Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
brilliantly written by Marcus Sedgwick, Midwinterblood tells the tale of how two souls search for eachother seven times in seven different lives. When Eric arrives at Blessed Island he is immediately drawn to Merle and is not sure why. But as the accounts of their seven lives together are unravelled, you realise that their love for eachother is so strong that even death cannot break it. Overall a heart-warming story which I reccomend to anyone who is willing to concentrate enough on it.
This was very different. Here's my review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bu0PvkhjvY&t=103s
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a funny little book. A love story, a love letter to the multitudinous tide of humanity, the plethora of possibilities, this book definitely gives you food for thought.
I absolutely love Marcus Sedgwick’s writing style - The Dark Horse was a formative book for me - but his writing always shines and flows best when his story is set in ancient times. Thus Midwinterblood, with its backwards chronology, only truly shone 75% of the way through. While the climax of Eric and Merle’s original lives is peak Marcus Sedgwick (the writing is breath-stealingly stunning), and I was really attached to Merle, and the various iterations of Eric and Merle were really interesting, unfortunately this story didn’t grasp me as much I thought it would from the premise and my previous Sedgwick reads.
Marcus Sedgwick is still a brilliant author: the writing is evocative, the story (stories?) intense. However, I just didn’t take to Eric and Merle as a bonded pair. If we had spent even a week longer (in-story) with them together at the beginning, the whole narrative would have felt more anchored. As it is, since their bond is the spine of the story, this sense of drifting through the ages with a pair I didn’t properly get to know at the beginning is why this book unfortunately fell a little flat for me.
I absolutely love Marcus Sedgwick’s writing style - The Dark Horse was a formative book for me - but his writing always shines and flows best when his story is set in ancient times. Thus Midwinterblood, with its backwards chronology, only truly shone 75% of the way through. While the climax of Eric and Merle’s original lives is peak Marcus Sedgwick (the writing is breath-stealingly stunning), and I was really attached to Merle, and the various iterations of Eric and Merle were really interesting, unfortunately this story didn’t grasp me as much I thought it would from the premise and my previous Sedgwick reads.
Marcus Sedgwick is still a brilliant author: the writing is evocative, the story (stories?) intense. However, I just didn’t take to Eric and Merle as a bonded pair. If we had spent even a week longer (in-story) with them together at the beginning, the whole narrative would have felt more anchored. As it is, since their bond is the spine of the story, this sense of drifting through the ages with a pair I didn’t properly get to know at the beginning is why this book unfortunately fell a little flat for me.
This book has some really good things going for it and some not so good, so I'll just do a pros and cons list.
Pros: The story is broken up into 7 sections and each of the sections is a different story but connects to the overall story (though you don't know how until you get to the end of the book). So it's like reading 7 short stories yet it's still one story and I liked each story. Though there are different characters in each story, 2 of the characters (Merle and Eric) are seen throughout each section and the story between them each time is different and really good. In one story they are mother and son, in other they are brother and sister, in another they are lovers. Their relationship is different in each story and it shows the different types of love there is; friendship love, family love, romantic love, etc. Even though Merle and Eric are brother and sister in one story and lovers in another it's done in a way that it doesn't feel weird or creepy. Another thing I liked was the different time periods. It starts off in the future in the year 2073 and then progresses back in time to 2011, 1944, 1902 and so on. This was a creative and original story and I haven't read anything like this. This was a really quick read and you can just fly through this book.
Cons:
Since each story had different characters and each story was pretty short it was hard to connect and form an attachment to the characters. I liked all the characters but I didn't attach to them like I would characters in another book. Even though Merle and Eric were in all of the stories it was still hard to connect even with their characters because they had different roles in each story. I really didn't understand the whole sacrifice to bring more kids to the island. I didn't get why there had to be a sacrifice or why there were no more kids on the island. I feel like that part should have been explained better. The ending also felt too quick; I felt like there should have been more to the ending.
Overall I did enjoy this book but I didn't love it. I would give it a 3.5 stars.
Pros: The story is broken up into 7 sections and each of the sections is a different story but connects to the overall story (though you don't know how until you get to the end of the book). So it's like reading 7 short stories yet it's still one story and I liked each story. Though there are different characters in each story, 2 of the characters (Merle and Eric) are seen throughout each section and the story between them each time is different and really good. In one story they are mother and son, in other they are brother and sister, in another they are lovers. Their relationship is different in each story and it shows the different types of love there is; friendship love, family love, romantic love, etc. Even though Merle and Eric are brother and sister in one story and lovers in another it's done in a way that it doesn't feel weird or creepy. Another thing I liked was the different time periods. It starts off in the future in the year 2073 and then progresses back in time to 2011, 1944, 1902 and so on. This was a creative and original story and I haven't read anything like this. This was a really quick read and you can just fly through this book.
