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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
I'm not sure how I feel about this book - is it saying something deep and clever about love, sacrifice, time and human nature? Or does it have flat characters, incomplete plot threads, and an almost festishization of "Viking"/Druid blood sacrifice?
The book was a little disjointed for my tastes, but interesting idea.
This book was divided into seven sections. I thought the first section was amazing, but I did not like the others at much. It was beautifully written though. I had fun reading it!
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Choppy and slow to start, the connections placed in each section to tie together the storyline were blatant and left little for the reader to surmise.
Actually 3.5 stars.
Dark, bittersweet, and haunting. My kind of story.
Dark, bittersweet, and haunting. My kind of story.
seven interwoven stories that take place on a fictional (norse?) island that hides mystical secrets. for the first two stories the reader is not really sure what's going on, and then things start to make sense a little more, and then at the end the reader says "OHHH i see what you did there." without giving anything away, it's pretty clever.
BUT. but but but.
it is so arbitrary to me that this is considered a teen book. i think adults would probably like this book. i can think of 0 teens that i would recommend this to. there is nothing about the characters that i think teens will connect with, it's not a particularly accessible read (have to get through a couple of the stories before you can start to appreciate the cleverness), it's written in a more literary style, and...well, they're folk tales. we had it in the library for a year before it won the printz and it checked out one time in that year. which basically sums up my issue with the printz award. i know it's for quality of writing and not actual appeal to teenagers but why can't both be taken into account?
i think i make this rant every year when i make sure i have all the printz winners and they just sit on my shelves gathering dust. i should probably stop caring/buying all of them.
back to the book: i liked it. i did not love it. i might recommend it to adults.
BUT. but but but.
it is so arbitrary to me that this is considered a teen book. i think adults would probably like this book. i can think of 0 teens that i would recommend this to. there is nothing about the characters that i think teens will connect with, it's not a particularly accessible read (have to get through a couple of the stories before you can start to appreciate the cleverness), it's written in a more literary style, and...well, they're folk tales. we had it in the library for a year before it won the printz and it checked out one time in that year. which basically sums up my issue with the printz award. i know it's for quality of writing and not actual appeal to teenagers but why can't both be taken into account?
i think i make this rant every year when i make sure i have all the printz winners and they just sit on my shelves gathering dust. i should probably stop caring/buying all of them.
back to the book: i liked it. i did not love it. i might recommend it to adults.
Three and a half stars, really. The layout of the story is intriguing: we go farther back in time with each short story, all taking place on the isle of Blessed, and it takes some time to figure out how they all connect and what is happening. The writing is skillful, and the last few stories interested me a lot more than the first few. I couldn't quite engage with the characters and their relationship, which is really what this book needed to push it from good to great.
The horror aspect is very mild; very accessible to non-horror readers.
The horror aspect is very mild; very accessible to non-horror readers.
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Midwinter Blood is ambitious. It is a challenge to make a cyclical story--where characters and elements repeat across multiple interconnected short stories--fresh and interesting each time.
Sedgwick attempts this by varying the identities of Merle and Eric in each story and by leaving a recurring set of Easter eggs for the reader to spot in each (but not every) story. The problem, however, is that the “rules” of the world, the rules that govern the dragon flower and the Blessed Island, are unclear.
With each life they live, Merle and Eric seem to be exchanging, not just bodies, but also different worlds. The Blessed Island of 2073 does not feel the same as the island of 2011, nor the island of 1902. If it is, then where is Tor, across the years? When did the people of the island stop having children and started living forever? And what are the “rules” for Eric and Merle’s transformations? Why do some things stay the same and why are some things different?Why does Erik become Erika in “The Unquiet Grave”? Does Erik not need to be a man in each of these lives? Could Merle have become a man? Do their physical shapes have any significance, or is it only their spirits that matter?
Judging only by its plot, Midwinter Blood probably deserves only 3 stars. But if we are going off ~vibes~ then it is an impeccable 5 stars out of 5 from me.
Sedgwick attempts this by varying the identities of Merle and Eric in each story and by leaving a recurring set of Easter eggs for the reader to spot in each (but not every) story. The problem, however, is that the “rules” of the world, the rules that govern the dragon flower and the Blessed Island, are unclear.
With each life they live, Merle and Eric seem to be exchanging, not just bodies, but also different worlds. The Blessed Island of 2073 does not feel the same as the island of 2011, nor the island of 1902. If it is, then where is Tor, across the years? When did the people of the island stop having children and started living forever? And what are the “rules” for Eric and Merle’s transformations? Why do some things stay the same and why are some things different?
Judging only by its plot, Midwinter Blood probably deserves only 3 stars. But if we are going off ~vibes~ then it is an impeccable 5 stars out of 5 from me.