A review by readundancies
Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I’m having a lot of difficulty trying to put into words how I feel about this fantasy tale as a whole, and I think it’s because my rating could change based on the sequels. 

What I liked: 
  • Gorgeous cover. Just stunning. Je l’adore.
  • Solid first sentence: The stories of this age begin and end with blood, and mine is no exception.
  • It’s fairly plot driven, and yet still kind of slower paced but I’m enjoying the worldbuilding and the magic so far as well.
  • I really loved how lost Raine is a character. She can’t help but keep her head above water and just survive but it’s completely at odds with how much rage and distance she employs to keep her power hidden. She’s not stupid and her intelligence and wariness of other people is compelling. I love a closed off character with purpose and even if Raine doesn’t know what her purpose is, there’s this drive to her that I can’t help but admire.I didn’t always agree with her, and she could be a bit all over the place, but she’s also got the beginnings of a stellar villain origin story if her grave-sight ability allows her to do what I think it does. Is that vague? Yes. But I don’t want to spoil anything with my suppositions this early in the series.
  • The adventure vibes were strong and I wholeheartedly enjoyed the journey the characters were on to get to Redwinter.
  • I really liked the narrative. It was highly political in nature, but there was still a focus on the action and adventure, and the worldbuilding was reminiscent of Skyrim to me for some reason and that is not a complaint.

What I didn’t: 
  • Ovitus = nice guy. Over it. He’s basically moon-eyed Mr. Collins and I can’t unsee it, it’s horrible.
  • In fact Braithe, his presence as short lived as it was, was also a male character I despised, and that was before the domestic abuse became prevalent. It’s evident that the role women are expected to have in this world is intentional but it’s also infuriating as hell.
  • At 100 pages in my only complaint was that I needed a bloody map but I was fresh outta them.
  • Maybe I’m just not a horse person, but I was was not really sure what to do with the moon horses.
  • This book doesn’t really know what demographic it wants to cater to. It has strong flashes of both YA and adult tones and that may even be intentional but it also irks me. The writing style gets into all the little peeve shaped holes scattered in my armour and irritation runs rampant. It’s like a muscle cramp that you don’t immediately stifle. It bothers, ya know? And at times, it bothers greatly.
  • Not sure about the romance. I liked the bi-rep in Raine but her relationship with Esher seemed too easy with how much they connected and how much Esher trusted Raine despite that trust not being a two-way street. I much preferred whatever was going on between Sanvaunt and Raine because the tension was REAL.
  • The relationship dynamics were all over the place. Raine worked really well with some characters (see: Sanvaunt, Laira, Ulovar, etc.) and not with others (see: Queen of Feathers, Ovitus, Hess, etc.) this happened between other characters as well (see: Sanvaunt-Ovitus, actually Ovitus and pretty much everyone else).

This is not going to be a novel that works for everyone. Between the finicky storytelling, the fluctuating pace from slow to warp-speed in the last third of the novel, and the worldbuilding that is incredibly fascinating but also leaves you with the feeling that is rather incomplete, it doesn’t feel like a standard fantasy novel, and I kind of love it for that but can totally see others hating it for the same reason.
 
Because this truly is not the best writing that I’ve come across, but the story quality is there.
 
And despite my conflicting feelings over this tale, I think I can say with almost complete certainty that I’ll be continuing on with this series, which is not something I tend to determine with ease, so this is new for me.
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