Scan barcode
A review by sopht87
The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review
The Sisters of the Winter Wood is a historical fantasy about a Jewish Ukrainian family, particularly Liba and her younger sister Laya - one being a bear shapeshifter and the other being a swan. It seems to be partly inspired by Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market and by other Eastern European folktales, as well as a smattering of Greek to boot.
First of all, I'll get the negatives out of the way. It was a little too innocent and naïve for my particular taste. Not that I don't enjoy a chaste, PG novel but this one seemed a little confused. Liba is nearly eighteen and seems to know nothing about her emotions or boys, whereas fifteen year old Laya seems a bit wilder and more clued-up. Liba's chapters are written in prose, but Laya's are written in staggered prose. I am no poetry expert so I cannot comment on whether this is actual modern poetry or not but I don't think it benefitted the book particularly.
As much as I think it is important to include traditional Jewish words and customs to the book (after all it is about a family of Jews), I think the language was laid on a little too thick in this book without the appropriate amount of explanation. Were it not for a period I spent studying German I would not have had a clue what half of the words meant and even then I struggled was left pondering what words like "shtetl", "shabbes", "goy", "kehilla" etc. because I tired of asking Google after the first few chapters in. There is a glossary included, but again, having to switch between the two, particularly on an e-reader, was just a bit of a bore. I noticed that a lot of capital letters for names and at beginnings of sentences were missing too.
That being said, the positives were also many:
I love, love, love the cover. I think it is beautiful and perfect for the book.
Liba's character was well-rounded and I felt it easy to get a sense of who she was, even if I could not necessarily relate to her. I did not feel the same connection to Laya, the verse-like narration and apparent brattiness made me lose interest in her. The supporting cast in Dovid and his mother were brilliant and I instantly imagined exactly what Mrs Meisels was like.
The story was well thought out, the Hovlin brothers suitably sinister and I got a real feel for the atmosphere. I liked the style, dark fairytales are an interest of mine, even if this one did seem to try and cram a bit too much into it.
All in all, this will not go on my favourites list but I enjoyed reading it and with a few tweaks I think it has the potential to be pretty good.
The Sisters of the Winter Wood is a historical fantasy about a Jewish Ukrainian family, particularly Liba and her younger sister Laya - one being a bear shapeshifter and the other being a swan. It seems to be partly inspired by Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market and by other Eastern European folktales, as well as a smattering of Greek to boot.
First of all, I'll get the negatives out of the way. It was a little too innocent and naïve for my particular taste. Not that I don't enjoy a chaste, PG novel but this one seemed a little confused. Liba is nearly eighteen and seems to know nothing about her emotions or boys, whereas fifteen year old Laya seems a bit wilder and more clued-up. Liba's chapters are written in prose, but Laya's are written in staggered prose. I am no poetry expert so I cannot comment on whether this is actual modern poetry or not but I don't think it benefitted the book particularly.
As much as I think it is important to include traditional Jewish words and customs to the book (after all it is about a family of Jews), I think the language was laid on a little too thick in this book without the appropriate amount of explanation. Were it not for a period I spent studying German I would not have had a clue what half of the words meant and even then I struggled was left pondering what words like "shtetl", "shabbes", "goy", "kehilla" etc. because I tired of asking Google after the first few chapters in. There is a glossary included, but again, having to switch between the two, particularly on an e-reader, was just a bit of a bore. I noticed that a lot of capital letters for names and at beginnings of sentences were missing too.
That being said, the positives were also many:
I love, love, love the cover. I think it is beautiful and perfect for the book.
Liba's character was well-rounded and I felt it easy to get a sense of who she was, even if I could not necessarily relate to her. I did not feel the same connection to Laya, the verse-like narration and apparent brattiness made me lose interest in her. The supporting cast in Dovid and his mother were brilliant and I instantly imagined exactly what Mrs Meisels was like.
The story was well thought out, the Hovlin brothers suitably sinister and I got a real feel for the atmosphere. I liked the style, dark fairytales are an interest of mine, even if this one did seem to try and cram a bit too much into it.
All in all, this will not go on my favourites list but I enjoyed reading it and with a few tweaks I think it has the potential to be pretty good.