intent. Thus, it feels like one more text that touts female empowerment and delivers the "naturalness" of male leadership and women's, at best, position as an advisor.
It reeks of the familiar myth that women can find true satisfaction and self-worth in taking a damaged or unrefined man and through her love and good heart changing him into a truly good man and live happily ever after. Which, if you take that one step farther, is the myth people used to teach young girls to make them passively accepting of being married to older or otherwise unappealing men.
It could have been something really special, if it hadn't so often compromised itself by falling back into old, well trodden gender tropes that completely countered what I took to be the book's intended message. Of course, my understanding of its intent, while valid (as I think any reader's understanding of a work is valid), may not be the same as the author's. I have no way of knowing. But this was a big deal for me.
There was unquestioningly a submissiveness to the lessons the Alleshi taught their boys, that is the woman appearing to submit to the boy. Yes, she's doing it purposefully to teach him, but that same submission and how to expect and accept it is part of the lesson, especially toward the end when he's supposed to have become an actual man.
There will be some who argue that given what is revealed toward the end, this isn't the case. But for me it was too little too late. After all they were still only training men to go out, meet new cultures, make decisions and rule each individual tribe.
I did like the use of sex as a predetermined lesson. I appreciated that the author was brave enough to strike out from the cultural narrative that sex is only proper and acceptable for procreation or as an angelic expression of romantic love. It too is a myth and I found exploring other expressions and uses for it satisfyingly adult. Not in any illicit or titilating way, but by provoking thought around a subject most of us are fed a cultural belief system that we're not supposed to question.
I also appreciate how obviously arrogant Ryl was in the beginning and how the author showed a lot of what most teenage boys probably feel. On the other end of the spectrum, if the arrogance of teenaged boys could be dispelled by good sex and pointed questions in a single winter all our lives would likely be better. It's not particularly believable.
As I said the writing is largely very good. I occasionally found the dialogue ever so slightly unnatural. I realize it is often meant to be formal and it feels it. But I found myself gritting my teeth at the frequency with characters said "please." I acknowledge that this is a strange comment, but used repeatedly between two people living together felt out of place. Similarly, characters, far too often used names and titles when speaking to one another.
Since I'm on the subject of names, the use of several names for the same characters seemed needlessly confusing. It is explained and I understand why it was done, but I found myself confused more than once. At one point, you have a single character referred to by three names in the space of a page. And there are several characters this is done with.
There is also a tendency to head-hop, which I found distracting, especially when numerous characters were involved. It was jarring.
Lastly, like Ryl, I got really tired of everything being a lesson. This is part of what I meant when I called it heavy-handed. There are so many 'teaching moments' that eventually I felt lectured to. In the end, I wasn't sure which the author saw as more important, the entertainment value of the story or the moral lessons she sought to teach the reader.
All in all, it's an interesting story. With some interesting cultures and precepts. There is a large and detailed (probably dystopian) world developed here. I have no doubt that it will appeal to some. I found it long, tedious and full of things that made me grit my teeth in annoyance.
see_sadie_read's review
3.0
I'm just going to come out and confess up front that this is a hard book for me to review, because I firmly believe it is probably a good book. It's certainly well written (with the exception of a few too formal quirks I'll get to in a minute). The problem is that it is also a book I didn't particularly enjoy and thus its 508 pages felt all but endless.
At its most basic, my problem with the book is that it feels a little pompas, as if it's trying so hard to be important and meaningful that it just feel staged. As a result, it strikes me as one of those books that we're all expected to read and hop on the 'it's so deep and meaningful' bandwagon. Meh, I saw where it was trying to go and what it was trying to do (It was hard not to, it was so heavy-handed), but none of it impressed me too much.
Plus, and this is a biggy for me, the Feminist in me squirmed. I had hoped that taking a group of widows with the intent of training men to be better men would feel empowering. Instead, it felt just like one more story in which women set aside their own lives and importance for the betterment of a man.
And I don't just mean this in the sense that all books should be paragons of feminist mystique, but that from the blurb and numerous hints in the text itself I sensed that it was written with the intent to show women as equally strong, worthy contributors to the societal good. In this, it failed miserably.
Even more so since Ryl came from a society in which women blatantly don't have equal rights (a fact that effects his beliefs and behaviours in the beginning but is then mysteriously dropped), but it's quite clear that not all cultures in the book's universe are supposed to hold with such inequality. BUT you don't see those cultures. You're told they exist, but don't see them. Every single culture that is discussed (and there are a lot of them) held women in positions of secondary status.
