Reviews with content warning for Sexism - A Winter's Promise

As lyrical and confusing the world building could be at times, I powered through with absolute delight because I just know this dude is going to be dreamy soon. Jokes aside, I ate this up

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izgetsbetter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The world building and the plot really lured me in and kept me going throughout the book. I found I was more interested in how the world works and the political conversations than the main character, which is kinda sad.

Not gonna lie, she’s the absolute worst! The author really tried to emphasize how “quirky” she was and how much she wasn’t “like other girls”. It’s pretty gross. And what’s worse is that she doesn’t really develop.... like at all. She was annoying from start to finish. In the end, I preferred the “antagonists” over her.

Even though she annoys me to no end, I will most likely read the rest of the series. Wish me luck!

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sarahthebookwhore's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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spearly's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

It’s often said of old buildings that they have a soul. On Anima, the ark where objects come to life, old buildings tend mostly to become appallingly bad-tempered.

A Winter's Promise is the fantastical first novel in The Mirror Visitor series, and takes place in a magical, post-rupture society, where the world is split into Arks. Or MC Ophelia is from an ark called Anima, and has the power to read the history of objects through touch, as well as travel short distances through mirrors. The story begins with an unexpected arranged marriage between her and gentleman named Thorn, who is from another Ark called The Pole.

There are very few books I have read that read to me like poetry, and yet, I was absorbed in every word. Dabos does an incredible job with her world-building, without inundating the beginning of the story with detail after detail. Rather, she drops us into the middle of world and lets it share itself chapter after chapter.

Likewise, I was no less impressed with Dabos' characterization. Everyone felt so distinct, so complex, so real, and Ophelia was an incredible character to follow throughout this journey. A lot of YA fantasy series have some sort of 16 year-old Mary-Sue character who knows nothing and yet is still somehow the key to saving the world. Not Ophelia. I mean, yes, she's powerful, but she is so unremarkable in many ways. She even

spends half the book disguised as a mute servant so as not to arouse suspicion of her arrival at The Pole.

Thorn, Ophelia's fiancé is a puzzle, that's for certain. I couldn't get a read on him, even when it seemed his true intentions were revealed (

and, sap that I am, I will just say I might have enjoyed a bit of clarity in this relationship before the novel ended, but thankfully the series came out in 2013, so I am already onto the next book

) I don't know how a man so determined to stay stoic and cold at all costs could have made my heart flutter, but he did. Sue me.

Hopefully he doesn't turn out to be a disappointment. Because, once again, SAP THAT I AM, i need a bit of romance in my YA reading. Well, in all my reading, really. Hopefully it pans out!

That said,

Ophelia's inner dialogue when she speaks of love and romance is making me thing she might be aromantic. Possibly asexual, too. I haven't read enough of the series to know for certain, and while I'm always happy to read books with more representation, I will say I would be a bit disappointed if that were the case, and I feel Ophelia and Thorn are being set up for what could be a great, slow-burn love-story.

I guess we'll see!

The only reason this isn't a 5 star for me is the pacing. As quickly as it went by, I still felt like nothing much has happened in the first novel. By some other reviews I've read, it seems it picks up in book 2!

I can see why this series might have been one i passed over when it came out 8 years ago, but I feel like I'm appreciating it a lot more than my teenage self would have. I'm glad to know I still have 2.5 books (I'm halfway through [book:The Missing of Clairdelune|41953346]). It's truly unlike anything I've read before!

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dancingkouign's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

a bit slow for my taste but the plot is interesting enough to make me wanna pick up another 500 page book haha
i actually really like the main character which surprised me because i usually struggle with quiet characters but she's great, she's quiet but she has strong opinions, I like that

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aunteaandbiscuits's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

A slow set up that leads to a much more exciting sequel.

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anitaxlit's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I'm so sad to say that this book was definitely not for me, and I'm so disappointed because I wanted to love it!

On the first hundred pages I thought it was bad, but that perhaps it was simply due to poor translation work. By page 200 I concluded that sadly, both the translation and the writing were poor. The translation reads stunted and awkward on every page. The writing was bad because of... everything else.

First off, it was sexist. Slut-shaming abounds. Women are treated like shit. There is one comment — completely out of the blue, with no reason whatsoever — about a miscarriage that I found triggering even if the topic isn't normally triggering for me. I found the book generally insensitive toward women.

I've seen other reviews mention this and I must repeat it myself: the author gives each character a defining trait and mentions it every chance she gets. The fact that Ophelia, the MC, is clumsy and sickly is repeated non-stop thorughout the book. Whenever Thorn is mentioned, there is a remark on how tall he is. With Berenilde, it's her golden curls and beauty. With Rosaline, the horse's teeth. With Gail, the black hair. With Fox, the red moustache. These things are mentioned every single time one of the characters does something.

They are also completely devoid of any personality, sense or emotion. Berenilde was so confusing, I really couldn't understand her. Archibald was the most consistent of all? I think?

Ophelia has no emotional reactions to the horrible things that happen to her, and there's a lot of those! She encounters things which should be a complete cultural shock and barely reacts. Also, she can "read" objects to know things about their previous owners and travel through mirrors (which is so, so cool!!), but she never takes any advantage of that. I totally forgot about the mirror thing for like a hundred pages, and the saga is called The Mirror Visitor!

And the "romance"... Thorn says he's getting used to her and immediately Ophelia deduces that he's in love with her.

Girl what.
You need to sit down.
You need to take several seats.

And this is not simply the character being naive, the author seems to be pointing us in that direction! How can I believe he loves her when they haven't had any meaningful interactions at all?

What's most frustrating is that this had the potential to be great! The premise is amazing! The world it presents is cool! The plot is intriguing and it has one (1) twist that I liked! But the execution was done poorly, and it took away from the enjoyment I might have found in these things. So yeah, I'm sad about this.

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incigiru's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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