Reviews with content warning for Murder - A Winter's Promise

Reviews tagging Murder

A Winter's Promise, by Christelle Dabos

23 reviews

loanoa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

Honestly, I just couldn't get into this one. I might have even DNF'd it if it hadn't been an audiobook. It was interesting enough on some levels, and I cared about what happened to Ophelia, but in some ways it just felt like a bunch of sad/frustrating/confusing things happening over and over. Like every once in a while the situation would change but it never got better, and I just didn't feel very engaged on most levels. It's well-written I think but it's just not for me.

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bialves's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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royalraspberry's review against another edition

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mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is a really interesting one because I think it's really outside the wheelhouse of what I normally read - I picked it up for a reading challenge because someone had it listed under "book about your favorite season, winter" and that gets a hard disagree from me, but I did put it under "book with a misleading title".

The writing in this book was absolutely lovely. That said it is 50% world building and 50% political intrigue. And the world building was absolutely spectacular, I really enjoyed all of it. Dabos has created an incredibly interesting world filled with interesting characters (none of whom are trustworthy, but that's part of the fun). But there was just so *little* plot in the book that I really, really struggled.

If you're into fantasy books heavy on character development and world building, this is absolutely the right book for you. It's well written and the narrator for the audio book is completely enchanting to listen to, she brings the rich, beautiful world into a new depth.

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serena_hien's review

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challenging hopeful mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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japanasi's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

what started as a “mc is not like other girls” quickly became a page turner (look at me, reading 530 pages in two days!); court intrigues and a fascinating magic system, teenage me would have devoured this book !

there’s little romance but I’m assuming it may follow in the sequels; it’s not exactly enemies to lovers but more like “mutual dislike” or indifference to lovers, probably, it’s a slow burn in any case (and we’re talking slow here)

in some parts it didn’t feel like YA novel while in others it certainly did (yay I’m being vague on purpose)

I very much enjoyed this book, I can’t wait to read the sequel(s)!

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toffishay's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

An interesting introduction to this world. I would have liked a little more world-building; we are kind of thrown into the deep end with this world and not given a lot of backstory or direction. I like Ophelia and I liked following her on her journey. And the court intrigue was fun and I want to learn more about that. It was a bit of a slog in the middle and they spent a lot of time at the Citeceleste that I think could have been cut down. But I am intrigued by the relationship between Thorn and Ophelia and I am interested in learning more about their powers.

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