Regardless, it's still treated as the norm. Rishana still submits to him in many ways, even as she's said to be doing it to teach a lesson or because challenging him will not further a lesson. Meh, I appreciate what the book was trying to accomplish in this area. I just don't think it was wholly successful.
If women are meant to have equal rights/powers/positions/respect in the country as a whole, even if not in all individual tribes, why do the Alleshi train ONLY MEN for leadership? It's kinda a big deal and completely undermines what I perceived to be the book's intent. Thus, it feels like one more text that touts female empowerment and delivers the "naturalness" of male leadership and women's, at best, position as an advisor.
It reeks of the familiar myth that women can find true satisfaction and self-worth in taking a damaged or unrefined man and through her love and good heart changing him into a truly good man and live happily ever after. Which, if you take that one step farther, is the myth people used to teach young girls to make them passively accepting of being married to older or otherwise unappealing men.
It could have been something really special, if it hadn't so often compromised itself by falling back into old, well trodden gender tropes that completely countered what I took to be the book's intended message. Of course, my understanding of its intent, while valid (as I think any reader's understanding of a work is valid), may not be the same as the author's. I have no way of knowing. But this was a big deal for me.
There was unquestioningly a submissiveness to the lessons the Alleshi taught their boys, that is the woman appearing to submit to the boy. Yes, she's doing it purposefully to teach him, but that same submission and how to expect and accept it is part of the lesson, especially toward the end when he's supposed to have become an actual man.
There will be some who argue that given what is revealed toward the end, this isn't the case. But for me it was too little too late. After all they were still only training men to go out, meet new cultures, make decisions and rule each individual tribe.
I did like the use of sex as a predetermined lesson. I appreciated that the author was brave enough to strike out from the cultural narrative that sex is only proper and acceptable for procreation or as an angelic expression of romantic love. It too is a myth and I found exploring other expressions and uses for it satisfyingly adult. Not in any illicit or titilating way, but by provoking thought around a subject most of us are fed a cultural belief system that we're not supposed to question.
I also appreciate how obviously arrogant Ryl was in the beginning and how the author showed a lot of what most teenage boys probably feel. On the other end of the spectrum, if the arrogance of teenaged boys could be dispelled by good sex and pointed questions in a single winter all our lives would likely be better. It's not particularly believable.
As I said the writing is largely very good. I occasionally found the dialogue ever so slightly unnatural. I realize it is often meant to be formal and it feels it. But I found myself gritting my teeth at the frequency with characters said "please." I acknowledge that this is a strange comment, but used repeatedly between two people living together felt out of place. Similarly, characters, far too often used names and titles when speaking to one another.
Since I'm on the subject of names, the use of several names for the same characters seemed needlessly confusing. It is explained and I understand why it was done, but I found myself confused more than once. At one point, you have a single character referred to by three names in the space of a page. And there are several characters this is done with.
There is also a tendency to head-hop, which I found distracting, especially when numerous characters were involved. It was jarring.
Lastly, like Ryl, I got really tired of everything being a lesson. This is part of what I meant when I called it heavy-handed. There are so many 'teaching moments' that eventually I felt lectured to. In the end, I wasn't sure which the author saw as more important, the entertainment value of the story or the moral lessons she sought to teach the reader.
All in all, it's an interesting story. With some interesting cultures and precepts. There is a large and detailed (probably dystopian) world developed here. I have no doubt that it will appeal to some. I found it long, tedious and full of things that made me grit my teeth in annoyance.
At its most basic, my problem with the book is that it feels a little pompas, as if it's trying so hard to be important and meaningful that it just feel staged. As a result, it strikes me as one of those books that we're all expected to read and hop on the 'it's so deep and meaningful' bandwagon. Meh, I saw where it was trying to go and what it was trying to do (It was hard not to, it was so heavy-handed), but none of it impressed me too much.
Plus, and this is a biggy for me, the Feminist in me squirmed. I had hoped that taking a group of widows with the intent of training men to be better men would feel empowering. Instead, it felt just like one more story in which women set aside their own lives and importance for the betterment of a man.
And I don't just mean this in the sense that all books should be paragons of feminist mystique, but that from the blurb and numerous hints in the text itself I sensed that it was written with the intent to show women as equally strong, worthy contributors to the societal good. In this, it failed miserably.
