A review by roseice
The Springsweet by Saundra Mitchell

3.0

There's a strange style to this book that makes it both lovely and faraway. During the reading, I was not sure how I felt about Mitchell's writing as a whole. Upon finishing, I felt this book was... vague and poorly conceived to the very last page. And it's somewhat appalling how long it took for evidence of Amelia to appear. I hate this fleeting, obscure weave of characterization Mitchell insists on. It's lovely in its execution, but leaves me detached from every character, and I don't want to feel so far away from all of them. Also, I found the romance was shallow and without growth.

I'll give it three stars for Mitchell's lovely writing, which was at times a plus. But in short, The Springsweet was a poor portrayal of an elemental magic story (a genre I'm dorkily protective of!).