Scan barcode
A review by rorireads_
A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Have you ever wondered what a book would be like if you glued every 2010’s YA novel together while making an MC so spineless that you want to reach into the book and make her do SOMETHING? That’s what A Winters Promise is.
This was entirely infuriating. The world that this book is set in is interesting, but everything else made me want to throw the audiobook into the bin. Ophelia, despite us being told that she is brave and strong is actually one of the most boring characters in the whole book. It’s very ‘not like other girls’ and she felt more like a vessel for the story Dabos was trying to tell, and not as a character in her own right.
The rest of the cast is also not particularly charming and only made the book worse. At one point, I started to question WHY (which Ophelia never seemed to ask) any of this was happening. I was never given an answer.
This book was also not original. It may find its audience in tweens/teens who have aged out of middle-grade, and are also reading this book first. I felt like it just recalled various YA tropes and motifs and made them worse??
The writing is very ‘telling’ and does not have enough ‘showing’. It’s very hard to engage with when every single aspect is told to you directly. I guarantee that most teenagers have some ability to infer and comprehend, but this book does not display any confidence in its reader to infer ANYTHING.
To cap, I’ve also heard that the latter half of the series is not particularly well-liked, and I will not force myself through a story just to hate the ending.
Sorry, it’s a no for me.
1 ⭐️
This was entirely infuriating. The world that this book is set in is interesting, but everything else made me want to throw the audiobook into the bin. Ophelia, despite us being told that she is brave and strong is actually one of the most boring characters in the whole book. It’s very ‘not like other girls’ and she felt more like a vessel for the story Dabos was trying to tell, and not as a character in her own right.
The rest of the cast is also not particularly charming and only made the book worse. At one point, I started to question WHY (which Ophelia never seemed to ask) any of this was happening. I was never given an answer.
This book was also not original. It may find its audience in tweens/teens who have aged out of middle-grade, and are also reading this book first. I felt like it just recalled various YA tropes and motifs and made them worse??
The writing is very ‘telling’ and does not have enough ‘showing’. It’s very hard to engage with when every single aspect is told to you directly. I guarantee that most teenagers have some ability to infer and comprehend, but this book does not display any confidence in its reader to infer ANYTHING.
To cap, I’ve also heard that the latter half of the series is not particularly well-liked, and I will not force myself through a story just to hate the ending.
Sorry, it’s a no for me.
1 ⭐️