Even more so since Ryl came from a society in which women blatantly don't have equal rights (a fact that effects his beliefs and behaviours in the beginning but is then mysteriously dropped), but it's quite clear that not all cultures in the book's universe are supposed to hold with such inequality. BUT you don't see those cultures. You're told they exist, but don't see them. Every single culture that is discussed (and there are a lot of them) held women in positions of secondary status.
Regardless, it's still treated as the norm. Rishana still submits to him in many ways, even as she's said to be doing it to teach a lesson or because challenging him will not further a lesson. Meh, I appreciate what the book was trying to accomplish in this area. I just don't think it was wholly successful.
If women are meant to have equal rights/powers/positions/respect in the country as a whole, even if not in all individual tribes, why do the Alleshi train ONLY MEN for leadership? It's kinda a big deal and completely undermines what I perceived to be the book's intent. Thus, it feels like one more text that touts female empowerment and delivers the "naturalness" of male leadership and women's, at best, position as an advisor.
It reeks of the familiar myth that women can find true satisfaction and self-worth in taking a damaged or unrefined man and through her love and good heart changing him into a truly good man and live happily ever after. Which, if you take that one step farther, is the myth people used to teach young girls to make them passively accepting of being married to older or otherwise unappealing men.
It could have been something really special, if it hadn't so often compromised itself by falling back into old, well trodden gender tropes that completely countered what I took to be the book's intended message. Of course, my understanding of its intent, while valid (as I think any reader's understanding of a work is valid), may not be the same as the author's. I have no way of knowing. But this was a big deal for me.
There was unquestioningly a submissiveness to the lessons the Alleshi taught their boys, that is the woman appearing to submit to the boy. Yes, she's doing it purposefully to teach him, but that same submission and how to expect and accept it is part of the lesson, especially toward the end when he's supposed to have become an actual man.
There will be some who argue that given what is revealed toward the end, this isn't the case. But for me it was too little too late. After all they were still only training men to go out, meet new cultures, make decisions and rule each individual tribe.
I did like the use of sex as a predetermined lesson. I appreciated that the author was brave enough to strike out from the cultural narrative that sex is only proper and acceptable for procreation or as an angelic expression of romantic love. It too is a myth and I found exploring other expressions and uses for it satisfyingly adult. Not in any illicit or titilating way, but by provoking thought around a subject most of us are fed a cultural belief system that we're not supposed to question.
I also appreciate how obviously arrogant Ryl was in the beginning and how the author showed a lot of what most teenage boys probably feel. On the other end of the spectrum, if the arrogance of teenaged boys could be dispelled by good sex and pointed questions in a single winter all our lives would likely be better. It's not particularly believable.
As I said the writing is largely very good. I occasionally found the dialogue ever so slightly unnatural. I realize it is often meant to be formal and it feels it. But I found myself gritting my teeth at the frequency with characters said "please." I acknowledge that this is a strange comment, but used repeatedly between two people living together felt out of place. Similarly, characters, far too often used names and titles when speaking to one another.
Since I'm on the subject of names, the use of several names for the same characters seemed needlessly confusing. It is explained and I understand why it was done, but I found myself confused more than once. At one point, you have a single character referred to by three names in the space of a page. And there are several characters this is done with.
There is also a tendency to head-hop, which I found distracting, especially when numerous characters were involved. It was jarring.
Lastly, like Ryl, I got really tired of everything being a lesson. This is part of what I meant when I called it heavy-handed. There are so many 'teaching moments' that eventually I felt lectured to. In the end, I wasn't sure which the author saw as more important, the entertainment value of the story or the moral lessons she sought to teach the reader.
All in all, it's an interesting story. With some interesting cultures and precepts. There is a large and detailed (probably dystopian) world developed here. I have no doubt that it will appeal to some. I found it long, tedious and full of things that made me grit my teeth in annoyance.
writerrhiannon's review against another edition
5.0
What a great read! I was excited about this book as soon as I was contacted to review it. I was drawn in as soon as I started reading the story but was worried that 500+ pages would cause me to lose interest somewhere along the way. That was not the case. It is hard to describe this book because I haven't really read anything like it. This is a book that is difficult to fit into a single genre but I will try. The setting is not dystopian nor post-apocolyptic but occurs in a time after The Great Chaos. The village is modern yet rustic, (there is a library and upholstered furniture but no technology.) I got a feeling of "The Lord of the Rings" in that there are other villages, journeys, and deeper lessons in every action, but this novel contained no magic or fantasy creatures. There are sex lessons but this is not erotica. The story is a feminine retelling of warrior training stories. Where other such stories focus on physical strength, brutality, pain, and imminent battle, this story tells of young men being trained to maintain The Peace by being taught to honor other tribes, to read someone by their body language, use their intelligence, and resort to combat as a final option in defense of their villages. I'm pleased to hear that the author is currently working on another book to accompany this one that will tell the story from a handful of other characters' points of view.