Cons:
Since each story had different characters and each story was pretty short it was hard to connect and form an attachment to the characters. I liked all the characters but I didn't attach to them like I would characters in another book. Even though Merle and Eric were in all of the stories it was still hard to connect even with their characters because they had different roles in each story. I really didn't understand the whole sacrifice to bring more kids to the island. I didn't get why there had to be a sacrifice or why there were no more kids on the island. I feel like that part should have been explained better. The ending also felt too quick; I felt like there should have been more to the ending.
Overall I did enjoy this book but I didn't love it. I would give it a 3.5 stars.
This book was certainly not what I expected. It was interesting having the multiple stories all tie together, but I found myself wondering at the end how it all would come together. And the final pages left me with a feeling of the story being unfinished.
While the story isn't what I normally like to read, I would definitely consider keeping something like this available for the young adult readers in my 8th grade class. I can see some students being drawn into the more horror aspects of the book and greatly enjoying the end that doesn't quite end.
While the story isn't what I normally like to read, I would definitely consider keeping something like this available for the young adult readers in my 8th grade class. I can see some students being drawn into the more horror aspects of the book and greatly enjoying the end that doesn't quite end.
From the moment a drunken, half-naked Rasputin causes a dining room disaster in Blood Red, Snow White, Marcus Sedgwick has been one of my favourite authors for teens. His talent lies in seamlessly weaving historical figures and places into a narrative that stretches the boundaries of young adult fiction.
Midwinterblood is a strange glimpse into Scandinavian lore, beginning in the future and backtracking to the ancient sagas. The idea for this book is original and fascinating, and it gives plenty of opportunities for further research, which is usually an indication I'll rate it pretty highly. Even though I was intrigued, I also spent a lot of time trying to puzzle out connections between the stories. I was hooked by the first story, only to struggle to care about the second and third. My interest peaked in story four, when Sedgwick is in his element incorporating real history into the narrative. The next two stories veer into fantasy just when the history is getting good. It’s all over the place, and attempts to be cohesive by the end, but I didn’t find it 5-star successful.
Note to the American publisher: Macmillan, if this book had not won the Printz I would never have picked it up because of the absolutely atrocious and misleading jacket design.
Midwinterblood is a strange glimpse into Scandinavian lore, beginning in the future and backtracking to the ancient sagas. The idea for this book is original and fascinating, and it gives plenty of opportunities for further research, which is usually an indication I'll rate it pretty highly. Even though I was intrigued, I also spent a lot of time trying to puzzle out connections between the stories. I was hooked by the first story, only to struggle to care about the second and third. My interest peaked in story four, when Sedgwick is in his element incorporating real history into the narrative. The next two stories veer into fantasy just when the history is getting good. It’s all over the place, and attempts to be cohesive by the end, but I didn’t find it 5-star successful.
Note to the American publisher: Macmillan, if this book had not won the Printz I would never have picked it up because of the absolutely atrocious and misleading jacket design.
*Listened to the audio*
An unexpected surprise of a novel. Just the right amount of spooky and unsettling (like Twlight-zone level).
Sedgwick weaves a series of interconnected tales set on a very odd Scandinavian Island, each one moving backwards in time, slowly building on my feelings of 'wtf is going on?' I was always excited to keep listening even when one story ended and I had to jump into another. Every time a recognized a repeated motif, character, or plot connection, I got excited. While I wish the ending hadn't gone the way it had (keeping it vague not to spoil), it did not ruin the journey of the read for me.
On the audio, my only critique is that the narrator would actually whisper when the character's whispered and sometimes that meant I couldn't tell what he was saying.
As for my last observation.... I don't know why this is considered YA. Not to say that teens couldn't/shouldn't read it. But everything I know about the YA genre, this does not fit. I mean, there aren't really any teens characters at all. This is an adult novel. While it may have won the Printz, I think selling it as teen might be why this really well crafted story (and see my The Graveyard Book review to see how much I usually don't like episodic stories like this one) has a lower star review on goodreads than it frankly deserves.
An unexpected surprise of a novel. Just the right amount of spooky and unsettling (like Twlight-zone level).
Sedgwick weaves a series of interconnected tales set on a very odd Scandinavian Island, each one moving backwards in time, slowly building on my feelings of 'wtf is going on?' I was always excited to keep listening even when one story ended and I had to jump into another. Every time a recognized a repeated motif, character, or plot connection, I got excited. While I wish the ending hadn't gone the way it had (keeping it vague not to spoil), it did not ruin the journey of the read for me.
On the audio, my only critique is that the narrator would actually whisper when the character's whispered and sometimes that meant I couldn't tell what he was saying.
As for my last observation.... I don't know why this is considered YA. Not to say that teens couldn't/shouldn't read it. But everything I know about the YA genre, this does not fit. I mean, there aren't really any teens characters at all. This is an adult novel. While it may have won the Printz, I think selling it as teen might be why this really well crafted story (and see my The Graveyard Book review to see how much I usually don't like episodic stories like this one) has a lower star review on goodreads than it frankly deserves.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
“Will you follow?” 💔
Well, so it is. (This is an utterly fantastic book that is so much more than it seems. A truly wonderful read.)