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A review by lumos_libros
Winter's End by Jean-Claude Mourlevat
3.0
The whole premise of this book was very promising: oppressive government, four teenagers escape their boarding schools, there is a whole underground rebellion in the works, and to seal the deal we get a glimpse of the new kind of gladitor games. Sounds awesome right? Well it was interesting and kept my attention, but it fell a little flat.
Milena, Helen, Milos and Bartolomeo are the protagonists of this story and each contribute their own unique perspectives. Unbeknowest to them they have been put into boarding schools not just because they are orphans, but because their parents were part of a rebellion. All their parents were killed and now it will fall on their shoulders to bring change again. Can they do it? Or will they fail like their parents before them?
It's kind of unfair to this book that there are so many great dystopian novels out there; it really had to bring something pretty original and mind-blowing to the table. It didn't necessarily have to be extremely impressive but have that epic feel to it. There were some really fascinating aspects like when we get to the part where a character has to compete in the gladitor games, but the book's main focus isn't that. My real problem was the dialogue sounded unrealistic, but that might be due to it's translation from French. I didn't get a good sense of where they were or even what time period it was. There is of course the whole love thing between the characters, which was sweet but not done as well as it could have been. Kind of far-fetched ending but it did try to keep it real in other aspects. Not everything is sunshine and roses and the idea of the cart-horse men was neat.
Towards the end I serioulsy got sad, so I did get attached to the characters, but not to the extent I am used to. Number one mistake is that it didn't have enough suspense. How do you expect us to get invested without that? Could have been epic but it is a solid story that will remind people that split-second decisions sometimes do really make all the difference.
Milena, Helen, Milos and Bartolomeo are the protagonists of this story and each contribute their own unique perspectives. Unbeknowest to them they have been put into boarding schools not just because they are orphans, but because their parents were part of a rebellion. All their parents were killed and now it will fall on their shoulders to bring change again. Can they do it? Or will they fail like their parents before them?
It's kind of unfair to this book that there are so many great dystopian novels out there; it really had to bring something pretty original and mind-blowing to the table. It didn't necessarily have to be extremely impressive but have that epic feel to it. There were some really fascinating aspects like when we get to the part where a character has to compete in the gladitor games, but the book's main focus isn't that. My real problem was the dialogue sounded unrealistic, but that might be due to it's translation from French. I didn't get a good sense of where they were or even what time period it was. There is of course the whole love thing between the characters, which was sweet but not done as well as it could have been. Kind of far-fetched ending but it did try to keep it real in other aspects. Not everything is sunshine and roses and the idea of the cart-horse men was neat.
Towards the end I serioulsy got sad, so I did get attached to the characters, but not to the extent I am used to. Number one mistake is that it didn't have enough suspense. How do you expect us to get invested without that? Could have been epic but it is a solid story that will remind people that split-second decisions sometimes do really make all the difference.