Read my full review here: http://ivoryowlreviews.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-winter-boy-by-sally-wiener-grotta.html
Read my full review here: http://ivoryowlreviews.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-winter-boy-by-sally-wiener-grotta.html
avoraciousreader68's review against another edition
1.0
DNF @40%
I just can't read anymore about this Winter Boy. He's so fucking selfish. And completely clueless. How thick do you have to be for fuck's sake?!
I just can't read anymore about this Winter Boy. He's so fucking selfish. And completely clueless. How thick do you have to be for fuck's sake?!
whalleyrulz's review against another edition
5.0
Let's start out with the ugliest part of this book: yes, a woman did write a novel that directly says "see, women are super powerful, because they can fuck boys and turn them into powerful amazing members of society that can protect us." None of my overanalysis there; that's literally the plot of the book. Rishana is a woman who is taking on her first sexstudent, and is stressed out because what if she doesn't do the hump rightwardsly and he doesn't wind up being as good a diplomat warrior as the other women will sex their dudes into being?
But, okay, here's the thing: Jacqueline Carey's [b:Kushiel's Dart|153008|Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1)|Jacqueline Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328168291s/153008.jpg|2990010], if you're going to sum it up in the same way, is a book about how some women just like being beat, and Margaret Atwood's [b:The Handmaid's Tale|38447|The Handmaid's Tale|Margaret Atwood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1294702760s/38447.jpg|1119185] is all about how women probably shouldn't bother forcing themselves to try any more, because they're all just destined to give up and get fucked by the patriarchy.
Ain't I grand at summaries?
The Winter Boy is... you know, it's hard to come up with a simple thing to write about this book before going into detail. It's a brand new fantasy novel that encapsulates the history of a world from the confines of a small love-shack in the mountains. It's mythic as hell. And if you find the start as awkward as I did, stick with it - this is cultural fantasy that rewards like nothing else.
Sally Wiener Grotta did a beautiful thing with this book. Most 'coming of age' stories don't really deal with 'coming of age' in terms of maturity or general worldviews; they mostly follow the story of a Teenager who Didn't Know They Hurt Someone Acknowledging Their Daddy Issues and Developing A Wistful Smile. The Winter Boy isn't that. It's a story about someone learning to be less self-centered due to no typical conflict. It's amazing.
That awkwardness at the start that I mentioned is one of the many ways this book is just phenomenal. The book reads awkwardly because the characters are awkward. As they mature, the writing style matures; as Ryl and Rishana become more comfortable and learn more about each other, the text goes from uncomfortable to absolutely mythic, almost profound prose. It turns out, and I didn't know this, that Sally Wiener Grotta is a fantastic writer. You can't make that transition happen without serious control over your writing and editing.
I wanted to bring that up before getting into how this book really tears the coming-of-age genre apart to accentuate this point: this is a novel written by an absolutely spectacular author.
So.
This is one of those books that, in five years time, you'll see somebody name in those "books that changed your life" lists. I get it. I do. This book is an educational journey that teaches the reader in no small way how to open their eyes to the world, and how to be more 'present' in life. Due to the lessons that Rishana teaches Ryl, the reader gets to witness first-hand an eighteen year old's journey from arrogance to understanding, from self-centered to selfless. And, thanks to the back-and-forth perspective shifts, the reader will, undoubtedly, reflect and learn too.
But it's not a textbook. It's not a series of dry lessons from guru to novice. It's a back-and-forth story that is never, never, preachy. Hell, it directly criticizes and confronts the idea of a wizened Yoda of knowledge. Vagueness is an enemy. Rishana is a student, just as much as Ryl is, and they both learn from each other, as people in any good relationship should. When it starts, you'll think "goddamn, that Tom Whalley doesn't know what he's talking about; this is heavy-handed as hell, this is just lesson after lesson after lesson, why am I reading this." Remember: it's purposeful; it is an intentional thing to place the reader in the same position as Ryl as to being sick of these lessons. Sally Wiener Grotta is annoying you on purpose.
And, and, oh man my favorite 'and' here, there's a bunch of intentional, purposeful sex in this book that isn't written to titillate, or to eroticize, or to target any particular audience in one way or another. It's blunt and open; it exists to question the embarrassment so many people have with the entire topic. It doesn't condemn those who chose not to have sex either, nor does it push any kind of pro-hump viewpoint, it just states "Hey, here is a fact of life, here is an important thing that some people do that can and usually will have significant impact on lives, and when it comes to woman-and-man sex, can affect how genders think of each other. Let's work with that."
Because here's the thing (that should be a catchphrase of mine at this point, I write it so often)
Sally Wiener Grotta could have created an idyllic world, free of sexism. She has developed the cultural history of dozens of different peoples; she very easily could have written a novel that blatantly gives power to women. She did not. She could have written something that is much more easily construed as a feminist work, something that doesn't lean on so many horrible lessons young women are taught about their 'use' in the world. She did not. She wrote a story bent around gender roles; a, frankly, uncomfortable novel. I deliberately chose Atwood and Carey's books at the start of this review to set a tone though; sometimes, it's better to write something honest yet questionable than a hopeful reiteration of another's idea.
It's pointless to deny the negative implications that this story has. On one level, it just backs up the idea that the greatest thing a woman can do is to support a strong man. It can be read as an ode to submission, as a lesson that women should learn to be manipulative and pull strings, and that the most power a lady can have is to fuck well and serve. I won't spoil the turn near the end of the book; it definitely arrives far too late into the novel to make every reader happy, and doesn't quite 'solve' these issues. Personally, I read it as a setup for the next novel's deconstruction of this one's tropes. Without giving too much away, I feel like the next novel will directly confront why the Alleshi only train men as leaders and the very large problems that I just brought up. You don't write a book about how to pick up on subtext and not be aware of your own subtext; Rishana's decisions and opinions surrounding the Alleshi in the final chapters kind of hint at this direction. I hope.
My biggest criticism is actually that there's a whole 'nother story going on in this book that just ends. Here's a post-coital fireside debate of a story, an actual story, a fantasy novel, with no swords or punching or kingdoms or, mostly, even harsh words. It's so personal, and so well done, that you almost get upset about the events taking place outside of this one little cabin. The outside story, the 'wrapper', if you will, is pushed aside for such a long time that when it rears its head near the end, it feels like a slap of cold water. Intentional, again, but still upsetting... and when the novel ends, just ends like that...
Look, if Sally Wiener Grotta doesn't write a sequel to this book to follow up on every loose end, to continue every story, I want you to disregard every word of this review after the first paragraph. In fact, remove everything before the first 'yes' too. This novel is incredible, and I so rarely say "and the sequel will make it even better" because I kind of want books to stand on their own, but yeah. That. This is incredible. The next will make this more incredible. Or, I hate it.
Hmm. I might have to write reviews of series next. It'll be easier. Sidenote over: read this damn book.
But, okay, here's the thing: Jacqueline Carey's [b:Kushiel's Dart|153008|Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1)|Jacqueline Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328168291s/153008.jpg|2990010], if you're going to sum it up in the same way, is a book about how some women just like being beat, and Margaret Atwood's [b:The Handmaid's Tale|38447|The Handmaid's Tale|Margaret Atwood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1294702760s/38447.jpg|1119185] is all about how women probably shouldn't bother forcing themselves to try any more, because they're all just destined to give up and get fucked by the patriarchy.
Ain't I grand at summaries?
The Winter Boy is... you know, it's hard to come up with a simple thing to write about this book before going into detail. It's a brand new fantasy novel that encapsulates the history of a world from the confines of a small love-shack in the mountains. It's mythic as hell. And if you find the start as awkward as I did, stick with it - this is cultural fantasy that rewards like nothing else.
Sally Wiener Grotta did a beautiful thing with this book. Most 'coming of age' stories don't really deal with 'coming of age' in terms of maturity or general worldviews; they mostly follow the story of a Teenager who Didn't Know They Hurt Someone Acknowledging Their Daddy Issues and Developing A Wistful Smile. The Winter Boy isn't that. It's a story about someone learning to be less self-centered due to no typical conflict. It's amazing.
That awkwardness at the start that I mentioned is one of the many ways this book is just phenomenal. The book reads awkwardly because the characters are awkward. As they mature, the writing style matures; as Ryl and Rishana become more comfortable and learn more about each other, the text goes from uncomfortable to absolutely mythic, almost profound prose. It turns out, and I didn't know this, that Sally Wiener Grotta is a fantastic writer. You can't make that transition happen without serious control over your writing and editing.
I wanted to bring that up before getting into how this book really tears the coming-of-age genre apart to accentuate this point: this is a novel written by an absolutely spectacular author.
So.
This is one of those books that, in five years time, you'll see somebody name in those "books that changed your life" lists. I get it. I do. This book is an educational journey that teaches the reader in no small way how to open their eyes to the world, and how to be more 'present' in life. Due to the lessons that Rishana teaches Ryl, the reader gets to witness first-hand an eighteen year old's journey from arrogance to understanding, from self-centered to selfless. And, thanks to the back-and-forth perspective shifts, the reader will, undoubtedly, reflect and learn too.
But it's not a textbook. It's not a series of dry lessons from guru to novice. It's a back-and-forth story that is never, never, preachy. Hell, it directly criticizes and confronts the idea of a wizened Yoda of knowledge. Vagueness is an enemy. Rishana is a student, just as much as Ryl is, and they both learn from each other, as people in any good relationship should. When it starts, you'll think "goddamn, that Tom Whalley doesn't know what he's talking about; this is heavy-handed as hell, this is just lesson after lesson after lesson, why am I reading this." Remember: it's purposeful; it is an intentional thing to place the reader in the same position as Ryl as to being sick of these lessons. Sally Wiener Grotta is annoying you on purpose.
And, and, oh man my favorite 'and' here, there's a bunch of intentional, purposeful sex in this book that isn't written to titillate, or to eroticize, or to target any particular audience in one way or another. It's blunt and open; it exists to question the embarrassment so many people have with the entire topic. It doesn't condemn those who chose not to have sex either, nor does it push any kind of pro-hump viewpoint, it just states "Hey, here is a fact of life, here is an important thing that some people do that can and usually will have significant impact on lives, and when it comes to woman-and-man sex, can affect how genders think of each other. Let's work with that."
Because here's the thing (that should be a catchphrase of mine at this point, I write it so often)
Sally Wiener Grotta could have created an idyllic world, free of sexism. She has developed the cultural history of dozens of different peoples; she very easily could have written a novel that blatantly gives power to women. She did not. She could have written something that is much more easily construed as a feminist work, something that doesn't lean on so many horrible lessons young women are taught about their 'use' in the world. She did not. She wrote a story bent around gender roles; a, frankly, uncomfortable novel. I deliberately chose Atwood and Carey's books at the start of this review to set a tone though; sometimes, it's better to write something honest yet questionable than a hopeful reiteration of another's idea.
It's pointless to deny the negative implications that this story has. On one level, it just backs up the idea that the greatest thing a woman can do is to support a strong man. It can be read as an ode to submission, as a lesson that women should learn to be manipulative and pull strings, and that the most power a lady can have is to fuck well and serve. I won't spoil the turn near the end of the book; it definitely arrives far too late into the novel to make every reader happy, and doesn't quite 'solve' these issues. Personally, I read it as a setup for the next novel's deconstruction of this one's tropes. Without giving too much away, I feel like the next novel will directly confront why the Alleshi only train men as leaders and the very large problems that I just brought up. You don't write a book about how to pick up on subtext and not be aware of your own subtext; Rishana's decisions and opinions surrounding the Alleshi in the final chapters kind of hint at this direction. I hope.
My biggest criticism is actually that there's a whole 'nother story going on in this book that just ends. Here's a post-coital fireside debate of a story, an actual story, a fantasy novel, with no swords or punching or kingdoms or, mostly, even harsh words. It's so personal, and so well done, that you almost get upset about the events taking place outside of this one little cabin. The outside story, the 'wrapper', if you will, is pushed aside for such a long time that when it rears its head near the end, it feels like a slap of cold water. Intentional, again, but still upsetting... and when the novel ends, just ends like that...
Look, if Sally Wiener Grotta doesn't write a sequel to this book to follow up on every loose end, to continue every story, I want you to disregard every word of this review after the first paragraph. In fact, remove everything before the first 'yes' too. This novel is incredible, and I so rarely say "and the sequel will make it even better" because I kind of want books to stand on their own, but yeah. That. This is incredible. The next will make this more incredible. Or, I hate it.
Hmm. I might have to write reviews of series next. It'll be easier. Sidenote over: read this damn book.
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